The last blog I wrote, we had just arrived in Palm Springs. We've been super busy since, hence the lack of entry. I'll start where I left off...

That night in Palm Springs was a lot of fun. We stayed up late eating take away pizza, watching the VMAs and then swimming in the heated pool. The little Travelodge we were in was very cute and the old couple that owned it seemed to take a liking to us by keeping the pool open later than usual and helping us out with our laundry. It was a really sweet and chilled out place so we decided to stay another night.

The next morning we woke up and it was overcast which was a shame as we'd planned to be really lazy and lay around the pool all day. Instead, George watched the arsenal game in our room and I planned our next few days then did the laundry - and moaned a lot that George was having fun while I had to do 'work'!!! Once the football had finished we went for a swim then got washed and dressed and headed in to town. On the way, we met a crazy woman in an oversized wheel chair who told us that she used to live in London and was a model in the 70's (maybe that's why she's a bit crazy now?!) She looked like she was really struggling in her chair so George offered to help but she said she needed to get used to it and told us to go on ahead however she then continued to shout to us from down the street, telling us to be careful of gangs and thugs and that if George didn't marry me soon she would come and find me. She also told us that we were the most handsome English people she'd seen so maybe she wasn't so crazy after all! :D Once we'd got in to the town there where definitely no gangs and thugs!! It was very quiet and almost derelict. I'm not sure if it was just out of season or whether it's not the place to go anymore but I was expecting it to be buzzing with people. There we lots of nice restaurants trying to get anyone who walked passed to go in. We decided on a Mexican as they had a happy hour going on. Very tasty! My favourite part was my frozen margarita! Yum! As if we weren't full enough, we then went to the ice cream shop next door and purchased the biggest ice cream cone you have ever seen. It was called an Oreo deluxe and we didn't even manage to eat half of it. If we were back in San Francisco I would've given the rest to a homeless person but there were none around so it went in the bin. It was still early but there wasn't really much else to do so we went back to the hotel and went for another swim.

The following morning it was time to move on so (after a Skype date with Grace) we packed up and said goodbye to the little old couple. We then headed to San Diego.

San Diego was beautiful and by far my favourite stop in America. The hotel was amazing for the price we paid and we were only a short drive from all of the fun stuff! We dropped off our bags and headed straight to mission beach. We parked up in mission bay park and walked down until we came across a quiet stretch of beach on the bay where there was no one around so we decided to stop there for a few hours. We weren't sure if it might be private as it was outside people's houses but there were no signs so we took our chances. The houses and the beach were stunning. I want to live there! George left me there for a while to go and find some lunch so I read my book under the shade of a Palm tree. Heaven! After about 45 minutes George came back with a delicious chicken sandwich each and he told me that he'd walked down to mission beach and it looked like fun, lots going on. So we spent most of the day on our quiet private beach then walked to mission beach for sunset and drinks in the evening. Stunning, loved every minute.

We couldn't believe our luck when we woke up to the most delicious breakfast for free at the motel. Freshly made waffles, yogurts, fruit, sauasges and bagels! They had premade breakfast bagels with sausage and egg (a bit like the ones you get in MacDonald's) so we stocked up and took some for lunch!

Matt had told George about an island nearby called Coronado Island. So we spent the morning there. It must be the rich part of San Diego because the houses were unbelievable! We got talking to one of the workers and he told us that they were worth millions and some very wealthy people lived there. After a few hours of listening to music, reading our books and paddling in the sea it started to get too hot so we thought we'd go and find Balboa park where we could eat our free lunch in the shade. We found the park and parked up then found a water fountain where you could paddle so we ate our lunch with our feet in the fountain. We then sat in the park in the shade while George slept and I people watched.

Despite having covered myself from head to toe in factor 30, the inevitable happened and I'd been burnt. I only realised on the way back to the car when the backs of my legs started to feel really sore. I'd clearly had too much sun so we went back to the room to see the damage (which was BAD!), I covered myself in aftersun, feeling very sorry for myself, and had a nap while George went to sit by the pool. That evening we went to the gaslamp quarter in San Diego which is where all the bars and restaurants are. I wore a skirt which covered the burn but as I found out after trying to walk in my tight midi denim skirt it also rubbed and made my legs feel even more sore. The only thing for it was a few medicinal drinks. We both loved the look of all the restaurants in the gaslamp quarter but at $30 per meal there was no chance so we ended up getting a slice of pizza instead. While we were eating we got talking to a gay couple who had travelled before and wanted to treat us to a few drinks. They seemed fun so we agreed! George drank coke as he had to drive home but I enjoyed a few cocktails and a bottle of wine with our new friends who had some good travelling tips. What we didn't realise is that they had been drinking all day so got very drunk very quickly which led to us then getting kicked out of the bar. Then to top the night off, once we'd dropped them to their hotel we were pulled over by the police! They asked George if he'd been drinking then did a little 'follow the pen' test on him, then let us go. It scared the hell out of me! Our tame slice of pizza evening had turned out to be very eventful indeed!

