We made it to Los Angeles. The flight was pretty easy. I guess a lot of people wouldn’t have called an 8 hour trip with two kids easy, but they’ve probably never flown over the North Pole. And now we’re in an easy sublet with an oh so convenient location of four blocks to the beach and one block to the promenade. This was certainly not the way our Asia adventure started out. But, I guess we take less risks as we’re pulled out of our twenties.
We’re apartment hunting now and I never put so much effort into a place to live before. Part of it is that I don’t want to rely on a car. If I pick the perfect location, then we’ll only need a vehicle for weekend outings. We’re planning on utilizing the nearby (and farther reaching) national parks while we’re on this side of the U.S..
Maeli seems to be in her element here. I don’t know whether it’s just the free and easy feeling of summer vacation, or if she was a California native in a previous life. She’s just happy to be here, and loving all of the niceties that Santa Monica has to offer. Whether it’s the nearby parks, beaches, or shopping districts, Maeli fits right in with her shades and friendly attitude. During the first few days, she kept commenting, “This looks a lot like the U.S.!” It’s fun to know that she’s been to so many foreign countries that she can recognize the re-curing look and feel that is pinned to her homeland.
Joey is too young to care much about anything other than, “where is mama?” But, I do have to say that the sun has not treated him well. We were out on an overcast day and it really tricked us. For the last few days, my little baby has had a red face with a nice pacifier tan line around his mouth. Hysterical, right?
Some quick first opinions about Santa Monica, considering that I haven’t really been to many other L.A. locations aside from passing through Malibu, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood:
- I’m waiting for a crappy day (weather wise)
- It’s not hot but breezy and in the low 70’s because we’re near the ocean
- Rollerblading is still in style here
- Cars actually wait for pedestrians
- I have seen very few overweight people
- Be prepared to talk to friendly strangers
- Ignore the plethora of homeless
- The cost of living is on par with Hong Kong & NYC
- Whole Foods is the new Wal-Mart
- Even though I hear a lot of Spanish, it’s not the only popular foreign language
- There is an interesting spectrum of rich to poor
- You really do see a lot of film making going on
- Welcome to the land of beautiful people
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