LA and Universal Studios

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." C.S. Lewis

Est. 2009

Suzie Eisfelder

September 23, 2013

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LA was a wonderful experience. It was our first brief stop in America and our last not-so-brief stop. At first we only had a few hours there so to help with our jetlag and also to get ourselves started with our phones we walked into the nearest shopping centre (took about an hour) and visited the Radio Shack for AT&T SIM cards, these lasted 30 days and so we had no phone or internet access for the last day. It meant we were able to ring each other as needed without worrying about cost and we had 2 gig of data each. The Radio Shack staff were lovely, I think we went to the one in Sepulveda Drive (only about $5 by taxi) and they did everything including checking the cards worked before we walked out. We used our own phones but we had checked they would work with these SIM cards before we left home. There are other brands, do your own research to make sure which one will suit you and your phone.

Return to LA

We took the Starline Citysightseeing bus, it’s hop-on, hop-off city tour which takes you on a guided tour around LA. They’re meant to give you ear buds (keep these!) which you can then plug into the bus for an audio commentary, our first driver didn’t bother but had the audio commentary on the loud speaker, fine if everyone speaks English. $125 for a family gives you 24 hours unlimited rides on this bus and also discounts to various other places. If you take this bus and also go to Universal Studios then buy the ticket from Starline. We didn’t and couldn’t get the discount. Do not let them talk you into an extra 24 hour ticket, we did and never used it. We bought our Starline tickets from near Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a place you need to see as it has the footprints in the concrete. There are also lots of stars on the ground and you can go running around like a headless chook getting totally lost and using up your photo allowance. Watch the kids, they might get over enthusiastic and get lost.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre — Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

John Travolta outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre — John Travolta outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

The bus will point out the streets that have the most exclusive shopping in the world so you can go and have Breakfast at Tiffanys, they’re used to people wandering in to look without buying. I can’t find my photo of Tiffanys but I’ll just drop a couple of other names using photos.

Universal Studios

If you go to Universal Studios during the week and it’s during school term you shouldn’t need to upgrade to VIP status. VIP status helps you go to the front of every queue but it costs an extra $50 or so per person. Try to buy your tickets beforehand so you don’t have to wait in the queue to enter. You can always change your mind when you get inside if you find there are miles of queues. The first thing you should do is the Universal Studios Tour Bus, it’s great. You get to see lots of back lots and also enjoy all the fun of the fair with a couple of experiences within studio lots. Be aware of the earthquake and Bruce from Jaws, it can get a bit scary for little kids but they will be safe as there are several seats in a row and the attendants will make sure you all get a seat together or go on the next bus. If you manage to sit on one row without any other seating partners split up the photography so you only have to photograph from your side of the bus.

There are a number of different eating places in Universal Studios, don’t eat at Doc Brown’s, it’s not worth the experience. We didn’t try any of the others. The kids will need to have their photos taken with Donkey from Shrek.

Public Transport

Public transport is perfectly workable within LA just be aware it is massive. When our plane landed we had to get on a bus for a two minute drive to the baggage console…it’s that big. You can buy a Tap Card for the public transport in LA, they cost $1 and you load them with $5 which gives you unlimited public transport for the day then the next day you use the same card and put another $5 on it. Just make sure you tap the machine on the way in.

Final Thoughts

One place we visited in LA is La Brea Tarpits but that needs a whole article for itself and I’ll include selected photos plus give you some information on volunteering if you’re going to be in LA for a substantial period of time.

I’ll give you more photos over the next few months using Friday Photos as I can’t seem to put in too many photos in one post.

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Suzie's Space acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.