As we sit down to scribe this next chapter of our jaunt across one half of the globe, we realize we've now been in the grand old United States of America for exactly a month. The great 'Land of Opportunity' has tasted even sweeter after the issues we sometimes encountered in the remote and under-developed parts of South America. Here, anything you want, you can get. Any craving for a decent curry or another double-chocolate mocha shake, you can satisfy. Customer service is second to none. The blue sky is always there when you wake each morning. Old and new episodes of 'The Big Bang Theory' are on TV when you come home each night.

It was hard to think of a negative word to relay to you about our time in California… until now.

We'd been lulled into a false sense of security. We'd started shopping again and wearing jeans again and hanging out in malls and at the cinemas again. In fact, it had all started to seem rather more like a holiday than the 'true travelling' we were used to.

And then we arrived promptly at 9:20pm for our 22-hour Amtrak Coast Starlight overnight train from San Francisco up to Seattle. Only to be told the train was already some six hours late and wouldn't arrive until 3:45am at the earliest.

We inquired politely in our best English manner what could possibly be causing such a heinous delay. To be told that the government won't give Amtrak any money and everything is so old that mechanical failure is a fairly regular occurrence. We then asked politely whether there would be such a thing as WiFi in the station to entertain us during the very long night's wait. To be told again that the government wouldn't fund such things. I mean, no WiFi for passengers waiting 7 hours in the middle of the night? Africa can do better than this!

Their default customer-service-rapid-response? Dominos pizza delivery for everyone! Oh America.

Still, it gives us time to empty our heads and jot down some memories before we cross the border and start a whole new adventure in Canada, post-Seattle.

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First and foremost, we have to start with where we've just come from, the warm, loving and relaxing 'home from home' at Barbara & David Carlisle's in San Mateo (a family-friendly residential town about 30 minutes outside San Francisco city centre). Barb & Dave met Han's parents 20-something years ago when Phil/Dad arranged a house-swap with a priest in San Francisco. So while the Roderick family had an awesome jaunt in the USA, the poor American family had a romantic getaway to… High Wycombe! Barb & Dave were listed as the emergency contacts for that trip and soon became the Roderick's honorary tour guides.

The two families have been closely connected ever since and it was such a joy to spend time in a proper family home again, with all the home comforts that entails; a friendly Chihuahua lapdog called Toby to snuggle up to on the couch, a big box of PG Tips, breakfast cereal, fresh cold milk(!), home-made waffles, roast dinners, plenty of chilled wine and beer in the fridge, and for a special treat, excellently fresh-baked scones. Yum.

We were even welcomed to the area by the sight of the Union Jack flying courtesy of the proudly British neighbours across the street, Rich, Hema and their son Alex. Ben would like to give a special mention of thanks to Rich for satisfying his long-standing craving of Marmite, attempting to explain the intricacies of baseball and basketball, and introducing him to the great-tasting and wonderfully-named 'Arrogant B@stard Ale'! Keep flying that flag proudly Family Neve!

With a base to work from we were able to explore San Fran in all its glory - the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, the parks, the California Academy of Sciences, Alcatraz, 49 mile drive…

Our personal favourite was the afternoon we spent exploring Alcatraz. What a place. It's eery enough just looking over to the island from the mainland, but then you hop on a boat and 20 minutes later you're looking back to the free world and trying to imagine how it must have felt to be locked up there, freedom so close you can see and hear it. What creates the picture in your head better than most museum tours you take, is the hour long audio documentary you get as you're guided through the cell house. Ex-prisoners and guards tell their stories of what went on day-to-day, of elaborate escape attempts (one ending in success, whilst another ended in brutal murders) and what it was like to live on 'The Rock'. Hearing the voices and knowing what they're telling you is direct from experience is very powerful.

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Heading inland from San Fran/San Mateo we were fortunate enough to spend a few days and nights at Barb & Dave's "Cabin in the Woods", a holiday home nestled amongst the Sequoia Big Trees. We arrived one afternoon to blue skies but awoke the next morning to a white carpet of fresh snow, to our amazement and delight. Although the ski lifts were still open further up the mountain we didn't venture far from the sofa and warm fire of the lounge, wine and beer in hand.

From the cabin, we headed south, deeper into Yosemite National Park where we'd booked ourselves into an Unheated Canvas Tent Cabin for two nights.

Night one - that snow we mentioned had to have come from somewhere, and we realized our booking error when we could clearly see our breath in front of us as we entered our room. It didn't improve as the night wore on and we had a tricky, uncomfortable night of survival in subzero temperatures, all the while wondering where everyone else was and why all the tents around ours were empty.

Night two - after upgrading to a Heated Canvas Tent Cabin, we had a wonderful night's sleep surrounded by the comforting hum of a bulky old-school gas heater pumping out its happy fumes. Also surrounded by the friendly chatter of guests in our Heated Village - so this is where everyone was!

The views each day entirely made up for our struggles. None more so than at the top of Vernal Falls, one of the most picturesque and popular hikes in the park. Much like the Inca Trail, it's tough for the photos to do what we saw justice. But we tried to capture it in all its glory. It felt good to be out exercising the leg muscles again after a couple of weeks off since reaching Machu Picchu.

