Our remaining two days in LA were fab . On Monday, we went to the Warner Bros Studios VIP tour and got to go round all of the studios and places films are set in a cart with only 10 others. It was a great insight into how films and TV shows are made!

Tuesday was my favourite day in LA(!) - we took a bus to Hollywood and got a tour bus around all of the LA / Beverley Hills highlights including night spots, the Hollywood sign and celeb homes… Our tour guide was a local comedian who kept taking the mick out of my accent and made us laugh loads so the two hours quickly went by. Highlights for me included seeing the Beckhams house, the house with Michael Jackson died and hotel where Whitney died - LA can be a pretty sad place it seems…. Dave was impressed by the Fresh Price of Bel Air house and Snoop Doggs'.

On Wednesday (30th Jan) we then braved the LA roads and drove to San Diego. It took about 2 hours and with the sun shining on us as we drive down coastal roads, it was heaven! Dave put on the Dr Dre album whilst we drove through Long Beach… We were really impressed with the location of our hostel in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego - it was pumping with bars and restaurants. That night we decided to make the most of it and hit the bars hard - it was our first real taste of American partying! Hip-hop is everywhere - people rapping and having rap battles in the streets with their mates - people keep on coming up to Dave and commenting on his hip-hop related T-shirts!

On Thursday, we decided to take a bus to Pacific Beach and walk down to Mission Beach. It was so quiet and peaceful - we pretty much had the beaches to ourselves…. The weather was perfect - having hottened up just a touch from LA. After a LONG walk and some blisters for me(!) we got some food on the beach and headed home. Then we meet Laura (who as coincidence has it was in San Diego from Boston for a conference) and had some great tapas and good laughs - it was fab to catch up.

Yesterday we headed down to Palm Springs - taking a stop off at Luche Libre, a Mexican food place featured in Man vs Food! We decided to eat big and went for the surfin California burrito (steak, prawns and FRIES!!) and surf and turf taco's. It was ggggooooooooddddd and we look forward to exploring more Man vs Food delights as we go further into the trip… Our drive took us over large hills into the desert - it was so peaceful and just how I imagined American driving to be! We arrived in Palm Springs and was taken with its laid-back vibe - it is basically the weekend getaway for LA. Our motel was fab - with its own heated pool and our room had it's own bathroom(!), balcony and TV - luxury!! After a mad week, we decided to chill and enjoy the tranquility before hitting Vegas….