27 October Because we got to Santa Monica around 10.30pm and only stayed for 1 night we didn't get to see much of the place which was pretty disappointing. Had to head off pretty early to get the car back in LA on time. Hertz wouldn't let us drop the car any later than 11.30am without charging us for an extra day so we had 2 hours to get to LA without a map!Made it to Hertz by 11.37 so they didn't charge us. Checked into the Orbit hostel which was marginally be...

So we drove down the state highway 1 in our sweet Mazda 3 along the coast of California. Stopped at a few deserted beaches along the way to Santa Cruz. Hostels are pretty thin on the ground in this student-dominated town so we decided to stay in our first sleazy US motel. This particular "Budget Inn" as it was called cost about £10 a night and was actually nicer than the hostel back in San Francisco. In true student style we decided to go out on...

20 October We arrived here in San Francisco International at around 2pm to be greeted by some over zealous immigration officers who were a little unsure about mine and Danny's intentions to cause trouble in their fine land. After a little waiting and a 10 minute interview where they asked us when we planned to get the hell out of their country we proceeded through to land of the free. California is hotter than England. Instead of taking the easy airport shu...