Today we farewelled the mainland of the USA, but first a stroll along the coast was called for. After getting our way to Venice Beach we walked our way back along the foreshore path like so many have done before us. We started looking around Venice Beach, watching the paddle board tennis games being played. Emily asked why don't they just play tennis. I said "I guess because this is Venice Beach and that's what they do". A bit further up we found Muscle Beach, this was where Arnie was discovered as a bodybuilder before he was an actor, Govenor and anything else that he does. It was very quiet as it was early and winter. From there we headed to the skate park to see the riders. Emily looked at me and said "dad you could do that, they are old like you!". It was not a young crowd in the park today, but they were better on skateboards than I ever was. We strolled the foreshore looking in the shops and enjoying the sand and sea breeze. The kids had a great time running in and out on the sand. We eventually made our way back to Santa Monica where we wandered along the pier for the last time. We found the carousel which was the best value for money of any ride we have come across on our journey to date. $1 USD got you about 7-8 minutes. A quick bite and we headed to LAX to begin the long trip home with the final leg starting in Oahu, Hawaii. After one last traffic jam on the LA freeways we got our bags checked in and headed for security. This was going to be interesting with 2 droids. As we walked through and the droids were x-rayed the security guard looked at Penny, smiled and said "been to Disneyland?". They were safely through and ready to board the Millenium Falcon (aka Hawaiian Airline Boeing jet) for the journey to Oz.

The flight to Honolulu was uneventful. We had in flight entertainment so kids were ok and the food was good. The Hawaiian staff struggled to crack a smile, but we have found this to be the norm on all of our flights on this holiday. We arrived after dark so got to see Honolulu in lights as we made our way from airport to hotel. As we pulled in the kids were excited as the Hilton Hawaiian Village Wakiki has candles along the road as you drive to the lobby. We got checked in, got up to the room and hit the hay as it was late and kids were exhausted. 5 days left of the Muggleton's Go Global extended family edition. Hopefully some down time, swims and maybe even a wave or 2 in Oahu.