Ultimate travel guide for the lost: Los Angeles Pt.1

Hello my loves! Welcome back to the travel guide section of my blog. Today we’re discussing Los Angeles. My second trip of 2019 & a HUGE learning experience about travel for me personally. I was lucky enough to have a seasoned travel buddy #shoutouttoDaph, but it still was difficult to figure out what we wanted to do and see.

Before you get on the road:

For me as a first time traveler lucky enough to travel with someone who had become a pro made my life a tad bit easier, but since we were both in a new place it still made it difficult to decide what to do. We began by typing “Most instagrammable places in LA”. Seriously?! is what you may be thinking, but here’s the logic behind it. The most popular picture spots are usually tourist driven areas to begin with. Sure there may be a coffee shop with a pink wall thrown in the mix, and if thats not for you then skip it, but the areas that let people know “I was in LA” are usually on instagram anyways. Let’s face it 9/10 you’re going to take some type of picture even if you’re not in it.

P.S. I have a vlog that accompanies this post take a gander here:

No car no problem:

We ended up staying in East Los Angels which was super convenient, because it was close to downtown. There were pros and cons to lyfting though.

Pros:

You don’t have to pay/worry about parking.
Don’t have to worry about missing all of the beautiful views
you can take naps in between destinations #amood

Cons:

You don’t have the felxibility of being able to get up and go
No trunk space to store your tourist items (I couldn’t take one to-go box home since we ate so early)
Once in a while you get the rambler Lyft driver when all you want to do is snooze

Prices you can expect to pay:

22-25 miles = $35- $40 (i.e. LAX – East LA)
12-20 miles = $20 – $30 (i.e. East LA – Hollywood)
5-10 miles = $10- $15 (i.e. East LA – Downtown LA )

The best way to start your day is with food:

I know I sound like a gremlin, but seriously the easiest way to start your day is with food. Daphney & I started planning by choosing which area of Los Angeles we wanted to begin our tourist shenanigans in & googled restaurants in that area. Once we ate for the morning/evening we simply started walking around the area to our next location. It was a win win, because we burned calories & saved Lyft money.

What’s Food Got to do with it?!

SN: we tried chose places that were “$” when searching on google. #savewhereyoucan

101 Coffee Shop : 70’s themed decor diner with AMAZING breakfast! This place is super cute and the food was amazing. Try their homemade hashbrowns! https://www.101coffeeshop.com

6145 Franklin Ave, Hollywood, CA 90028
ALSO they close at 3 AM! #mood
I had a salmon bagel! My first time eating raw salmon. I was skeptical, but my goodness it SLAPPED! The cream cheese really set it off!

2. The Misfit Restaurant + Bar: Loved the ambiance, but sides weren’t included with meals which was a little pesky & pricey. I probably wouldn’t go back but the food was good! https://themisfitbar.com

225 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401
I had brussel sprouts for the first time in my life & they were actually good!
They put apple slices on my chicken sandwich #delish

3. Fratelli Cafe: AMAAAAZZZINNNNNGGG!!!! You MUST go here when you visit Melrose. The food was SO good. My cousins took me here on our lunch date & melrose wasn’t even on our list of places to visit. (GO TO MELROSE!) Its on a main road that has super cool vibes. Awesome shops and people. https://www.fratellicafe.com

You definitely need to try the crossianwhich & the pomegranate mimosa!

7200 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046
It also has vegan and vegetarian options

These are places that you should try if you’re not looking for a sit down option:

In-N-Out burger: obviously you can’t go to California and not go here. The burger was good but the fries I could have skipped out on. The location we went to didn’t have the options to dazzle the fries with cheese/bacon bits so that was depressing.
Arctic Hotspot Cafe & Catering: I found this place using grub hub and I’ve been craving it since. I will definitely get breakfast from here again when I go back. Super affordable and taste IMPECCABLE! Try the lemonade. SERIOUSLY even if you don’t like juice like me, because its life changing and I should have gotten a large smh.

Thanks for reading! See you when part 2 goes live!

P.S. don’t clock me for grammar at this point in time b/c my baby sister #gramarqueen is currently sick and unable to double check this for me!