Gap Year 2013 Jan-Mar: Southwest and south USA: Mon 14 Jan

Today, we picked up our car. A somewhat lazy morning as pick up time was 10am and 2 train stops away.

However, the car hire experience was a huge disappointment... Felt ripped off big time.

We had booked a compact car, which is one step up from economy and according to the blurb would be a Cabriolet Cobalt or similar. The smallest Cobalt is 2 liters according to Wikipedia. We received a small Nissan hatchback which could not be more than 1.6 liters. Hmmm...

Also, the 24 hour road assistance was included in the price, but did not include them actually doing anything!!?? If you want that, it will cost another $6 per day to get you covered.

Furthermore, the Nissan did not have a cover for the boot as it had been removed, meaning that anything back there is visible to the outside. When Hans complained, the lady at Hertz claimed that the hatchbacks were delivered that way !!??, before a Hertz bloke interfered and said that they removed the covers as they get stolen!!??

We suspected that we received a car that goes travelling a bit interstate as it had Utah plates and a few dings here and there and we are dropping it off in Scottsdale, AZ in 12 days time.

What a load of bollocks. You can do better, Hertz!!

Here is the wonder machine. At least it is very easy to drive around in a city like LA, but we are not so sure about comfort while travelling out of town.

From Hertz, we drove north on Highland to try to first get to Hollywood Bowl (no, an accident blocked the turnoff). Then we tried to find the start of Mulholland Drive, but couldn't find the exit so circled Griffith Park before we found its entrance (not that easy)

Get him to the Greek - Hans that is. The Greek Theatre is within the Griffith Park complex, which incidentally is the second largest urban park in the US.

Griffith Park also has an observatory. Closed on a Monday, but great views over LA on a "clear" day.

Santa Monica and the Pacific in the distance.

There are some straight roads in LA...

While Griffith Park was a bit of a nothing, the Griffith Observatory and its surroundings and views were really nice. Very popular even on a Monday, but it was a clear day.

Moving on, we eventually found the start of Mulholland Drive and drove it westwards. Lots of bends, some nice houses, but a disappointment as a whole. Sand and scrubs dominated and the vegetation was very sparse. Vista points over Los Angeles in a few places, but once you've seen one urban sprawl, you've seen them all.

We drove around a bit and ended up at Wholesale Foods on Wiltshire Boulevard in Santa Monica for a soup and coffee, after which we went back home mostly via Santa Monica Boulevard.

We stopped at our favourite 99 cents shop to pick up a few things for the road, including a couple of sun visors to cover our bags in the boot. HA, who are we fooling here.

Great marketing at the 99 cents shop... They like the number 9 there...