How to Spend 8 Hours in Hollywood

(Note: This post was updated in 2019.)

After a 16-hour flight from Beijing, we landed at LAX on our way home on our RTW trip, grabbed the shuttle to the Renaissance and crashed. For the first time in our entire trip, jet lag grabbed a hold and would not let go. Yet after a good Mexican meal (the first on our entire RTW trip) and a good night’s sleep, we picked up our rental car and headed to Hollywood. Kelly and Steve had never seen the Hollywood sign, so we dedicated our day to being tacky Hollywood tourists.

Buy the LA Card

After a bit of research, we uncovered the LA Go Card, which gave us 37 tourist spots for a cool $89.

A Visit to Warner Brothers

With pass in hand, our first stop was the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. From the back of a golf cart, we saw WB’s back lot, including the last remaining building from Blazing Saddles, The Waltons, Pretty Little Liars, Spider Man, and others. We were also treated to the sound stage for The Fosters and got a chance to sit in the couch from the Friends set.

Finally, we ended up in the Big Ban_ and_Harry Potter artifacts display, which I found quite cool.

Walk of Fame and Madame Troussards

Next up, we headed to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and found our favorite actors’ stars and their hand prints at Grauman’s.

Our Go pass also included Madame Toussard’s Wax Museum. I really thought this would just be a bit over the top for my tastes, but I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the figures.

My favorite was Scarlett O’Hara!

Tour of the Stars’ Homes

Finally, we enjoyed a Tour of the Stars’ Homes. Jennifer Aniston lives next door to Ben Afleck, Jennifer Gardner and Robin Williams’s last home. Literally next door! We saw Ellen DeGeneres’ house, Charlie Sheen’s, and Denzel Washington’s too. The tour stopped at the Hollywood sign and ended at Rodeo Drive.

Whale Watching!

Exhausted, we crashed in our last hotel stay of this RTW trip. The next morning, with time still left on our LA Card and on our way to San Diego, we headed to Newport Beach to take advantage of the whale watching option. While on the way to Newport, I noticed that my high school roommate posted on FaceBook that she was in Newport as well. Thus, after a great day on the water where we saw three gray whales, dolphins, and seals, we met up with Tracy and her husband for lunch and a Balboa Bar.

Eventually, we pulled into my dad and step mom’s house in Rancho Santa Fe and crashed. But before falling asleep, Steve noted that instead of relaxing with them for a day, we could throw in one more country in this wild adventure. Thus, up at the crack of dawn, we headed to Mexico! But what a fun day as tacky Hollywood tourists!