California Dreaming - LA, Vegas, Santa Barbara And San Luis Obispo

Piers and I just returned from an amazing holiday in California...

Celebrating my birthday in LA, reuniting with good friends and family, witnessing Piers' brother and sister-in-law's beautiful wedding vow renewal and cruising the stunning Pacific Highway. I'd love to share some of my amazing new memories with you.

We spent most of our time in Venice Beach and Santa Monica, LA, Ca and had the most gorgeous apartment just 2 mins from the beach. We found the apartment through AirBnB, which has a great selection of properties and rooms worldwide to rent for short or long term. We've used this service before and have always found wonderful properties and had great, easy communication from the owners. I would definitely recomend AirBnB, it's a great way to find a little home away from home to relax into the lifestyle of the location you're visiting. You definitely get more of a feel for an area than staying in tourist centric hotel accomodation offers.

Venice itself is an interesting area to say the least. A vibrant, eclectic mix of people from all walks of life, it is certainly a good place for people watching. I loved bohemian Venice as have many famous actors, bands and entertainers throughout history, from Julia Roberts and Arnold Schwarzenegger to some of my favourite muscicians - John Frusciante of The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jim Morrison from The Doors. Buskers, artists, tarot card readers and street vendors line the beach side promanade daily, with skateboarders, surfers and body beautiful locals out for a morning run all cruising by.

All this surrounded by the most beautiful golden sandy beaches, with outdoor gyms- including the famous Muscle Beach- surfers, people playing volleyball, doing yoga on the sand or out walking their dogs.... which made me miss Troy a lot.

I was saddened to see the amount of homeless people in LA, Venice in particular, from US Army Veterans to college age kids, all camping down each night in the numerous alleyways, streets and doorways they can find. I found this upsetting, and to be honest intimidating when we first arrived. I soon came to realise they are a permanent part of the community and mostly keep themselves to themselves. People who have found themselves in unfortunate circumstances, hoping for a little help and kindness from others to survive. Many forming communities of their own on the streets with regular hang outs and routines.

I'd see the same faces on my early morning runs along the beach, packing up their sleeping bags, rummaging through the bins for food or anything of use, while the rest of the Venice Community ran, cycled and walked on by, beginning their own daily routine. The police presence is high in Venice and during the day there is no problem walking around, but as in any large city you're unfamiliar with, I wouldn't recommend wandering off the beaten track at night, although the main streets are busy, well lit and there are lots of great bars and restaurants to choose from.

The independant shopping street Abbot Kinney, in Venice, (recently voted as one of the best streets in America), is just lovely, as are the nearby Venice Canals. If you're visiting California, I highly recommend spending some time expoloring Venice as it has so much to offer. It reminded me a lot of my hometown, Brighton, in the UK, with a much warmer climate, sandy beaches and a more consistent little 'Lou' wave to surf. We had the best time here and got to spend some quality time with Piers' brother, sister-in-law and their beautiful daughter. Piers hadn't seen them for 10 years, or met his niece and I was meeting them all for the first time. A wonderful reunion and place to be together.

Neighbouring Venice is Santa Monica and then further along the coast is Malibu, which are much more gentrified and affluent areas, with multi-million dollar properties lining the beach front and super clean shopping areas, with all the usual high street chain stores and restaurants to choose from. If you are looking for a more relaxing pace of life, these are the places to be. The hectic buzz of Venice beach stops at the edge of the shops, merging into Santa Monica Beach front and the famous Pier just a mile away. Santa Monica provides entertainment of a different kind. It's outdoor acrobatics gym attracts some of the fittest people I have ever seen, swinging from ring to ring, performing handstands with ease on the top of monkey bars and using their atheletic bodies to show off skills that would be fitting in a Cirque Du Soleil show.

If you choose to do some holiday activity, there are plenty of opportunities to get active with many cycle, skate and paddleboard rentals, as well as surf coaches and personal trainers. Or you can take advantage of the outdoor gyms yourself. Piers had fun swinging on the rings.... I knew he'd grown all that facial hair for a reason ;)

We spent a day visiting the sites of Beverly Hills and Hollywood, including Rodeo Drive, the Hollywood sign and the famous stars, hand and foot prints of Hollywood's A list. These sites are a must see on a trip to LA but I was glad to escape the hectic tourists attractions and get back to the coast. Although, I was happy to walk on ground some of my favourite actors have been.

