Beautiful Miami...

September 2014:

Michael's father was very sick, and passed away beginning of that year due to complications during his recovery. So, after a very emotional period we were in much need of some time away from reality. Although we were still shaken by what happened, I knew that we needed to do this trip...

We booked a flight to Miami, and also found a cute hotel for seven nights which seemed the perfect getaway. Our hotel "The Clay" was located at the crossing of Española Way onto Washington Ave near several restaurants, and just a few blocks from Ocean Drive where plenty of bars can be found. We were there to relax, and for Michael to remember the nice time he had there with his dad. Michael lived in Miami for a few years, so it was like coming home for him. He always wanted to show me around and let me taste the famous "Cubano Sandwich" he and his father always talked about. It was my first time to visit the East Coast of the United States, so I was very excited, and curious to know what to expect. I had heard so many stories of Miami. I had the impression that many people came here for short breaks or to party. Now I would finally be able to judge for myself. The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the airport, was that it was very humid. Michael told me that it was like that most of the year, but surely in September as they had many thunderstorms around this time. I just hoped we had nice weather during our short stay!

We took a cab from the airport to our hotel. We didn't rent a car cause we were there for such a short time and public transport in Miami is okay, so I've heard. We arrived at our destination in no time and had some nice views on our way. We checked-in, settled in our room, freshened-up, and went out to explore. First on our list was to find some food (of course). We walked up to Ocean Drive to find a restaurant, but we were not really in the mood for a huge meal. So, we walked into one of the side roads for about a block, and just on time we found a nice taco place as it started raining heavily! We enjoyed our tacos with some beers, and waited for the rain to stop. After paying our bill the rain luckily stopped, and we could continue exploring. We headed back to Ocean Drive to have a look at all the bars and to decide on where to go that night. Clevelander caught my eye immediately, cause there was a lot going on there! Good music was playing, and dancers were performing at that moment. There was so much more to do, but I first wanted to see the area as I have never been here. It was too early anyways! Some time later we decided to buy some little snacks for our room and headed to the hotel to take a shower, and prep for our night out! Little did I know that we would have the same issue as in Las Vegas! We fell asleep, again! Woke-up in the middle of the night, and decided to continue sleeping. We also just had a long day behind us, so it was understandable that we were wrecked. Although a bit disappointed as we did not enjoy our Saturday night as planned, but our bodies were very happy with the much needed rest!

As a result of the jet-lag we were up very early the next morning. We (read: Michael) even made it to breakfast, which only happens once in a blue moon! It was very sunny that morning, so we decided to have a wonderful walk at the beach. I guess we walked until Mid-Beach! Some exercise never killed someone! :) By the time we returned to our hotel, it was passed midday. We stopped at the bistro around the corner, and had a delicious meal. After our lunch we went to the beach to enjoy the sun, and had some drinks at Clevelander before we headed back to our hotel. That evening we had dinner at Havana 1957, which was located nearby. It was very delicious, but pricey. After dinner we went to Ocean Drive for some drinks.

The other days we also visited Downtown Miami, Bayside and Lincoln Rd Mall, but our stay mostly contained the same activities as our first day. We had many walks, talks, some bike rides and plenty of comfort food... It might seem a very boring holiday, but to us it was all we were looking for. All we needed was each other and to be as far away from Belgium as we possibly could. It was a holiday to reflect on what happened the past years, and to find peace in our minds. I contemplated if I would write this post, but it was part of our lives. Back then the pain was still so fresh, now it's a painful, and sad memory to me. For Michael it is an emptiness which he carries in his heart day in day out, an ache which doesn't heal... It is a feeling nobody really understands until you lose someone yourself. I praise myself lucky to still have both my parents, although I know that nothing is forever...

I guess the message I want to share through this post is that we should cherish every occasion we have together with our loved ones, as life is just too short.

We would love to hear your feedback on this post, and if you had a similar experience... How did you handle this? Next post will be up soon!

Our American dream Part VIII - Last days in the City of Angels

Hi! Welcome to our blog! If you missed our blogpost "Our American dream Part VII - Grand Canyon" you definitely should head over to that one first :)

24/09/2013 - 28/09/2013:

Only a few days left of our holidays and we couldn't believe it! We had so much fun in our first week that time flew by without us noticing it. We didn't do much during our last days, as we wanted to take it easy and just relax as much as we could. We visited Redondo, Manhattan, Hermosa and Malibu / Santa Monica beach, also did we enjoyed a day at Universal Studios and did some shopping!

