We were a bit slow out of the blocks today - not sure why..... It might have had something to do with those "free" drinks from last night.... Anyway a walk up the strip with a combination of a shopping tour and a casino crawl and we were as good as new. There are hawkers and spruikers everywhere here trying to get you to go on tours, to go to clubs etc - freebies on offer everywhere. We have booked our helicopter tour for the Grand Canyon for tomorrow and have...

We started our morning with a walk to Venice Beach. Basically it is about a 50 minute walk south of Santa Monica. The walk is quite relaxing as it is along the beach and the weather was perfect. Upon arriving at Venice Beach the first thing you notice is the amount of homeless people camping out and the lack of cleanliness of the area. Basically Venice Beach is a tourist area full of market stalls where you can buy anything you want - including the "Green Doctors...

We decided to give Disneyland a miss and instead catch the Hop On Hop Off Bus around Santa Monica, Beverly Hills Hollywood and downtown LA The bus picked us up at 11.30 and we headed to Beverly Hills - the highlight being a trip down Rodeo Drive. From there it was onto Hollywood where we saw the main streets including Hollywood Boulevard where the streets are lined with the stars of Hollywood as well as the entertainment industry - commonly known as the Walk...

Started today with a coffee and a croissant and we booked our tour to Universal Studios. We booked the tour with Starline and got picked up around the corner from where we are staying - at the Fairmont Hotel (very nice if you could afford to stay there....) A quick ride along the 405 Freeway - reputedly to be the busiest freeway in the world - and we were there just befor e 10am. We took in all of the shows including the Studio Tour - who said smoke and mirror...

All the way to the USA....... We left Melbourne on time at 11.20am after a lengthy check in. It was a long wait both for checking in our luggage and going through Customs. The 15 hour flight to Los Angeles was better than expected. Whilst we did not manage to get any sleep, we did enjoy watching a few movies and having a few Jim Beams .We have arrived slightly early and now have to wait 10 minutes on the plane whilst we wait for Customs to open. It was an inte...