Hi all I have now been in the states for over two weeks. It took 14 hours to get from Auckland to LA so I was pretty exhausted by the time I got here! I had no US currency and no hostel booked so had to run around the airport looking for a cash machine and had to phone through for accomodation and found a place in Venice Beach which said they had a room. Venice Beach is a crazy place, roller bladers everywhere, body builders using the gym on the beach, lots of crazy people roaming around the promenade and guess what industry everyone is in?? Acting or showbiz, either out of work, looking for work or they know someone famous! I really grew to like the place despite all the zany characters but it has a great vibe to it! LA has no centre to it, it is basically divided into Downtown LA, which is the not so desirable part, Hollywood, Venice Beach/Santa Monica and of course the place where all the famous people live, Beverly Hills. I spent four days here and then had a tearful reunion with my parents and flew with them to Las Vegas and we had a great time there, we stayed in a briliant hotel called Alladdin which is where Elvis married Pricilla all those years ago but it was knocked down and rebuilt 4 years ago so it has now got all the mods and cons, its own casino, 130 shops and countless restaurants. We did the grand Canyon in style, got picked up from our hotel in a limo which took us to the airport and then we got a helicopter all the way to the Canyon where we had a champange lunch and then Canyon itself and all the scenery on the way there was spectacular, one of the best things I have seen so far! We gambled, ate ,drank , saw shows and even the airport has slot machines! We generally just took in the sights and sounds of the whole Vegas strip!Oh and the temperature got to 104 there on day..baking! After 6 days in Vegas we caught our flight to San Franciso and stayed there for 4 days. San Francisco was ok, just another city really and the highlight was going to see Alcatraz, checking out the cell that Al Capone stayed in whilst he was there and learing about its history. We went to see the Golden Gate bridge and walked on it but you could hardly see in front of you for the dense fog! After 10 days with the folks they flew back to London and I flew back to LA (Santa Monica) where I have been ever since! I have met some brilliant people and we have all hung out and had some mad times! My friends hired a brand new blue Chrislter for a few days so we cruised around Hollywood and Bel air on our first night, doing rum shots in the back while blaring the music. We ended up persuading the bouncer to let us into the Viper room which is owned by Jonny Depp for free and he did and we had a mad time in there. We have had many similar nights since! Tomorrow is my last night here and then I catch a bus down to San Diego which is only 2 hours away and meant to be beautiful. I spend a while there and then have to make my way up to Vancouver somehow...havn't yet figured how!! Today a friend and I hired bikes and cycled to a yoga class and went for lunch on Venice beach and watched the people go by, it really is very entertaining! A man who dresses in white robes and wears a turban on his head whilst roller blading along and playing an electric guitar, a dog on roller blades, so much to see you really have to see it to believe it! My hostel is the cleanest one I have stayed in yet and has its fair share of nutters but is nice and friendly, in a perfect spot by the beach and one street away from 3rd Promenade which is where all the shopping is..I have done my best to try and refrain from buying any more!! The weather is beautiful at the moment and I got really sunburnt yesterday. My friend Lisa and I fell ignorant of the American law yesterday and were sunbathing topless when a police patrol van drove up to us on the beach and told us to put our tops back on or they would arrest us as it is against the law...we were stunned and had to laugh as we didnt realise we could get done for a sexual offence by getting our boobs out.....thats America for ya, its got the biggest porn industry in the world and you can get arrested for that!! No more news to report for now, but internet is so expensive out here and I have managed to track down a library which has free internet for a hour but doesnt have the facilities for me to upload any pictures so I will do that as soon as I can find somewhere and deffo wont be on email as much as I was before! Keep those emails coming as I love hearing whats going on back home! Love always CaZ XX