Los Angeles 🇺🇸

Los Angeles, a city that surprised me a lot but unfortunately not in a positive way this time. In all the months I've been traveling, this is the first time I've truly felt unsafe here, especially as a girl alone. Honestly, even if I hadn't been alone, I wouldn't have felt safe here. The downtown area is unfortunately full of homeless people and drug addicts. As a girl, you're approached inappropriately at every corner and receive uncomfortable looks from almost everyone. Nevertheless, I wanted to give the city a chance and explored it. Well, there's not much to see in the downtown area except for one closed store next to another. There's a fancy bookstore where I spent some time and a few parks. But unexpectedly, I ended up back at the hostel in the evening and made myself comfortable there. The next day, I visited Hollywood and its surroundings. First, I went to Beverly Hills and checked out all the luxury stores there, but honestly, I've seen them all before and they didn't impress me at all. Then I tried to escape the crowds a bit and walked through the streets, passing by one mansion bigger than the other. After a quite long walk, I finally reached the Walk of Fame. At first, I didn't even notice that it had already started because the crowds only started after about 500m, and that's when I consciously looked down at the stars instead of my ice cream. So I also walked around the stars for a while and read the names. Unfortunately, I hardly knew any of them except Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse maybe. After browsing through the shops for a bit, I also saw the big Hollywood sign, which I had almost forgotten again. Actually, there's this very special viewpoint where you have a perfect view of the city on one side and the Hollywood sign on the other, but I decided it was enough for me to see it from a distance. Honestly, I believe I was one of the worst and least impressed visitors Hollywood has ever seen. In the evening, I cooked my dinner at the hostel and packed my backpack again. Thank God, it was already my last day in LA, I couldn't wait to finally leave. I wanted to spend this day at the beach though. So in the morning, I went to Venice Beach and walked up to Santa Monica during the day. I stopped here and there to watch the surfers or to watch Baywatch live (thankfully no real emergencies!). After seeing the end of Route 66, I slowly made my way back to the end of Venice Beach. This time, not on the beach but along the promenade. I found a nice cafe and could watch the hustle and bustle from there. Again, I thought to myself, yes, a nice beach but every single one on my road trip fascinated me more. But yes, I have to admit, the atmosphere was good and quite contagious, but also very crowded everywhere.

All in all, I really didn't like LA and I can't quite understand the hype behind it. But hey, if I hadn't been there, I wouldn't know. So now I'm one experience richer! 👀