USA; Los Angeles

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Hello from America!

It is our last day here, we fly to Fiji in a few hours, very excited!
We arrived in LA on tuesday 2nd afternoon to LAX after an 11 hour flight and decided to get a shuttle bus straight to our hostel- a little more expensive but the other option was getting two buses and a half an hour walk- not so appealing. We spent the rest of the day in Hollywood. We saw preparations taking place for the Oscars which start in a couple of days; we say the handprints and stars along the pavements as well as Batman and Darth Vadar. Darth looked like he had put on a few pounds.

After an early night and a long sleep, we woke up at 7am on wednesday 3rd and soon we were making pancakes in the hostel kitchen! However, our interpretation of 'pancakes' turned out to be quite different from the americans'. All washed down with some black tea. We managed to fill our bellys but felt a little ill afterwards. It was warm enough to wear shorts; we left the hostel early and got a bus from hollywood boulevard to Beverly Hills. We casually strolled in the wrong direction for a while, (thanks to Mark Saunders) however we soon realised this was not the rodeo drive Suz had pictured and swiftly turned around. When we reached the real rodeo drive we re-enacted the shopping scene from pretty woman and window shopped nervously in the designer shops and boutiques amongst the rich and famous. However, as this lifestyle seemed not fit ours, we swiftly departed. we then hitched a bus heading towards the Santa Monica area. We had come as far west as America allowed without getting wet feet or turning japanese. We headed down the pier, where we fortunately found the Bubba-Gump-Shrimp-Company. fans of the film will be pleased to hear that Forest is still running a fairly tight ship. After sitting in his shoes next to chocolates with a feather on our feet we headed back inland out of wind for some re-fuelling. We found a rather American Yankee Doodles Diner which fitted the bill splendidly. We were lucky enough to 'shoot' some pool for a bit to let our food go down. We then hit the shops, Mark was able to snatch a bargain sweater thing and t shirt. great success! feeling very tired we headed home, not needing dinner and slept well.

Thursday 4th again had an early start as we needed to be packed and ready for checking out by 10. however, being fully prepared we had over 6 minutes to spare. After cleverly avoiding the pancakes we headed off to see the Hollywood sign. This although seemed a relatively easy and simple pratice turned out to be a little trickier than anticipated. After paying our 25c for the bus we headed on upwards on foot passing some lovely Bel Air houses. We got up a good distance, revelling in fantastic views of both the city and surrounding greenland in the park/ranch that we walked in. When we had eaten our Melon and Rice cake brunch we headed back down and found a really nice US tea shop/coffee house/diner. The people were very friendly and we had a good lunch in preparation of not seeing a proper dinner. We then strolled around seeing a few shops and the train station, which Suz had little interest in. We have a bit of time to spare so we are writing our LA tour stop now. Unfortunately we are unable to add photos now, however we have some good snaps and will put them on the web asap.

Los Angeles has been a bit of a surprise. From reviews, we were not expecting too much and will leave pleased with what we have seen and done. In two ish days we have been lucky to see all the major sights and revel in the spotlights and loud noises. Its a shame that we are not here for the Oscars, but we are both eagerly anticipating stepping off the plane in Fiji. We just have to endure the 11hour plane journey before the 'beach' leg can begin. We shall also be able to use our phones in Fiji, so word will be able to be sent.

Hope everyone is well. Have a nice day now. xxx

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Comments

[Kate]

glad you got there safe, enjoy fiji! xx