Redondo Beach:

We visited The Pier to enjoy a drink at the famous Pier Diner where The O.C was filmed and had dinner at one of the other establishments. It is a very nice pier, as it has four different structures and many restaurants to choose from! Except for having dinner, we also had a wonderful walk there, what we noticed was that the men fishing at the pier brought their families to keep them company. It was so heartwarming to see this joyful family event unfolding.

Manhattan Beach:

The day we went to Manhattan Beach there was a Surf contest being held, after we watched that for a while we went for a long walk at the beach. It had the beach houses right next to the sand! While we looked at all the nice houses, we were also daydreaming about what-ifs... Wouldn't you just love a place at the beach?!

Hermosa Beach:

I liked Hermosa Beach the most, as it had this little beach town vibe. Plenty of little restaurants and boutiques to entertain you. We've been here on our last day of our holiday. We had a wonderful relaxing day at the beach and had dinner at a cute little restaurant to conclude our holidays! Man, did it leave us with mixed feelings! Partially happy, but also sad cause we were leaving already! :(

Malibu Beach / Santa Monica Beach:

To be honest, we had the beaches in mind which we saw on TV, but I guess those you could only find when owning a property there! :) The area seemed nice, but we ended up going to Santa Monica and did some last-minute shopping there!

Universal Studios:

We had an amazing and fun day at Universal Studios! As we bought our tickets in advance we didn't have to stand in line for a long time! We first went to a water show which contained many stunts based on the movie WaterWorld! Next we went into the House of Horrors, which was so scary! I almost got a stroke! :) Also did we enjoyed the Studio Tour, The Simpsons ride, The Transformers ride and many more! We're happy we've had this great experience, we definitely recommend going there for a day of fun!

Well, this concludes our last days in Los Angeles! We really had two fantastic weeks in the United States of America! Our love for the States only grew bigger after this trip! It surely wasn't the last time we will visit this beautiful country! Thank you, U.S. for your hospitality, see you next time!

This is the end of the Our American dream-series! Stay tuned for our next stories! If you enjoyed reading this, go on and subscribe to the blog for frequent updates!

Our American dream Part VII - Grand Canyon

Hi! Welcome to our blog! If you missed our blogpost "Our American dream Part VI - Vegas Babyyyyy!" you definitely should head over to that one first :)

When we arrived at our hotel located in Flagstaff, it was already quiet late in the evening, when stepping out of the car we noticed that it was chilly here... What a difference with the heat in Las Vegas! We were tired, so we just reheated our food in the microwave and went to bed to catch-up on some much needed sleep.

23/09/2013:

We got up early, as we wanted to see the South Rim of the Grand Canyon before heading back to L.A.. We checked out of our hotel and we were back on the road! The route from Flagstaff to the canyons was so beautiful, as we partially were driving on the canyon. When nearing our destination we could enjoy the wonderful flora and fauna this amazing place had to offer! Before driving to the South Entrance Ranger Station, we first had some breakfast in one of the restaurants located nearby. When we were done eating we drove to the ranger station, paid 25 dollars as entrance fee and went on with our journey. There were many pine trees next to the road towards the Grand Canyon Visitor Center, it was like driving through the woods, so calm and serene. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the Visitor Center where we parked our car and continued on foot. There were many tourists here, as the South Rim is the most popular place to visit on the Grand Canyon. There were paved paths and signs which pointed you to the right direction, but still they kept nature for most of it untouched.

We walked up to Mather Point, where we had our first breathtaking panoramic view on the Grand Canyon... I had no words when I saw this view, therefore I just let the pictures speak for themselves...

Then we continued walking to Yavapai Point, to yet another amazing panoramic view! Nature is something wonderful, with its many mysteries it always seems to have a surprise for you... Wondering why we don't show more love to our planet, as it gives us so much more in return...

Me and Michael were enjoying what nature had to offer us while we were also goofing around. I couldn't imagine taking this trip with anyone other than him, we just understand each other and mostly share the same interests. While walking around we found some nice places to take funny pictures, like the ones added to this post!

