20 highlights of my trip so far (in no particular order)

1) Listening to whales at midnight at the end of Hermosa Beach Pier.

2) Cycling to the top of Santa Monica mountain and nearly dying of dehydration.

3) Last night madness in San Diego.

4) Lunch at the Top Gun bar.

5) Cruising down the Strip in Las Vegas in an open top sports car.

6) Winning money on the slot machines in L.V.

7) Daytime at nightime in the Venitian.

8) Writing letters whilst listening to someone play classical music on the piano in the youth hostel.

9) Feeling on top of the world (or at least on top of L.A. at the Getty Centre).

10) Going to the cinema on a Monday afternoon just because I felt like it.

11) Drinking beer on the beach in the dark with some friends I met in the hostel, watching the explosiveness quality of the waves.

12) Watching the most incredible sunset on a deserted beach, the only sound being the ocean.

13) Going to the 'hottest part of America', Death Valley, when it was snowing.

14) Watching pelicans dive-bomb for fish and tiny birds play chicken with the waves.

15) Having a drink in the 'Hotel del Coranado', then seeing San Diego harbour at night.

16) Watching a seal play in the ocean.

17) Going to an aquarium in the middle of the desert.

18) Meeting a nice couple at a bus stop, and then them taking me to dinner at the end of the journey.

19) Thanksgiving dinner in the hostel.

20) Meeting so many people I know over here - Dave, Chris, Mark, Sue (but not Claire unfortunately), but also meeting loads of new people.

Cruising around California

I am having a brilliant time. After arriving at LAX I spent a couple of days in Santa Monica, immediately met a nice , Abi, who is also travelling on her own, so spent two days with her. Abi was pretty fit though, as the first day I think we walked for about 6 hours, and the second we decided to cycle up Santa Monica mountain. Only 20 miles, but it took us all day. Going up was very hard work, but the view from the top was worth it and the ride back down was fantastic.

I met up with a friend, Dave, from work for the weekend who just happened to have a convertible Ford Mustang. We drove to Las Vegas together (after I had gotten us lost in LA). