Universal Studios Hollywood Trip: Part 2

October 16, 2012October 16, 2012 Kunou 0 Comments

On October 6th, 2012, my friends and I were at Universal Studios Hollywood and it was great. I actually had a lot more fun than what I had expected. We spent 16.5 hours total inside the property and didn�t get tired until the last 2 hours. It was a great day.

But before leaving to the park, my friend Glenn and I first had to call Geneva Motel to ask if our reservation had gone through. It was our first time reserving a room online (which was at booking.com) so we wanted to make sure. We were running late and my friend�s mother was getting impatient, so we ended up arriving rather late in Pomona � our first destination.

Gas Prices

Oh boy, gasoline prices were starting to sky-rocket a day before our trip. What a bad coincidence! According to ABC 7, some power surge at Exxon Mobil happened along with some bad maintenance on a crude oil pipe in Southern California. Agh. Not to mention, my friend�s SUV is a real gas guzzler, so you would only imagine my friend�s temper also sky-rocketing! Ha ha. At Rancho Cucamonga I had to use my card to purchase $70 worth of gas for the vehicle, and it was $4.399 at ARCO at the time. I don’t think we filled up the tank, though.

Pomona

After a couple few miles we arrived to Pomona, where my friend�s aunt lives. It was a nice city that looked rather peaceful but with a lot of traffic. I finally had met my friend Glenn�s relatives for the first time since I�ve only known his immediate family for as long as I�ve known him. They welcomed us kindly and thought that we were going to stay but we only stopped there to drop off my friend�s mother since our journey was still just beginning.

Geneva Motel in Inglewood

Thanks to Google Maps, we only made two wrong turns that probably only wasted us two miles worth of gas or less. So we ended up in Inglewood as planned. Since this city is located in Los Angeles County, the place didn�t seem unorthodox whatsoever until I had noticed that mostly African-American people live there. Because I don�t go out much, I�m used to seeing a lot of Hispanics (or should I say, Mexicans) here in Southern California near the border. So it was quite interesting.

After a few miles in Inglewood, we found Geneva Motel. Parking inside got us confused since it was unusual to park in square areas. We went inside the office, used my card and ID to verify who I was, and we got our card key to a room.

The provided room was pretty nice. It had a 40� or so HDTV with DirectTV (that was not in HD), a mini fridge and even a microwave at our disposal. We had a lot cold foods that needed better cooling than melted ice, so I immediately put everything inside the fridge so that they wouldn�t spoil. Unfortunately, the thing was disconnected, so it took a while to cool itself up.

The bathroom was awfully clean. I was very impressed. Even the floor tiles looked rather new. They had super clean, white towels and hand soap. I do wonder why they didn�t provide any soap or liquid for body wash or hair, though. Luckily, my friend and I were prepared for that.

So while relaxing and watching TV, I was surprised to see anti Dish Network commercials from AMC. I don�t watch TV at all at home, so it was rather interesting. To what little I know right now, Dish Network didn�t renew its contract with AMC due to the AMC network�s rising prices. If that�s really the case, AMC shouldn�t be doing that just because its hit TV series are doing so great. But like I said, I don’t watch TV, so I can’t say much about it.

Anyway, it was 9 p.m. and we were sleepy and tired, so we went to sleep. The room only had one bed so I used my friend�s portable sofa-bed thing to sleep on the floor. He paid for pretty much all the motel fee, so it was more than fair that he had to sleep on the bed. He wanted me to take the bed since the trip was like a gift for me for my 30th birthday, but I insisted he did instead. What a great guy, huh?

So my friend got up at 5:45 a.m. and went to shower before me. I hardly was able to sleep since I had a small headache, so I continued to sleep until he was done with the bathroom so I could go in next. Afterwards, we ate while putting things back inside the SUV. We hated how fast time was going by. My headache even started getting worst and I had no aspirin available to relieve it.

Onward to Universal Studios Hollywood!

So we left the motel, called my friend Gabriel if he was ready, and followed directions to his home in Inglewood. We had never visited his apartment before, so we had to tell him to go outside to wait for us. He had a big grin on his face while waving, I think, so we eventually found him. I asked if he forgot part of our lunch, and he did, so he went back to his house to get them. He was super fast. Then Glenn asked for his GPS, so he had to go back again to go get it. He was super slow now.

I requested Gab to guide us to a store for my headache, so we went to a 99 cent store that was nearby. Phew. What a relief. I couldn�t find any Tylenol but Gab found a bottle with the word �Acetaminophen� on its label, which is what I needed. And he was right, it helped my pain and I was headache-free 20 or so minutes later.

We then came across a street that looked rather familiar. There were palm trees between the two streets and big houses around us. Was it Beverly Hills? Seems like it was. There were a lot of Jewish people walking outside, so my friends said it really must be Beverly Hills. I’ve never seen so many Jewish people in one area in real life before. Ha ha. I don’t go out much, do I?

So thanks to Gab and Homer Simpson…I-I mean, Gab and his GPS, we arrived safe and sound at our destination � the entrance to Universal Studios Hollywood!