Walking from the metro station over to the Greyhound station I think I experienced one of my least favourite parts of travelling. Carrying a 17kg backpack, 4kg day pack and 3kg general bits and bobs shopper in a 35c heatwave 8 blocks through the industrial district of Los Angeles for about 20 minutes (scratch that - walking 20 minutes in 41 degree desert Arizonan heat is worse) is a pretty horrendous experience!! That ordeal over with I settled into my 3 hour b...

The overnight bus, whilst saving me a night's accommodation, didn't offer the best nights sleep I'd ever had so I was a bit tired when we pulled into the LA greyhound station, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I was directed to the nearest metro, 8 blocks away, and set off trudging through the industrial district and Little Tokyo. I'm pretty sure my bag gets heavier with each step! Once I'd finally arrived at the hostel, after getting off at poten...

There was exciting news as we came into land at San Francisco - our plane was one of the first to use the new Tom Bradley terminal which had only opened that day. I got a nice free bag which came in handy to store my no longer needed coat which was hurriedly put away as soon as I stepped off the plane and could feel the heat from outside. Perhaps my favourite part of entering the USA was the welcome from President Obama who has a nice big poster in the arriva...