Well after such a long time relaxing in the sun we was more then ready for LA and with the helpful tips we got from Liz (whom had got there about a month earlier) we was tres excited. We had a bit of luck on our flight from Fiji, although it was delayed we had a laugh in the airport with Tom and Jen plus me and Dave had 4 seats all to ourselves! yay!! Tom and Jenny were behind and got the exit isle so they got a good deal too.

HELLO HOLLYWOOD! So we arrived in LA but due to the delay with our flight we had missed our free shuttle to the hostel so we caught another shuttle, the chinese guy seemed a little overwhelmed and with the customers and drivers shouting at him he had to be told to calm down by another driver, oops - whilst this was going on the leader of a group of germans (who seemed to be causing the issue) shouted at one of the drivers then stormed off, she was called back and after a few more minutes of commotion we was all bundled into a car. After a long and very quite journey later we arrived at the posh hotel for the germans - the driver offloaded them and got back in to drive but he only got a few feet before most of the Germans and the security guards jumped forward and began yelling at him to stop - turns out he had driven over their luggage! The security guards started taking down his details as he'd probably crushed everything in the already pissed germans stuff - oh dear. Anyway onwards to our hostel, we'd decided to get our own room as we wanted to spread ourselves out and knew we'd be throwing bits away as being our last stop - our room was very nice, had a TV and a bath! That night we walked down to the Farmers market which was about 15 min from our hostel, the first thing we saw was a bakery for dogs, how very american! The farmers market reminded me a bit like camden market - soooo many food stalls selling yummy things - one had the largest chocolate dipped apple i've ever seen, along with many souvenir shops and fruit stalls, we settled on Patsy's pizza mmmmmmm Next to the farmers market was 'the grove' which had restaurants inc the cheesecake factory, cinemas and shops but that was a lil out of our backpacker budget. We made our way back to the hostel and allowed our backpacks to explode that little bit more, sat down and relaxed in front of our very own TV (we last had our own TV about 4 months ago!!!) and watched criminal minds! ahhhhh heaven!

So the next day, our first in LA and I couldn't think of anything else to do other then DISNEY!!! well it was Friday and we had been told to avoid going on weekends (not that I needed any more help making that decision!) I managed to remember my disney signature book that Mother had sent out (thanks mother!) and went on our way - think Dave was a little anxious as my lesbian friend (LAURA LUXFORD) lied and told him I get a little crazy when disney is involved! Was about an hour away and finally we had arrived and the beautiful pink gates! Like Paris they have another park here too called California but of course Disney is what we came for so we went straight in - as soon as we'd got into main street we saw Chip and Dale, Pinocchio and Cruela De-ville - unfortunately they was too quick for me and I didn't get any of their autographs, but the day was young.....we went straight into Fantasyland and I took Dave onto the 'It's a small world ride' I didn't mind it when I went to Paris but I must admit it wasn't as good as I'd remembered and Dave described it as 'torture' oh dear. After that (and a few more pics) we went onto a few rides - the Indiana Jones was fab, its a car that drives along as if its in the tomb but it was hilarious - my head was bobbing about everywhere! haha After getting our fix of rides I went and got Tiger and Pooh's autograph (you guys might think i'm a lil mad but we saw a dog getting his pic done with them!!!) Then it came time for Space Mountain, Dave seemed eager for us to go on it and I found out as we was about to be shot off it that it was because of my terrifying experience i'd had as a child at the Florida disney (Mum i'm sure you remember with tear filled eyes......not!) wasn't as nearly as bad as what I remember but un-be-known to Dave id already gone on the one in Paris, still not a lover of rides that are in the dark though. Then I managed to get some autographs - Alice was a bit busy but I grabbed the Mad Hatter who really was mad, I asked him to sign my book to which he wrote 'The book' in my signature book, then I asked him to write his name so he wrote 'Your name' eventually he wrote what I wanted! After that we went over to the California part of the park to get some grub, straight away I saw Ariel's grotto so off we went but it was a sit down restaurant so Dave re-chose and we went into some burger place but it was great as I ordered a kids meal and it came out in the shape of Mickey - it had to two mini burgers as Mickey's ears and the chips in his face bit (sounds a bit knaff but looked good to me! - I am easily pleased) after that we went on the rides there - most of which are similar to the ones in the UK and managed to catch a parade and then headed back over to Disney. Back onto the Indiana ride (had to be done) and Dave almost tried to push to Magic Mountain one again too!! This time I managed to get Buzz Lightyear's autograph too! We was getting picked up but had enough time to eat again (we are in the US) and watch the start of the fireworks - Dave had a hot dog and I ordered chilli, it was lovely - it came in an actual bread bowl! Then our day was at an end and it was time to go - we got back to the hostel around 11.30 and rolled into bed to watch.....more criminal minds ahhhhh

