Wednesday 29/08/12 My first night in a mixed dorm this trip but only had to share with two others a German couple. We woke up to a good breakfast a selection of bagels and bread and spreads, porridge and fruit which was a nice change from cereal. After breakfast we went to explore San Fran. We walked into Union Square which was like bond street and quickly found Levis. We purchased some perfect jeans and went on our way stumbling onto Chinatown where we explore...

Tuesday Early start after an awful nights sleep, with the sound of helicopters and glass bottles being sorted out outside our window! Started the day of pure travels with a bus to Union Square which took an hour. Then we paid for our Amtrak California pass which will take us to San Francisco, then to Las Vegas (5th) and then to San Diego (9th) and back to LA (14th)! Essentially a 12hr train to San Francisco today though. Our train was leaving at 10:25 so we g...

Monday Pretty much had the best day on Venice Beach! Started with a waffle! Christian hasn't shut up about Hermosa Beach so we thought we would rent bikes and ride down to it! I was overexcited over my rented pink bike and pink basket. The smooth pavements make it a seriously easy ride along the beach but we got to Matina Del Ray and didnt want to go along the roads without helmets so turned back and rode to Santa Monica. Since I'm not the best cyclist I did pr...

Sunday Today we moved to the beach! We woke up and packed and Kuya Nonong and Ate Fay picked us up with all are stuff and we drove to Redondo beach which is next to Hermosa beach. Like all trips first stop was lunch. Another delicious experience as we went to a fresh seafood stall where they had loads of different seafood. Huge crabs you bashed open with a hammer seemed to be their speciality. I wish I was hungrier at the time as there was so much good food bu...

Saturday We were supposed to go to The Mad Decent block party in Downtown but there were no tickets left. Instead we decided to explore the area we were staying in and walked up and down Melrose. I read about some of the vintage shops before we came and found a couple of them, Jet Rags, American Vintage and Wasteland. Didn't find anything we wanted but was fun looking. We had lunch in a place called Fratelli's on Melrose. I got a tuna panini and iced latte a...