Round the World Travel

The first thing you notice when driving into LA is the smog floating above the city, like a grey haze.
Not pleasant. The second thing is the traffic. For the 1st time in the USA it took us a while to finally get in.

We drove into Hollywood, saw a film being made (Mark thinks it was George Clooney) parked and had a look around. It didn't take too long. The main sights are on Hollywood boulevard. The stars on the pavement, Mann's Chinese theatre and the messages in the concrete dating back to the 1920s. We saw names from Harold Lloyd, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Johnny Depp, to the young stars in the Harry Potter films.

After looking around and spotting the names we recognised, we drove onto Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. It was very posh. Straight out of pretty woman, with the hotel at the bottom of the street.
Mark was most amused at the lady carrying her pooch (Christian Dior or Gucci) around in its own designer bag, just its head popping out!

When our free parking ran out we, took a drive towards Bel Air and all the mansions that are around. The places are huge. We hit Santa Monica at tea time, ready to check into the hostel.

Day two
We had to take the car back, which took up a lot of the morning. In the afternoon we took a walk along the beach to Venice and Muscle beaches. There were roller bladers and cyclists to begin with, then more unusual folks. One guy was dressed in a leopard skin outfit, asking for money for bacon. Mark egged him on saying he would need some gas to cook it with, so he added this to his pitch to try and double his income.

We reached Muscle Beach and the fitness people there. Everything from full on basket ball games to the outdoor gym. It was an entertaining time. If you love showing off and you're very strange with a good body you will fit right at home here. The weirder the better. In fact Area 51 is just a cover up, the real aliens are here! It certainly makes the time fly by. 4 miles and 5 hours later we headed back to the hostel and made the most of the free films shown there, after a cheap meal in the nearby food court.

Day three
We headed to the beach after calling home for the first time (it was great to speak to you all), and had a chilled out day at the beach. The surf wasn't great so we just soaked up some sun for a while, had a walk along the pier then headed to the hostel to relax, and watch more movies.

Today, day four
Well finally got some time to update the blog. I can't believe this brings us up to date. In eight hours time we'll be on the plane to Fiji for some R & R and hopefully SCUBA. So long USA it's been fantastic. See you in Fiji!

We arrived in San Diego after a long drive, hitting LA traffic on the way down.

The hostel was not really for us, but we were committed to 2 nights. The only good thing was the Australian couple in our room. San Diego as a city was a bit strange. There was an old town which was just aimed at tourists. We had a quick look then left. We headed into downtown, the Gaslamp district for a birthday lunch which was nice but soon got bored.

We then followed a recommendation of an outlet near the Mexican border. We got some clothes for really cheap prices. So I got some retail therapy on my birthday. We were so full after the huge lunch that we didn't want any tea, so we had some birthday drinks then went to bed.

The next day, the weather was awful when we got up. We checked into a different hostel that was much better and headed to check out some beaches. The weather suddenly improved, and we headed to Pacific beach where Mark rented a board and suit and went surfing. He managed to sand and ride a wave for the first time.

After this victory we headed back to the hostel for food, and a chat with some of the other people.

On our second day we headed to Point Loma to see the monument there and an old lighthouse, which was pretty. We tried to get into Balboa Park, but couldn't get car parking. So we headed back to Pacific Beach.

I joined Mark in the water (bodyboarding for me though). We had a great time. The waves were quite fierce and it was tiring, but we had a blast. Exercising without knowing your exercising. It should be the worlds best sport.
It's really tiring so we had a relaxing evening at the hostel, ready for our drive back towards LA the next day.

Santa Barbara was a real delight. The hostel was in a good location. We met some nice people and Mark went surfing for the first time on Leadbetter beach. Whoa! radical dude. I was catching some tubes riding those breaks man, awesome! Sorry, drifted off there, more like getting the seaweed out of my mouth from wiping out so much!! The weather was great until the last day. We had a nice Mexican meal, and the second night disgusting pasta pots that were cheap for a reason.

The city is really pretty, in a Spanish Style. There are people with lots of money there too. We saw a row of cars drive past; two Aston Martins, two Ferarris and a Lamborghini amongst others.

We headed out one night for a few drinks with an Australian guy called Patrick. We ended up in a Karaoke bar. Mark was straight in there and got up to sing. I have evidence of this performance, which I am threatening to post on here!

On our last day we headed around town to see some of the old builings, such as the 18th century mission (you've got to do some culture!).
We then set off for San Diego and hopefully some better surf dude.

We stopped off at Monterey on the way down the coast. We spend a few hours in the aquarium which was really good. Mark loved the jellyfish exhibit. You'll see why when the photos appear. There was also a huge tank with tuna and sharks and the ugliest fish we'd ever seen. The Sunfish, huge and UGLY!

We had to tear ourselves away, but we had a drive down highway one to look forward to. We took the 17 miles drive past some famous views first but were a bit disappointed as the weather started to change. If I say it was a typical English rainy, winters day, you should get the picture.

Then it got scarey! The drive Mark had been really looking forward to, with impressive views was horrendous. We had fog, rain, and then on top it got dark. Visibility diminished, which is not good when there are falling rocks one side, and sheer cliffs on the other! Forget white knuckle rides or Alton Towers. This was scary!! Somehow Mark got us to San Luis Obispo in one piece.

We had a bit to eat and then went to bed, exhausted by the drive.

We woke up to great weather the next day. We made the decision to drive aprt way back up, so we could see the views properly and get the roof down. It was really worth it. We were rockin' it down that Highway 1 coast with the top down, listening to the classic rock station on the radio, Eagles, Led Zep, The Doors, The Beatles & Stones, perfect. We saw great views, a elephant seal colony on a beach and lots more.

We then were satisfied after an extra 175 miles extra and then made our way down to Santa Barbara.

We drove from Yosemite to Santa Cruz, a bit of a boring drive and arrived too early to check into the hostel. They had a stupid lock out from the hostel between 11am-5pm. So we parked, put money in the meter and walked onto the pier and fill an hour until check in. It was fresh but sunny, and seemed a nice place. We headed back to the car, in what we thought was OK time, to find a parking ticket on the car. The meter must have just run out, and the parking guy was there at the wrong time. This didn't give us the best start ($25 fee to pay, 13 pounds!).

We headed to the hostel and checked in, made some food and them went out with some other English people for a beer. Not for long though there was a strict 11pm curfew. You were locked out if you did not get back in time.

Day two
After a good nights sleep we headed downtown, to try and pay the parking fine. The office was closed, how annoying.
So we had a drink at an internet cafe and then headed to the lighthouse where there was a Pro surfing contest on.

The waves weren't great but they put on an impressive show anyway. It was great watching them, and Mark won a raffle for some goodies so it was a good afternoon. Watching pro surfers on a sunny day really gets you feeling like you've hit the Californian West Coast.
We also had a look in the museum of surfing which took you through the development of the sport, from handmade wooden boards to present day.

After this we headed to a beach where the sea has carved natural bridges in the cliff. There was also a grove where Monarch butterflies were migrating to for the winter. There were butterflies everywhere, hanging in the trees.

The day didn't continue in the same vein, we got stuck with three annoying guys in our dorm, who ingored the rules, were noisy & drunk. The snoring from one of them nearly drove us crazy!
As peak season had been and gone from Santa Cruz the Cool and Crazy people had gone, we were just left with the crazies! We weren't sad to leave the next day.