Los Angeles Here I come for the 3rd Time!

In my whole life, I dreamt about going to Los Angeles and Hollywood, California. It was my first time in October 2012, and I must say I did choke up and was so teary. I Saw the Hollywood sign and I just lost it. I just couldn’t believe what I was looking at. Since I was a child looking at movies, television, ads in the paper, travel ads, magazines, entertainment stuff, and all I saw was LA, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills and of course; the Hollywood sign. I knew where the celebrity central and the biggest entertainment capital of the world is.

As I was approaching the Hollywood sign above the Griffith Observatory, I cried up a storm. I was an emotional wreck. All my dreams of going to Los Angeles came true. I couldn’t believe I was close to all the stars, seeing the Hollywood Walk of Fame with all the artists, entertainers, then ending up right outside Jimmy Kimmel’s show studio set. Then seeing Capitol Records, and all these entertainment broadcasting corporation buildings. Then I saw the Iconic 405 Freeway everyone was talking about. They say that it was such terrible traffic and you are so right. So many lanes and still lots of traffic. Even the carpool lane didn’t make any difference.

In my mind, I was thinking of all the award shows, the red carpet, and I was keeping my eyes peeled and had my eyes everywhere with the hopes that I would meet a celebrity. That was highly unlikely, but It could happen and it has happened.

Anyway, my 2nd trip to Los Angeles was in May 2015, where we went through Santa Monica Beach where we hung out for a bit, then driving through Beverly hills. Seeing these huge houses where majority of them are covered in high bushes and trees, and a lot of the celebrities live there. You would see the home cleaners park their cars outside on the road, and them coming out with buckets, mops and other cleaning products, then you would see super expensive cars. This time, I did see Actor Hugh Jackman drive a black Porsche. It was definitely him. I can tell for sure. Then I looked online and it was true. We also traveled to Fresno, San Francisco, Drove on the Pacific Coast Highway, went to Newport Coast, Newport Beach.

My 3rd Los Angeles trip will be in about 3-4 months from now. I am excited to spend about 10-11 days there. I am definitely going to other parts of LA such as Pasadena, Glendale, Malibu, La Crescenta, and so many other places. I have a lot of time now to plan and I am going to be so organized. Gotta love LA. I cannot believe in just 3-4 years, I will have gone 3 times. I did not go all my life. I am really excited to be amongst the stars again.

I can’t wait to indulge into In-N-Out burger, and also the Famous Oscars Pizza Guy Edgars Pizza. Big Mamas and Papas, and amongst other great restaurants I have heard about.  I hope to see Ellen Degeneres, go to Warner Bros, CBS Studios, NBC Universal and more.

I just want to Meet Bradley Cooper, Jason Statham, Chris Hemsworth, and Channing Tatum. 🙂 Hopefully, will bump into them at LAX Airport or down a street walking or something. Now that would be awesome. I can hardly wait!

Our Ultimate 1308 Miles of California Getaway

A couple of weeks ago on May 21st, 2015 after a long wait and anticipation, Our ultimate California getaway had arrived when I went with my Family. We were so impatient and anxious to get to Toronto Pearson’s YYZ Airport to take our Air Canada Flight AC 789 to Los Angeles Airport LAX at 8am when it took off. As we submitted my boarding pass to the Air Canada attendant and as we made our way to the Aircraft and grabbed our seats, we were absolutely excited for the 5 and a half hour flight, which to us did not feel long at all, as we are used to flights. We arrived at 10:10am LA Time, so we had the full day ahead.

As soon as the aircraft attendants announced that we will be landing momentarily to LAX and as we saw the Los Angeles Buildings in Downtown while landing, the hills, valleys, and the beauty of LA, we began to get more excited then ever and then I said to myself, it is about to get real now. So much is waiting for me to discover, my family to see, my cousins wedding to attend to, Facebook Friends whom I met for the first time, and covering so much ground in so little time. 10-11 days went by like a dream.

It was an incredible time when we went through towns and cities, and firstly after getting our rental car, we made our way to Newport Coast, where we stood the night, taking the 405 Freeway, where then we began driving north to Fresno where my cousin got married, and reunited, and united with family and friends, then after Fresno, we made our way to San Francisco passing through San Jose, Oakland, and many other towns. After San Francisco, we ventured out to Highway 1 Freeway 101 which is the Pacific Coast Highway. It took over 8-9 hours to drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We made a stop in Santa Barbara for a night, Then we stood in Northridge Area, visited Santa Monica Pier and Beach after that we went back to Newport Coast where we ended our trip with more family time. On May 30th we returned our rental car, then at 10:20pm we departed Los Angeles LAX airport to arrive back to Toronto on May 31st, at 6am in the morning our time.

In Beverly Hills, we were on our way to Santa Monica, where I saw Actor Hugh Jackman driving a black Porsche when he was getting out and stopped on one of the streets in Beverly Hills close to Carmelita Ave with the tall Palm Trees around the homes. All the cars were either Range Rovers, Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW, Maserati, Teslas and so many more crazily expensive cars around there, and then there were cleaners and maids coming out of some of the stars homes as I was driving and watching the streets. It was quite awesome to see a celebrity in LA… What is a trip to Los Angeles without seeing a celebrity?

With all that you hear from Movies, TV, Entertainment websites and all the hype of Los Angeles with the home of Celebrities, Music Performers, Directors, Producers and a huge Population that works in the entertainment industry somehow are scattered all over Los Angeles area’s. LA is just so huge that you need at least a month to comfortably go all around. 2 weeks is not enough. There is just too much to see, too much to do. If I lived in Los Angeles, I would definitely be in the entertainment industry.