The next day we'd booked ourselves onto the LA city tour, turns out Demi Moore and David Shwimmer went to Fairfax High right outside our hostel, down the road is Pinks a famous hot dog place where anyone who's anyone goes (this is true as there is always a massive queue!) and its also where Bruce Willis proposed to Demi! Its a bit like Fergburger but I think there's four of these, one's in Universal and maybe one in New York? Down the road is LA Ink, we didn't go in but apparently their really friend and happy for visitors - I would only recognise Miami Ink people. A bit further down is where CNN is filmed and also the Jay Leno show (two girls from our hostel were interviewed on our first night in LA!) and our guide also pointed out the viper rooms where River Phoenix famously died outside of, then the owner Johnny Depp quickly sold - all of this is a walk from our hostel!! On route we was shown the place where Julia Roberts lived in Pretty women and the steps she made Richard Gere or 'Edward' climb up as her Prince Charming! (I do love the TV info!) Then we made our way up the hollywood hills and Mulholland Drive to see the Hollywood sign, we got really close and got to take some good pics (see facebook!) after the sign we made our way onto Hollywood and got our first look of the stars etc - Marylyn Munroe is outside Mcd's and Michael Jackson often has flowers or gifts which becomes annoying as its right in the middle of a very busy street? Only had a 30 min stop so took a walk and was ready for our next place which was a tour of the stars homes, most are just gates but I saw some good gates - Christina Aguilera, right next-door is the Osborne's - -the one where they did the filming, we also saw Nicholas Cage which he has now sold - apparently it was repo'd as he owes the government money? The house also apparently has a bar in every room? We also saw the Beckhams, but this you cant even see a gate, its very secluded but there was lots of paparazzi waiting outside, next was Michael Jackson's place which he died in - he was renting it at the time though - R.I.P. We also went to the playboy mansion, its absolutely massive - his x-wife and two sons live next door and the bunnies live in the 'playboy dormitory' opposite, Hugh Heffner is about 84 by the way!!!! Also seen was Mr and Mrs Hilton (only just about to be finished) Mr Mcdonald as in Big Mac - the biggest and most expensive house in LA was shown to us also, it was owned by Aaron Spelling aka Tori Spelling's dad, he's now dead but he's ex wife still lives there - lucky women and the house used in Xmen which is not actually lived in but used for numerous films, last but not least we went to the fresh prince of Bel Air! haha AND for you Britney and Grease fans the school which was in the 'Hit me baby one more time' video and Rydell High in Grease! Next we made our way to the beach, we drove through Venice and stopped off for an hour or so at Santa Monica aka Muscle beach - they'd recently finished building a new skateboarding rink for the people of LA and kids as young as about 5 were amazing - doing flips and not a tear in sight when they face planted! We took a walk up the street and got offered lots and lots of marijuana as its just become legalised so lots of signs saying to go and see the 'doctor' We was surprised at how many american pit bulls we saw here too, such nice dogs so its a shame there banned in the UK :-( Dave stopped for Pizza, oh forgot to mention we'd made a friend called Bart, so him and Bart stopped for Pizza (after getting a mcd's on hollywood!) while I went off to take some pics. We continued up he street but stopped to watch a street performer from american idol or something for a bit, next we came to the muscle part - loads of courts, machines and oiled up rather then sweaty men working out - there was one really old black guy who kind of stood out? So back to the van and off to Rodeo, we had half an hour here so I made a beeline for the Regent Beverly Wiltshire which is where Edward and Vivienne stay in Pretty women (even took a look inside) - there's one shop here (a bright yellow one if you ever go) which is closed at wknds?? and during the week you need an appointment with a minimum spend of $1000 - the owner drives a car worth over 2 million and often parks it right outside!! Was a shame it was the wknd otherwise think me and Dave would have booked an appt!?!?!?! Then came nearly time for the end of the day but not before our guide could show us UCLA, and the Ivy which is obviously famous and also featured in films such as the bodyguard. Back to the hostel and again knackered so without wanting to break a habit we went back to the farmers market with the intention of trying something knew but ended up having some yummy pizza again mmmmm