When I took this picture, I was a little scared, as Michael was crawling to the tip of the rock with the only thing below him; a huge abyss. Thinking back of that moment, I still get trembling knees! But it was worth it!

We didn't have much time anymore, as we still wanted to head back to Los Angeles before dark... So we did the last bit of our walk and returned to the car for a 7-hour drive. Except for almost running out of fuel, the drive was quiet uneventful! :)

We arrived at our hotel in L.A., which we had booked while on route, around 11PM. We just watched some TV and went to bed, as we've done and seen many things/places the last days, we were really in need of some chillaxing! The plans for the following days were: Visit Universal Studios, relax and enjoy our last days in the U.S.! Our task for the next day was to find a decent and budget-friendly hotel where we could stay for the last part of our holidays...

This is the end of Part VII, stay tuned for the last part of the Our American dream-series, our last days in L.A.! If you enjoyed reading this, go on and subscribe to the blog for weekly updates! Until next week!

Summer in Belgium?

Hi!

Don't you just love the fact that summer is in town! Well, let me correct myself, summer finally found its way to Belgium!
Finally able to walk outside without having to bring a winter jacket! Spring and start of summer have been crazy this year, I was so confused of what to wear. One moment I was freezing cold and the other sweating from heat!

Okay, I'm done complaining now... Time to have drinks at the many summer bars here in Antwerp (where we live), meet with friends or family, have BBQ's, just have plenty of FUN!

Every year there are new summer bars popping up here in Antwerp, we still haven't done all of them, but one of our favorites the last few years was Cargo Zomerbar, but there are so many more which can be found listed on the yearly Zomerbars website.

Oh, true!!! I almost forgot to mention that there is a coconut bar here in Antwerp! The first one in Belgium! I am so excited, cause I LOOOOOOOVEEEEE fresh coconut water!! It is my addiction and on top of all it super healthy! The bar is called Coco Loco and the owners are VERY friendly too! You feel like you are at a tropical island when you have a coconut in your hands!

So? What are you still waiting for? Go and enjoy the weather!!!!!

Our American dream Part VI - Vegas Babyyyyy!

Hi! Welcome to our blog! If you missed our blogpost "Our American dream Part V - Palm Springs?" you definitely should head over to that one first :)

20/09/2013:

After two relaxing days in very hot Palm Springs, it was time to leave our little cocoon of serenity and coziness to make our way to the next destination: Las Vegas. We prepped for a 4hr drive and off we went! Once back on the highway, we found ourselves in the midst of the desert-landscape like the one we drove through when we arrived in Palm Springs. We could not stop being amazed by it! It made me wonder why I lived in Belgium if there are so many other beautiful places in this world. Gazing through the carwindow, daydreaming, I looked at the sky with its wonderful vibrant blue color, with the sun burning on my skin through the glass, I felt pure happiness! I watched the endless road stretching out in front of us and feeling the excitement of new adventures ahead, freedom... Really enjoying the peace and calm while reading a book, when I noticed that the radio was no longer working, we forgot the CDs at home meaning that Michael would have a very boring drive if I wouldn't entertain him. I decided to read pieces of "The Revenge of Prada" to him, as I was reading it anyways! LOL :) It was actually very tiring reading out loud, but I'd do anything for my love, it also gave us another sense of intimacy... During this drive we also made some video's and stopped a few times, so the hours flew by without us even noticing!

It was already 6:30PM when we could see the lights of Sin City appearing in the distance. So surreal to know that this crazy city has been build in the middle of the desert, for one purpose only: entertainment of the people, like one big never-ending party. We finally arrived at the "Welcome to Vegas"-sign, where we also entered the famous Strip with all its hotels and casinos, one more extravagant than the other. It was just unbelievable! We had chosen to first drive to our hotel, which was located Downtown, than freshen-up and go look for a restaurant. So, that's what we did! The hotel was nothing special, but it was cheap and clean. We took a quick shower and went out to experience the crazy nightlife of Las Vegas. As our hotel was located Downtown we had to drive to the Strip and find parking. We were lucky that Sin City has an abundance of parkinglots and many of them were for free! I used the Vegas website to research which ones didn't require any fees. Once we parked our car, we walked towards Planet Hollywood on the hunt for some food. It was already 9PM and we wanted to eat something fast and simple, so we found an Italian restaurant which had some basic meals and looked nice. After our dinner we explored the never sleeping city!

