So we got here in one piece...just about. 11 and a half hours is not a civilised time to spend on a plane, but Virgin Atlantic rock. They feed you constantly and the entertainment system thing they have is wicked. We ended up having to run so that we didn't miss the flight even though we'd been at Heathrow for 3 hours and so it wasn't a leisurely departure! We realised that although we were going to be arriving at 2am UK time we were never going to see night-time as we were crossing timezones. Very weird feeling. Didn't sleep at all so we were both knackered when we arrived. The baggage reclaim belt was broken so we had to wait an hour to get Emily's rucksack, which was a bit of a nightmare but thank God we got it back... Went to pick up the car which wasn't what we expected, but is wicked nonetheless. It's one of those PT Cruisers which looks a bit rubbish with a roof but is really cool with the soft-top. Em drove and I 'navigated'. The hotel where we stayed last night is actually about 3 doors away from where we picked up the car, but the road would only allow us to go in the opposite direction, so we ended up driving through some fairly dodgy looking districts. I'm right in thinking that Inglewood and Compton are where people like 2pac was from, aren't I? Well we didn't really want to stop and look lost so we kept driving, eventually ending up on the freeway. Don't be scared Mum, we were fine. Just about! So we eventually got to our hotel at 9pm...which to us felt like 5am. I was convinced I was going to sleep like a log, but I can safely say I had the worst night's sleep ever! It was horrible, my body clock's all over the shop! Anyway, was awake at 7am but still managed to miss the free breakfast because we couldn't move for 2 and a half hours. We checked out and I took over driving duties to bring us to Santa Monica. It's like driving a 2.4 litre dodgem. I may never go back to manual! It really hasn't hit home that we're here...Santa Monica's cool, just as you'd expect it to be. We went down to the pier and the beach. Just like Baywatch with those little wooden lifeguard huts! I took a few photos which hopefully, if I've done this right, you'll be able to see. We then wandered back and ended up in Ye Olde King's Head, an English pub whose walls are covered in photos of people like Ray Winston and Anthony Hopkins drinking there. The girl behind the bar offered us darts with our drinks, just like they do in all those traditional British pubs(!) Do we look like darts players?! We've just come back to 2nd street where we're staying at a hostel and had lunch in a cafe over the road. I ate about a third of the salad I had. By rights everyone here should be morbidly obese, the size of the portions...We then came over the road and checked in at the hostel, where the girl on the reception is ironically called 'Joy'. She's the first slightly unfriendly person we've come across. Everyone else has been lush without exception. I find myself coming over all English in order to charm them with my quaint manners, but I'm not convinced it's working. The hostel's really nice. There's a movie lounge, an internet lounge, a library, a TV room (which is reserved for acting classes every night - maybe Joy's just a actress in waiting, that'd explain her happy demeanour while she checked us in.) We've both got top bunks in a nice big room with about 17 other people, but it's fine! See, I know you all thought I couldn't rough it, but I'll prove you wrong! Not really sure what we're going to do tonight, but LA is our oyster! Tomorrow I think we're going to go on a tour so that we can work out what we want to do ourselves, and in the evening we're meeting friends of friends of Emily's and they're taking us out in Malibu...bit different from a night out in Cardiff I expect! I'm aware that I'm really rambling, but I think there's just too much to say and I'm still exhausted. No doubt these journal entries will reduce in length, but hopefully increase in interestingness. (Not a word, I know) Watch this space!