Lets just say our first two days in LA were less than impressive. For a start our hostel threw us on blow up beds in a hall with a see through sheet for privacy rather than the 3 bed dorm we booked. This was after of course they tried to put us on the back foot by saying they almost cancelled our booked because we arrived after 10pm (which makes me think they did just give our beds away). But at that stage (remembering the sleepless week we'd had preparing prior to departure) we were so exhausted we just collapsed as we had a big day navigating LA the next day.
There are a lot of people who loiter in LA, they just sort of wander aimlessly. It was kinda concerning because I didn't know whether they were homeless, had lots of spare time or were waiting for the opportune moment to mug us. Maybe the heat just makes people hang about, I know I wish I wasn't running about in those temperatures.
Anyway, we were frantically trying to finish our last bits of organisation such as acquiring supplies (Walmart! didn't make it to the REI in Santa Monica) and bits of gear when we return exhausted to find the hostel had taken the liberty of collecting our things and throwing them in the hall. They apparently thought our stuff was some friends of theirs. After much yelling we managed to get two uncomfortable futons in a closet (honestly I didn't think you could fit even one person in there), but also got them to agree to refund half what we paid, but they would only do it on check-out (suspicious). But we weren't the only ones, a group of four Germans turned up to find they only had 3 beds, and a group of girls turned up to find no beds for them (all these people had pre-booked) and the guy threatened to call the police when they got upset and wanted their deposit back. The morning after this we tried to get our money (while also trying to sort our re-supply packages) but no one was there! Eventually a guy turned up but said there was no cash on the premises. An hour or two of furious deliberation later he refunded it to our credit card (the machine also had no receipt paper)... seeing as our credit card is now also giving us trouble we still don't know whether that has gone through. We were very glad to leave LA.
NB: The hostel was called The Moonpad, never ever go there. Also we checked our credit card and the refund went through. Still a horrible place to stay.
There are a lot of people who loiter in LA, they just sort of wander aimlessly. It was kinda concerning because I didn't know whether they were homeless, had lots of spare time or were waiting for the opportune moment to mug us. Maybe the heat just makes people hang about, I know I wish I wasn't running about in those temperatures.
Anyway, we were frantically trying to finish our last bits of organisation such as acquiring supplies (Walmart! didn't make it to the REI in Santa Monica) and bits of gear when we return exhausted to find the hostel had taken the liberty of collecting our things and throwing them in the hall. They apparently thought our stuff was some friends of theirs. After much yelling we managed to get two uncomfortable futons in a closet (honestly I didn't think you could fit even one person in there), but also got them to agree to refund half what we paid, but they would only do it on check-out (suspicious). But we weren't the only ones, a group of four Germans turned up to find they only had 3 beds, and a group of girls turned up to find no beds for them (all these people had pre-booked) and the guy threatened to call the police when they got upset and wanted their deposit back. The morning after this we tried to get our money (while also trying to sort our re-supply packages) but no one was there! Eventually a guy turned up but said there was no cash on the premises. An hour or two of furious deliberation later he refunded it to our credit card (the machine also had no receipt paper)... seeing as our credit card is now also giving us trouble we still don't know whether that has gone through. We were very glad to leave LA.
NB: The hostel was called The Moonpad, never ever go there. Also we checked our credit card and the refund went through. Still a horrible place to stay.
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