We walked further towards to beginning of the Strip, where the hotels are located which have been there for ages like the Excalibur, Luxor, MGM Grand and so many more! First we entered Excalibur as I stayed there while I was a kid, it was my first vacation in the States with my parents. Happy memories! I never gambled in a casino before or made use of the slotmachines, so I really wanted to play an old-school machine with the handle! But nowadays it is all electronic with just buttons and the handle was just for show... Interesting fact (for smokers only): in the casino area you are allowed to smoke! After losing some money to the machines and having some drinks, we continued to visit other hotels like: New York New York, The Cosmopolitan, Aria, Monte Carlo, Planet Hollywood, etc... At a certain point our feet started aching from all the walking! When we checked the time, we knew why! We've been wandering around for 6 hours, it was already 4AM! You can say that Las Vegas had us that night! Completely exhausted we arrived at our hotel and called it a night. We had a fantastic first taste of Vegas and for the following day we planned to do more sightseeing!

21/09/2013:

The next morning we had a late start and woke up around 11AM! That's the consequence of staying up till early morning! LOL! After taking a shower, we made our way back to the strip and searched some food! My aunt told me that she found a Filipino fast food restaurant called Kapit Bahay when she visited Vegas on her last trip to the States. I really wanted to try it and convinced Michael of going there for lunch. :) We parked at one of the hotels and continued on foot. When we arrived at the restaurant, I was all excited as they had all my favorite Filipino foods!!! Michael took the beef kaldereta and I took squid adobo, it was soooooo delicious!!! Until that moment I only had home cooked Filipino food when visiting my Mom or at family gatherings, it was nice to have another taste for once. After lunch we made our way to the other hotels like the Bellagio, Paris, Bally's, Caesars Palace, the Venetian and Treasure Island... One hotel more fascinating than the other, as they were so wonderfully designed! Those are little cities, no longer normal hotels! It was really amazing to experience the excitement of people who were gambling, having their fun at a poker table, roulette or the machines... Partially fear, partially adrenaline of having all or nothing! You just couldn't get bored of walking through all these hotels, as there were plenty of shops and restaurants to choose from! Whatever your heart desired you could find it there! Entertainment for every age!:)

The previous night we've been offered many deals for nightclubs and that day it was no different, so one of these promoters near Caesars Palace had put our names on the guest list for PURE that night! Before midnight ladies entered for free and also an open bar till then. We were looking forward to a fun night out in the clubs! But first we walked into the Caesars Palace to see what they had there! It was amazing how they painted the ceilings, so realistically done that you could imagine yourself walking outside!

Also the Venetian was so amazing, as they made canals outside like in Venice itself, even with gondola rides! So much eye for detail the design crew had when creating these pieces of art! After going in and out of hotels and stopping for some drinks and snacks, we finally wanted to unwind a bit, as again we were walking for hours!!! So we sat down at the outside bar of Treasure Island, Michael ordered our drinks and I wanted him to surprise me... He came back with these 2 huge yard cups filled with frozen margaritas! I wondered how I would ever finish this without passing out! LOL :)

Slowly we started drinking the cocktail and halfway our drink, we walked to the fountain show of the Bellagio! By then I already got a little tipsy, but we had to get back to our hotel to prepare for dinner and our night out! So we stopped drinking and took our car to make our way back. Once in the room, we both were so tired from all the walking and from that alcohol in our blood, that our bed was calling us! So we said to each other that we would just take a nap of 30 minutes and than start making ourselves presentable again... Well, that nap of 30 minutes, became one of 2 hours!!! It was already 8PM and we had to get some dinner! So we took a shower, called a taxi and went to one of the food courts in a hotel near Caesars Palace. This time we just had some fast food, as our original plan was to go to one of these world buffets Vegas is known for, but due to our long nap it was already too late for such a big meal. After dinner we headed to PURE nightclub at Caesars Palace to start our fun night! At the door of the club, we had to show our passports and we only paid Michael's entrance cause mine was free. The club was fancy but not big, it had a VIP area and a nice dance floor. We searched a place next to the dance floor where all the action is and I went to the bar to accept our "free" drinks. I placed my order and when our drinks arrived they told me how much I had to pay. I asked the bartender why I had to pay for them, as there was an open bar until 12AM! He gave me a lame excuse by saying that it was only until 10PM, but it was getting too crowded at the bar so I was forced to pay to get the queue going. I shared my frustrations with the woman next to me and she told me "What's an open bar nowadays here in Vegas?", she had a point... Although I haven't been to an open bar at Vegas before, I knew that nothing comes for free in this world. Back at the dance floor with Michael, we goofed around a bit and had our "Not so free" drinks and left. We walked towards Aria and found someone who promoted a club named Haze, the offer seemed not too bad so we went to the door. Both of us had to pay entrance, but men had to pay more and there we would get 1 free drink each. This club was funkier, it had really cool lights on the wall which flashed on the beat of the music and there were also dancers with sexy outfits! We liked the club already! This time we both went to the bar and really had a free drink and several more! We had a nice spot next to the dance floor, so we danced the night away or at least till my feet were aching and continued dancing on my bare feet! :) We had so much fun at that club and the people were also super friendly! When back in Vegas we surely would go there again! It was already early morning, all exhausted but yet fulfilled we grabbed a cab which brought us safely to our hotel!

