National Cat Day

Yesterday was National Cat Day (I'm guessing only in the UK?) so I think we should celebrate it with some cat pictures.

The End!

I am afraid this is it. The last blogpost about the trip. Then I need to bring you up to speed on my life since I got back. Which is not that exciting by the way. I suggest you listen to this song while reading. It is one of the many country songs that we heard on the radio during our trip and this one in particular is very suitable for this occasion. 

  

We had a few hours before we had to return the van and head to the airport so we decided to have our last BBQ meal. First we stopped at a car cleaner in order to make sure we didn’t get any extra charges at the rental place then we hit the road towards the closest BBQ we could find. It turned out though that the closest place was a bit of a shack so we decided to keep on looking.  We ended up in Long Beach which is pretty much the opposite to “closest” BBQ. It was about an hour drive but since we had time it didn’t really matter much. The place was called Beachwood Brewing and BBQ and looked pretty good from the outside, and since we were getting kind of hungry at this point, so we decided it had to do. I got pulled pork with coleslaw and hush puppies. Hush puppies, by the way, is something I wish we had in Europe (I’m sure I told you about the time back on the east coast when we confused Hush puppies with Slush puppies. Funny story.) They are awesome! And I was glad I got to have them one last time before heading back home. 

After the meal we took some pictures of the van so we would remember what it looked like and so that you guys could get an idea of how we lived during the past three months. At the Escape Campervan office we told the guy about some things that were missing that we had to buy ourselves so he gave us a very generous discount. Much appreciated! However, I would still recommend people to rent with Escape Campervans since it’s a pretty awesome deal and the guys who run it are really nice. 


Heading back to the hotel to pick up our bags and take the free shuttle bus to the airport it finally became real that this trip was coming to a close. We couldn’t believe how quickly it had all gone and how well it all had gone since nothing really major happened, except for our headlight being stolen and… hum… I crashed into a parked car. But other than that it had gone pretty smoothly. We were looking forward to getting home though, if not just to rest and not having to drive in crazy traffic every day. But, oh boy, would I do it all again. In a heartbeat! Next time we’ll fill in the rest of the map. This has been an unforgettable experience and I can tick the box. If you have a dream to go travel I say: DO IT! Before it’s too late and you have children or a career. But even then, you could probably still do it! “Life is too short” and “YOLO” and all that. Peace!

(Check out the route one the map further down)

L.A. day 3

We started the day at The Original Pancake House that I'd been longing for ever since New York. If you're going to the U.S. you really need to visit this place for breakfast or brunch. I first went here when I was visiting my cousin and her family two years ago and I've wanted to go back ever since. They have a couple of restaurants spread out over the U.S but most of them are in California. They serve all kinds of pancakes you can imagine, as well as omelettes if that's your thing. It is not like IHOP or Waffle house, which are disgusting, but more like an authentic old fashioned café. I had bacon pancakes with strawberries on the side. Yum! 

Satisfied with our bellies full of pancakes we headed towards Manhattan Beach for some serious chillaxing. Manhattan Beach is quite a long way south of L.A. and Santa Monica Beach but it is a great and beautiful beach and not as crowded as other beaches closer to the city. The highlight of the day was a guy who, anything but subtle, tried to flirt with a couple of girls. And, even though they were less than impressed by his attempts, I can admire his courage and confidence which is very visible overall in this country compared to Sweden or the UK. I wish we all could care less about what other’s think and just go for it! 

In the evening we went to one of our favourite restaurants in L.A. that we had been to three years ago. It is right on Sunset Boulevard and called Saddle Ranch Chop House. I had a Baseball Cut Sirloin and Josh had the Ultimate Cut Prime rib. I was a bit disappointed with the size of mine as I didn’t think it would actually be as small as a baseball (hence the name Baseball Sirloin) but the size of Josh’s Prime rib could feed ten people. It was huge! 

L.A. day 2

On the second day we decided to chill out as much as we could so we went to Santa Monica beach. We wanted to savour the moment as much as we could since we wouldn't have the opportunity to go to a beach in sunshine in a long time after the trip. We started by having breakfast by one of the cafés on the beach and then stayed still for an hour or so. When we felt like sunbathing was enough for today we walked along the beach towards Venice. Here we stumbled upon a bunch of freaks filming a TV-show called... you guessed it, Freakshow. There were men and women covered in piercings and colourful hair as well as some people claiming to be magicians. We stopped by the crowd to have a look at the show but nothing much happened except for an unsuccessful magic trick that was just painful to watch. The skateboard park looked more interesting so we watched some skaters do their thing for a while before heading back to Santa Monica. We left our things in the car and headed for one of the restaurants on the pier. All in all a good day at the beach.