So we arrived in L.A. airport at about 11am and headed to the security gates. This was pretty hardcore and we had to get fingerprinted and questioned as we entered. This took probably about half an hour and then we were able to get our bags and head in through to the arrival lounge. From here we needed to try and get our shuttle to the hostel. We followed the signs to where the shuttles were and then waited and waited while dozens of different shuttles drove by, but none of them were the one we were looking for. After waiting for about 15 minutes I noticed our shuttle driving down the lane behind us and not in front of us like we were looking for. Once we got in we noticed heaps of them driving around the airport, so who knows how many passed us while we were standing there waiting for one to arrive! We eventually got that sorted anyway and were on our way to the hostel. We were driving around the airport for what seemed like ages until we realised that we were just driving around in circles. The shuttle driver obviously wasn't allowed to leave the airport until he had more passengers, so we just did laps. Anyway, eventually we picked up another 3 people and we were on our way.

We finally got to our hostel and from outside I wasn't too impressed. Stacey said she saw my face as we arrived, so you can probably imagine what it was like (Mum, Dad, Tara, Brendon - I know what you'll be thinking of me). But anyway it turned out to actually be quite nice. The people running it were super friendly and the room was really nice and clean. We were sharing with 6 other girls, so it was a bit cramped but still nice. We were both really impressed with the set up. and it had free wifi, so that was a bonus! After we had set up our beds and got all of our luggage sorted, we set out to explore Hollywood.

Hollywood Boulevard was just one street away, so this was quite exciting. We did the Hollywood Walk of Fame and checked out the stars. They weren't how I imagined, all being in one area like the Square, etc, instead they're just in the normal footpaths all around Hollywood. People just walk over them like they're normal concrete. So we could definitely tell the tourists from the locals based on their reactions to the stars. Plus I think most of the locals are crazy anyway, or street people. There're certainly a lot of them. Plus people who are constantly trying to sell you something, mainly sightseeing tours. Down our end of town, the streets were a bit grotty, but as we got further along Hollywood Boulevard it turned into more of what I imagined 'Hollywood' to be. Along here there are lots of people dressed up as movie characters posing for photos - Spiderman, Batman, Superwoman, Michael Jackson, Jack Sparrow, Transformers, etc. We had a wander along and spotted the celebrity stars which we knew (most of them we've never heard of) and visited the Little Chinese Theatre. We also walked past the new Dolby Theatre where there was a lot of action happening. There were heaps of security guards and they were taping off an area, so me and Stacey started to get a bit excited hoping that they were shooting a movie there. We waited around for a while but nothing happened, so in the end we just left.

While we were out, we went to the Wax Museum and the Guinness Book of Records Museum. It was getting a bit late (about 4:30ish) so we thought it might be getting a bit late to go inside. Turns out they're open til midnight. Crazy for us little old Palmy people. I know it might be Hollywood but I still didn't expect them to be open until midnight! We took plenty of photos posing at the Wax Museum. These will probably be the only 'celebrities' we see on our travels. Once we had visited these places, we headed back to the hostel at about 8pm. It was still broad daylight too, which we're struggling to get used to again. And still warm! We were still outside at about 10pm and it was cool, but not cold. The day today has been about 24 degrees I think. Hopefully the same sort of weather will follow tomorrow!