With my impending departure from the USA, I decided to use my stash of miles and points to travel with my friends and loved ones. My best friend’s little 3 year old loves the beach and children’s museums; I am still on my ball park tour program. Hence, I suggested Long Beach. I transferred some of my UR points and booked 2 nights for my friends at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. This is my first friend-cation in a long time, and the first time with a toddler.
Day One:
The hotel check in took longer than expected, and killed 2 hours of our time. On a bright note, the hotel is at a great location, with plenty of restaurants and things to do nearby.
After lunch, we went to visit the Queen Mary, formerly a trans-oceanic cruise liner, which has been permanently moored at Long Beach since 1967. We made the mistake of going into the lego room, and that almost de-railed our whole trip, because Sky (my friend’s toddler) wanted to stay put. We also had some hilarious Sky-in-Titanic-pose shots on the ship. The engine room was really fascinating, and there’s an awesome graphic in that exhibition of where everything used to be, including how different class cabins used to look.
In the evening, we parted ways, and drove to Angel Stadium in Anaheim to watch a game. Tickets were cheap, and there’s free parking across the street from the stadium. It was also fireworks night, so we stayed for the fireworks show.
Day Two:
After breakfast at our suite (the club lounge was packed!), we had separate plans from my friends. We took a short walk along the beach before driving to Los Angeles to meet up with my friend who’s relocated there.
She took us to Road to Seoul, an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ restaurant in K-town, which was excellent, and great value for money. After a belly-on-wheelbarrow lunch, we tucked into Cafe Terrace that’s just a block down, a very lovely rustic-deco Korean cafe for some coffee.
In the evening, we re-joined our friends, who wanted to finally check out the beach. I was still sluggish from food, and Sky’s parents were happy to leave their bundle of terror to my partner, who spent some time playing int he sand with Sky.
This was a very chilled out trip. We didn’t do much, we also didn’t need to do much. We just had a great time hanging out with people we love.
Wanderlust 