22/09/2013:

The next morning we had to checkout at 12PM, so we got up at 11 to make ourselves ready. With very small eyes and still tired from our night out, we packed all our belongings into the car and off we went to find food! This time we went to The Buffet at Treasure Island and had an epic meal time!! It was really delicious! That for sure woke us up immediately! :) After stuffing ourselves, we had a walk around in Treasure Island to help our digestion. When some time passed we took the car and drove to the last hotel we wanted to visit, Luxor, the pyramid shaped building where Criss Angel the illusionist gave his shows. We didn't stay too long as we were tired and we still had to drive to Flagstaff near Grand Canyon, our next destination! We decided to buy food at Kapit Bahay to heat-up in the hotel that evening, so we stopped there first. We bought some kaldereta, munggo(mung beans dish), squid adobo and Halo-Halo! Back at the car, with the food safely stored away and me eating the Halo-Halo, we left this crazy city with all its pleasures and all our sins behind us...

This is the end of Part VI, stay tuned for Part VII when we went to visit the Grand Canyon! If you enjoyed reading this, go on and subscribe to the blog for weekly updates! Until next week!

Daily Life Posts?

Hi Guys!

Since a while we’ve been playing with the idea to incorporate posts of our daily life on the blog, just to give you the possibility to get to know the people “behind the scenes”… We are normal humans, with all our ups and downs in day-to-day life and also do we still work 9-5 jobs, but we wouldn't bore you with those stories! :)

We are still continuing with the “Our American dream”-series, but to break it up a bit, we also want to share real-time experiences, thoughts, news, etc… These short and snappy posts will be uploaded randomly!

Newsflash!! Also wanted to mention it here on our blog that we've reached our 2.5K mark on our Facebook page! This is such AMAZING news!! We're so happy to see that our stories do interest people and it gives us even more motivation to come up with new content! We do hope that we also can reach that number on our blog! (Hint, hint... Go enter your e-mail address in the subscribe field!) :)

So, this was just a short update on what we are planning. Our next post will most probably be the Part VI of "Our American dream" the adventures in Sin Cityyyy! Stay tuned!

We would also love to hear your opinion about these Daily Life posts! Please share them with us in the comments field below, so we get an idea on what you would like to know from us!

Our American dream Part V - Palm Springs

Hi! Welcome to our blog! If you haven't read "Our American dream Part IV - Are we in Hollywood?" you definitely want to head over to that one first :)

18/09/2013:

We had to get up earlier that Wednesday morning, as it was time to hit the road. We had no idea of where to go, but we would figure it out! We took a quick shower and started packing, also ordered breakfast to the room before we had to get going. We failed to see the Hollywood sign yesterday, as we drove wrong, so we decided to have another try before leaving L.A.. Around 11AM, in a fully packed car containing our luggage, water and snacks which we bought in the dollar store the previous evening, Michael and I looked at each other fake-worryingly as we were literally homeless now! LOL :) The only thing we knew was that we had to reach Las Vegas by Friday 20/09 as we booked accommodation there till Sunday 22/09, meaning we had two days to spare... Oh, what to do?? First things first, we went on a mission to find us a good place to see the famous sign!

