We'd been looking forward to San Francisco all trip and it certainly didn't disappoint: what a place to spend the Fourth of July weekend in. Our entrance on the Greyhound wasn't too shabby, either, with the drive over the Bay Bridge giving us great views of the city skyline and Alcatraz; although it would've been even better coming in over the Golden Gate Bridge. Only Sydney has given us a warmer welcome in terms of opening views, then, and the rest of the weeke...

San Diegans proudly boast that their city is the best in the world, and why not on the evidence we saw. What a cracking little city. The weather is amazing all year, with temperatures always above 22 degrees, there are beaches aplenty and the city has plenty to offer. After a short bus from LA, it was great to get into a city where we could easily walk from the bus station to our hostel; you certainly couldn't do that in LA. The hostel was a welcome surprise too...

Los Angeles is fascinating yet horrible, tacky yet glamorous, and unimaginably rich yet unthinkably poor. Maybe these were things I already knew about the City of Angels, but it was still both shocking and exciting to experience it. It was fairly shortsighted of us not to have booked somewhere to stay before arriving in the US, as not only is it the summer season but the school holidays had just started. Suffice to say, we had trouble at first and had to settle ...

A city of epic contrasts................more to come when there's not a big queue waiting to use the free internet....