Round the World Summer 2006

Today was the last day of our trip before heading back home to England. We spent the morning exploring downtown LA, and we went to Grand Central Station and Olvera Street, a Mexican street. It was really hot and crowded there, but I ate some really nice sweet dough stuck things, so that made it worth it lol.

We then headed back to the hotel, had a drink at Starbucks and then got the train back to the airport.

The flight home was quite possibly the worst flighht I've ever been on! I saw Will Mellor on it, which was quite cool, but me and CHris got seated in the midle two seats of the middle row, so there were people either side of us and behind and infront of us, so I was very uncomfortable. And, the guy next to me was the loudest snorer EVER lol. But we made it home in one piece, and I am so ready for my next trip already!

Today we went to Beverly Hills. We had to get a bus this time, which was ... an experience. It seemed to be full of the lesser well off people of LA, and also the bus driver drove off while I was still stood just by the door, and he hadn't even closed it!

It took us about 40 minutes to get to Rodeo Drive, which was pretty awesome. It was really quiet though, which was strange. We walked all along the street, and then headed to the Beverly Centre, where apparantly all the stars shop, but I didn't see any lol.

After that, we found a relly wicked music shop where I made friends with on of the guys who worked there, after he helped me find a Ryan Cabrera CD lol. I managed to restrain myself here and only buy 2 CDs!

Today we visited Hollywood! We were able to get the underground straight there, which was very handy.

We walked all along the Walk of Fame, and I realised I hadn't heard of like most of the people with stars, which made me think it's not really that much of an acolade, because it looks like anyone can get one!

We saw Mann's Chinese Theatre which was cool, and I got a photo with Elmo, who was a little inapropriate, asking me if Chris was my boyfriend and singing Hollaback Girl to me lol.

We spent quite a lot of time in Virgin, and I had to restrain myself from buying too many CDs, because a) they're way cheaper in America and b)there is a way better range, probably because most of the bands I like are American and not very mainstream, so their stuff doesn't get released in England.

Next we went to the Hollywood Highland Centre and got a great view of the Hollywood sign, before eating dinner in Johnny Rocket's, a 50's themed diner.

Today we went to Universal Studios! The subway station was right next to our hotel, so we hopped on and 15 minutes later hopped off at the Universal Studios stop. We got a little shuttle train up to Universal Citywalk, where we were able to head over to the Universal Studios gates! It was so exciting seeing the revolving Universal globe.

We had to queue for ages to get tickets, but finally we were inside! On our way to the Backlot tour, I stopped for photos with Shrek and Princess Fiona, and SpongeBob Squarepants. I couldn't help but notice that the other people getting photos were like 5 years old but hey! I love cartoons and I'm proud of it lol.

There was no queue for the backlot tour so we got on straightaway. It was pretty cool, we saw sets from The Grinch, War of the Worlds and Jaws, and we passed by the end of Wisteria Lane but we weren't allowed to go down it because they were filming, and I can't decided whether thats really cool or disapointing lol.

We went on the Jurassic Park ride, which soaked me but was an awesome log flume. My face on the picture is classic, because I was fully not expecting the drop to be so steep! After that, we went on the Revenge of the Mummy rollercoaster, which was really good, and it was inside so it was nice to get out of the sun. Finally, we went on the Back to the Future motion simulator ride, which was sooo good! I was so drawn in, I was fully ducking and flinching when we 'hit' stuff.

After we'd finished in the park, we headed out to Universal Citywalk for some dinner and a film. We finally got to eat in the Hard Rock Cafe, and the went to watch Pirates of the Caribean. I had some popcorn, but it wasn't very nice cos it was totally plain, and I accidentally put butter on it.

Today we left Auckland for LA. We spent our time before the flight looking in some shops around our hotel, and using the internet.

Because of the huuuge time difference, it was still Wednesday morning whe we arrived in LA. The transfer bus was pretty crap, it took ages to arrive, and then dropped us last after going to the wrong hotel the first time! But, wem made it to the hotel and got checked in and settled in our room. I love American hotels, all the ones I've stayed in have been really big and I just love the feel of them.

We mooched around downtown for a bit, had some dinner and then headed back to the hotel to rest.