Kirstie's Travel Diaries #10 - Venice Beach, Santa Monica & YouTubers

Catch up with #9 here.

DAY 10 (09/03/12)

Friday morning , the sun was shining and today we had decided to finally head down to the BEACH! Venice Beach to be precise and not forgetting Santa Monica!
We thought we'd ask at our hotel desk for the best way in getting to the beach, with traffic in LA being crazy busy we decided taxi probably wasn't the best idea as if we got stuck in traffic we could be paying hundreds of dollars! After speaking to them we headed off to the bus stop on Hollywood and Highland where we were to get on a bus and head to a bus station to change.

This bus came and we got on, a little nervous as to be fair we had no idea where we were going and knew no-one.
After what seemed a lifetime of stopping at a million stops on the same never-ending road we ended up at a bus depot type thing (aka we had no idea where we were). We actually got off at the wrong stop and had to walk  little bit to get there - we weren't having much luck at this moment.

Luckily a friendly bus driver advised us on where to go, so onto another bus it was and on the home straight to Venice Beach. Again, this wasn't a short journey but finally after over an hour and a half we were there - Venice Beach!

Obviously I'd seen Venice Beach so many times before, TV, Films, YouTube so this made it all the more exciting - recognising so many views and "sets"! 90210 sprung to mind!

One thing me and my friend had been dying to do was put our feet in the Pacific Ocean. I think it comes from us watching the movie Crossroads so many times and Mimi in it saying "I wanna travel all the way to California and dip my feet in the Pacific Ocean..." - have you guys seen that movie? I hope so - it's a childhood favourite of mine, got to love a bit of Britney!
So we did it, headed straight onto the beach and straight to the sea - now there was noway I was going in for a swim because.... erm... Sharks! So feet was enough! 

We walked alotng the beach for a little while and then decided to head back onto the walkway to check out everything there!
Venice Beach is a busy place and there is so much going on, stools, musicans, shops, cafes - the place is buzzing and we loved it!
There was so much to look at and even though I've heard people I know say before that it is a bit "dodgey" I didn't feel uncomfortable or on edge at all, I was loving it!
Walking along we suddenly noticed something we had definitely seen on TV - one of the model's homes from American's Next Top Model!!! (I can't remember what cycle it was - but I loved the season where they lived here - it is the most beautiful home with the most insane view!)

We could see the Santa Monica pier so thought we would walk along to there, taking in the beautiful views as we went!
We'd been walking for a while so we stopped and got a drink, it was probably the hottest day for us since arriving in the US... it wasn't even that hot and my poor pale skin wasn't coping well.
We set off again, getting closer to the pier - we could see the Ferris wheel and couldn't wait to hop on!
Whilst walking towards it all I suddenly noticed a camera crew - cameras, mics etc and then I suddenly saw who they were all pointed towards.... CarlieStylez and HeyKayli from YouTube!
If you haven't heard of them... where have you been? I have been watching the Shaytards probably for around 3 or 4 years now and with them being sister and sister-in-law to the family I have been subscribed to their channels ever since they started and of course to The Moms View.

I knew exactly what they were doing down in Santa Monica - filming Moms On The Loose!
I begged my friend to wait with me until they had stopped filming so I could go and speak to them and get a picture  call me sad/crazy but I knew there was noway this opportunity would ever come again!
I think we probably looked like weirdos sat down on the beach wall about 10m away waiting for them to finish interviewing  group of guys and at one point I thought we should probably just leave but after little while they finished up and the guys left.
So, like a crazy fan girl I went over and asked if I could have a photo with them - yes I'm that girl. #awkward
Thankfully they were so so lovely and happily had a couple of photos with us, not only this but they asked us to be on The Moms View.

 This terrified me but of course we said yes! We were filmed answering a few questions - which I totally ballsed up and sounded like a complete fool and I still cringe to this very day about it but.... oh well! 
It was so amazing meeting them both (although they did think I was about 16... god damn my young baby face!) as their family to me are such amazing role models and I can honestly say they were so lovely and I even still get to speak to Carlie on twitter now and again which, to me, is just crazy -she is such a sweetheart. 

After that seriously exciting moment we carried on up to the pier, passing the famous rings (that I always see in the Shaytards videos) and more!
Finally we were there - Santa Monica pier.

 A few years ago I would have never imagined I would have been this far from home, having the time of my life and seeing sights I never even dreamed I'd be able to see.

 We got some lunch (chips) and chilled for a bit - we had walked a fairly long way in the heat! Then it was time for the Ferris wheel! All we kept thinking was.... this is where Spencer propsed to Heidi in The Hills haha!
I swear to god that wheel went round about 500 times but definitely gave us enough time to get lots of lovely photos of the view! Why don't I live here?

Time was getting on and we knew that, with traffic, we were a good hour way from our hotel we thought that going back to the bus was the best plan.
Now.... where the bus stop was - we had no idea! There was noway we were walking back along to Venice Beach where we had come from so we went to the little help/police desk thing at the pier!
The officer kindly looked into all the bus times for us - which was like writing down chinese to us - we had no idea where we were going, or even which way!
 We actually stood on the wrong side of the road for about 30 minutes until we realised the bus we needed was across the other side - blonde moment.
We then had to run for our bus when we saw it - highly embarrassing  We were finally on a bus (and luckily had a seat) and it was packed.
It took us over 2 hours and 2 buses to get back to Hollywood and by this time I never wanted to see a bus again!
We had a quick dinner and took some photos up on Hollywood Boulevard and went bck to the hotel for an early night - what a day!

NEXT POST - LA Ink, Pinkberry & watching David Beckham!!