Santa Monica

I spent my first four days in California in Santa Monica.  It's a cross between a beach side town and a suburb of Los Angeles.  I wanted to start here so I wasn't overwhelmed by the more central parts of LA when I first arrived and possibly would be jet lagged.

Let me tell you, I was jet lagged.  I left Melbourne at about 11am on Thursday and then arrived 15 hours later but it was 8am local time (I slept for half an hour on the plane).  When I got to my hotel my room wasn't ready so I checked in my luggage, had something to eat at a neighbouring cafe and went for a wander to find the beach.

It actually took about 40 minutes to get to the beach on foot.  I went for a walk on Main Street and bought myself some new runners and did a bit of exploring on this shopping strip.  Main street has a really diverse range of businesses on it, from chain stores to quirky boutiques to cafes and restaurants.

Then I sat on the beach and read my book for a while.  I started nodding off so I thought I batter keep walking.  I could see the famous pier and amusement park in the distance and started to walk in that direction but by then I'd been awake for well over 24hours and realised I was actually exhausted.

The walk back to my hotel was mostly up hill and it seemed to take me hours.  When I got there I lay on the bed and fell asleep for a couple of hours.  I woke up at about 6pm and had a shower and thought about getting something to eat but in the end went back to bed and slept all night and then all the next day until about 6pm again.  I couldn't believe I'd slept that long.

I went out to grab a bite to eat and a wander until it started to get dark.  Back at my hotel I was feeling a bit lonely and regretting choosing a hotel to start with.  I went to bed and and slept all through the night (you'd think I would have had enough).

So there aren't any photos from this slow start to my trip.  I picked up my act a bit after this so look forward to some typically touristy photos from Santa Monica in my next post.