Hermosa Archives - Wander Wonder Wonton

We arrived in LA about 4pm and grabbed our car rental. Thrifty the thrifty buggers had a heap of additional charges we didn’t know about and were unhappy about. They did give us an upgrade to ease the pain thought d we drove off in a beautiful, black Chrysler 200.

Our hotel was great, massive room and good location – the Quality Inn, Hermosa.

We headed to the Rockefeller for dinner. It had the potential to be fantastic judging by the menu but it didn’t end up surpassing expectations.

We walked down and out over the pier, watched the night fishermen, before wandering back, soaking up the atmosphere outside the bars that like the street to the pier.

Both of us were exhausted from a big night in Vancouver the previous night so it was back for an early night and to try out the hotel shower. That’s one of my fave parts – testing out the hotel showers. Bliss.

We slept in and went for breakfast at the hotel and took the car into town for a look around in the daylight. There’s some cool shops and the beach is just awesome.

There was this great community event on for people to learn o play drums down the beach – so good!

Hot’s Kitchen for lunch – LOVE this place!! Go visit it. I can’t praise their tacos enough.

From there we hit the road to Palm Springs, driving along the coast and ending up in a Walmart in Compton – that was a sight!

This ended up being my favourite day.

I woke up feeling like utter shit. I hadn’t drank in a few weeks and I hadn’t drunk much the night before but I paid for it.

We cleaned up and checked out then Sarah, Jay’s friend from oz and her partner, Drew picked us up and took us over to West LA to watch the NFL semi finals.

It was crazy! Loved it. Was still not loving my hangover though. Jay was fine having some drinks.

After my salad I started to perk up though and my friend, Jon came to pick us up to show us his hood. At the same time, Jay started to crash. We swapped roles.

We drove through Santa Monica and Venice Beach in Jon’s HUGE truck (which I love! Ford F150) listening to great tunes and soaking up the sunshine.

Jay was in a state by then and even asked if the road sign ‘Ocean’ meant we were on Ocean Road or if it meant that we were next to the ocean…

I love the beaches in the way to Hermosa. There’s this great beach with drum barrels the whole way along the stretch and Jon explained that they’re legal Bon fire areas! Everyone goes down there and chills out in the evening. I thought it was such a great idea!

Finally we arrived in Hermosa Beach. It feels like you’re in a holiday town. I wish we’d been there the whole time and were staying a week! It’s just gorgeous with this great vibe.

I was starving (nothing new) so we popped into Hot Kitchen on Jon’s recommendation and ordered tacos. Holy bajeezus they were good!!!! Must try if you’re in the area. I even had a cider.

We went to Jon’s apartment (which was gorgeous, right on the beach walk) then walked along the beach and the pier as the sunset. It was stunning and I didn’t want to leave. But time was pressing and I needed to head to the airport. Luckily LAX is only about 15min away.

I said goodbye to Jon and Jay and waited for my flight. Funnily enough the area I was in only had flights to NZ, Brisbane and Vancouver. I was almost wishing I was on one of the other planes, I’m looking forward to going home!