The next day I was feeling a bit worse for wear and still very sore from the sunburn and George was tired after getting in late so we had a lazy day. We slept til late, ventured out to get some lunch then played cards by the pool.

We were sad to leave San Diego but we were now coming towards the end of our USA adventure and we had to head towards the airport. We drove to our hotel in studio city, LA and (after complaining about and moving rooms due to broken air con) dumped our bags and went to explore. We weren't expecting much from LA as we'd already been warned that it wasn't great. We headed to the walk of fame and got what we expected. It's all a bit dirty and run down. Marylin Monroe's star is outside a MacDonald's, kind of says it all really. We looked in a few of the tacky gift shops then walked back to the car which was parked legally down a side road - or so we thought! Apparently in America your car has to be facing in a certain direction and ours was facing the opposite. So that was a fun $60 fine.

Earlier that day we'd driven to the Dodgers stadium to see if we could get tickets for their Friday night fireworks ball game against the San Diego Padres and we could! So we forgot about the fine the best we could and went back towards the stadium. After experiencing LAs traffic jams at their best, we arrived at the stadium a half hour after it had started. Still looking on the bright side, we concluded that as we didn't really know the rules so it didn't matter too much. We were just there for the experience. It was way more fun than a football game. Everyone sat together and the fireworks at the end topped it off nicely.

They next morning there was an important palace game on the tv apparently! So I checked us in to our Hawaii flight online and then planned the route for the day. We wanted to get a good view of the Hollywood sign so we drove up mulhollend highway and got some good pics. Then we headed to Santa Monica. We had lunch on the pier and then looked around the shops (I didn't really fancy a beach day as my burn was still sore and it was pretty crowded with no shade) After a while we decided that we should check out our hotel by the airport as it was getting late and we had an early start the next day.

The hotel was cheap so I already knew it'd be bad. We drove into a place called Inglewood which George then informed me that he'd heard is in 'the hood' and is not a good area. Then we arrived at the hotel and it wasn't a hotel it was a hostel. False advertising! First impressions were ok. Cheap, and some free, food and drink, pool table and laundry room. Our room was massive and relatively clean. We went down to the common area, had some drinks, played some pool and ate free popcorn. Then we put some laundry on. It was getting late and we were flying to Hawaii early in the morning so I wanted to wash my hair and do my nails then get an early night. George had other ideas and stayed out late drinking and chatting to randoms which stressed me out as we had an early flight. I hadn't mentally prepared myself for a hostel experience and, due to the bad area, there were sirens going on all night so I absolutely hated it. Worst night of the trip so far (for me - George had a great time!) Luckily the horrible hostel was only 5 minutes from the car rental drop off and they then had a free shuttle to the airport so the next morning went pretty smoothly and we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

It was a 6 hour flight to Hawaii so we arrived at our hotel (I'd booked somewhere nice as we'd been paid) in Waikiki and went straight to the beach. We automatically fell in love with Hawaii. We spent the rest of the day and evening on the beach. The sunset over the Palm trees was spectacular and the sea was so warm.

On our first full day in Hawaii we decided to explore. As beautiful as Waikiki beach was, it is a little 'touristy'. We asked at the front desk for a bus timetable and headed to a place called Hamauna Bay which apparently has amazing snorkelling. It took an hour on the bus but it was air conditioned and the route took us along the shore and passed some beautiful houses (some pretty lucky people live there - very envious). The bay was stunning! We had to pay an entrance fee and watch an orientation video before we were allowed to walk down the hill to the bay. We spent the day snorkelling and sunbathing. Amazing! George was gutted he didn't get to see a turtle and I panicked a bit snorkelling in the waves so I think we may have to go back there when we come back after Maui. We then got the bus back to Waikiki and walked through the market back to our hotel.

That evening we got take out dinner from the market and sat under the stars on the beach. We sat outside a restaurant with live music, ate our dinner and watched the stars til late. We even saw a shooting star. A perfect night. I <3 Honolulu.