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Korean Air Lines Flights from Guadalajara, Mexico (GDL) to Los Angeles (LAX)
As part of booking roundtrip flights which depart from US airports,
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on Korean Air Lines, which operates a daily non-stop flight from Guadalajara, Mexico (GDL) to Los Angeles (LAX) regularly scheduled to depart at 8:15am and arrive at 9:45am. Usually a Boeing 737 is flown for this route. The average travel time from Guadalajara, Mexico to Los Angeles, CA is 3 hours and 30 minutes.*
* Some flights must be used with additional international service on this airline.
During your Los Angeles vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
California Science Center
A $130 million renovation -- reinvention, actually -- has turned the former Museum of Science and Industry into Exposition Park's newest attraction. Using high-tech sleight-of-hand, the center stimulates kids of all ages with questions, answers, and lessons about the world. One of the museum's highlights is Tess, a 50-foot animatronic woman whose muscles, bones, organs, and blood vessels are revealed, demonstrating how the body reacts to a variety of external conditions and activities. (Appropriate for children of all ages, Tess doesn't possess reproductive organs.) Another highlight is the new Air and Space Gallery, a seven-story space where real air- and spacecraft are suspended overhead.There are nominal fees, ranging from $2 to $5, to enjoy the science center's more thrilling attractions. You can pedal a bicycle across a high-wire suspended 43 feet above the ground (demonstrating the principle of gravity and counterweights) or get strapped into the Space Docking Simulator for a virtual-reality taste of zero gravity. There's plenty more, and plans for expansion are always in the works. The IMAX theater boasts a screen seven stories high and 90 feet wide, with state-of-the-art surround sound and 3-D technology. Films are screened throughout the day until 9pm and are nearly always breathtaking, even the two-dimensional ones.
Bergamot Arts Station & Santa Monica Museum of Art
One of L.A.'s primary cultural destinations is the Bergamot Arts Station. Home to the Santa Monica Museum of Art, this campuslike complex is a hugely popular destination for visitors from around the world. The location dates from 1875 when it was a stop for the Red Line trolley, and retains its industrial, rustic look. Filled with 20 galleries, the unique installations on display here range from photography and sculpture to interactive pieces that are both eclectic and cutting edge. Its central location allows visitors to park and spend the day seeing art rather than driving from one gallery to the next, and many pieces are available for purchase. A must-see for the arts lover.
Japanese American National Museum
Located in an architecturally acclaimed modern building in Little Tokyo, this soaring 85,000-square-foot pavilion -- designed by renowned architect Gyo Obata -- is a private nonprofit institute created to document and celebrate the history of the Japanese in America. The permanent and rotating exhibits chronicle Japanese life in the United States, highlighting distinctive aspects of Japanese-American culture ranging from the internment camp experience during the early years of World War II to the lives of Japanese Americans in Hawaii. The experience is made even more poignant by the personal accounts of the docents, many of whom are elderly Japanese-American citizens who were interred in these camps during the war. It's a very popular museum, attracting more than 150,000 annual visitors. Tip: Don't miss the museum store, which carries excellent gift items ranging from hand-fired sake sets to mini Zen gardening kits.
Make your reservations for discount hotel rooms in the
Los Angeles area, including:
The Standard
If Andy Warhol had gone into the hotel business (which he no doubt would have, if he had arrived on the scene a few decades later), the Standard would've been the end result. Designed to appeal to the under-35 "it" crowd, Andre Balazs's swank West Hollywood neomotel is sometimes absurd, sometimes brilliant, and always provocative (not to mention crowded!). It's a scene worthy of its Sunset Strip location: Shag carpeting on the lobby ceiling, blue Astroturf around the swimming pool, a DJ spinning ambient sounds while a performance artist showing more skin than talent poses in a display case behind the check-in desk -- this place is definitely left of center.The good news is that the Standard is more than just an attitude. Look past the retro clutter and often-raucous party scene, and you'll find a level of service more often associated with hotels costing twice as much. Constructed from the bones of a vintage 1962 motel, it boasts comfortably sized rooms outfitted with cobalt blue indoor-outdoor carpeting, silver beanbag chairs, safety-orange tiles in the bathrooms, and Warhol's poppy-print curtains, plus private balconies, and minibars whose contents include goodies like sake, condoms, and animal crackers. On the downside, the cheapest rooms face noisy Sunset Boulevard, and the relentless scene can get tiring if you're not into it. The Standard's trendy new full-service NestSpa offers so-L.A.-style treatments such as Touch Thyself, Jet Lag Therapy, and Hangover Helper.Note: A 12-story Downtown Standard, 550 S. Flower St. (tel. 213/892-8080), opened in mid-2002, brings a similar dose of retro-future style and cool attitude to Downtown. The Cheap Rooms -- yes, that's what they call them -- run about $100 on weekends. It's worth visiting just to check out the rooftop bar with its vibrating waterbed pleasure pods, movies projected onto neighboring buildings, and hot waitresses.
Marriott Los Angeles Airport
This huge 18-story Marriott is a good airport choice, designed for travelers on the fly. Rooms are decorated in standard chain-hotel style; some have balconies, and a select few are designed expressly for business travelers.Facilities: 2 restaurants; coffee shop; sports bar; outdoor heated pool; exercise room; whirlpool; sauna; concierge; Hertz car-rental desk; free airport shuttle; business center; secretarial services; 24-hr. room service; coin-op laundry; laundry service; dry-cleaning service.
New Otani Hotel and Garden
Most of the guest rooms in this anonymous 21-story concrete tower are nothing special -- fine if you score a low weekend rate, not good enough for the money if your rate starts inching to close to $200. The best reason to stay here is to experience one of the handful of wonderfully unique Japanese-style suites, which recreate an elegant Far East hotel room in every detail: futon beds elegantly dressed and laid out on tatami floors, sliding rice-paper shoji screens, ofuro bathrooms with separate showers and soaking tubs, and a prime view of the half-acre rooftop classical tea garden. One- and two-night Japanese Experience cultural packages include suite accommodations, welcome sake, shiatsu massages, dinner, and in-suite breakfast.Even if you opt for a more mundane Western-style room, you can enjoy the beautifully sculpted Japanese Garden; the five restaurants and bars, including Senbazuru (A Thousand Cranes) for Japanese cuisine elegantly presented by kimono-clad servers (go for breakfast for the ultimate culinary adventure), and the Garden Grill for superb teppan yaki steak and seafood; and the terrific Japanese-style Sanwa Spa for shiatsu massages. The location is close enough to the prime business district to be convenient, yet far enough to be peaceful. Little Tokyo dining options are nearby, and Downtown shuttles and free taxi vouchers make exploring easy. Expect a clientele that's split between Japanese and Westerners.Facilities: 2 Japanese restaurants (including a Tokyo-style teppanyaki grill); California-style bar and grill; 2 cocktail lounges; full-service Japanese-style spa (www.sanwahealth.com) w/saunas, baths, and shiatsu massages; fitness center; concierge; tour desk; car-rental desk; courtesy shuttle; business center; shopping arcade; salon; room service (6am-11pm); in-room massage; laundry service; dry-cleaning service; executive-level rooms; Japanese garden.
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