My Dad, my sister and I took daniel(ink.) on tour for three weeks in late September/October, to the USA to promote my t-shirts and designs.
As we were crossing through Melbourne, we picked up my sister, Nathalie, and then it was on to our first destination, LA. This was where we were to spend the first 11 days of our trip – doing a mix of work and play.
The next day we set up at a market in LA called 'Melrose Trading Post'. Our accommodation was close to the market which was convenient for an early start! The market was great and I got to meet loads of new people and chat to them about what I do and my designs. LA folks are so friendly!
Once the market was over, we had 10 days left in LA to do some sight-seeing. We planned a day to visit Fox Studios with Dad’s friend, Cleve. I was lucky enough to get a private tour at Fox Studios as they don’t offer private tours.
One night Cleve took all of us out to see some stand-up comedy in LA. I didn’t know many of the comedians but I had lots of laughs. Another evening we all went out to Bel Air, where we visited a jazz club to see Lucky Peterson. While inside the club Dad and I bumped into Mariah Carey. (Much to Dad’s disgust, I didn’t know who she was until he told me!)
Another late afternoon, Cleve took us to see a beach called Venice Beach. I thought it was a pretty cool beach. They had an awesome skate park with a good vibe and lots of people showing off their professional skateboarding. I so wanted to join in with them. There were professional guys doing street performance in front of hundreds of people. They picked people out of the crowd to help them with their finale.
Another beach we visited was called Santa Monica. There were lots of stalls set up at the beach one stall was selling Santa Monica t-shirts. There was also an ice cream place on the beach and Dad treated Nat, himself and I to one.
One Saturday night, Kings of Leon were playing live at the Hollywood Bowl. Dad got on the phone to box office to find out if there were tickets still available for us to go see them. Dad and I jumped into the car and drove across LA to the venue to see if there were tickets. When we got the box office the lady who Dad spoke to served us. Turns out there were tickets still for sale we had a box with a table and we were very close to the stage. We could see the band sweat! It was great!
A few days before we leaving LA, Dad took Nat and I to Disneyland. It was a thing I wanted to do off my bucket list! We saw the Disney parade and all the characters from my favourite movies as a kid. I had a photo with the Queen from Snow White. My sister and I had a photo with the whale from Pinocchio and Woody from Toy Story. We also went on two rides - one was going up a mountain and the other one was from a movie called Nightmare Before Christmas. We also went on the monorail train and saw Disneyland from above which was super cool.
From LA, our next stop was the Big Apple (New York), but I will save that part of the trip for my next blog...
See you again soon!
Daniel