Hot Take: Palm Springs Is Better Than Los Angeles

Please don't get mad at me. I love Los Angeles, but what I don't love is spending 90% of my time in the car because everything is so spread out. While I adore Disney and all the quirky things that make Los Angeles unique, you can find the same vibe, minus The Mouse, in Palm Springs.   

So, if you were thinking about heading to Los Angeles for a quick getaway, unless you're going for something specific, like a show at the Hollywood Bowl or an Angels game, think about going to Palm Springs instead. Here are my arguments why it's better than the City of Angels.

The airport doesn't suck

I have strong feelings about LAX. It's in my bottom 3 airports. It's horrible to navigate and takes forever to park if you're driving. On the other hand PSP is small, has exactly the things you want/need in an airport, it takes advantage of the great weather, and it legit took us 10 minutes to drive from uptown to the airport, drop our car, and get to security.

It also has palm trees

You know those palm-lined streets everyone loves about Los Angeles? The ones you get to see a lot, because you're still stuck in traffic? What if you didn't get stuck in traffic and could really appreciate the view and the drive? That's Palm Springs. 

"I'm Batman!" - Adam West

It has its own Walk of Fame

You know how everyone talks about the Hollywood Walk of Fame like it's something super cool and not actually located, in parts, in sketchy stretches of Hollywood Boulevard, which nobody really walks, where you actually see a ton of homeless people peeing in the street? Listen, I don't blame the houseless for having to live their lives as best they can, but I've also never really felt too safe in Hollywood outside of the real touristy areas. Palm Springs feels pretty safe, even at night, no matter where you are, and sure, their Walk of Fame only has stars of people who were prominent in Palm Springs, but it's cleaner and more interesting and goes all around downtown. 

It's very walkable

If you walk in LA, people think there's something wrong with you. Also, you can basically only pick one neighborhood to walk in, because anything else would take you all day. Most of the things you want to see/do in Palm Springs is in Uptown and Downtown, both of which are easy to walk around in. You can have brunch, go shopping, and hit the museum, all within a mile of each other. We pretty much walked to dinner every night.

It doesn't take 3 hours to get...anywhere

I like driving. I really do, but being in the car for hours at a time sucks. Having to leave for something 3 hours ahead of time and still getting there late, sucks. Getting stuck in traffic when going, literally, anywhere at any time of day, sucks. The only thing that took us very long to get to was driving out to the Salton Sea, and that was only because it's 40 mins from town. It took us 30 mins or so to drive to the zoo, which isn't in Palm Springs. Everything else took 5-10 mins, unless we walked there, but then it only took 15, because we didn't have to find a place to park. It was amazing.

There are great shops

Whether you're looking for a cool boutique shop, or an upscale luxury brand, or a vintage clothing/furniture store, you can find it here. Within a mile of us was an outdoor mall with all the shops you know and love, a bunch of locally-owned shops with anything you could possibly want, a used bookstore, a pet boutique, and at least a handful of antique and vintage shops.

There is street art

Around every corner, you'll find cool art, either on the sidewalk, on the side of buildings, in parks, or outside the museum. (There's also great art inside the museum, we just didn't get to it). Make sure to look up and down and around yourself while wandering around. You won't be disappointed. You can also find a map of all the art if you want to just take a self-guided tour around the city of all the free art.

This is the Elvis Presley honeymoon home

The architecture is great

I. Love. Mid-Century. Modern. Love it. We took a couple hours and just drove around looking at the amazing homes in the hills. The city is a veritable treasure trove of MCM as well as vintage signs and art. LA has historical buildings as well, but again, you'd have to drive all over to see a significant amount. We drove around for half an hour and saw 50 homes all on 5 streets behind our lodging.

The home of Kirk Douglass

You can see the stars' homes

You don't have to pay  $30 for a Map To The Stars in Palm Springs. In fact, you can jump on the internet and download a map or stop at the Historical Society for a free one and then drive around looking at homes that were used in movies and TV shows, were owned, or are still owned by famous people, and generally just enjoy your time doing it. You don't have to board a bus with a bunch of strangers, with some guy yelling into a mic, and you can fit it into your schedule at any point of your trip.

You can eat healthy here, too

Los Angelenos are obsessive about their "health" food, probably because so many people are in show business, but it doesn't take away from the fact that eating healthy is important. You can have those same experiences in Palm Springs, just on a smaller scale, because the city is much more compact. And if you don't, you can do it up big, too, and also have brunch pretty much every day of the week (which I love).

Getting to the mountains isn't difficult

In fact, it's pretty easy. You don't have to drive to that one hill in LA to hike on a road. There's actual hiking here, regardless of your fitness level. The mountains are, like, a 5-10 minute drive from Uptown. You can't even drive to a grocery store in 10 minutes in LA.

The LGBTQ+ scene is everywhere

Everything was just so welcoming and chill here and I loved it. The city has a progressive feel and they celebrate their rainbow residents and visitors all year long and even have a street where all the gay clubs, bars, and shops are located.  

