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After a gruelling 10 hour journey from Lake Powell, in which Maria insisted in staying awake with me and asking me every question possible about my life, expectations and career hopes, we made it to LA!
We were greeted by what is called June Gloom! A massive cloud that stays overcast all day in LA for the whole of June! Not what you want after a long drive to a place everyone says is sunny all the time! It gets worse...
When pulling over in Las Vegas for a mcdonalds stop I checked my email, and had received one off the hostel we were booked in at the following day saying they were overbooked - sorry. Since the email was sent so late we decided to play dumb when we got there. We had also had credit card issues the day we were leaving Arizona but thought we would be fine when it came to withdrawing in LA. Of course it wasnt! So there we are stood in Bank of America at 8am looking rank with no accomodation and no money to pay for our rental car. It took about 6 calls to our seperate banks using skype in a room of rowdy teenagers to sort the cards, but when we arrived at the airport to pay we were told only one card could be used and the cash point there is out of service. The customer service in America has been quite something! Thankfully Elly's card had an overdraft big enough to pay the fee! So then we had to wait 2 hours for the free mini bus back to the hostel (we played dumb and it worked!). It got to quater past 2 (meant to be there at 1.30) and still no sign. I ring the hostel and she tells me its already been and gone. It gets better! So then we have to pay for the airport shuttle that takes a few different people to their individual destinations - one man seemed to live in New York or so it felt like! Eventually we got back to West Hollywood at 4pm having left there at 8am. Its fair to say it was a low day!
So we had just under a week left in LA. We spent the day after doom day on Hollywood Blvd on the walk of fame which was cool. Maria unfortunately had a bad experience with an absolute idiot who would not leave her or her bum alone! It took an angry outburst from me on groping women in the street and a road cross to get rid of the guy! At the hostel that night we made friends with a guy working there and ended up going out in Hollywood. The club was amazing!!! The night was finished by the best/biggest burger I have ever had at the Roosevelt hotel that overlooks the Hollywood sign! The next day was spent in bed!
On the Monday we travelled to our next hostel in Santa Monica. We arrived at the hostel to find that it had been shut down by the police and we had lost our deposit! So we had to get on another bus with the massive bags in search for another one - LA is not backpacker friendly! Luckily we found a nice one by the beach and the girl on reception said we were lucky to have not stayed in the original hostel as they have really bad bed bugs - you can imagine the relief after our incident in Australia! We spent the rest of the day on Venice beach with June Gloom!
Tuesday we rented bikes and road up the beach coast! Very pretty despite the Gloom! Today we went into Santa Monica for just a browse of the shops as we're all more than poor! The sun randomly came out so we headed to the beach for our last bit of sunshine!
We're now packing up in the hostel as our flight home is tomorrow afternoon!
Whilst eating our last EVER man portion of pasta and tomato sauce Maria proceeded to tell us about what she feels she has gained from the experience...blonder hair, a tan, the ability to say 'three' rather then 'free' when talking numbers, to stand up for herself (when i am mean) and to avoid revealing information that can be used against her time and time again. Elly's had a great time and got a great tan but feels its faded despite the dicovery of baby oil as best skin moisturiser! I have gained colour and learnt how to deal with others snoring! But most of all we have all gained patience or at least learnt how to deal with incompetance.
'I have ridden an elephant, stroked a tiger, seen many beautiful sights but also a lot of poverty' Maria Callow, 2011
It has been an experience!
xxx
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