4 Mistakes Los Angeles Visitors Make
The Worst 4 Mistakes Most Visitors Make
1. Picking the wrong hotel
Booking the wrong hotel will ruin your trip. There are countless ways you can go wrong here. The most common is that the hotel doesn’t look the same as it did online. The room is shockingly tiny, the paint is peeling, the bedspread is polyester, there’s no closet in the room, etc. Many people choose hotels in remote suburbs, thinking they are saving money. However, when traffic eats up hours of your vacation, you’ll find that the “savings” turns into “wasted money.” Even worse, you can spend two hours per day commuting to your hotel (they always advertise it’s 15 minutes away) and waste more than 15% of your vacation. You are better off finding reasonably priced hotels near the center of the action. Try Priceline.com or Hotwire.com and limit the areas to within a mile or so of where you plan to spend most of your time.
2. Choosing the wrong restaurants.
Without a travel agent to tell you where to eat, what are you going to do? You’ll go to Olive Garden, Applebee’s, Outback Steakhouse, or some other chain you are familiar with so you don’t risk bad food at a high price. This is the WORST thing you can do. Find someone to recommend local unique restaurants. NEVER eat in a high traffic tourist area. That spells bad food at high prices. Those places stay in business because they don’t need repeat business. Find a small place out of the way. They are still in business because locals keep going back for the great food. In Los Angeles, there are GREAT restaurants of all varieties. Ask your hotel concierge. Or call an OnBoard Ambassador at 1-301-839-5261. Read reviews on Yelp.com or Zagat.com.
3. Wasting Money.
Watch out for tourist traps. Don’t waste money on high-priced souvenirs or shops in touristy areas. Find where the locals shop or eat and spend your money there. You’ll save hundreds of dollars. You’ll need a local expert to tell you the best places to go. OnBoard’s travel concierges are a great place to start. Another great option is your hotel concierge. One option is to take a sightseeing tour, and ask your tour guide where to go and what areas/shops to avoid.
4. Wasting Time.
Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the world. Don’t waste your valuable vacation time wandering around the city trying to find the attractions. The most efficient way to experience Los Angeles is to take a comprehensive sightseeing tour that will show you all the attractions in an efficient format. Then, you will know where to go back on your second and third days and spend time experiencing the attractions you like the best.
