Long layover at LAX airport. Any suggestions?

I have a 10 hour layover at LAX airport. I will have quite a few pieces of luggage. What can I do to pass the time? How do I solve the baggage problem? I don't want to be lugging my bags around. I don't really want to rent a car either because I am not familiar with the roads. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks for the responses so far. I just want to add a couple of things:

1. I will be there in mid-week and my layover is during the day.

2. Unfortunately I can't check my luggage all the way through because I was told that my layover time is too long. They will only check the luggages all the way through if your connection time is shorter.

3. Where am I able to rent a cheap car at the airport? Which is the cheapest vendor?

4. How far is Santa Monica from LAX? I heard it's quite pretty there.

Are you sure you can not check your bags and have them transfer to the flight automatically? My husband and I had 12 hours in Chicago and that is what they did for us. We just got a hotel and slept. It prevent a lot of jet lag.

get a hotel room and take a nap! thats what I did in the same situation. Or watch movies in the room, or whever will make you relax. The airport should have a station with a phone that connects to hotels and they send shuttles to get you for free.

Okay, first get a baggage cart (they are outside of the baggage claim areas and cost ~$1.00 I think - bring a couple of dollars in quarters just in case, and more quarters in case you have to ditch it and get another one). This will bring you alot of relief! Get to know what terminal you will eventually need to go to, then look up where the international terminal is. Secondly, go to the international terminal! You will be able to get food and drinks (they actually have restaurants). Thirdly, bring a book or magazines to pass the time.

If you go into the domestic terminal, you have to go through all of the lines to get to food or drinks, however, you do not have to do this in the international terminal. The walk around to different terminals will take a little time, but it is not as bad as you think it will be. Make sure to leave plenty of time to get back to the terminal you need to be at. You can catch a shuttle (free) to take you to your terminal when the time comes to leave the international area. Good luck!!!

From where to where are you going? And what day of the week? When you check your bags at your starting point check them all the way thru to your final destination. That way you will not have them to bother you. When you arrive you will be on the lower level. At every terminal close to the baggage claim area there is a Travelers Aid Booth. They have lots of ideas for fun things to do between flights. Some folks rent the cheapest car available just to store their bags in if for some reason they cannot be checked all the way thru, park the car is short term parking, which is lots B & C, take a free shuttle back to the airport and take shuttles or buses or Metrorail to whatever they want to do. email me if you need more help. kingsleydr60@yahoo.com

Take Kingsley's advice on checking your bags all the way through to your final destination. Then you won't have to worry about luggage.

The day and time of your layover is important, since you don't want to go to some areas after dark. Renting a car would be a pretty good idea. By the time you pay for a cab fare one-way, you would rent a car for the entire day.

Venice Beach is really close by, or you could run up to Hollywood to see the Chinese Theater, Hollywood & Highland Complex, and Walk of Fame. It's not too hard to get up there, you can just use Google Maps for directions.

With 10 hours, that gives you a couple hours to get out of the airport, rent a car, and get to your destination, and a couple hours on the return, leaving you with 6 hours. That's enough time for the beach and/or a quick run to Hollywood (which isn't as pretty as most people think, but there's a lot of history there).

Good luck!