The main purpose for going to Los Angeles was to see my Aunt May and my Cousin Salim. I hadn’t seen them in over seven years so this was definitely overdue. When I was planning my travels one of the things on the top of my list was to see them.

I touched down in LA and met May. We had a 45 minute drive from the Airport to where they lived in San Dimas; the journey flew by as we spent it catching up.

It was a relief to be able to relax for a few hours before doing anything. We had a Skype chat with my family back home, I can’t recall enjoying a family reunion as much as this. I don’t know if anyone who has travelled would agree with this, but I found you can get caught up in so much you don’t realise how quickly time passes before you actually speak to your family. It’s a lot easier to lose track when we’ve got access to WhatsApp, Facebook etc and it becomes easier to write a message every so often.

The last time I saw Salim he was 13 or 14, and now he’s this adult I barely recognised. I was intrigued by how he changed. The Salim I remember was the little kid who went out of his way to irritate me when we were younger back in the days when I’d regularly visit my family in Lebanon. He is the most chilled out person I know. He was doing well at Uni and managed a Hookah Lounge (that’s the American version of a Sheesha lounge). It was good getting to know him again, and reminisce.

We went to an all you can eat Chinese buffet which quite frankly shits on any Chinese food I’ve had in England. I don’t think I’ve eaten Chinese food since I came back to England just because it can’t compete. Salim left early for work, May and I stayed for another 30 – 45 minutes before she dropped me off to join him.

I hadn’t smoked sheesha in so long I forgot what it taste like or what flavours I liked. Salim recommended grape mint which I stuck to whenever I went to the Hookah Lounge. His colleagues and friends were nice, welcoming and easy to talk to.

One of his colleagues Kris loved my accent. Throughout my time here he’d asked me about common English phrases/sayings we use. I don’t know if people who’ve been to the States can relate to this, but even after explaining what an English saying means, Americans by this point are still laughing at either how we sound saying them or the meaning behind the phrase.

I spent the next two days visiting LA. It would be my first time taking an Amtrak in America, and they really put the rail system back home to shame. They’re double decker, the seats are comfortable and there’s free Wi-Fi on the Amtraks that do city to city journeys. If only Southern Rail could take notes and implement half of what the Americans do, we wouldn’t hear many complaints.

The first day going into LA there was a guy I got talking to on the platform, he was going to an LA Dodger’s game. As the Amtrak pulls up and we prepare part ways, he asks if he can sit next to me. He said it was his first time going to a game on his own as his friend couldn’t come and he said he didn’t want to get lost. He knew I wasn’t from around here so I have no idea why he thought he wouldn’t get lost with someone who’d never been to LA before.

I booked a tour bus for the 2 days. If you ever take the tour bus, please bear in mind when you look at the map and the routes, it takes a lot longer than you think. The routes are separated and colour coded by buses but it can easily mislead you into thinking you can do a lot in a day.

It took over 2 hours to get to Santa Monica Beach, it was worth the journey. For how disappointing LA is Santa Monica Pier and the beach were really nice, Forrest Gump was filmed on the Pier and I even saw a Bubba Gump Shrimp on the Pier.

I spent around an hour in the area before heading back or I risked missing the last bus to take me to the station. I would’ve liked the time to go to Venice beach but there’s always next time.

I booked the tour bus because I was told by numerous people who’d been to LA about how poor the public transport was. I arrived to find there was a metro that went direct to Santa Monica and had easy access to Venice beach. Another place I didn’t have the chance to see is Griffith Park but I imagine I’ll be back again to see May and Salim. At least I know what to expect, and I can be better prepared.

The second day in LA was spent around Hollywood. I had a quick look around Madame Tussauds before heading to the walk of fame area. The only thing I remember about the walk of fame was noticing someone had vandalised Donald Trump’s star.

I didn’t spend that long in Hollywood as there wasn’t much to do. Truth be told, Hollywood is a shithole. I don’t understand the hype, it’s nothing special. Don’t waste your time going to LA if your main reason is Hollywood.

I don’t really see the appeal of LA, apart from the Santa Monica area there isn’t much to do. The popular places are far away from each another. If you’re planning to come here you wouldn’t need more than 3 or 4 days.

I spent the last day in San Dimas. During the day I went with May for a drive around the mountains before stopping off at the Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, and walking around Puddingstone Lake. In the evening I went to the Hookah Lounge to hang out with Salim and his friends. This would be a standard evening for me while I was here.

If we weren’t smoking sheesha we’d be playing cards against humanity, I’d never played cards against humanity before the trip but it was something I grew to like very quickly, especially as I like a bit of childish humour, and dark humour. I think anyone would like cards against humanity as long as they don’t get offended easily

If we weren’t playing cards against humanity, we’d be playing poker. The owner of the Hookah Lounge Umar played poker for the first time with us. He picked it up really quickly. I nicknamed him the sponge for his ability to soak up information. I’d never seen anyone learn something as quickly as he learnt the basics of poker…unless he was bluffing and hustling us! Luckily we were only playing for match sticks.

Each night I was at the Hookah lounge I’d spend around an hour or so chatting to Umar. He really made the effort to get to know me. I got to learn about his background and how he got to where he is today. He’s humble, he’s worked hard for everything he’s achieved, and won’t shy away from a challenge. People would do well to follow his example.

After saying goodbye to his friends, I helped Salim put some stuff away and got chatting to his colleague Joel, and Umar. For some reason Joel was curious enough to ask me to say the word titties just so he could hear how it sounded in an English accent. I thought there was no harm in saying it so I said it, and they burst out laughing hysterically at how posh I (apparently) sound. I couldn’t help but laugh, I didn’t know if I was laughing at how I sound or how funny they found it.

Before leaving San Dimas we did another family Skype chat, we’ll have to make sure it’s not another 7 years until we see each other again. May dropped me off at the Amtrak station and before no time I was on my way to San Diego.