An Englishman in California | Travel Vlog + English Listening Practice

Eat Sleep Dreamers welcome. I'm in Los Angeles, California. I've got my sunglasses on because

the sun is shining. I've just arrived. I'm here for a friend's wedding but I'm also going

to be travelling around and doing a road trip with my good friend Luke. We've got lots of

adventures ahead of us and I thought well hey why don't we share them together you and

me. We'll go surfing, we'll go into the desert, who knows what else we'll do, I don't know.

Anyway, if you are up for it let's have a little road trip around California.

Guys I've come to the Griffith Observatory. This is one of the most amazing places to

be in LA because you have the most incredible views out over the city. It's also famous

for the film La La land. This is where they came up to the top and they were dancing.

It's a very romantic place. So it's a very iconic part of Los Angeles.

Also Eat Sleep Dreamers super cool, if you look the other way it's the Hollywood sign.

I'm cycling along the beach, it's absolutely idyllic here. The sun is out, the ocean is

right there, the Pacific ocean. It couldn't be better. So I'm on a bicycle but the verb

is to cycle, to cycle, so I'm cycling by the ocean on a small bike but it's getting me

there. Oh check him out, that's pretty fast. Oh ok, I'm going to need to brake now. To

brake you have to peddle backwards. So that's the verb to peddle, is to move your legs to

move the bicycle and on this bike there are no brakes in your hands so you have to brake

with your feet, it's quite tricky.

Have you guys seen the film La La Land? It stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, it's all

about Los Angeles and it was really popular last year. Well I'm doing a little mini-tour

of the places that they filmed and according to my guidebook this is the pier where Ryan

Gosling did his dance. I think it's the bit where he just met Emma Stone and he goes to

the pier and he does this song and dance because he's fallen in love. It's a cool moment in

the film anyway. Anyway, this is Hermosa beach pier and this is where they filmed that scene

from. Allegedly, I mean it looks different to me but it's kind of cool that they did

it here. Maybe they added some effects in afterwards. It's pretty cool, I'm not going

to dance though don't worry. I'm not going to start trying to be like Ryan Gosling.

Eat Sleep Dreamers you join me at one of the most exciting moment because we are about

to go surfing. We've got our surfboards, we've got the ocean, there's Luke. We've got our

wetsuits, check it out! Very nice! And we are about to head out into the waves. We went

surfing yesterday afternoon and it was super cool so it's the morning now and we're going

to head out, see if we can catch a few waves. I'll be honest, I'm not a particularly great

surfer, bit of a beginner but I enjoy it, I enjoy the challenge of being out there in

the ocean on the waves so yeah we're going to go and check it out. The waves look good

so yeah we'll see you down there. Alright we're down on the beach and we're

about to go into the surf. Luke is stretching and getting ready. The waves look a bit bigger

from down here but it should be fun let's have a go, let's see what we can do.

Luke! We've just had our first battle with the waves and we're totally knackered. We

were only in there for about twenty minutes and just wave after wave crashing on to our

heads. We caught one or two waves kind of. I think we definitely stuck out like a sore

thumb for being the amateurs that we are. Yeah there's a lot of professionals out there

and yeah we are not. But it's good fun though. Just ducking underneath the waves, paddling

out, getting another one on your head, turning around and seeing a good one, trying to jump

on it and surf it in. So tired! Yeah that's the one bit I love about being on the beach

is that you find, like we were saying yesterday, sand in your shoes like a few days later.

Sand in your books or whatever it's kind of cool. We're going to have a rest and then

we're going to go back in...maybe.

Guys, we are having the most epic drive imaginable. We're going through the desert, we've got

some amazing songs and we've just come to this viewpoint right here. I just want to

share this with you. The view out over the desert is absolutely incredible. I've covered

up with my hat and my glasses because I don't want to get too sunburned but check out the

view. This is really really special, anyway we're heading down into Palm Springs which

is where our hotel is tonight. We're going to have a little swim, have some food and

just soak it all up. Alright my ride is here, I've got to go.

