(no subject)
Jetlag sucks.
Went to bed on Friday at 7 pm, woke up with a panicked WhereTheFuckAmI? at 9 pm. Woke up again at 11 pm, checked my computer. Woke up again at 2 am, couldn't sleep anymore. Showered, checked my LJ for for about 6 hours. Got extremely tired, went to bed again, slept for another two hours. Crawled out of bed, feeling like being run over by a truck. Finished reading nine days of LJ around 6pm, while catching up with Psych, The Closer, Burn Notice, Bill Maher and Kyle XY. Went to bed, read half of Nevermore, which turned out better than I expected. Went to sleep at 9 pm, woke up at 11 pm, feeling like it was at least 6 am. Woke up at 1 am. Woke up at 3 am (after dreaming of being stuck at the airport), hungry and with additional stomach cramps due to that time of month *headdesk* Couldn't sleep anymore, so I fixed myself something to eat. Watched two episodes of The Tudors. Tried to sleep again at 5 am and failed. Argh!
Anyway, the vacation...
After being pampered for 11 hours in the business class (thanks to mamoru22), we landed in L.A. only to arrive in the seventh level of hell - aka immigration services. There we proceded to stand in line for two hours (!) watching too few employees set a new record in working as slow as possible - or maybe a record of looking utterly bored and annoyed. But hey, at least they had a plate announcing that they were happily greeting us with a smile as representatives of their country *g* When we finally hit the end of the line, they took our picture and our fingerprints, making me feeling welcome like no one else (aka like a criminal).
Of course by then it was so late, we did nothing but get a car, driving to the hotel in Costa Mesa and get something to eat.
Next day we woke up by 5 am, got an early breakfast at IHOP and paid a short visit to Huntington Beach.
(the black dots are surfers, the beautiful view is indeed an oil platform.)
After that we drove up the coast to L.A. Where we were greated with an enourmous view of David Duchovny.
Since it was mareen's first time, we short-visited the Walk of Lame Fame, Man's Chinese Theater and Rodeo Drive.
(yes, there's the Hollywood sign somewhere in there *g*)
(Rodeo Drive)
Then we drove down to Santa Monica, ate at Bubba Gump's, strolled past Venice Beach - and slowly drove per stop and go to the Universal City Walk.
The next day was mostly spend shopping. Wandering through Target, Ross and Fashion Island. Once our feet decided to give up we've stopped by the cinema to watch Bourne Ultimatum, which did neither include an ultimatum nor did it really impress me. And US cinema air conditioning really really makes you freeze your ass off.
The last day in L.A. we visited Balboa Island in morning
and later went to swallow at least a glass of salt water while fighting the waves at Huntington Beach. Of course we all managed to get sunburned, but it was completely worth it.
We flew to Vancouver on Saturday, meeting up with tmz_cori at our hotel. After getting rid of our luggage, being annoyed about the fact that we had to live with air conditioning again (all the windows were sealed shut), we almost got lost by accident in the Vancouver Pacific Centre (having entered it more by accident than anything else, without knowing it runs at least two blocks underground) and strolled through Gastown.
The second day we caught a bus to Stanley Park which is really really beautiful.
I really want to come back and spend some more time there. We walked along the Lost Lagoon
and through the forest
(stumbling over funny signs)
to the Beaver Lake (which had neiter beavers, nor did it really look like lake, being all grown over).
In the afternoon we walked through the Aquarium
(Cori named him Sheppard *g*)
and then took a free ride around the peninsula.
In the evening we walked to Robson street and found an incredibly delicious Indian restaurant (it was so good, we came back the next day *g*).
Day three we walked down to Chinatown,
visited the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden (beautiful, but too small),
ate at some Chinese Restaurant (compared to the Indian this was really baaad.) and hit another cinema in the afternoon to catch The Invasion (an okay movie, though I'm not sure why we needed another take on the pod people thing.) At night we went by the HMV, saw/touched the Heroes S1 DVDs, but weren't allowed to buy them, since they weren't allowed to sell before 12 am that night.
We came back the next morning to buy them though. (Without Cori, because she had to fly back that day). We had planned to take the Sky Train on our last day to watch more of the city, but after we spend the morning on Robson Street we all felt so tired we simply walked back to the hotel, watched brainless TV and only left the room to get something to eat.
