Hello from the United States of America!

Having a great time here in the US - the people are crazy but they're also good fun and entertaining! Our first stop here was in LA and 2 nights there was enough for both of us. The place was pretty rough, dirty and full of wacko's, particularly along Hollywood Boulevard! There were wanabees everwhere and the place felt like one big X-Factor show. On our second day there we walked up to the Hollywood sign, walking through some really nice residential estates, so it wasn't all doom and gloom!

Next stop was San Diego, a nice place with plenty of good bars, restaurants and shops. We stayed in the Gas Lamp Quarter which was the livelier and better part of town - cheers for the advice Midi! Here we really got into the 'March Madness' basketball and spent one night in a bar watching a game with a load of locals who were going crazy, which was fun! There was one particular bar that served beer in a pint and a half glass - as if a pint isn't enough?! Typical Americans - always thinking bigger is better. The same can also be said for the portion sizes, which are massive and 1 meal a day is enough for us here! We were going to visit Tijuana (Mexico) for the day whilst we were here but unfortunately our tour was cancelled due to lack of numbers, but given the locals advice to us to stay away from the place it may have been for the best!

After several days in San Diego, we hired a car and drove to San Francisco (which is where we are now) on the west coast freeway and saw some great coastal scenary, similar to our Great Ocean Road trip in Australia. We stopped over in a couple of dodgy motels along the way to give us a break from the driving, which didn't go too badly considering we were driving on the wrong side of the road! We've been in San Francisco for 4 nights and this is a great place, having all walks of life from the weird to the wonderful. We did a 14 mile cycle route the other day that took us across the Golden Gate Bridge and was really good, if somewhat knackering - I'm still saddle sore today! Yesterday we took the train to San Jose and watched San Jose Earthquakes (and Darren Huckerby!) lose 1 nil to New England. The standard of football is pretty dire and Hucks certainly doesn't look the player he did whilst doning the mighty green and yellow jersey! Today we've been on a tour to Alcatraz which was interesting and really good.

Tomorrow's our last day here as we fly to Las Vegas on Tuesday. The weather is pretty good there so the days will be spent in the sun and evenings spent in the casinos, hopefully winning back the money we've spent on this trip!

We fly back home on the 31st and I'm looking forward to being on UK soil again, and to getting a good nights kip after 6 months without one!

See you all soon, Dan