We arrived into LAX airport feeling a big jaded from the delays and repeated security controls, and also because a woman had mistaken me for the mother of 3 teenage girls... time to up the anti-wrinkle cream dosage I think.

As we waited to collect our bags we noticed someone we vaguely recognised. It was none other than my brother, Rich. What a councidence! It seems he had been so blown away by our blog he decided to be part of it. The 3 of us went off to pick up our rental car (we were told we could choose any car we wanted within a certain section - colour was the overriding factor for us) and so the road trip began.

Our first stop was Santa Barbara, about 2 hours along the coast from LA. It was a nice, upmarket town with lots of trendy folk. We sampled the local food and the boys had the locally brewed beer which went down well. It was then to a nearby bar for some free drinks using the vouchers we'd picked up in our hotel. The most memorable thing from the night is how bitterly cold it was, and how unprepared we were for it having gone out for dinner in thin sweaters.

The next morning we fueled up with a hearty breakfast at IHoP and set off on the long, but very scenic drive to San Francisco along the Pacific Coast Highway (Route One). The views were spectacular and there were many a photo opportunity not to be missed in the bright sunshine, including some Elephant Seals we found hanging out on a beach.

We woke up on our first morning in San Francisco with 2 objectives: decide what to do that night (new year's eve) and buy some warm clothes. A morning of sightseeing at Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39, enjoying the sights of Alcatraz (which unfortunately tours of were fully booked) left us hungry, so we tucked into the local clam chowder served in a sourdough roll for lunch. It was then time for some express shopping before the evening where I bought the first coat I found that wasn't $100 and was in my size. Done. A highlight for us was a homeless man singing "jingle bells jingle bells, help me get drunk, drunk as a skunk". That night we walked around until by chance we found a lovely restaurant that had space for dinner. A few drinks later our beer jackets were sufficiently on, so we braved the weather to see the fireworks go off at midnight across the bay. With One Direction blasting from the speakers and frost bite setting in it felt like we were at home. Rich was then in charge of finding us a bar to go to. He picked a gay hip hop bar that had a lot of couples grinding...make what you will of that.

During our time in San Francisco we also walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. If I hadn't eaten so many doughnuts I might have been at risk of flying off the bridge it was so windy. My over-eating problem also wasn't helped when courtesy of Rich's friend we got to go to the Facebook HQ for a look around, have a (free) lunch and then help ourselves to as many snacks as we could carry out! It wasn't just the food at Facebook that was awesome, the size of the office park and all the little things they'd thought of made it a bit like Disneyland for adults. Mark Zuckerberg walking by finished off our time there though I think he must have forgotten about the job he'd offered me...

Our new favourite quote of the holiday was said by Rich when asking about the facilities at FB and he asked 'where do people drop the kids off'. The immature side of Tom and I broke down in a fit of giggles.