Cities like that were designed to use rail and light rail transport, like LA and Melbourne, converted seamlessly into cities that use cars, which worked the same way, only better. And now that now that the “better” system has been stretched to it’s limits, the “worse” system would work even less well for the extensive suburbs
Cities like LA and Melbourne, where real-estate development was enabled by the easy access to large fringes using public transport, are different to cities where the original development was limited by walking distance.
I agree. It seems that she was supposed to ask for this specifically when she applied for the exchange but, for some reason, didn’t.
She’s learning how to drive but doesn’t have her licence yet.
I also think that an Uber would be a much better idea. I’ll try to drop hints, but I don’t want to appear to be interfering with her plans. It’s the first time she puts such an ambitious and personal project together.
I’ll ask her. She had just bought the tickets when I talked to her on the phone.
Funny, she mentioned it on Sunday. She’s aware of the phenomenon and knows what to do.
She’s coming from mainland Europe, not England. So, no “other side” shenanigans.
This reminds me that she has indeed talked of going to Venice Beach too.
I think that’s the idea, but again she will only be able to contact them in a few weeks. I will strongly advise her to broach the subject. I know that, in addition to accomodation, she will be having breakfast and supper with them, so they provide at least some basic “services”.
There have been several mentions of using Uber–but be aware of a possible problem:
You need a local American phone number, with the standard format: a 3 digit American area code, followed by a 7 digit number.
If you are using a foreign phone whose number uses any other format (such as a prefix of a country code, or a 2-digit area code ), the Uber app’s brain explodes .and won’t let you use it.
(By the way, this is true of almost all American websites).
Big difference between a week’s vacation and going there for an entire semester as an exchange student. Also a big difference in how much help / support / interaction the host family will give / take / expect. And how much free time per week the daughter will have for touristing.
Ubering from the airport to wherever she’ll be living will be a one time expense. Trying to use Uber to be a tourist visiting sights all over Greater LA will be prohibitively expensive. Like US$100 each way given the vast distances involved.
AFAIK, all international flights into Greater Los Angeles land at LAX = Los Angeles International Airport. If she’s flying from Europe to first e.g. New York City, then changing to a US domestic flight to continue to LA then there about 5 possible airports: LAX, Ontario, John Wayne / Orange County, Burbank, and Long Beach in rough order of amount of airline service.
If she is going to be arriving in Greater LA via a domestic flight it’s worthwhile to know where the host family lives first, then choose flights to the most local airport. Distance isn’t the only consideration, but it’s one consideration. She might save money on the airfare, and save money on the Uber, and save time by flying into one of the secondary airports closer to the host family home.
Once she is settled with the host family, there may or may not be decent local public transport and a nearby assortment of accessible interesting things to see and do. Greater LA has lots of interesting areas and also miles and miles and miles of deadly boring middle class suburbia with nothing nearby but endless grubby stripmalls & franchise restaurants.
Which is still far better than most other cities in America which have only the endless grubby and nothing much interesting.
Let me rephrase it: if you already have an Uber account setup in your home country, the app does not need to use your phone number at all. The Uber app works just fine with either mobile data from an eSIM or WiFi.
I haven’t lived there for a few years, but when I was there, there was an issue in which NIMBY locals were trying to get GPS services to mask the access points to the hike to the Hollywood Sign. Not sure if this is currently an issue, but I strongly advise doing a thorough bit of research before embarking.
Also, I just wanted to say that it’s shitty that the host family won’t pick your daughter up from the airport. ANY big city can be overwhelming to newcomers on their own and airports are doubly chaotic.
I would be going out of my way to be a welcoming ambassador to the city and this lack of hospitality gives me pause.
I always LIKED the idea of the light rail a little more than my experience riding it. Every once in a while there would be some aggravated individual who would be loud and disruptive. It can be disconcerting if you’re not used to it or feeling vulnerable.
In my personal experience, I found the buses a little more chill.
At this point you ca. just look at satellite map overlays and see where trailheads up to Mt. Lee start, or you can pay ~$20 for a bus ride ( and curated ‘vigorous walk’ up above the sign (so you can see from the back how hollow and unimpressive it is) which is the smart move because then you won’t have to deal with your car being stickered or towed for violating arcane parking regulations in the Hills. But honestly the Hollywood sign isn’t worth the effort and the hike up is miserable. Also, apparently LAC SAR has to respond on a weekly basis to rescue people who don’t understand how gravity works and elect to try to climb down to the sign and don’t realize how difficult climbing back up 50 feet of scrub is going to be, and then decide to descend before realizing that they are getting into technical climbing territory while wearing flip flops and board shorts. That ride will cost you a few thousand in fines and nuisance fees.
For the effort, it’s much better to go to the Griffith and just look at the signs using the coin op telescope or a pair of binoculars. It’s a better view with less effort and there are much nicer trails in Griffith Park.
This. And what kind of exchange program doesn’t provide assistance to make sure that the participating students get safely settled with their host families when they first arrive? What kind of enterprise is this “exchange” program anyway?
The OP has been frustratingly short on details. Probably for a combo of not wanting to run roughshod interrogating their daughter, not wanting to dox her details here, the time zone difference between where she is and most of us are, and the evident general disorganization on the part of the sponsoring agency.
It sounds like the guest family & host family have not yet been introduced.
So it seems the exchange organization is generically warning all exchange students regardless of destination to not count on your host family picking you up wherever you may first arrive in the USA. So at least think about how you’d get to wherever you’re going without that ride.
There certainly can be host families that live out in smaller cities and towns where the nearest international airport is a 5+ hour drive. So some amount of in-USA ground transportation will be required to get the arriving guest at least near the host home.
There’s no reason to conclude that her host family necessarily won’t pick her up, and no reason to derive additional conclusions about their friendliness or lack thereof. At least not yet there isn’t.
The Santa Monica pier and beach can be reached by the LA metro E line. The
LA Metro B line can take her to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The other locations
mentioned by the OP will require a bus for part of the journey. Downtown
has several interesting places to explore that are accessible by transit.
Union Station and the Griffith Observatory are a couple of places that have
appeared in movies.
For an 18 year old girl to be out alone in the daytime might be OK but she should be
aware of her surroundings at all times. The buses/trains/streets of Los
Angeles area have many homeless people and it’s not unusual to see some high
or crazy person passed out or screaming his head off. This is not a place for
timid people. And I would not be walking around Hollywood or Downtown LA
late at night.
The suburbs are pretty safe but there may not be much that would interest
her. I hope that you will update us on her trip as I am sure we would enjoy
hearing about her experiences.
There have been a few threads by people visiting the U.S. from Europe or England, and they have like 6 days and want to see NYC, Chicago, L.A., the Grand Canyon, and the Pacific Northwest. They may know in an abstract sense the distances between these places, but the true vastness of the U.S. landmass may not sink in. Hopefully before they arrive they get a better understanding of the geographical scale of the U.S. compared to where they’re from.
Greater Los Angeles is like this in microcosm. She may know, in theory, how big it is, but not understand it on a gut level, and if she’s only coming for a short time, she may need to temper expectations of how many areas she can visit, or else be overwhelmed and disappointed.
If she’s at all a map person, a person who understands maps and likes them, I’d recommend many hours of just staring at Google Maps to try to internalize the lay of the land.
Sounds like a tremendous amount of fun, I’m jealous and hope it goes great for her!