And despite the advertised dangers of bears all around us, we didn't come face-to-face with a grizzly, much to Han's relief, and Ben's disappointment.

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The scenery in Yosemite is second only to that of the Pacific Coast Highway 1; surely one of the most scenic roads in America. We took our time to drive north from LA to San Mateo. This isn't like driving around the M25 where you want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Along with your best intentions to take it nice and slow, you have the constant urge to stop on the side of the road, get out of the car, take a photo and generally just take it all in. It was stop-start every few hundred yards, always a new sight to marvel at as you turn the corner or drive over the hill.

[Interlude for a quick warning - this is going to be a longer blog than most… But we have over 30 hours to kill during this Amtrak fiasco people, 30 hours!!!]

Heading up the coast from LA we decided to stop for the night in the sleepy seaside town of Morro Bay. We checked into our motel and headed down to the harbour littered with shops full of 'hokey' local merchandise and seafood restaurants. Morro Bay is famous for the huge volcanic plug which sits just out to shore. It's in all the local postcards, on the t-shirts, hoodies, caps etc. It made its way into all our photos too! And that evening gave us a contender for best sunset of the trip - a close call between Morro Bay, USA and Hermanus, back in South Africa. We've been using the TripAdvisor iPhone app to source local hostels / restaurants and in Morro Bay, a coffee shop called 'Top Dog' came highly recommended. With "the best coffee in the area" promised and a breakfast bagel on the menu, we couldn't resist. Neither could Ben when he saw the "Rabid Dog" drink listed. A quad-shot of pure coffee. Yikes, but it set him up nicely for the day of driving ahead!

From Morro Bay to Monterey we hit the best bit of coast road yet. And we had the perfect day for it. Picturesque blue skies, bright sunshine and wavy seas. As if it couldn't get any better, we pulled off the road at one road sign labeled 'Elephant Seal Viewing Point' hoping we might catch a glimpse of one or two. To our complete surprise we were met by a long cove bursting with marine life; hundreds of elephant seal cubs teaching themselves to swim (their mothers abandon them at a few months old to let them make their own way in the world!), pelican birds in flight, white and grey speckled sea otters and sea lions playing in the shallow waters and two schools of Grey Whales just visible in the distance, making their annual migration from Alaska to Mexico. Wow.

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All this nature and beauty was a refreshing reminder of our earlier travels. However it was a complete contrast to our first ten days in USA:

We arrived in LA's sprawling city streets straight from the plane and tested out the local bus services to get us to our hostel in Santa Monica. Loud, proud, mad and manic. Every meal was a delicious feast - have we mentioned the food yet?! - and in Santa Monica we had easy access to seaside, beaches and shopping. A dangerous new home for some…

We took in the local sights of course; grand Beverly Hills homes, celeb spotting in Hollywood Boulevard, a day at Universal Studios eating churros and getting drenched on the Jurassic Park ride and going to see the local Englishman (you may have heard of him?) at an LA Galaxy game. We picked up our hire car and then it was time for a weekend in the lights of Las Vegas, baby.

How to describe Vegas?

Big. Bright. Confident. OTT. And a lot of fun! We managed to source a decent deal online and our hotel room from the 35th floor looked out across the world-famous strip. Everyone's heard so much about this place but you really don't know what to expect before you arrive. By the end, it's hard to work out if the preconceptions you had were correct at all. There was a distinct sense of always being on the outside, looking in. Each and every casino floor is full of big, burly Americans gambling hundreds of dollars on the blackjack or roulette tables. For a couple of pokey Brits, who have no idea what they're doing, it's fairly daunting to elbow your way in and take them on! Sticking to the slot machines seemed the safest bet, and so it proved. In went $1 and with a few pulls of the handle Han had scooped a tidy $100 profit. It didn't go back into the machine though, just to the till of the local cocktail bar…

A real highlight of our time there was seeing a Cirque du Soleil show which has been playing at our hotel for the last few years. Anyone who's been to a Cirque show knows what to expect; colourful costumes, ethereal storylines you don't quite follow, backbending acrobatic displays, flying trapeze and trampoline artists and dance sequences in mid-air, dangling from ropes or colourful ribbons. You may know what to expect but every Cirque show manages to take your breath away and leave your jaw on the floor.

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As we finish writing this, we're currently somewhere in Oregon, still some 8-odd hours away from Seattle (touch wood!), on top of the 8 hours waiting in the train terminal and a 15 hour journey so far. To offer their apologies for the inconvenience Amtrak provided a complimentary dinner. Nice touch. However, we've never seen a smaller plate of rice and "chicken" (we hope it was, but it looked and tasted distinctly different) in the US or otherwise. That 18 hour bus ride through Bolivia doesn't seem so bad, after all.

Next time we check in with you all we'll be in another new country. Canada.

And who knows how long we'll be there. A week? A month? Or perhaps a year…

As ever, we'll be keeping you posted and look forward to hearing more of your news.

Happy (Belated) Easter!

Love, Ben & Han xx