Two weekends ago I headed to LA and Palm Springs with some mama friends of mine for a a quick 3 day getaway, which honestly was so needed. We had been talking about it for months and were so glad to finally have the time arrive.
When planning a quick weekend trip to LA and Palm Springs you want to try and maximum your trip by get
THINGS TO KNOW/DO:
- Make sure to get the earliest flight in to LA to maximum your time. We booked a 6am flight out of Houston, but sadly our flight got delayed because of a plane malfunction, so we got put onto another plane and didn’t leave until 8am. Needless to say it totally made our plans super tight on day one.
- Brings layers. LA/ Palm Springs has cooler mornings and nights and hotter days, so make sure to layer your clothes for either coverage from the sun or to keep warm.
- Get a big car to rent because girls always bring a lot of luggage. We were so lucky to partner with Lexus and drive the most amazing Lexus LX for the weekend. I have a RX myself and to try this one out was seriously so much fun, and totally made me want to upgrade. 😉 You can read more about the LX down below.
- Book dinner reservations weeks in advance. Both cities are so busy and are a high traffic tourist spot that the early you book reservations the easier it will be to enjoy the spots that you have been dying to try.
- If you have a big group I would suggest renting an AIRBNB. We booked one for the 3 of us so we could each have our own rooms, which ended up being only $50 more a person than a hotel, so to us it was worth it. What was better too is that the house was super cute and bright which was great for so many pictures. These in particular was the house right across the street and as you can tell I am totally the digging the color scheme because it is so me. For the last night we booked a hotel room at The W in Beverly Hills to really enjoy our last morning since we had to be at the airport by 1130.
- When driving to Palm Springs from MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE NO LATER THAN 1PM!!! I seriously cannot stress this enough. I remember the travel being bad but S**T, it was insane. We left at 230 and didn’t get to Palm Springs until 630…it literally took us 4 hours (double the amount of time) because the traffic was nonstop. Hence we were bummed when our flight had issues and caused us to be 2 hours late to LA.
WHERE TO GO IN LA
- The Ivy– Super well known in LA and we absolutely loved the esthetic. It made me feel like I was back in Italy for a quick lunch break. I will let you know that it was super expensive and they made each of us by our own full entree, which we are definitely not happy about. I mean, a few of us just wanted salads.
2. Visit The Beverly Hills hotel for that famous photo everyone does.
3. Do a quick stop to Alfred’s Coffee– Sadly we didn’t go to the famous pink one, but instead went to the closest to us on Rodeo Dr and got to walk around a little.
4. The last morning visit Carrera Cafe & download their app to get a custom latte design to go. I immediately got one with Sofia on it and was so in love. Plus since I don’t like coffee or lattes it was the perfect display. Also, don’t forget to take a picture at the “HELLO” mural on the side of the shop.
5. Lastly, right across the street you have to get the fashion “Pink Wall” photo at the Paul Smith store. Since the lighting on the day was perfect I could tons of people coming and going and its’s the perfect chance to also get a group picture of you and your friends.
THINGS TO DO IN PALM SPRINGS
1.Book dinner at Birba. They have a very italian style menu, so if you love pasta and pizza then this should definitely be a go-to; by the way it was totally the best pizza I have ever had.
2. Spend Saturday morning with breakfast at Norma’s at The Parker Palm Springs hotel. This is a must because it is such a well know hotel and great for so many instagrammable shots. So mind you, that if you are not a hotel guest they will not let you walk around the hotel, but luckily the girls and I were able to get a private tour with Giuseppe who we asked at the restaurant. We seriously were so excited and got to take some amazing pictures like the lemonade stand shots you can find HERE.
3. Head to the Moorten’s Botanical Gardens, since it is only a 5 minute drive away and one that you can walk around and view in about 15-20 minutes. See some cool shots I got to take their HERE.
4. After changing into some more heat friendly we had to make sure we got That Pink Door shots. I have read and heard from multiple people that the owner absolutely hates when people take photos, and honestly I can’t blame him, and if he catches you he will tell you tell you to get off his property, so we were hopefully he wasn’t there. lol Luckily he wasn’t and we got a few shots. <3
5. From their, head to Ice Cream and Shop(pe) to cool down, check out some of the fun things they sell and just enjoy a scoop, or two, of ice cream. You can see more pictures I took there HERE.
6. For dinner since it was Cinco De Mayo we went to the super fun and busy because, DUH..the day, a Mexican restaurant called Las Casuals Terrazzo. I wore this cute festive number and literally felt like I needed to go salsa dancing afterwards.
LEXUS LX DETAILS
Now onto this Lexus LX beauty. The girls and I honestly could not be more thankful to partner with Lexus to drive this babe for the weekend. As mom’s we all drive luxury SUV’s and know that space is always a key and a must with children, but this time it was all about that for us. <3
The Lexus LX was extremely spacious for us and our multiple luggage, bags and constant changes in the car to shoot at different locations…because that’s one of the fun things about being a blog, but maybe not so much when its over 100 degrees outside. 😉
Our Lexus LX came fully loaded and even with a built-in cooler..like is this real life. That option was honestly my favorite because when thinking about families and just personally, a nice cool drink to always be an option is awesome. So
Some other great features that I loved was the in car entertainment options for the backseat drivers that came with their own headphones and could content to movies, your phone or via bluetooth. The extra cabin space, the multi-view technology when getting around the city to how we only had to put in one tank of gas the entire trip, especially with the amount of driving and traffic we dealt with in the city.
Thank you LEXUS, the comfortless of the trip would definitely have not been the same without you.
