Across The Country for a Blogging Conference Turns into Adventure in Los Angeles, California

This trip was just another crazy last-minute decision of mine, very similar to my Boston trip!

BlogHer16 was two days away before I booked my flight ticket to Los Angeles (along with my Conference ticket as well!)

You might be thinking that since I got my flight ticket taken care of, I’m going to need a couple of other things, and I’ll be good to go. You know, like food, a roof over my head, and a way to get around within the city! no biggie.

Yeah, well!! I didn’t even think about those things until I landed at LAX International Airport! (I’m such a mess, I know!) But I just left it all to luck and adventure.

Internally: All I was thinking about was… “I’m freaking going to LA!” and if someone took a picture of me for the gram, the hashtag would be #ExcitementOverload!

Externally: I was chilling at the airport, head in my laptop- trying to complete my HBX homework and exams before the due date! More like 2 hours before it’s due!

Anyways, thinking about what I was going to do was the last thing on my mind. I wanted to go surfing (it’s a California thing, but not sure if it’s an LA one!)

My mind was fully occupied, and I wanted to explore LA to it’s fullest, unfortunately with no plan.. or a place to stay at, nor a car to get me places! (City girl got no driving license lol)

So as you can see. . This is going to get interesting!

I landed in LAX and automatically searched for a Starbucks to sit in and get me my caffeine of the day.

My phone was out of charge with full memory (you can imagine how slow it was from all those selfies and pre-airport pics!) Once it reached a 16% charge, I instantly downloaded Uber, Airbnb, and for a little bit extra, I downloaded Lyft!

One thing for sure I forgot to do was to download Headout, to know exactly where the heck I should go to, being plan-less and everything!

I ordered an uber to a hostel I found online that accepts last-minute requests since all the hotels were jacked up AF! I booked it for two days, till I figure out what to do for the rest of the ten days I’ll stay in Los Angeles.

I never stayed in a hostel before, but it was on my list of “Things to do in my twenties!” And guess what, it should be on yours too!

My uber ride was 45 minutes long to downtown LA, and Yes my driver loves to talk just like any other cab driver.. but the good thing about that was that I noted down a couple of non-touristic places to go to while in LA.

I got to my hostel at 1 in the Am! My hostel guy already knew that I’ll get there around that time, I opened the door, and it was pitch black with so many bunk beds so close to the door (the door wasn’t locked!)

As you can imagine, I had the WTF facial expressions on and stepped back, closing the door slowly. I called the guy that owns it, and he immediately hangs up on the line before answering it, and I got an angry text from him saying, “it’s freaking late, I told you to text me only! What do you want?”

(WTF facial expressions on again!) I replied to him with;

“I already told you that I’ll come in late, and No, you never told me to text you only!!”

He replied: “who’s this?” And I said: “Mmm. Salwa!”

And he texted me back with: “Oh sorry, I thought you were someone else, come through the door, lock it after you and take off your shoes, the first bottom bed to the left is yours! Good night”

My thoughts were: “I better not get raped or kidnapped, where’s my mini pocket knife at?” While I slowly enter and take off my shoes, doing a 360-degree look-out rotation with every step I took!

Of course, I was sent to someone else’s bed! But thanks god he/she weren’t there yet.. and had to switch to another one from the probably 16 beds placed in a studio-like apartment with a DIY kind of half-second floor with a metal staircase to carry the majority of those bunk beds. (Don’t get me talking about the failed promised breakfast and the dirty towels)

But oh well. That guy wanted to do business!! For 37 dollars a night in downtown LA, what more should I expect!

Anyways, I ended up meeting so many people from that hostel (where we all connected on how this hostel can do so much better). Still, we also agreed to how of a beautiful experience it was that got us to meet each other and connect in such away.

My LA-trip best friend was met in that hostel; she was a blogger from Virginia, representing a fitness blog she works with. (Totally forgot what it’s called!)

We ended up going to the conference together, having lunch, meeting between sessions and even hanging out together after the meeting.

We went to VIP parties together (you know.. because we’re so cool! ?)

We slide down the tallest building in LA @ the US Bank Tower (SkySpace)

Going back to the BlogHer16 Conference (Yeah, it’s the one that Kim K was at and the whole world freaked over it!!)

You can explore Downtown LA with Headout as well; they have The Ultimate Downtown LA Tour.

When someone decided to draw on my coffee cup!! (Sup.!)

Check out the #BlogHer16 and read/see how I got a chance to connect with so many brands and influencers! And of course.. had the best time ever (with all the free and cool stuff I got/did!)

Now back to the beautiful LA. Shall we?!

It’s normal to spend the whole night dancing salsa with a hundred other people!

And make best friends in seconds.. or maybe it’s just me!

Did I meet any celebrities?! Hell yeah, I did.. Mee! Lol

I did not just meet some… I also got an entire day with them!! (ate lunch, talked about life, sang together, and even took selfies.. a lot of selfies!! lol)

Oh, and that’s when Adele stole my phone!!

I took it by force.. she didn’t want to give it back!! Unfortunately!

Enough with all those celebs… I got tons of pics, I’ll share them later! 😛

Thy famous boulevard!

When I visited Paramount Pictures!

It’s all about that studio life!

But I guess I stayed on the bus for a long time touring around LA; I probably reached china!! (Haha, it china town, don’t worry!)

And Hollywood is so famous.. that you can hike up any Hollywood sign (because there’s so many copy-cats!)

Uhh, all those palm trees 😀

Let’s see more Hollywood!

(I hope I wasn’t the reason behind the breaking up!! lol)

Filmmakers like me will admire this so much 😀

More like 15 blocks where tourists would sit on the dirty floor and stop traffic from taking pictures with a bunch of names!

But with all that, I didn’t forget to eat at the famous In-N-Out Burger!!

And after the party (BlogHer), Downtown LA went quiet on a Sunday morning…

I guess that’s when you go on The Temecula Limo Wine Tour for the “Wine tasting and a luxurious limo ride – doesn’t get much better than that! Drive through beautiful, winding valleys and catch breathtaking views of panoramic green hills and sloping vineyards. Taste top-notch wines and learn all about the art of winemaking. Enjoy lunch on a gorgeous estate with a lush, green vineyard as your backdrop.”

I guess that’s it for my first LA adventure… Not my last

Therefore, We celebrated.. at the Conga room 😀

Till next time LA, Keep the love healthy <3