Day one in Venice concluded with a boozy night watching more football in the bar below our hostel and my first experience of tipping. As someone who disputes the concept of 'tipping', I was happy to pay the suggested minimum and be on my way. Sadly, my travel companions didn't feel the same way and we quickly found ourselves over-tipping on a consistent basis, as much out of uncertainty as drunkenness.
Day two was a classic tourist kind of day. This is all very well and good, but to paraphrase Robert Downey Jnr in Tropic Thunder- "You went full tourist, man. Never go full tourist." The day started innocently enough with a trip to the Griffith Observatory to get a glimpse of the Hollywood Hills and the greater LA area. Beautiful day, beautiful views, still no bobcat sightings but there was encouragement after seeing a fawn cascading down the mountain; the big cat would surely reveal himself soon. Back to it, and from the Observatory we hopped in an Uber bound for Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame.
If you take one thing from this blog, and even that might be a stretch, it is to seek out Ubers rather than taxis at every chance you get. They're considerably cheaper, the drivers are friendly and tend to be locals, and they are as keen to make it to the destination alive as you are.
Upon leaving the Uber we were ambushed by a rapper with CDs in one hand and headphones in the other. After delivering a back-handed compliment to our attire- something I would grow accustomed to over the next few weeks- he proceeded to place the headphones over my head and a CD in my hand. Now I was thinking to myself "cool, free CD" while JL and Blainey looked at me as if to say you poor sap. Once that CD is in your hand, you have bought it. The only variable is how much you're prepared to shell-out for a signed CD that you will never listen to again. $10 later and I had learned my lesson, but unfortunately I was now tainted. Every aspiring rapper or comedian who had seen the Australian tourist freeze like a deer in the headlights now wanted a taste, and I'm not proud to say that I parted with another $10 before making it out of the ambush.
Say no to everyone! We had a running joke that someone could be about to offer you $100, and by the end we would still preempt their offer with a cold 'no'. Which in the end momentarily cost me a free packet of potato chips outside the Coliseum in Oakland, until JL realised that JL doesn't like his chips spicy.
After perusing the Hollywood Walk of Fame for an hour or so, desperately seeking the stars of Jerry Seinfeld and Emilio Estevez- neither of which exist- we settled on a lovely establishment for lunch. In the interests of the two members of our travelling party with girlfriends who were slightly embarrassed to frequent this establishment, I'll leave the name out. Suffice to say, it was Hooters.
With around four hours until tip-off of our first NBA game, we booked another Uber and headed back to the hostel to change. This was our first experience of Los Angeles traffic at its notorious worst, and it was horrendous. A trip back to the hostel then on to the Staples Center should take around an hour max, yet we spent the next two and a half hours in the same car; first listening to calming Latino music, before the driver got a little more comfortable and chucked on some System of a Down. We proceeded to get a lesson in his Armenian heritage and the persecution of his people in the past few hundred years. I can't remember specifics, I was in over my head.
This was the one game on our trip where we had premium seats, to the point where there was a 'runner' tending to our area fetching drinks and food. Unfortunately this was the first of a number of occasions where not having my passport handy would come back to haunt me, as I was refused service. There were ways around it, but it's such a blow to the ego to get knocked-back at the age of 25. The Jazz put up a good fight, and Dante did a few great things, but it was the Clippers aka Lob City that got the W on this occasion.
Post-game we found a bar not far from the Staples Centre to have a few drinks, and at this point JL was maintaining his streak of two Jager bombs per night... It wouldn't last.
Day three was the day we made what would prove to be the worst decision of our entire life- choosing a visit to Universal Studios over the home of the biggest rollercoasters on the planet!
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