So yet another flight delayed by Qantas... why am I not surprised. Instead of leaving at 19.40, it was probably nearer 21.30 by the time we took off.

Its a 21 hour time difference between Auckland & LA - quite amazing really. The flight time is 11 hours so I really only had to put my watch forward by 3 hours & change the date. I have to say that feeling is weird - I gained a whole day even though I had pretty much a good sleep on the plan. I was in a row of 3 and there was a lady on the aisle seat and me next to the window. Screaming kids were two seats back, but the TWO bottles of wine with dinner obviously blocked their screeching (I was informing in the customs queue that there had been rather a lot of screeching too!). The flight was very bumpy & at times I had to grip the arm rests to steady myself. I watched two movies - Martian Child (lovely John Cusack!!) & The Invasion (a short movie so ok to watch over breakfast).

Upon landing in LA, I thought the customs etc was actually ok and I seemed to get through rather quickly. Bit of a panic cos my case was one of the last to come out, but it arrived untouched. I would straight out and jumped on the shuttle to the Alamo car rentals where a rather chubby (well thats being kind, he was enormous!!) hispanic chappie served me and tried desperately to get me to take an upgrade on a 'Hybrid' car. It was a fair amount of cash difference involved so I politely declined, numerous times. I did take the additional Sat Nav... & boy am I glad of this now ($50 per week extra). I was sent outside and told to pick any car in the 'compact' section (not exactly, as I was told that someone outside would help but after wandering around found this was not the case). b***** me, but there were no compact cars in the 'compact' section... there were approx 4 to choose from and they were all massive... well ok, not quite, but defo bigger than I expected. I cannot explain the panic that set it. Palms were sweaty and mouth was dry when I realised that I would have to take the Pontiac Vibe as this was the smallest of the lot. I almost cried at the thought... I have not driven such a large car before & I certainly have not driven on the 'wrong' side of the roade before. Here I was having to do both in one foul swoop. Dismayed at my unsympathetic treatment, I set the Sat Nav for my motel in Santa Monica and I set off. The roads were bad and I'll say again, thank heavens for the Sat Nav as I would never have made it without it.

I guess I checked into the motel in one piece and set off for a wander in the area. There was a lot of cute little houses which were really well kept. Obviously a lot of hotels & places to eat. I wandered along to Muscle Beach (of course!!), but sadly there were 3 puny little lads flexing their non-existant muscles and they spoke really loudly that my mates in the UK probably heard them. I did not feel particularly safe wandering around I have to say as there were a lot of homeless and people wandering the streets talking to themselves. The weather was ok - t-shirt & jumper, but it got colder later on.

Bought a USA sim card, but my spare mobile does not appear to be working in the USA - b*****, but I can always buy a cheapie Nokia for $30. Also, I discovered that my poxy adapter for the USA is not working... how annoying & I only bought it from LHR before leaving.

Dinner at Joe's Cafe in Santa Monica.