Stop yelling about how terrible I am, because I have nothing but love for LA. In fact, I'll be heading there in June for a few days to hit some theme parks and do a little sightseeing. I'll never get enough of the city, mostly because I can never see everything I want to see in one trip, but other places have similar things and can be better for shorter trips or ones where you don't want to rent a car.

What are your thoughts? Or do you have another x city is better than y city you'd like to propose?

My Shortcut Trip-Planning Technique

I've heard from a lot of you that travel planning is your least favorite part of travel. What do you do? Where do you go? Where do you eat? How do you get there? Well, I have been using a shortcut for all of those for years. Wanna know the secret? It's Google Maps! I use it for road trips, I use it to plan my vacation days and I use it to navigate everywhere.

Chances are, you're already using Google Maps - I know some people use it even if they have Apple Maps on their phone - which means you just need to learn to use it more and more effectively. It's easy and you can add things to a future or potential trip at any time. (You can click any of these pics for high resolution and to see it more in depth.)

I Want To Do That!

Here's what my Paris map looked like for my last trip. I tend to find things over time I want to see or do and "bookmark" it on the map. You can add flags to things in different trips to make them easier to find, too. How do you do this? It's easy!

Click on the thing you want to look at and if you decide to add it to your list, hit the "save" bookmark and it will give you the option to add it to your favorites, want to go list, current travel plans, a list you've already made, or scroll to the bottom to make a new list. I like to group mine into cities, so it's easier to toggle between.

Find My Stuff! 

Click the three bars in the left-hand corner next to the city or in the address bar inside Google Maps (or at the top of your screen if you're using your phone) and you'll get your list. Right at the top is Your Places. Click there and you can see your whole list of places you've made lists for. 

This brings up all the bookmarks or flags you've added to a list and you can see it on the map. This is where the actual planning phase of your trip starts. 

Fill In Your Days!

Now that you've added the must-do things to your list, it's time to fill in the rest of your time at your destination. I usually do this on my laptop, to make it easier, but I can't record my laptop screen. Once I have the skeleton plan of my trip, I use Google Maps to find other things around those places. This allows me to "walk" down streets and also see reviews and other visitor's pictures. When I see something cool, I bookmark that, too, and once I've finished that, I move on to making an itinerary, which you can also do in Google Maps.

Plan Out Your Days!

Okay, so here's how I plan a whole day around my must-dos. Go look at all the little flags on your map and look at where they're located in relation to one another. Here I had tickets to go to the Museum of Hunting and Nature, so I looked at everything I wanted to do around it and mentally added a circle around it that would be reasonable walking distance. You can make this bigger or smaller if you don't want to walk that much or if you're driving or taking public transportation. 

I noticed that Robert et Louise was nearby and a place I wanted to eat, so I made sure they were open and booked a reservation. That's another thing helpful when using Google Maps - you can see the days and hours of operation for anything you're looking at.  I also added some other stops, like Nicolas Flamel's historic home and the nearby bakery named after him. This is how I planned out my short day of arrival.

Now, keep doing this until you've hit all your must-dos and things you've got tickets for. Here, I've added my Airbnb location, so I could plan an easy day where we wouldn't have to go that far, but also so I know where all the nearest Metro stops are in order to get to the other sections on my map. One day we got breakfast at Kafkaf, walked up to Pere Lachaise, went back "home" to change because it stopped raining, and then took the train to the Pantheon, where we did other stuff in that area.

Plan a Walking Tour!

I knew we'd be walking a ton on this trip, and I just wanted a day where we did a bunch of sightseeing. I knew we'd be starting our day at the Eiffel Tower and ending our day at Museum de Caravalet, but not what we would do in between, so I did a quick directional map and then wandered along the route to see what there was to see/do along the way. This is how I found the Paris Sewer Museum. I know we love walking along the Seine, but we also wanted to see the Arc de Triomphe and wander the Champs Elysees for a bit. We got lunch, did our museum tour and then wandered up the river some more. 

Nicolas Flamel's house

I always have "maybe things to my list, because maybe you'll find yourself near things or maybe you'll have a bit of extra time you want to fill. Google Maps will alert you when you're near one of your picks, but it can also help you navigate the streets (whether by foot or car) and public transportation. Just remember to bring along a extra phone battery so you don't run out of juice while you're wandering around. We tend to recharge when we're sitting down to a meal. 

I started using Google Maps for road trip planning, because I like to stop on my way to see interesting things and it worked so well for that, I just knew it would be great for smaller scale things like a city or even a neighborhood, and it is!

So, if you feel lazy, or you just really need to plan a trip quickly, you can do all your research inside Google (though I suggest starting elsewhere to create your "bare bones" list of must-do things, especially if this is your first visit somewhere) and make a game plan and easy itinerary. You can also jump on attraction websites to buy your tickets ahead of time this way, too, making your life even easier. Find hidden gems, awesome eateries (or coffee shops to start your day), and even street art. 

