City of Angels and Homeward Bound

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A 9 hour flight later and we touched down in La La Land and checked in to our hostel, The Orbit Hotel on Melrose Avenue, for $28 a night, including breakfast. Calling it a dump is being polite.

We had a wander to The Grove shopping mall and the Farmers Market and then went for a beer in a place called '8 oz's' but we were so tired we retired early and slept for 12 hours!

The next day we met up with our old pals, the Scottish lasses, Jen and Nat, for morning smoothies. They took us to Santa Monica where we had lunch, walked along the pier and checked out Venice Beach - a mad place, where they really do all go around on roller skates and there are more tattoo parlours than you could shake a stick at!

The following day, we went on a tour ($60) which took us around Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood Hills - where we saw the famous sign, Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Santa Monica and Rodeo Drive. Had a nosey around some famous bods' gaffs, including Nicholas Cage and Jacko's and checked out Ashton Kutcher's new restaurant, although sadly he forgot his appointment to meet us there . . . Too many famous landmarks to write about here but you get the drift.

Our last night was spent with our pals, Deb and Tim, who travelled from the Cook Islands with us and we decided to have a steak at Barney's Beanery . . except mine was a large burger. Hey ho, made up for it the next day when we went to an all-American Diner for breakfast called Swingers, where we had eggs, bacon and pancakes with maple syrup. Yum.

And this, readers, brings us to our last flight of our travels. From LAX to dear old Blighty. Having enjoyed no delays on any of flights up until this point, guess what? A 10 hour delay on our Virgin flight home. Cheers Richard Branson! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

How do you sum up in words what an incredible experience this was for us both? Neither of us can, so we'll let the pictures do the talking . . . Hope you've enjoyed sharing our adventures with us, thanks for reading.

Over and out.

Geen and Bec XXX

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