FIRST FULL DAY IN LA

For our first full day in LA, we wanted to do Hollywood! We reserved two different 2-hour bus tours; a celebrity home and a TMZ Celebrity tour, through Big Bus Tours. We also got a 2-day hop-on/hop-off bus ticket that would allow us to ride their buses to different locations and check out whatever we wanted. I had done quite a bit of research to make sure the buses would be wheelchair accessible and was assured that they would be. Unfortunately, the day before our tours, the company reached out to me to see if we could choose a different time for the TMZ tour. When replying about that tour, I happened to remind them that we would need wheelchair accessible buses (you can never be too careful) and was notified that the Celebrity Home tour was NOT accessible. We were pretty disappointed because this tour also included a visit to the Hollywood sign. The company did refund our money and also provided the hop-on/hop-off bus tickets at no charge because of the misunderstanding. Also, they were very accommodating when we realized we would be late to our TMZ tour and let us get on at a later time. I did not realize how long using the Big Bus buses to get from Santa Monica to Hollywood would take and we would have missed our other tour had they not been so accommodating. So, it's a good idea NOT to use the Big Bus system as an alternative way to just get through the city as I had hoped to do.

But that brings me to another issue we unexpectedly had in LA; wheelchair accessible transportation. I mistakenly thought it would be easy to find an accessible Uber. As we were on the TMZ Celebrity tour, I realized we would have to find a way to get from Hollywood to Santa Monica. I had tried calling/texting a couple of taxi companies I had found on the internet, but there was never an answer. I continuously tried getting an Uber, but it always said No Cars Available. Miraculously, just as we were pulling up to Hard Rock after our tour, Kimberly says, "I can get one! An Uber!" I told her to book it. Our very first Uber ride! So, it all worked out, but not without a good amount of stress. After the fact, I realize I could have gone into one of the nicer hotels and asked the concierge to help me get an accessible ride. Hopefully they would have helped.

Overall, we had a wonderful day exploring Hollywood. The Big Bus company, TMZ Celebrity Tour and Hard Rock Cafe were all fun experiences. I just wish accessible transportation was easier to find