I've just realised I never filled you guys in on our Palm Springs trip.
It was a really last minute trip, but for a very good reason. With our Spaced Out jumper, I knew it would appeal to the 90s ravers and festival goers, and what better way to kick off the festival season than Coachella, which obviously means, Palm Springs!
For a brand of our size, this sort of trip isn't one to be taken lightly, so considering it was booked about 3x weeks before we went - it was planned down to the very last minute. I seriously did my homework, as did Grace and it really paid off. I will list out my own personal tips if you are considering going, at the bottom of this blog!
Once we firmed up the dates, I found this incredible David Hockney esq mid century house to rent. It wasn't 'boujie' but the architecture was EXACTLY what we were after. Traditional 1950s vibe, complete with all the aesthetic trimmings.
One of the main highlights alongside the actual place, was the fact that I went with my siblings. Grace is the designer so it'a no surprise she came along, but we also brought our brother along, who worked as a driver / photographer / model. And it was just so much fun! As we all now have our own families, it felt like a very special opportunity for us to get some time, as just the original three!
Don't get fooled that this wasn't a work trip :0 from the moment we touched down in LA, it was insane. We were up at 5am each day to catch the right light for shooting, and drove everywhere to hit our landmarks and tick everything off (with very surreal jet lag!)
The main objective was to get to Joshua Tree early, and shoot the Spaced Out jumper. And boy, did we get the shots (and some very strange looks at 6:30am in Joshua Tree.)
Here are some of my absolute fave BTS photos.....
Grace in the Young Hearts Jumper.
Keeping things classic in the original ecru Feel Good.
Things to know about Palm Springs:
1) Palm Springs is about 90mins outside of LA, by car. We landed during rush hour and after standing in border control for HOURS the car journey was pretty hair raising for my poor brother to do. We rented a car, but the traffic coming out of LA was bad! Palm Springs has an airport so it might be worth looking at connecting flights.
2) The temperature was PERFECT for us when we went in mid March, about 23-25 degrees. We paid extra for our pool to be heated before we arrived - electricity and heating is very expensive so expect to pay extra if you go and rent a property. It was worth it as the temperature wasn't boiling, I think the pool would have been too cold if we hadn't had it heated.
3) Palm Springs has a really friendly community. We were constantly stopped (people asking about the jumpers!) and everywhere we went, people were incredibly friendly. We felt very safe there.
4) It is a very expensive area, so coffee shops and food was very pricey. We ate out every night, we went to a fancy hotel where we couldn't really appreciate the food as the jet lag had really taken hold of us. I actually think one of our best meals was the In and Out burgers!
5) Joshua Tree was about 40 mins away by car. It's a huge national park, so there are several exits which threw us. Something to be wary of, there is NO phone signal or wifi there, and no loos. If this is something that makes you nervous, be prepared! Once you're in the park, it's an hour to get through. Other than that, it was incredibly beautiful. We got there for sunrise and honestly we felt like we were in a dream!
6) Rent a property! I would DEFINITELY go back, and maybe take my family. There is a lot to do with children, (I'm speaking as a mother of teenagers now - I don't know what attractions there are for little children - other than the pool!). Our rental was about 5mins from Downtown Palm Springs, parking was very easy. The big supermarkets were also 5/10 mins away by car. Our actual house was on a little estate, and it felt like we were on a film set. Very quiet and very beautiful. There are strict laws in Palm Springs about noise pollution after certain hours, so for example, you can't play music outside whilst you are in the pool - which didn't bother us.
We had our own pool, and next time I think we would just buy all our food and cook at the property for the majority of the time. The rentals are a fraction of the cost of the hotels. For food, the Trader Joes supermarket was elite!
7) If you are going for content, the town itself is just a photographers absolute dream. I would HIGHLY recommend!
Please let me know if you have any questions!