We found some directions on our GPS towards Lake Hollywood park, but we didn't have the updated version, so we were lost again! We ended up driving into a girls only camp where we asked directions to Ranger Tom, who was so friendly and helpful! He gave us a paper map where he indicated some good spots for us! We thanked Ranger Tom for his help and made our way to one of these places. After some searching we finally found quiet a good location with an amazing view on the Hollywood sign! We took the usual touristy pictures and continued our journey to somewhere... We hadn't decided yet... So I browsed on the internet for some places to visit and if it was on the way to Vegas. We finally made a decision and we would go to Palm Springs!

Once on the highway, it was already around 5PM, we got stuck in some famous L.A. traffic... Luckily it didn't take too long before we were well on our way towards Palm Springs. We ended up driving through so beautiful desert landscapes! We immediately felt a sensation of freedom, not being stuck in a packed and busy city, just us and nature, such an amazing feeling. Again I had an urge of euphoria bubbling up inside of me, it even made me a bit emotional too! I guess you'll have to find out for yourself to understand what I mean! After taking in all the beauty for a while, Michael asked me: "Baby, where are you taking me?! We've been driving in the desert for ages!" :) Just at that moment our GPS indicated that we were almost at our destination. We couldn't believe our eyes, as if it were a Fata Morgana, just a few minutes ago we were still in a desert and now we were in the midst of an oasis with palm trees!

Slowly we were making our way through the main street while on the lookout for a nice place to stay for the night, it was so difficult to decide, as there were so many resorts/hotels to choose from! Finally we picked one which looked decent, Ivy Palm Resort, but we got much more in return than we expected! The lady at the reception was so friendly, she asked the usual questions: "Where are you from? Where are you heading to?..." We told her that we were going to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, so she gave us some suggestions of places to visit in that area. She also told us that it was actually not the season to be in Palm Springs, as it was too hot! This was so true, as we got out of the car around 8PM and it was still tremendously warm! As it was not the season, the resort didn't have so many booking, so she gave us a poolside room for the price of a standard one! After all the administration, we took all the stuff from the car and found ourselves in a super clean place with a wonderful king-size bed! Just outside our doorstep we saw one of the two pools and it looked like a little paradise with its beautiful flowers and palms trees... This was the best place we've had so far! After freshening ourselves up, we went on the hunt for food! The sweet receptionist also provided us a map from the town, which contained one main road with all the restaurants and bars. A short drive near downtown Palm Springs, we found a cozy Italian place called Al Dente with amazing service and delicious food. During our meal we discussed what we would do the following day, and because we wanted to chill, we decided to book an extra night! After that wonderful dinner, we went for a drive around the main roads and stopped at 7/11 to buy some drinks which we would consume at our hotel. We returned to our accommodation and went straight to the reception to extend our stay. Once everything was arranged we just had our beer and enjoyed the rest of the evening in a relaxing manner.

19/09/2013:

After much needed sleep and waking up in that amazing bed, it felt as if I was reborn! I creeped on Michael a bit, as he was still asleep, then made my way to the shower to start the day. When I got out of the bathroom, Michael also woke up and prepared himself. Once we were ready we had a look at the breakfast buffet, as our stay also included continental breakfast, but it was nothing special to be honest! Our plan for that day was to enjoy the pools we had at our disposal, as it was so hot! We also would try to find a supermarket to find food to enjoy at the hotel for dinner, instead of going to a restaurant... We preferred to keep our budget mainly for Las Vegas!

Our aim for the day was to relax, tan, swim and enjoy! And we did just that! We tanned and swam, but around 1PM we got hungry and drove downtown to find some place to have a quick bite. We ended up eating at Ruby's Diner, which wasn't bad at all! After lunch we drove to the nearest Ralphs Grocery Store to buy food for dinner, snacks, drinks and SPF50 sunblock! We made sure we returned as soon as possible so we could jump in the refreshing water. Once back at the hotel, we chilled poolside, had fun swimming and drowning each other! :) At sunset we ate our dinner which we bought at Ralphs and enjoyed some more beers. As we had a long drive the following day, we went to bed at a decent hour, preparing ourselves for our next adventure... We had fun in our oasis, it was so different from anything we've ever seen and we really recommend staying in that desert town if you want to unwind!

Relaxing, this word pretty much summed-up our whole stay at Palm Springs, as we wanted to be well rested for Las Vegas! But that story is for next week!