The next day we allowed ourselves a lie in - we was doing well with the jet lag and got up around 10.30 - we had decided to go back and do Hollywood blvd and had also decided to walk to get a better look at some of the places pointed out the day before, the walk was alot longer then the drive looked AND Dave managed to loose our map so we got lost and started the other end of the walk. We took note of some of the stars e.g. Angela Lansbury aka Jessica Fletcher (or Jeccela Fletcher as my grandad used to call her - remember Gem?) We made note of a few others - did you know big bird's got one too?? We had decided to test the 'Super size' me thing and Dave was going to get a meal BUT shock horror they don't do it anymore! So then we made our way to Hooters, land of big hair and big boobs though they didn't all have big boobs :-( Lunch was nice and I was surprised to see only one or two tables of all men? Kids also eat free in there on a sunday? Next we made our way to Madam Tussuads (this will be my 4th one as i've been to the ones in London, Amsterdam and New York) was a lil disappointed though as they had no chamber live so we was finished pretty soon, would have been sooner if some annoying frenchmen didn't keep asking us to take pics of him - he asked Dave alone 4 times - on the upside though this Mad T's did have Collin Farrell (just need Ryan Reynolds, Josh Hartnett, Paul Walker and Channing Tatum now) after Mad T's we went and took a look around the chinese theatre, the kodak theatre and another theatre which I forget the name of. I purchased my much needed benefit make up also from the shopping centre there which has actually been designed and built so that you have a clear view of the Hollywood sign in the background. Ice cream is always needed after shopping so we went into....the disney ice cream parlour!! and I had a float (ice cream and lemonade) mmmmm we took a few more pics and made our long way back to the hostel - our legs were almost crippled by the time we got back.

Our fourth day in LA and we'd decided to go the UNIVERSAL STUDIO's one of my other favourite places to go! This was only about a 10 min drive from our hostel, we was so lucky today as it gets so busy we was told we'd need two days but the longest we waited was 10 minutes. We started on the new simpson ride which had a very impressive set, the ride was a simulator though and i'm not a lover of them but they did have a 'kwiki-mart' outside and me and Dave bought two Homer sized doughnuts mmmmm. Bart, Lisa, Homer and Marge were outside too and we managed to get some good pics of them oh and me with a Marge wig on too! Next we went onto the Universal studio tour which takes you to see props, cars, sets and studio's used for filming - they said we went when they were filming Desperate Housewives so we had to be quite going down Wisteria lane - was disappointed we didn't see anything also :-( We went through Amity Island the setting for Jaws and was on the right side when 'Bruce' (named after Steven Spielberg's lawyer) made an appearance. We also went past the Bates hotel which was cool, tho Norman Bates came out and dumped a body in his car - he then chased the last carriage and when we went round the corner a minute or so later he was still staring from the bottom of the hill! Just outside I was brave at 24 and had the picture taken I couldn't when I was 8 and posed not just outside but in the sharks mouth at the picture site set up outside. Next we made our way to the Jurassic river ride which was very good - effects were brilliant and both times we went Dave got soaked (I hide under my scarf) opposite was the Mummy ride which was ok, very quick but had a speedy start and by the look of the pic Dave wasn't ready as he actually cracked a different face then in all his other ride shots. The terminator ride was good also with fab special effects but again visual with 3D. A few more rides and shops later we made our way to the newly opened Pinks in the City walk outside and Dave bought his 12 inch jalapeño hotdog!- I thought it looked disgusting but he liked it!!! This was the end of our day at universal and we was picked up to go back to the hostel - didn't do much when we got back, the internet was back on as it was down that morning (annoying as we wanted to book our universal tickets on line) but still, back on line now so after my facebook fix we settled down to another night of criminal minds!! yay - even saw 2 new episodes!!

The next day was our last whole day in LA AND of our trip!!! we had planned to go to the beach but it was overcast so up we got and took ourselves shopping, well I did - dave just wanted to window shop for prices. I had my eye on some UGG boots but settled on a much cheaper pair of sandals - dave got his obligatory KFC (which he says he doesn't like anymore????) we stopped off at the farmers market again on the way back and took another look around - the dog bakery had some good treats for Niamhy - well I did miss her b-day!! So we got a few purchases and made our way back to the hostel - a little tame for our last night I know but we were so tired and needed to pack etc and get ready for our flight HOME!

So today is our last day, we're packed, checked out and ready to go - its 11.19am here and our flight is at 4pm but due to the time difference we land at 10.05am so WE'LL BE HOME TODAY! Seems so weird that its all over, back to reality and looking for a job :-( We've had some really good times, got loads of fab memories, pics and much other memorabilia!! Mother still thinks i'm in New Zealand so (hopefully) has no idea that i'm coming home, we'll be so good to see your reaction Mum but a little worried about not having a bedroom or being able to get my car out! no good! oh well i'm sure we'll get something sorted. Really looking forward to catching up with everyone, the girls have got lots organised for me already so my only problem now is what to wear!!!!