We left San Diego on the 8th June and headed to Palm Springs. Gradually we started to notice a change in the scenery as the buildings were replaced by rocks and desert like features. Upon arrival there was also a noticeable change in temperature - it was damned hot - but then we were in a desert. The hotel suite was a great size and gave us flexibility to spread out. Also we had a nice balcony where we could sit and catch the late afternoon sun. There has defini...

From LA we headed to San Diego, one of the places we were most excited about visiting in the US. The drive took almost 3 hours in the end due to volume of traffic on the road and it was hot. We arrived at the Hyatt Manchester early afternoon and were greeted by Valets wearing Hawaiian shirts who ripped us off again in parking-36 dollars a night!! We subsequently found out we could self park in the same car park for 10 dollars less so we did that for the remainin...

We opted to stay in Santa Barbara for 2 nights for some chill out time and to enjoy the weather which was really hotting up. I immediately loved the place. We had booked into a hotel right on the beach and it was lovely for the price. Free fruit, tea and coffee all day and complimentary wine between 5-7pm each night...bargain! The pool was great too so the afternoon we arrived we chilled out there for a couple of hours. We then headed into the old town for din...

Our next stop was LA. Stephen braved the drive which was a bit scary at times. We were glad for the sat nav as would have got hopelessly lost otherwise. We had decided to opt for some luxury for the next 3 nights and booked into the Langham, Pasedena. The hotel was formerly the Ritz Carlton so you get the picture. We drove up its driveway and thought...wow, aren't we a bit out of place here? We were immediately greeted by the valet who helped us with our bags a...

We left Fresno as early as we could and headed off for Monterey. Some nice scenery along the way especially once we got close to Salinas. Salinas is an agricultural area and there were fields upon fields of fruit and veggies, fruit stalls at the side of the roads and a few vineyards. The drive took us about 4 hours and we eventually checked into the Marriott near Fishermans wharf. It was a nice hotel with good facilities including a decent gym so I was happy. ...