Los Angeles

My goodness. I had such a long day yesterday and I had to sit in teh lobby to use the internet that I just gave up and went to bed.
So I'll review my Wednesday and then talk about today (Thursday? ;) and we'll see what happens.

I got the group up early and we all headed to Universal Studios. I planned to drop them off and they'd all spend the entire day there and I'd pick them up with some time to explore Hollywood. So we are making our way to Universal, I've studied the maps and we get stuck in traffic. Then when we get to Universal City I say, hmmm I wonder if the exit is marked with a "universal Studios, this way" its not! Going south on 101 its called Universal City, going north on 101 its called Universal Studios (remember that) so I had to exit the freeway and circle back and then cross over the freeway, all of which i did very well until I got to the last turn that was a no left turn, I could see the entrance to the park by then (as could my horrible back seat driver...) so I had to head up and over the hill and the find a place to turn around and make my way back up to the entrance again. My goodness! So I got them dropped off and then I went and drove circles around Hollywood adn Highland so that I'd know where to park, what was there, etc and that was a good move for sure! I then drove down Sunset Blvd and turned at some street headed towards Wilshire Blvd and as I did that I passed a Verizon Wireless which I needed so I went in and got myself sorted out and then went on to the beach! I drove down Wilshire until it turned into Santa Monica Beach (or area??) and I drove up the coast towards Malibu to see if I could find the restaurant that Brian recommended. I had a nice time doing that. Its the street you see in teh movies alot, the one lined with palm trees. Its really spectacular there! I parked and got my bearings and then it was time to head back to my group. Traffic in LA is insane! When its bad, its really bad! So I managed to get them picked up on time and without incident and we made our way easily to Hollywood Blvd. I walked them around and showed them the stars on the sidewalk and the hand and feet prints of the stars at Graumans Chinese Theatre. It was fun. They all really enjoyed it.
It was finally time to drive them to our restaurant ( I'd heard it took 40 minutes to get there on Sunset Blvd, that is no joke!) I drove like a mad woman through Beverly Hills and up and over the hills to the beach where we were greeted by our dinner stop! Gladstone's. Oh my gosh, the prices! I should have found that out ahead of time and warned my group because they about died when they saw how much stuff was. And it was REALLY expensive. They are famous for handling groups and they have a ton of room there but our waiter wasn't very efficient. the view is worth it though really, I'd say get there at sunset time and you'd really have it made. We ate well and then hit the beach and then I drove them back to the hotel. I had to park the van and get that taken care of and when i got back to the lobby they were all waiting for me to give me the cutest card and a tip as well. It was so nice of them. They were so proud of that, it wasn't much but they were so sincere about it that it was worth it for sure.

Today (Thursday) I met my group later in the morning and we headed out to explore the beaches together. I only had 6 of the bunch as the family had rented a car and moved along on their own. So we 7 had a fantastic time today!! It was the best day! I drove them to Venice Beach and we walked in the sand and saw Muscle Beach and they ate and shopped and we walked a long ways! What a blast.
I took them back to the hotel and gathered their bags and we set off to LAX. Which, by the way, is the EASIEST airport I've ever been to in my life! Talk about organized and easy to get around. For being a huge airport it was so nice to just get them to their gate and drop them off. Thank goodness.
I got hugs from all of them and a kiss on the lips from one of my guys, it was such a surprise and he was just being funny but it was hilarious. They all invited me to come visit them in England which I'd love to do and I said goodbye. It was sad to see them go. They were my favorite bunch for sure.

I didn't make any friends with the valet's at the Sheraton I will say. They let us park the van in this spot out back and the last two times I went there I got hassled by either security or the valet. I was escorted to the security office today by the manager. I told him, somewhere someone had talk to someone at the hotel and they'd made an arrangement to park the van there...that was literally all I knew. The really annoying part was that today I was only leaving it set there for 20 minutes before I went and picked up the group so what was the big deal? They threatened to tow the van and everything. I'm hoping I didn't spoil it for everyone else from Inc Ad who will go there. I'm going to warn them about it. "self parking" is a joke, its like miles away and I have to pay 15 bucks each time I come and go, which is often!

Once I got the group sent off I drove through town and got onto the 110 headed towards the I5. It took forever to get out of LA but it was okay, I drove straight through the center of LA today.
The drive was pretty boring but I made good time getting to my hotel stop. Which is where I am now. In a place called Kettleman City.
I got all my bags out and sorted out the stuff I've been packing around with me. I'm really excited to get rid of the dead weight I've been carrying around for 3 weeks. Speaking of dead weight one of my group spotted my drivers license and said I'd lost weight and she insisted on showing it to everyone. I can't tell how much I've lost but I sure felt like I've been working my a** off so its nice that it shows.
I'm so tired right now and I got the last cheap room with no a/c in it so I'm going to sweat myself to sleep! 3 more hours of driving tomorrow and I'll be back in SF. Hard to believe it, seems like an eternity really. This next tour will be good though, knowing the stuff really helps!