Good morning guys. It's about nine o'clock in the morning I'm a little sleepy and it's

already like thirty degrees celsius here. That's desert life right? It's just super

hot, no clouds in the sky. Anyway so the first thing we're going to do today is go get some

pancakes. Now when I'm travelling the best thing I think to do is when you are travelling

is to eat the local food and I'm in America so of course I should eat pancakes, right?

So we're going to a place called IHop, I'm very very excited about that. Yeah, in fact

I've been dreaming about pancakes this morning.

Alright we've ordered and our pancakes have arrived. They look epic! Luke's got some like

fruit pancake thing going on, let's have a look. Ok, here goes with my first bite. Oh

my lord, so good. The pancakes here are much fluffier than the ones back home. Oh my goodness,

that's amazing with the scrambled egg and the ham and the maple syrup. The secret is

the maple syrup, put loads of maple syrup on and t tastes incredible. Alright, we've

finished our meal that was absolutely delicious. Luke, did you enjoy yours? Yeah it was great.

Thanks Luke, good input. I'm absolutely full, I couldn't eat another thing. The portions

here are absolutely enormous, so much bigger than back home. So full! So now we're going

to head back to the hotel, have a little swim a little rest and then we're going to head

back onto the road and into the desert and see some more of that amazing landscape.

Guys we're about to drive along route 66 which is a legendary road in America. It stretches

across the country from Chicago to California. It's famous because there have been songs

written about it for example the Rolling Stones did 'Route 66'. It's a super famous road and

it's one I've wanted to drive along for years and years and now I'm about to do it. That's

pretty exciting. Alright, let' drive.

Guys, one of the most amazing things about America are the trains. The trains are the

longest things I've ever seen and we just stopped for a moment to get a quick drink

and a train is passing right now and it goes for miles. Check it out, see if you can see

it ok. Alright, it starts over there and it goes all the way along, all the way, all the

way. I can't even see where it ends. It must be like a hundred carriages long. Amazing!

In America I think they do everything bigger alright the breakfasts are bigger, the drinks

are bigger and the trains are definitely bigger too. Wow! It's amazing, so cool.

Guys, we've come hiking in Joshua Tree, it is amazing, unreal. Check it out, look at

that. I know what this needs, a desert montage.

Guys, the scenery is absolutely unreal, it's just incredible. We went off the path a little

earlier and it's a bit scary because under every tree there's maybe a snake or some kind

of wild life. Little bit scared but that's alright. So this is the famous Joshua Tree

that this whole place is named after. It's also called the tree of life because it survives

incredibly in such an amazingly difficult place. It's super dry, no water so it's called

the tree of life for that reason. It's used by animals and by the natives that used to

live here for clothes and things like that. It's a really crazy looking tree, kind of

furry but it's pretty cool and it's everywhere, everywhere you look you can see Joshua trees.

So we've come to a place called Joshua tree which is in the heart of the desert and this

specific place is called the Integratron. And as you can see behind me there is a sort

of white dome building. This is, the best way to describe it is a sound bath. We're

going to sit there, I think and we're going to have lots of different sounds and it's

supposed to be very soothing and peaceful. I'm a little apprehensive, I won't lie to

you, i don't really know what it's going to be like but I'll tell you about it afterwards,

Ok? Should be interesting.

Ok, we've just come out of the Integratron, Luke how was it? It was amazing. I didn't

know what to expect. Like a bunch of strangers sat in a room listening to a ceramic pots

could always go a bit awry but no it was good. Yeah very calming, I feel very at peace right

now. I mean yeah, look at this, it makes me feel at peace with everything right now. Yeah,

I had a bit of a hangover but I'm leaving feeling much more at one with myself. Yeah,

so you go into this room, there's sort of incense smells and they play these ceramic

pots and you just lie back and you close your eyes and you breath and you just go on a little

journey. I feel very mellow. I've definitely been on a journey. So good, I recommend it.