RIP Robin WIlliams x

From LA we all drove to to Las Vegas...

Wow Vegas is hot! Still at over 90F in mid October. No sweater needed for nights out here. It was strange driving from the hugely poulated area of LA through the barren desert landscape. Apart from a few truck stops and the traffic, the view rarely changes, but the vast mountainous desert really is an awesome sight.

From the peaceful desert to the sensory overload land of Las Vegas...

We weren't in Vegas to gamble but there's still so much to do and see, a real Disney Land for adults.

The hotels alone have enough to see to keep you busy for a week. All of them having themes from the replicated Venice canals of the Venetian, to the Circus of Circus Circus. There are also many shows to choose from in Vegas and as it's a 24 hour city you can find something to entertain you at any time of the day, including lazing by the hotel pool.

The main reason for our trip to Vegas was for Piers' brother and sister-in-law's wedding vow renewal on their 10th anniversary, which was the highlight of our trip and an absolute honour to be a part of.

Other highlights included the Bellagio fountains and Cirque Du Soleil' Mystere show - although a friend of mine who is an incredible ex Cirq' performer tells me this is the original show and there are many more spectaular shows to choose from now, including the Grammy award winning LOVE, which he starred in. We chose Mystere as we had an 8 yr old with us and it seemed the most family friendly. We all really enjoyed it and it got a standing ovation.

Back to California

After a few crazy days in Vegas it was time to drive back to California...

We spent a couple of days in the idyllic coastal town of Santa Barbara for some r&r.

Santa Barabara is surrounded by vineyards, so there are plenty of opportunitites for tours and wine tasting but this time we decided we needed to eat clean after the fried food and alcohol in Vegas. We found a delicious vegan (and gluten free) cafe- Adama, for the best juice and salad I have ever tasted!

I'd like to go back and spend more time in this relaxing and truly beautiful town. Santa Barbara is stunning, with it's golden beaches and mountain ranges close by. We were also lucky enough to be in town when the farmers market was on.

On our way out we stopped at a ranch for a horse trek in the mountains.

I am not a horse rider but this was one of the highlights of the entire trip for me. I had a gorgous and gentle horse called Ghost looking after me and we had the most incredible time. I cannot rate Circle Bar B ranch and our guide Mick highly enough. You can even stay in their stunning mountain lodge. I will certainly be going back the next time I visit Santa Barbara.

Then onwards to stay in San Luis Obispo, with my gorgeous friend Zoë -who I haven't seen since we were in Rome 10 years ago!- and her beautiful family on their ranch.

This was the view we woke up to in SLO... stunning!

I thought Santa Barbara was laid back and relaxing but SLO is on another level- settled amoungst the mountains and just a few minutues from the coast, this incredible town has been on some top 10 lists of the best places in the World to live, now I know why.

As we drove into SLO, we had to follow our friend's directions to their house... "when you get to the row of about 15 mail boxes on the right"...

It really is that remote, and although very close to town, has the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere.

We were welcomed by 3 beautiful, friendly and incredibly articulate girls, under the age of 5, who immediately asked us to join in with their Bald Eagle family role play... the best fun I've had in ages!

It was wonderful to catch up with my friend Zoë and we started in style with a glass of bubbles, as if no time had past since we last saw each other 10 years ago. Zoë's husband Pete and their girls are just as lovely as I imagined and such wonderful hosts. As well as extremely hard working parents and entrepreneurs Zoë and Pete are also brilliant musicians, who could give Fleetwood Mac (I don't say that lightly) a run for their money. We arrived just in time to hear them practice and catch their gig the next day.

We were made to feel like part of the family and felt right at home. Thank you Van Gundy family for your gracious hospitality. We hope to see you again soon!

From SLO it was a slow drive back down to LA for our last night back in Venice Beach before flying back to London. We only got to drive a small section of the Pacific Highway but it was stunning. Driving through the Santa Monica Mountain range was breath-taking.

So, that's our trip in a nutshell. Are you still with me? We really did have a wonderful time and I look forward to returning to California again soon... I just need to work on getting more acting work and an extended visa- Steven Spielberg if you're reading this?!

To copy a line from Back To The Future, 'California- A Nice Place To Live!'

#california #la #vegas #holiday #vacation #sunshine #sanluisobispo #santabarbara #venicebeach #santamonica