So, five months, 22 and a half weeks and 159 days later, I'm back in England! It feels very odd to be writing an entry from Chislehurst, but I felt I should finish the blog off with a quick recap of what I did in my final week in America.

It was sad to wave goodbye to Emily and Will and it made me a little jealous to know they were only a third of the way through their trip when I was so near the end of mine! I had lots of fun and lots of relaxation in that last week, enjoying the respite from early starts but filling what was left of the day with more memories to squeeze into my scrapbook (estimated date of completion: 2013). At the weekend we went to an art festival in Laguna Beach which was very cool and quirky. During the week I managed to squeeze in a good few hours of sunbathing to top up my tan, and more importantly, did some absolutely crucial shopping in Newport and San Clemente. The damage done was rather significant. It is important to note that it's extremely dangerous to let a girl loose at a mall after five months of not shopping.

I also had the incredible chance of going to The Ivy in Hollywood, thanks to the generosity of Katelin's mum, Kim. Not a standard backpacker activity, it definitely upped the glamour rating of my trip! Sadly no celebrities spotted though. The excitement continued on my birthday when we took a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim. I can't really think of a better way of celebrating my birthday, apart from maybe with champagne, but sadly the American drinking laws prohibited that! Instead I got a buzz from all the rollercoasters and the general shiny, happy Disneyness of it all.

Two days after my birthday, on Saturday I flew home, arriving in Heathrow on Sunday with lots of heavy bags and no sleep! Being back home has felt strangely normal (is that an oxymoron?); nothing much has changed and now the past five months feel like something of a dream! Thank you so much to all of you who have taken the time to keep up with my blog. Now that I'm back I hope to see as many of you as possible and bore you with all the details in person!