Hello from Hollywood and the very last day of my travels!!!

The past 8 months have been incredible but the last month has to have been one of the best not least because I have been joined by my best friend Marian! It may not feel like I'm entirely travelling anymore (besides the fact that we are still sleeping in bunk beds), but it has been one amazing holiday!

4 weeks ago we started our journey in LA and have done a full circuit of Calafornia to return back to where we started. Our first week here was full of the tourist things that have to be done in Hollywood and because we were staying on Hollywood Boulevard we could't go out of our front door without going down the Walk of Fame! On one day we went on an open top tour of Hollywood and although I did not think much of our guides less than enthusiastic speeches, we got to see the houses of the rich and famous as well as the Hollywood sign... If only you were allowed to drive anywhere near it!!

On another day we decided to hit the beaches, not realising how big LA is and how long it takes to get anywhere. By the time we had navigated the public buses over there, we spent a little while on Santa Monica beach before walking down to Venice beach which was certainly an experience with all of the freak shows competiting for tourists' attention.

Because we were in Hollywood we couldn't leave without going to Universal Studios and seeing the sets of so many popular TV shows and films. The tour around the studios was amazing and the theme park itself was so much fun! Contiuing from our interest in the studios we decided that one afternoon we should go to watch a TV show being filmed live. Initially it was exciting to watch but after 2 hours and very little progress with them retaking suposidly 'live' footage we decided we had had enough and went to leave. The bouncers didn't like that so much and wouldn't even let us go to the bathroom so we resulted in Marian pretending to be sick whilst running for the gates which is a story I won't forget any time soon!!!!

After leaving behind LA, the Hollywood parties and the friends we made there, we took a painfully long and cramped overnight Greyhound bus up to San Francisco. Although the bus didn't turn out to be as bad as everyone had warned us it would be, we had had very little sleep and turning up at 7am in a new city miles away from the hostel was not fun. To make matters worse it was freezing cold. We may have only travelled 8hours north but it felt like we had driven into winter and i was not happy that I had to get boots and jumpers out!

Once we had finally settled into San Fran on the first day we had a look around and saw what an amazing location we were in. Rather than being in the main Downtown area, we were up in Fishermans Wharf, directly opposite the bridge. One day we decided to hire bikes and cycle across the bridge and well it turns out that we weren't that close to it afterall! We must have spent over 4hours that day jsut cycling from our hostel to the other side of the bridge and back. It was definatly worth doing but would have been slightly nicer if it weren't so windy!!!!

Other eventful things in San Fran were both our visit to Alcatraz and riding the trams to downtown. I was joined by Jade who I had travelled with in both New Zealand and Fiji. We were really lucky to get to go over to Alcatraz prison because the tours are sold out weeks ahead to we had to get up at 6am and join a queue to get a ticket but it was definatly worth it! Its only a shame that I had my camera stolen that day which bought a downer on things because I've lost pictures from the last 2 months which was obviously rather gutting.

Rather than stay in San Fran for the week we had planned we decided to book a trip to Yosemite National Park for 2 nights worth of camping. (I have to say it was Marian's idea!) But it turned out to be one of the highlights of the last month. There may have been a lot of walking which took a while to acclimatise to at 9,000ft but the views were spectacular. The scenery was incredible and I had such an amazing time. The camping actually turned out to be a lot of fun and we had a really good group of people on the tour which made the trip. Unfortunatly we never got to see any bears but never mind!

After Yosemite we returned to San Fran and got a flight all the way over LAS VEGAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have to say that in my 8months of travelling, my week in Vegas has to be the best I have had. We had the msot incredible time!! Not only were we no longer in a hostel (we had a hotel on the strip) but we went to some of the msot increidble parties I will probably ever go to in my life and didn't spend a penny!! Aparently 2girls with London accents get a long way in Vegas and we got invited onto the guest lists and into VIP areas every night that we were there!!!! I probably drank more units of alcohol that week than I have in my life and although im still recovering from it I wouldnt have chaged it for the world.

Whilst in Vegas we did decide to take a break for one day and go on a day trip to the Grand Canyon. It did turn out to be a 17hour round trip on a coach with only a few hours at the canyon and a breif stop at the Hoover Dam but I guess it had to be done. It was a shame that our guide wasn't particularly helpful but Im at least glad that we got to see the Canyon.

After leaving Vegas and still trying to recover we got on another Greyhound and headed down to San Diego when we spent 4 much needed days lying on a beach. It was a really nice way to end the trip and attempt to get a tan after so much sightseeing. WE did spent one day at San Diego zoo which was amazing! It has to be the biggest zoo in the world because it took us all day to walk around it (aided by our very poor map reading) but it was excellent. The other eventful thing we did in san Diego was on a bar crawl across the border to Tijuana in Mexico. I would like to say it was memorable but it turns out that it is common practice there for them to but Ketamine in the cocktails and I have never been so ill in my life! So be careful if your ever planning on going to Mexico!!!

After our 4 days and one epic night in San Diego we got on our final Greyhound and returned back to LA. We only got here last night and so havent fit anymore sights in but did have one last night out to commemorate the end of our travels. After writing this I am heading to the airport and will soon be on my way back to London. i have had the most incredible time and so many memories and stories that I will never forget.

Blogging over, my trip is finished. Ill see you all at home! xx