We arrived in LA at 7am after a great flight with qantas apart from being woken up at 10.30pm aus time to eat breakfast....so wrong. LAX was a lot quieter than what we thought as launceston airport was a lot busier when we left. We boarded our shuttle with a Detroit driver who was so funny and provided much entertainment on our way. He enlightened us with the new trend of deep fried sticks of butter that people actually eat here ewwwww. Kids slept on our way to Santa Monica as they did not take my advice of catching some sleep on the plane. Free movies and food took more of a priority for them. When we arrived in Santa monica we were told we could not Checkin for 3.5 hrs...joy. We went for a walk around the area and were dragging our feet as still dressed for Melbourne weather and it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit here. After many laps we found RadioShack so we could buy a US sim and phone. We ventured to the beach lookout but without sunscreen and beach wear it was draining. We walked to jinkys near our hotel to have a bite to eat. Fresh lemonade was a winner and we ordered chicken and fries and turkey bacon....which was a bit underwhelming. Food was nice but we were all so tired and dizzy from jet lag and still full from our in flight breakfast. We decided we would wait in hotel Carmel lobby until our room was ready. Jacob went into a sleep deprived coma. Thankfully we were able to get into our room a bit earlier so we could sleep as blinking felt like our eyes had sand in them. 3 hrs and a shower later we were ready to check out the neighbourhood. We took the kids to Santa Monica beach so they could get their feet wet. They ended u diving into the surf showing the millions of people there what a pale Aussie tan looks like. After many hours watching the kids and people watching it was time to grab some tea and head back to the hotel. We headed to the pier and endulged in the boys having corn dogs and burgers and I had nachos from taco bell and first Caesar salad for the trip. What can I say greasy and yum. After heading back to the hotel to get organised for tmrw we discussed how many homeless people, boob jobs and toy dogs which are allowed in restaurants we saw today. The general feeling is that Santa Monica is a fantastic place to stay. Everything is close by and so close to the most amazing beach. Mich and paul went out for a walk and saw a creepy goth girl and explored the local talent and discovered what californian girls are all about.....tho I was able to view some fine african american bodies at the beach, yay for me. There is so much to do here at the pier and shopping. So many restaurants and stores including a shopping centre that just had a 60 million upgrade.....was definitely the place for the rich to shop. Lesson learnt......next time book into a hotel with air conditioning .