This is the end of Part V, stay tuned for Part VI where you will read about our adventures in Sin City! If you enjoyed reading this, go on and subscribe to the blog! Until next week!

Our American dream Part IV - Are we in Hollywood?

Hi! Welcome to our blog! If you haven't read "Our American dream Part III - Beaches..." you definitely want to enjoy that one first :)

17/09/2013:

After a good night of sleep, and our jetlag slowly but surely disappearing, me and Michael were up fresh and early! We were having a jummy breakfast when we decided to explore Hollywood Boulevard. It was yet another sunny and warm day, nevertheless we brought a cardigan in case it gets chilly at night. It was end of September, so it started getting colder by sundown. Luckily I did my research before packing!

With our GPS guiding us to the correct location, we passed South Los Angeles (Now known as South Central Los Angeles in hope of losing its bad rep), the Staples Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, China town, we could see the Dodger stadium from afar, Korea town and Little Armenia. These were just a few main "attractions" on our route to Hollywood, so sightseeing was definitely a wonderful experience! For being there since just a few days, we already noticed that most of the places you'd want to visit within the area were around a thirty minutes drive without traffic jams, so don't visit the city of Angels without renting a car! :)

When we arrived at the Hollywood Blvd, our next challenge was to find a cheap parking spot! I guess it took us around twenty minutes to find a car park in one of the side streets. While walking towards the main road, we saw that there was sort of a concert hall where auditions for rock groups were held! I never saw so many artists just waiting their turn for a chance to make their dreams come true... Pity enough only few will make it in the entertainment industry, as L.A. can make you or break you. Nevertheless it's wonderful to see so much talented people together! We continued our walk to the world-known boulevard where we stumbled upon street entertainers who were dressed as known legends like Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and so many others! So much was going on that we could not choose where to look first! Many tour vendors trying to convince us to hop on one of their tour busses driving through Beverley Hills to view the houses of celebrities; we have many interest but that is not one of them! As many tourists, we came there to see the stars on the Walk of Fame, so we walked up and down the boulevard to see all of them or at least the ones we wanted to find.

We just had a salad for lunch, as we weren't that hungry and still wanted to see so much more! We went into the Hard Rock Café and I bought a souvenir there for one of my girlfriends back home and of course we headed to the bar to have a refreshing drink! They really had a cool interior, with guitars from famous artists hanging on the walls! From all the beers we could choose from, we chose a Belgian beer called Leffe, which you should try if you have the chance. We talked to the bartender for a while and at one point asked him if he could tell us where the best place was to see the Hollywood sign. He explained us that Lake Hollywood Park is the best place and tried giving us the directions. With that in mind we decided to find that place after a bit more walking. On one of the street corners we saw a boy proposing to a girl and the girl said "No"! But these were actors who were just having some fun by playing this piece for us! It was hilarious! We went on and took some pictures at the Chinese Theatre, also had a look inside the Hollywood & Highland Center Shopping Mall. On the third floor on one of the bridges there we also found a view of the famous sign, it was quiet far but you could see it.

After a while we headed back to the car to search for Lake Hollywood Park, but we had taken a wrong turn somewhere, cause we ended-up in a different park. It was already getting dark, therefore we gave up and decided to search for it the following day, but still were into some more sightseeing though! So we drove through Beverly Hills and near Rodeo Drive, saw many nice houses in this beautiful area! You might ask yourself why we did all of this by car; it was nice seeing it from afar, but it was just not our scene to be walking around in... On the way back to our hotel, we were again amazed of what we've seen and experienced that day!

It just goes to show that you don't have to spend tons of money to enjoy!

This is the end of Part IV, stay tuned for Part V where you will read about our stay in Palm Springs! If you enjoyed reading this, go on and subscribe to the blog! Until next week!

Our American dream Part III - Beaches...

Hi! Welcome to our blog! If you haven't read "Our American dream Part II - The arrival" you might want to read that one first... :)

16/09/2013:

It was 5AM when I woke up that first morning in beautiful L.A., I thanked the jetlag for this. Michael was still fast asleep while I creeped on him a bit cause he looked like a little boy lying there. I was full of energy that morning, ready for our adventures that day! I got out of bed, walked to the sitting area where I saw a menu the previous night and looked if they had something nice to eat. My eye immediately was drawn to the American pancakes, so pancakes it were, and an omelet with bacon for Michael. Once I decided what to order to our room, I first took a nice relaxing shower, because I really could not order at this ungodly hour. Freshly showered, I went to lay next to Michael and creeped on him a bit more as it's one of my favorite things to do. Then I called room service to order our breakfast, the woman who I spoke to was very friendly by the way!

