Day 5: Santa Monica,Beverley Hills and Las Vegas

We woke up to discover we got fined through the night as it was illegal to park in the area even though the sign said it was ok to park until 8am. It was our second fine in only four days we have been here!

It was also discovered that if we obtain two further fines, we would be deported back to England! We all had an emergency meeting and agreed to park only on motorways such as petrol stations or campsites from now on.

Eventually, we were able to start our day with a swim in Santa Monica beach. Only the boys bar Stuart decided to actually venture towards the sea so we all raced each other. However Ashley and Richard made false starts and James got spooked while running as he saw a fin which he interpreted as a shark so the race was ruined.

We however laughed at James and mocked him as we all thought he made up the shark as an excuse for coming last- how wrong we were....

We all had fun swimming in the sea. Santa Monica beach was a pleasant place with a clean beach and loads of runners on their run including a family decked out in proper running gear enjoying their run!

The next destination was Beverley Hills where we picked up Sara's cupcakes as Victoria Beckham regularly dropped by the shop for cupcakes so Sara wanted to sample them. There wasn't a chance to browse around due to parking restrictions so we had to move on.

We did have a drive through the neighbourhood which apparently houses some celebrities. We passed some touring cars on the way. We didn't saw any celebrities-perhaps today was their PJs day.

We began our drive to Las Vegas. James and I decided to start on our filming project as we wanted to make a home movie of our USA road trip. We discovered on one of the clips that James did indeed saw a fin but it was a dolphin not a shark!

We arrived in Las Vegas not before we stopped to pose with the iconic Las Vegas sign. We decided to book in a campsite at last minute due to our new found phobia of freedom parking. We came to USA on the advice that freedom parking is plentiful but it is not looking to be the case.

The campsite that we were booked in turned out to be best one that we stayed in through our adventure in USA- more on the campsite later on! We decided to grab a taxi to the Strip but a disaster strike when I realised I left my video camera on a bench outside of our RV! This was due to the fact I was tying my shoelaces so I placed my video camera on the bench while I attended to my laces. I then saw two taxis driving around the campsite looking for us so I ran off to hail them and forgot about the video camera.

I was not the only one as Lucy forgot her precious camera and we paid the price when we missed the chance to record the spectacular Bellagio fountains. Luckily Ashley brought his camera and recorded it. Bellagio Fountains was breath-taking but it was only the start of an unforgettable adventure,

As I walked on the Strip, I can see why Las Vegas are sometimes known as Sin City as there are temptations everywhere with all gambling in casinos and there are showgirls everywhere wearing revealing dresses handing out leaflets for strip clubs and nightclubs. There are drunkards everywhere staggering around.

Amusing enough, one strip club employed normal people in a club t-shirt instead of showgirls and I got handed a leaflet by one old granny which ruined the sex appeal!

The buildings were also extravagant with hotels competing to outdo each other with crazy light shows and fancy building themes. There was one hotel which was built in a form of a pyramid with lifts going sideways through each floor! Another hotel was a castle and had a castle theme with the casino being in a dungeon. A hotel was built like Empire State building! We eventually went back to our campsite at 2am!