Los Angeles is a place where thousands of folks have come from all around the world to seek their fame and fortune. It is a metropolis of glamour, indulgence and commercialism, some of which even we enjoy in small quantities. Our challenge was to enjoy the best of this city in the most economical and time efficient way we could!

After checking out the surf scene at world famous Malibu on the way in, we worked up the courage to book a motel in downtown LA for a few nights. It would have been great if everything we wanted to see was neatly lined up for us in the city centre... and it did turn out to be a pretty good location, but we quickly realised that we'd have to brave the big city traffic and drive, rather than stroll, to see the best of this sprawling county.

We did manage to give the car a rest for one day and caught the metro out to Hollywood and Universal City. As soon as we hopped off the train in Hollywood we knew we were somewhere special. This underground station had blue film reels covering the walls and vintage movie camera replicas on display! Out on Hollywood Boulevard we followed some pretty famous names, printed on gold stars, all the way down to a strip of famous theatres and red carpets. We didn't see any real stars here, but we did see a pretty convincing Superman, a gang of Transformers and a couple of Captain Jack Sparrow impersonators casually chatting about their weekend. We were hassled a lot and Aidan got sucked into buying a CD from a wannabe rapper. The guy promised he'd played before at the 'Big Day Out' in Sydney and knew all the presenters on Triple J! The album was absolute rubbish, but at least there was something on it and it still kept us entertained!

Back in downtown LA, we stumbled across a great Peruvian restaurant called Mo Chica. It was the first time either of us had tried whole barbecued artichoke, and we doubt we'll find better food in Peru itself! The owner and Chef, Ricardo Zarate, was a bit of a celebrity, who's original hole-in-the-wall food place had attracted enough attention that he now owns three amazing restaurants in the city!

Someone told us the best place for a view of LA and the Hollywood sign is from the observatory in Griffith Park, so we checked this out too. It was less of a city park and more of an enormous undeveloped wilderness area which was cool. A great place for extreme jogging, viewing stars and the Hollywood sign, and apparently a pretty popular place for movie sets too!

From there we decided to live a little as the rich and famous do and went for a drink at the 'current place-to-be for celebrities' Ivy in Beverly Hills. It was probably the most expensive coffee and juice we've ever had, but we were intrigued by the tacky, cluttered little tables and waiters in pink shirts. We're pretty sure we saw a few famous people too, although we're not sure who they were...

Santa Monica and the Venice Beach Boardwalk were as much a freak show as promised. We wandered around for a couple of hours, past shirtless, flamboyant rollerbladers, passionate legal marijuana advocates and folks who weren't sure which decade they were living in... and it was cool to watch local skateboarders showing off in front of a crowd at sunset. While on the coast we caught up with Michael 'XL' Daniels, a good mate and one of Aidan's colleagues from Abominable Sports in Banff. Coincidentally, he happened to be passing through LA at the same time as us. So, we took the opportunity to meet up and grab dinner at the Bubba-Gump Shrimp Co, which is hilariously now a popular chain restaurant filled with incredible Forest Gump memorabilia!

Disneyland was a blast too! We arrived early and perhaps the lady at the gate felt sorry for us with our cluttered car and shaggy appearance, because she dubbed us 'Guests of the Day'! We were escorted to a free VIP car-spot, given badges to commemorate the occasion and even a certificate to prove it. So far the 'happiest place on earth' was looking pretty good! Highlights were the Splash Mountain roller coaster through Brer Rabbit country, the Star Wars flight simulator and getting photos with Winnie the Pooh and gang! Sleeping Beauty's castle, Toon Town and Mickey's house were pretty nostalgic, although we weren't into lining up for an hour to see a famous mouse. Besides, we saw him in the fantastic nightly Disney parade! It was awesome to visit a place we had both dreamed of going as ten-year-olds! Ironically though, by the time we finally made it our favourite characters from childhood films like the Little Mermaid and the Lion King seemed to have been replaced by the new generation of Disney characters, like Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and something called 'the Frog and the Princess'? We are definitely getting old, but we still had so much fun that we forgot to have lunch, and that's pretty rare for us!

To attempt to repair the huge dents in our wallets left by this indulgent city, after Disneyland we camped the night in the back of our car in a typical Orange County street. And oh what a street, with fancy cars, glamorous homes and neatly trimmed yards! Not being in a hurry, we hung around the OC on the way out, stopping for a swim and some fish tacos along the beautiful beaches before heading south again. We're on route to visit an old friend in sunny San Diego!