Michael finally woke up when room service knocked on our door... After a nice and delicious breakfast, we both were ready to face the world and explore L.A.! We stepped into our ride and drove without having a destination, the only thing we knew was that we wanted to see the beaches! We drove towards Pacific Highway with help of our trusty GPS. The drive was entertaining, as we saw so many new and exciting things which we didn't have in Belgium! Like many donut shops, huge billboards or liquor stores on every corner! Well, liquor stores you could compare to our night shops, I guess! But it was just amazing to see the words "Liquor Store" as it was something I only saw in movies until that moment. When we were nearing the beaches, the surroundings were changing, more palm trees, beach houses and hotels popping up. It was nice to see all of this while cruising in our SUV. After a while we decided to park at Santa Monica beach parking area where we paid 15$ for a day, which was not too bad!

We started our walk towards Santa Monica Pier, while taking in the wonderful scenery. The sky was such a nice shade of blue, the sun was burning just right and the sea stretching out in the horizon. I felt so carefree which brought a big wide smile on my face! I had a flashback on my childhood years, when I frequently had this feeling of euphoria, when everything was just much simpler, without a worry in the world... Locals were performing all different kinds of activities on the beach pathway, some were inline skating, running, walking with their dogs and so much more was going on! We first wanted to explore the pier, as we were curious what to find there. We stopped a few times to take the usual touristy pictures until we arrived at the pier. Our first impression was: "Man, this is huge!" and to make things even more impressive it seemed there was a small amusement park with a merry-go-round and a roller-coaster. Just amazing to see this for the first time! We walked until the very end of the pier where we had a wonderful view from the sea and the beach behind us, of course we took some more pictures. There we also found a bench where we just sat down for a few minutes to let it all sink in and to really enjoy the view. On the way back to the beginning of the pier, we saw many souvenir shops, little stands with all kinds of food and so much more!

It was already midday, so, time for lunch! On the way back to the car we bought something to drink and enjoyed watching some locals working the gymnastic rings. It was cool to see it and many could actually pull it off! We continued our walk towards the car to find a U.S. SIM card, as we needed to stay connected while on route and we also urgently needed some food! Once in the car we drove towards Santa Monica Promenade, left the car in the car park and were on foot again... After asking several people if they knew where we could buy a SIM card we finally found the AT&T shop where we got what we needed :) Next step was to go on the hunt for nutrition! A walk of a few minutes brought us to Baja Fresh a burrito place, which was better than expected! Now that we had stuffed ourselves, we were ready for what we would find next... After some more walking we arrived in the car park, and went on our way to Venice Beach!

Once at Venice Beach, it was so wonderful to see all these different street artists doing their thing! I even assisted one street performer with his show! I was just minding my own business, filming and enjoying the show, when the good man picked me out of the crowd! He had a blanket laying on the ground which was filled with broken glass and I didn't have a clue of what to expect! :) He asked me where I was from and who accompanied me :) Michael of course! The performer gave me a toy dinosaur and he wrapped a scarf around my waist while talking to the spectators, it was extremely funny! After fulfilling some tasks with other assistants he started on his grand finale! He laid on top of the broken glass and I had to stand on his abdominals, which made me a bit uncomfortable, but it was hilarious! We had the whole show on film, so it was very entertaining to watch it again once we were back home! We still had an enjoyable walk next to water and had a look at Muscle beach where Michael even did some pull-ups! The sun was setting already when we arrived at our ride to cruise some more next to the beach while on the way to our hotel... During the drive we reflected on this amazing first day whilst enjoying the sunset in all its glory!

With a beer in our hand at the pool of our hotel, we just couldn't get enough of talking about the happenings during that day! After a while we decided to just relax in our room, as we were still jetlagged and called it an early night...

This is the end of Part III, stay tuned for Part IV where you will read all about our day in Hollywood! If you liked reading this, go on and subscribe to the blog! Until next week!