Now Los Angeles is not just about Film, Entertainment and everything. There is far more to it than just film making, awards, studios, mansions, Malibu beach houses, movie sets, the glitz, glamour, vanity, fashion and everything is not just everything about it. There is so much more to do. If you have never been, you should make a trip there whenever convenient for you.

Now, they say that the Highway 401 here is jam packed and so much traffic. You haven’t seen and heard nothing yet. We took doses of the 405, 110, traffic and that is extremely brutal. I do not know how residents of California, LA area can handle that day in and day out. It takes patience, skill and guts to go through that almost everyday. Highway 401 traffic in Toronto is nothing compared to what they go through on the 405 and 110. I would go crazy with that everyday. People of LA are brave.

I love Los Angeles so much. I am excited to make a return next year. I have been back for a couple of days now and I miss it so much already, especially my family and my friends there. Next time I will be there longer to see my other Facebook friends that I didn’t have time to see. Cheers to LA!

There is so much more that I have to say about my trip, but this was just the bit of it.
Now to take off my bucket list:

– I saw the Painted Ladies and the Full House TV Show house, and Alamo Square in San Francisco,
– I saw the Fisherman’s Wharf, also the skyline of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge.
– I saw the Santa Monica Pier
– I Drove on the Pacific Coast Highway
– I went close to the Hollywood Sign
– I saw Beverly Hills and glimpse of Celebrity Homes
– I saw a celebrity in LA – Hugh Jackman in his Black Porsche.

The Road to Beautiful Armenia

Hello, My name is Talin Orfali and I am here to introduce to you my motherland, my culture, my heritage, The Beautiful Armenia and its rich history. Armenia is located in the South Caucasus, which is bordered by Georgia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. The Official language of Armenia, is Armenian, However you can hear some Russian being spoken, road signs, store signs in Russian, and of course you can hear English as well.

the year 301, Armenia is the first country in the world that has adopted Christianity. The Armenian Church goes back many centuries ago and was founded by 2 Apostles, Thaddeus and Bartholomew. St Gregory the Illuminator was our first Catholicos (Our Pope), of the Armenian Church. He was held in a Hole for 13 years at church named Khor Virap(Khor Virab), which is located close to Mount Ararat, then he had finally be rescued and escaped the Dungeon. Our First ever Church built is the Holy See of Etchmiadzin in the city of Etchmiadzin. It is the oldest Church in the World.

Armenia is mountainous, with rivers, forests, ravines, and it is located mostly at 1800 meters above sea level. The highest point is Aragats Mountain at (4092m), and the lowest is Debed Valley at (400m). We also have our square, Yerevan square, which is Hrabarag. Yerevan is our capital.

The road to beautiful Armenia is incredible, the beauty of our hills and valleys, The Statues, Monuments, Churches, from our great and rich history include, the David of Sassoun, Vartan Mamigonian, Akhtamar, Garni, Geghard, Noravank, St Mary’s, Haghardzin Monastery, Mesrob Mashtots who is the Inventor and creator of The Armenian Alphabet which we have 38 letters, The Madenataran which is our Library with Saint Mesrob Mashtot’s Statue with our Alphabet in the front, There is St. Hripsime, St Gregory the Illuminator Church, You may or may not have heard about our writer William Saroyan. We have many authors, and important figures in our history, past and present.

Some of our Armenian’s include, Atom Egoyan, Andre Agassi, Andrea Martin, Charles Aznavour, Ross Baghdasaryan, Cher, Arshile Gorky, Steve Jobs, Kirk Kirkorian, Aram Khatchaturian, Alex Manougian, David Nalbandian, Raffi, Seymour Skinner who is from the Simpsons, Zildjian Family, System of a Down, Eric Bogosian, Capital Cities group (one of them is Armenian) , the inventor of the MRI ( Magnetic Resonance Imaging), Machine is also Armenian named Dr. Raymond Damadian.

Armenia is just so rich in history, culture, and so much more. Armenia’s flag consists of 3 colours, Red, Blue, Orange. Our currency of money is Dram’s. Check your local Currency for the difference. There is just so much history, so much to know about Armenia, the history, and everything else. If you are more curious, You can definitely search online for more information on our culture, beliefs, religion and so much more.

I had the pleasure of visiting my motherland the Beautiful Armenia in 1999 for the first time. I kissed the ground of Armenia when I first got off the plane. It was a feeling that was beautiful and I was crying with happy tears. It was an amazing journey that really touched my heart. I had gone to Armenian Saturday school and everything I learned came to life, and knowing that and feeling the presence of our history makers, ancestors really made me feel so incredible, knowing that where I may have walked, that several hundred and thousands of years ago, there may have been those people walking the same very steps, as I have took. It was a feeling I will never forget. To this very day, I never forgot the moments when I was there. I will never forget when I took a swim in our lake Sevan, where we put delicious and juicy watermelon in the water so it stays cool where we can eat it by the water.  I had gone to Armenia with my fellow classmates, and couple of my cousins, teachers and volunteers after graduating Armenian School in grade 8. It was a trip I never forgot and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

After returning from Armenia, I began to volunteer and utilize my time in the Armenian community as much as possible. I was in the Armenian community centers here in Toronto and the country more than I was at home. I have just recently began to come back into it all and it feels amazing. It feels great to give back to my community as much as possible.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Armenia and make that part of your travel plans to see the world, it is a must. You can obtain a tourist visa at the Airport, and you do not need any vaccinations or anything. Follow up with your travel agent, tour operator to obtain more information and your preferences. Also if you have any other questions of Armenia, do not hesitate to contact me. I really hope you enjoyed the Road to beautiful Armenia.

I am so proud to be an Armenian.