Today was our last day in LA and since our flight was not until 11:30pm we had a whole day to explore. Started off the morning by reluctantly returning the Mustang and checking out of our hotel, leaving our luggage there until later when we would make our way to the airport. Jumped on the red line subway again, this time going all the way to the end of the line at Union Station in downtown LA. Union Station is beautiful and is a fine example of classic American rail terminals. Just outside of Union Station was the historic Mexican area and Olvera street which had heaps of Mexican market stalls. We walked through checking out the fare and then decided to head to Little Tokyo for brunch. Somehow we ended up getting a little lost ... read more

Decided to stay local and check some of the local beaches. The weather was overcast and I'm not sure if the city is covered in fog or smog, good chance it is smog! Anyway, first stop was Santa Monica and it was already full of tourists particularly around the world famous pier. Walked around there, took some photos and people watched before walking across to the 3rd St Promenade which is a little pedestrian mall with shops, restaurants and bars plus a few movie theatres thrown in for good measure. Next we drove up Pacific Coast Hwy to Malibu which is surrounded by expensive houses on the cliffs overlooking this famous surfing beach. They even have their own shopping/eating village which you tell from a glance was quite exclusive. We were hungry at this time and ... read more

After a fitful sleep (body clock out of whack), we headed out around 9am, grabbed a starbucks coffee and hit the subway for our trip to Universal Studios. I was very impressed with the subway, ontime and clean - both station and the trains had no graffiti or rubbish. They apparently fine people $250 for eating and drinking on the station and the train. That's one way to keep rubbish away. We thought we got to Universal Studios quite early but there were already heaps of people there. $72 entry is quite reasonable though the guy at the counter tried to upsell the $149 vip pass which would allow us to jump the queues. Politely declined and entered the park. It's a bigger and more professional version of Movie World on the Gold Coast. First thing ... read more

Well this time tomorrow I will hopefully be in the air on an Airbus 380 heading towards Los Angeles. It's a sunny day here in Sydney slightly ruined by some strong winds. Suppose I better attempt to start packing in case I forget anything and can still run over to the shops whilst they are still open!! ... read more