Have you used Google Maps to plan a trip before?

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links and I may be monetarily compensated if you make a purchase through these posts. This helps me to keep this blog running and bring you more posts you enjoy, so thanks in advance.

Mardi Gras Destination Potluck

Destination Potlucks are back! And we've started with an easy theme/destination: New Orleans. With Mardi Gras in full swing, I decided we would do our own little Mardi Gras party. As a reminder, everyone brings a dish (or more) or beverage, and dress up if they like. We then all eat and learn about our destination. In this case, we learned facts about Mardi Gras.

I hit up my local dollar store and bought a ton of beads (because what is Mardi Gras without beads?) and both decorated with them and handed them out to people. I also picked up masks and boas. 

I also bought some fun street signs and banners, because I really wanted a party vibe. It's not a bead-laden
tree in Nola, but that's okay. I think I did a decent job of doing it on a smaller scale.

You know I don't have destination themes without backdrops. This one was used in our last New Orleans date night, but it gave the best Mardi Gras feel, because of the balconies. This is up high, because I wanted everyone to be able to see it when we were all sitting and milling around. Also, balconies are up high.

I also ordered a Steamboat Natchez backdrop, because the river is one of my favorite things. I pinned it up behind the table. 

I got a lovely green tablecloth, added my streetlamps that I purchased for another DDN, covered them in beads, and then added some foil strands from a curtain I bought and then didn't really use as intended. 

I have taken to skipping paper plates and just purchasing the plastic plates from Target that are just $.50 each. They're pretty great, dishwasher safe, and reusable. I usually buy a dozen or so and that works for smaller parties, but you can also mix-and-match. (Despite this picture, they're actually gray. I also like that they have a lip, so they're easier to hold onto and harder to spill.) I did gold cups and utensils and found these adorable napkins. Now, let's talk about food:

Now, you can't go to Nola and not have a muffuletta sandwich. It's basically, prociutto, salami, mozzarella, provolone, and an olive spread. In order to make this for a crowd, I opted for the pinwheel version with croissant dough. I cheated and bought olive bruschetta spread. With so many heavy foods coming, I wanted a veggie and did this maque choux, a Cajun corn dish.

I'll tell you what: if you have any sort of southern feast and it doesn't include cornbread, did you even eat southern food? Our friend, Linda, brought both spicy and regular cornbread. Yum!

Our friend, Nicole, brought pecan pie (on the right) and these amazing deep-fried Cajun deviled eggs. Our friend, Robyn, brought jambalaya (which you can see at the top). Our friend, Kara, brought gumbo in a crock pot. 

When in New Orleans, you'll find quite a few hot sauce "bars", which are shops that only sell hot sauces, but you can try all of them before you buy. I did a mini hot sauce bar here with 4 popular Louisiana sauces. The Slap Ya Mama gives some really good heat and the Tabasco jalapeno one is my favorite, but pretty mild, so if you can't handle too much spice, this one is for you.

You gotta have some cocktails and other drinks, so I made coffee with chicory, and an alcoholic and non-alcoholic batch of mint juleps. To add to the party atmosphere, I bought these flashing drink cubes, which are liquid activated. Everyone thought they were super fun.

It's traditional that King Cake is served for Mardi Gras. It's a basic yeasty cinnamon cake, which can be kind of bland, so I made mini ones with cinnamon rolls and then used colored sugar to make them festive. 

 

As always, you gotta have a baby inside your cake. The person who finds it in their slice (or, in this case, mini cake) will have luck and prosperity for the coming year and they pass it on the next year by throwing the next party and/or baking the next cake. You can also use a coin or a bean. Just make sure your guests know it's a possibility, so they aren't surprised.

Obviously, we had to get in the spirit of things. I purchased shirts for myself and Eric, and also head boppers from the dollar store. Even though I didn't get any photos, our friends also did a bit of dressing up for the theme with Mardi Gras colors. 

I like people to learn things when they come to our house. I printed out some fun facts about Mardi Gras food, history, and parades and pinned them up around the kitchen and living room. We'll be trying to do a trivia game for our next one to see if that works even better. 

I love to start the party before people even come inside. Swamp tours are prevalent in Louisiana and we saw alligators on them, but also just out while driving through the state. I got this great inflatable gator and added a caution sign near him and beaded up my front bench. You can see a daytime shot that I did with the dog on my Instagram.

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A post shared by Shereen Travels Cheap (@srayle)

I hope this helps you to throw a fun Mardi Gras party in the future or gives you inspiration for a different destination potluck. This is a fun way to travel without traveling and include all your friends as well. You can trade off whose house you meet at and come up with cool games in order to learn more about your destination, play some thematic music and/or make a YouTube playlist to play in the background.

How do you celebrate Mardi Gras?

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links and I may be monetarily compensated if you make a purchase through these posts. This helps me to keep this blog running and bring you more posts you enjoy, so thanks in advance.