Our last night in the U.S.! We said goodbye to the group last night, having all decided to go out for one last meal together after the trek officially finished, It's weird how suddenly and completely those 12 people entered and exited our lives! I will miss everyone lots - we've had the most fantastic time in America and I am sure most of that is due to the great people we spent our time with!

We are now staying at a place called the USA Hostel Hollywood - which I would totally completely recommend! It is so cool, very colourful (which is, I suppose, appropriate given that it is located opposite the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Centre, which displays its HUGE rainbow flag outfront). Our dorm has orange and green walls, with bright blue carpet and lockers, and red bedsheets. Every door on the very long hall way displays a poster of either some sort of L.A. activity or hostel guideline, along with a cute photo or drawing. The walls are decorated with paintings of celebreties and the city. We are in the heart of Hollywood, and as I go to sleep I listen to an orchestra of clubbingmusic, car horns, motorbike revs, booming chatter and the odd smash of a broken bottle. This morning we woke after what I would consider quite a sleep-in, havinggotten used to 6:30 wake-up calls (i.e. bangs on the side of our tent), and attempted to cook ourselves pancakes in the communal kitchen (the mix came free). Didn't do to well and basically ended up dipping warm dough into maple syrup lol!

Once the novelty of ready the names of stars on the walk of fame wore off *and it didnt take too long - J. was excited to find Frank Sinatra as his Grandad is a fan, but that was about it - we did have a giggle at PeeWee Hermin making it) we realised that to get anywhere in L.A. you seem to need a car. Well, obviously we didn't have a spare car handy, but it seemed like a waste of a city not to see the sights, so we did the next best thing and hopped aboard one of the many tour buses. We were reeled in by a dopey looking blonde guy who (randomly) declared that if another republican was elected he would move to England, and then proceeded to conspirationally advise us that if we wanted a drink on the tour we could just head to the liquor store, pour our alcohol into some take-away cups and he would turn a blind eye. Given that it was 11am, we settled for gatorade lol.

The whole thing was so wonderfully Hollywood-touristy - we posed outside the big sign, got our celebrity tour of all their mansions around Beverly Hills and Bel Air (and my GOD! are those some big and expensive houses) and took a wander down Rodeo Drive, a rather intimidating street jam packed with about a billion different designer names.

We decided that, considering we were in Hollywood, we really should see a movie!!!After wandering around Hollywood Blvd. for a bit, where everyone from the Cookie Monster to Darth Vadar had come out at night, we headed to the famous ArcLight Cinemas to watch Burn After Reading, by the Coen Bros. (very funny-I rated it 9/10) and oooh and ahhh in the ultra spacey seats. Double width armreasts, and a leg space so wide you didnt have to stand up to let people pass in front. Luxury!