......Meanwhile, back in the US of A, Ryan and Allister's trip couldn't have gone smoother. We left Palenque on the same route as Ben and Alex but headed straight for the airport instead of a day in Tulum! We had to wait a few hours for the flight but it was fairly straight forward and there were no complications with the journey. We arrived at our hostel at around 9pm and we were so tired that we headed straight for bed! The next day we had to check out, to then check back in again but into a different room. We were told that there was only a double room available, which meant we had to share a bed (not for the first time on this trip i might add) like a couple of gayboys!

When we moved into our nice little cosey new room lol, the guy who was in the room next to us was actually gay and asked us how we slept?! Think we pissed him off cause we laughed at him and said we aren't 'gay or owt'. lol. Anyway, we eventually got out of the hostel and decided to go explore Hollywood. But, as usual we didn't know where we were going, and we went the opposite direction to where the main strip was and we ended up walking into a massive protest agaisnt CNN news! (The Chinese Negative News - apparently) was pretty funny and the people were handing us leaflets about why they were all really angry lol - bozzed?!!

The next day was a little more productive and we went and found a massive shopping complex called the beverly centre. This was a proper cool place to go shopping (providing you're not a a traveller and you live in the hollywood hills!) and there was loadsa cool stuff to check out there. After a couple hours looking round we decided to go to the cinemas as there wasn't anything else we could do without Ben and Alex. We went to watch 10000 BC if you are interested by the way, and it was alright lol.

In the evening back at the hostel we kicked back in our other new room, which had a Plasma screen Tv and an ipod dock which was really cool. After a proper tiring day at the cinemas haha Ryan decided it was time for a little sleepy, as allister powered on watching Family guy! It was then that we'd find out what a contrasting time Alex and Ben had had on their journey lol. We got a knock on the door from one of the guys from the hostel reception saying that a couple of guys downstairs were asking for us. So as Ryan slept, Allister went on down curiously to see what would await him... a very pissed off looking Ben and Alex!

What had happened after the flight from Cancun to LA, was, basically an even bigger mess. Like we said, you'd think it couldn't get any worse right?! LOL So Ben and Alex had to queue for about 2 hours to get through to the baggage carousel, to find out that Ben's backpack decided to take an extra days holiday in Cancun, meaning we would have to trail around the airport to find the claims department and have it delivered to the hostel we planned to stay at, which was where Ryan and Allister were.

Ryan had told us that they payed about $40 from the airport to the hostel, so we had an idea of what we would need..but it ended up costing us $60, which just added to our overloading stress levels lol but, that was just money, and at the end of the day we had made it to our destination after all that had happened..only to find out there was no room at the USA hostels :( We were given directions to the nearest available hostel, which was a 20minute walk down Hollywood Blvd (asif we weren't tired enough already, and payed like $10 to drive past it in a taxi cab!!) Atleast we had a bed to sleep in, and could start a fresh the next day when Ben's bag would turn up..

..and it did turn up! but his cash card and phone that were in the bag, did not :S meaning we would all have to be prepared to sub Ben until the whole thing was sorted, and his new bank card could get sent out (thank God for internet banking!)

Nevertheless, we soldiered on and made the most of what time we had left in the states, taking a few photos along the way. Hollywood was a bit of a let down really, because instead of famous people walking the streets like you would imagine, it's full of wannabes who got to LA, and never made it, so thought the next best thing was to just live on the streets of Hollywood next to all the stars along the sidewalk, we even saw one homeless guy with one leg or something, dragging himself along, polishing them all on his way! So this isn't probably how you would imagine it we're guessing!? but it was an enlightening experience for us all, one never to forget! lol