S: So today we had the day twice over. It was our biggest flights of the year. We started out at 9.45am on the 20th of January and landed 24 hours later on the 20th January at 10 am. The flights were very good but we were shattered and just wanted to get to a hostel and get sorted. We arrived at our hostel and met some guys who were convinced we were Australian lol. We decided to go grab some food and we were recommended a little restaurant around the corner. It was one of the best Turkish pittas I've ever tasted and I was even out hummused - that has never happened lol. Although we quickly learnt, we could share our meals due to the portions being soo huge here in the USA. Now we had to check out Beverly Hills, it was great and very pricey, but great to walk along the famous "Rodeo Drive" - I'm sure I was just like Julia Roberts in Pretty Women waiting for my prince.

J: The Beverly Hills area felt a little detached from the world, we saw a Rolls Royce and a Lamborghini, both of which had been horribly modified. We stopped for a coffee in a famous Starbucks before continuing down the street, where a lady offered Sam some make up samples.... After 20 mins of Sam having creams put on her face, the lady spoke about the promotional prices for the day; they were 5.99 but reduced to 2.99....... Then I realised there wasn't a decimal place in those numbers and she was talking hundreds!! Even Sam didn't think they were that good thankfully.
It was a cool place to wonder around though and we walked all the way along sunset boulevard, taking in the awe of Hollywood style movie houses...... Oh yeah it was Hollywood! And to prove its self we stumbled onto the Walk of Fame, it was fun walking along checking all the names, quite a few we didn't know but we found legionary names such as Chuck Norris and Samuel L Jackson.

S: We stopped outside the TCL Chinese cinema and quickly cottoned on there was going to be a red-carpet event that night for the film 'Mortdecai.' I have to admit I was a little star struck and wanted to watch. So, we decided to get a meal while we watched and just behind us was 'Hooters' and as I had been reliable informed the hot wings were good there, we (and when I say we - I mean James) decided to eat there. The wings were great and I got to watch 'Johnny Depp' 'Gwyneth Paltrow' and 'Ewan McGregor' on the red carpet.
We then set out to find the famous Hollywood sign. We followed the instructions we had but we just couldn't see it, I didn't think it would be hard to see, and we were sure we were in the right place, after confirming with a local he said we were in the right place..... But as it was now dark now, we wouldn't be able to see it as it isn't lit up at night. We didn't see that one coming!

J: We then continued walking and next item on the itinerary was Pinks, the famous hot dog vendor. This small place has been in many films and is a cult place now. The rich and famous visit this place and inside is covered with head shots of the customers and a message from them. We ordered a chilli dog to share which was really tasty. I was impressed that it wasn't crazy priced either. Then clearly talking about the place and excited to be there, an older gentleman came and introduced himself, he was the family owner of the business! He thought it was great we had come all the way from Australia to visit lol. He was a nice guy and spoke to us for some time.
That night we decided to mix things up and within an hour we changed from a bus ride to a road trip and booked up a Dodge campervan to travel the east coast in!

S: we arranged to pick the car up and ended up walking a couple of miles with our backpacks on. I had not missed that, but it felt like we were back on track travelling. The car was a Dodge (A camper-van yes, but still a dodge) We drove out to Griffith Park observatory and finally saw the Hollywood sign in all its glory. It felt surreal to be able to see it in person, it's always something you see on the movies. Venice beach was next on the agenda and it was freezing, although we did brave the walk out to the pier.