All posts filed under: LAX

LAX LAS Diaries 2011 – Departure and loving my Rimowa Suitcase

Published by

The last time I got on a plane was in February and I decided it was time I went somewhere on vacation. I hadn’t left Ontario for 7 months, it was beginning to wear on me. I needed to get out. My friend Marija lives in Las Vegas. I documented my last trip there in 2008 on I want – I got. It was a blast but I didn’t expect she would be there long. Well, here we are four years later and even she’s bought a house in the Vegas suburbs. That is how Las Vegas became part of my trip. My newlywed friends Paul and Lauren live in Santa Monica. In August 2010, I flew to Los Angeles to visit them because of a perk I received from Klout for the doomed Virgin Airlines route YYZ to LAX/SFO. Santa Monica became part of the trip since I was heading west to Las Vegas already and it wasn’t far away. I’m also in love with Santa Monica and California living. Oceans, mountains and desert …

LAX Diaries – Day 4

Published by

When I got up Monday morning I appreciated the SoCal sun. It doesn’t usually come out till after noon so you can sleep in and not feel guilty about missing the day. The weather by the ocean was overcast with clear breaks. When it’s sunny, it’s fantastic and you fall in love. Hell, when it’s overcast you fall in love; it doesn’t rain. I decided to check out the shopping at the 3rd Street Promenade. It was very close to the ocean. I first stopped at the Le Pain Quotidien and had Organic Red Quinoa salad with arugula, chickpeas and artichoke. Paul and Lauren’s original choice for breakfast/lunch was closed. This lunch put me on a quinoa kick and I’m making salad often at home using both regular and red quinoa. 3rd Street Promenade is pretty much all chain stores. That is something I noticed a lot of in my travels. I didn’t make a list of cool shops to visit before I left and I regret that. I really want to see what independent …

LAX Diaries – Day 3

Published by

Sunday started out with brunch in Malibu at Moonshadows (20356 Pacific Coast Highway). This restaurant is the most beautiful place I’ve ever eaten at. It overlooks the ocean and it takes your breath away. We were dive bombed by very large seagulls at times but it was totally worth it. This spot really solidified the need of oceans and mountains in my life. Moonshadows is called one of the world’s best beach bars and I can understand why. The west coast is calling me big time. I didn’t expect to love southern California but it was becoming apparent that I was drinking the koolaid hard and fast. I love desert weather, Las Vegas exposed me to it and LA perfected it. Santa Monica is a beautiful place with tree-lined streets and non cookie cutter homes. That was something I noticed a lot, homes with individual personalities. I learned there are no basements and wood dwellings are hard to come by. This is apparently because of earthquakes, termites and cockroaches. After brunch it was a trip …

LAX Diaries – Day 2

Published by

My first full day in California started with a trip to Rodeo Drive. It seems pretty fitting that my first sightseeing trip in LA would be its luxury centre. The actual road is pretty short but the surrounding blocks have other high-end and moderately priced clothing shops like Roots, Club Monaco and Gap. There were high-end stores I would have never expected to see like Harry Winston. We walked in and took at look at the celeb worn jewels but didn’t walk past the burly security guard who watched over the area where the sales staff where. I didn’t go into a lot of stores as I was a bit overwhelmed with the options. LA is a huge tourist town and I always find it funny to see people taking pictures at some cheesy Rodeo Drive landmark like a sign or water fountain. This happened everywhere, It’s that movie influence and one of the few things I find distasteful about LA. Most of the stores where fairly plain-looking. It seemed only the Prada store lived …

LAX Diaries – Day 1

Published by

Klout is a company that uses twitter analytics to determine how influential you are on the medium. I’ve always been interested in these measurement techniques so I signed up for the service.   It works about as well as the rest of them do which means take it with a grain of salt.  Many months later I get an email from Klout telling me I have a free flight on the new Virgin America route from Toronto to San Francisco or Los Angeles. I just had to pay the taxes and fly before the middle of August. This was great as I have a good friend who lives in Santa Monica. It took me a couple of weeks to confirm my dates and I prayed that there were still flights available. Well there were and I spent the Civic holiday weekend in beautiful California. I arrived at terminal 3 super early. I remembered my last flying experience to New York and how crazy the security and customs line was. I didn’t to repeat running to the …