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Around The World: A Superb LAX Stopover -- Marina del Rey
Jennifer Merin
If you’re flying from anywhere in North America to anywhere in Asia
or the South Pacific, you’re most likely departing on your
ten-to-seventeen-hour or longer flight from Los Angeles.
Unless you’re booked to wine, dine and snooze in Quantas First Class--or its equivalent (if there is such a thing) on another airline--you’re in for an ordeal. Business class, bulkhead or back of the plane, those long haul flights are marathons of confinement and cramps, of irritable syndromes from your eyeballs and eardrums to your bowels and ankles. Face it: aches and anxiety are unavoidable side effects of long haul flights.
And that’s the reason why you’ll want to take a little preparatory break before boarding that trans-Pacific flight. Get to LA a day early, enjoy a bit of beach time and a good night’s sleep before submitting to your long haul ordeal.
Los Angeles Airport (LAX) isn’t one of the airline routing hubs--like Miami International, for example--with onsite hotels to which you can walk with carryon wheelies in tow. But every major hotel chain from Raddisson to Renaissance has a property within a five minute drive from LAX, and they all provide free and frequent shuttle service. But, none of them is on the water. So, if beach-ing is part of your long haul prep plan, you’ll want a hotel shuttle with a bit of a further reach. Adding five minutes to your ride gets you to Marina del Rey, a beachy-boaty little community that fills the bill as your airport resort.
Geographically, Marina del Rey is a 400-acre area that stretches from the estuary where Ballona Creek meets Marina Channel to the sands of Venice Beach. There are six harbor front hotels, including the ultra-luxe and extremely pricey five-diamond Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, deluxe Marina del Rey Marriott, first-class Marina del Rey Hotel, Marina International Hotel & Bungalows, Best Western Jamaica Bay Inn and Foghorn Harbor Inn. The Foghorn offers free shuttle service to and from LAX.
But if you miss that shuttle, there are other inexpensive ways to get from the airport to the Marina. For cheap public transportation, there are three major municipal bus lines--LA’s Metro Bus Line, Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus, and the Culver City bus--cover Marina del Rey’s major thoroughfares, including Washington Boulevard, Via Marina, Lincoln Boulevard and Admiralty Way. (You can visit mta.net, bigbluebus.com, and culvercity.org/bus for schedules and fare information.). Or, with a range of prices, there are airport shuttles, taxis, vans and private coaches to transport you from LAX to your hotel.
Actually, Marina del Rey has a long and impressive list of hotel options, all offering easy access to the area’s attractions, many with very reasonable rates but without the cache (and views) that come with a harbor front address.
Since your game plan calls for some sound sleep before your long haul flight, you’ll want to find a quiet and comfortable hotel--but don’t overemphasize luxury décor or other such amenities as essential to your choice. Because, unless you arrive late at night and/or are exhausted, you‘ll want to spend most of your waking time out and about, exploring and enjoying the Marina‘s fun in the sun options. Best of all, Marina del Rey’s compact layout lets you do that on foot, in skates, on a bike or by shuttle. Unlike other Los Angeles communities, a stay in Marina del Ray doesn’t require a car. Skates and bikes are rent-able--just ask the hotel concierge for directions to the nearest outlet.
If you start out by foot and get tired, you can hop on the Marina del Rey Beach Shuttle, a free service that circulates throughout the Marina at frequent intervals, with stops at Playa Vista, Fisherman’s Village, Waterside Shopping Center, Admiralty Park, Via Marina & Panay Way, Venice Beach Pier, Marina Beach Shopping Center and Burton W. Chace Park. The shuttle operates during summer months on Friday and Saturday from 10 am to midnight, and on Sunday and holidays from 10 am to 10 pm, leaving every 15 minutes after each hour. There’s also late evening service to the Marina’s free summer concerts in Burton W. Chace Park and at Concert Park in Playa Vista. Another option for getting around is WaterBus, a boat shuttle that circulates to six popular Marina locations, including Burton W. Chace Park, Dolphin Marina, Fisherman’s Village, Marina Harbor, Mother’s Beach and Waterfront Walk. This is a lot of fun, and for the fare of $1 per person per ride, you get out onto the water, as well as to your next amusement. If you particularly like boating, you can just ride around the harbor without disembarking.
Marina del Rey, a boaters’ Mecca, offers small boat rentals, day cruises, fishing opportunities and other on-the-water entertainments.
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Hornblower Cruises & Events (www.Hornblower.com) does Sunday brunch and weekend cocktail/dinner cruises. Marina Boat Rentals (www.boats4rent.com) supplies motor or sailing vessels and kayaks. Marina del Rey Sport Fishing (www.marinadelreysportfishing.com) proffers fishing excursions. And, there are charter boat companies specializing in private cruises. Before booking, ask your concierge if your hotel has discount deals.
Or, if you’re more interested in stretching your legs, stroll or power walk your way along Waterfront Walk, beginning at Mother’s Beach (corner of Admiralty Way and Via Marina), passing waterfront hotels and yacht clubs to the bike path that heads west on Fiji Way to the marvelous Ballona Wetlands and Ballona Creek, famous as a birdwatchers’ paradise. Here, you can sign up for free guided walking tours of the freshwater marsh, saltwater marsh and dunes. Visit www.ballonafriends.org for the tour schedule.
You might want to pack a picnic lunch and head for Burton W. Chace Park, a retreat of rolling hills and harbor views, with terrific play possibilities for kids of all ages.
If shopping is your preferred form of recreation, you’ll find plenty of game in chic boutiques at Waterside Marina del Rey and throughout the area. But remember, you’re on a stopover and don’t want to burden yourself with too much extra baggage. Resist purchases that cannot be shipped to your home.
Marina del Rey’s excellent and eclectic collection of waterfront eateries offer terrific breakfasts, brunches or lunches, and dinners replete with great harbor views. If you like clubbing, Marina del Rey entices with live jazz, dancing and romantic retreats--but, again, remember that your real Marina mission is that good night’s sleep before that long haul flight.
But you might find Marina del Rey so much fun, you might opt for a second stopover or longer stay during your trip home or as a stand alone vacation.
For further information: www.VisitMarina.com.
Copyright 2008 Jennifer Merin
This news arrived on: 05/09/2008
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