Went to bed on Friday at 7 pm, woke up with a panicked WhereTheFuckAmI? at 9 pm. Woke up again at 11 pm, checked my computer. Woke up again at 2 am, couldn't sleep anymore. Showered, checked my LJ for for about 6 hours. Got extremely tired, went to bed again, slept for another two hours. Crawled out of bed, feeling like being run over by a truck. Finished reading nine days of LJ around 6pm, while catching up with Psych, The Closer, Burn Notice, Bill Maher and Kyle XY. Went to bed, read half of Nevermore, which turned out better than I expected. Went to sleep at 9 pm, woke up at 11 pm, feeling like it was at least 6 am. Woke up at 1 am. Woke up at 3 am (after dreaming of being stuck at the airport), hungry and with additional stomach cramps due to that time of month *headdesk* Couldn't sleep anymore, so I fixed myself something to eat. Watched two episodes of The Tudors. Tried to sleep again at 5 am and failed. Argh!
Anyway, the vacation...
After being pampered for 11 hours in the business class (thanks to mamoru22), we landed in L.A. only to arrive in the seventh level of hell - aka immigration services. There we proceded to stand in line for two hours (!) watching too few employees set a new record in working as slow as possible - or maybe a record of looking utterly bored and annoyed. But hey, at least they had a plate announcing that they were happily greeting us with a smile as representatives of their country *g* When we finally hit the end of the line, they took our picture and our fingerprints, making me feeling welcome like no one else (aka like a criminal).
Of course by then it was so late, we did nothing but get a car, driving to the hotel in Costa Mesa and get something to eat.
Next day we woke up by 5 am, got an early breakfast at IHOP and paid a short visit to Huntington Beach.
(the black dots are surfers, the beautiful view is indeed an oil platform.)
After that we drove up the coast to L.A. Where we were greated with an enourmous view of David Duchovny.
Since it was mareen's first time, we short-visited the Walk of Lame Fame, Man's Chinese Theater and Rodeo Drive.
(yes, there's the Hollywood sign somewhere in there *g*)
(Rodeo Drive)
Then we drove down to Santa Monica, ate at Bubba Gump's, strolled past Venice Beach - and slowly drove per stop and go to the Universal City Walk.
The next day was mostly spend shopping. Wandering through Target, Ross and Fashion Island. Once our feet decided to give up we've stopped by the cinema to watch Bourne Ultimatum, which did neither include an ultimatum nor did it really impress me. And US cinema air conditioning really really makes you freeze your ass off.
The last day in L.A. we visited Balboa Island in morning
and later went to swallow at least a glass of salt water while fighting the waves at Huntington Beach. Of course we all managed to get sunburned, but it was completely worth it.
We flew to Vancouver on Saturday, meeting up with tmz_cori at our hotel. After getting rid of our luggage, being annoyed about the fact that we had to live with air conditioning again (all the windows were sealed shut), we almost got lost by accident in the Vancouver Pacific Centre (having entered it more by accident than anything else, without knowing it runs at least two blocks underground) and strolled through Gastown.
The second day we caught a bus to Stanley Park which is really really beautiful.
I really want to come back and spend some more time there. We walked along the Lost Lagoon
and through the forest
(stumbling over funny signs)
to the Beaver Lake (which had neiter beavers, nor did it really look like lake, being all grown over).
In the afternoon we walked through the Aquarium
(Cori named him Sheppard *g*)
and then took a free ride around the peninsula.
In the evening we walked to Robson street and found an incredibly delicious Indian restaurant (it was so good, we came back the next day *g*).
Day three we walked down to Chinatown,
visited the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden (beautiful, but too small),
ate at some Chinese Restaurant (compared to the Indian this was really baaad.) and hit another cinema in the afternoon to catch The Invasion (an okay movie, though I'm not sure why we needed another take on the pod people thing.) At night we went by the HMV, saw/touched the Heroes S1 DVDs, but weren't allowed to buy them, since they weren't allowed to sell before 12 am that night.
We came back the next morning to buy them though. (Without Cori, because she had to fly back that day). We had planned to take the Sky Train on our last day to watch more of the city, but after we spend the morning on Robson Street we all felt so tired we simply walked back to the hotel, watched brainless TV and only left the room to get something to eat.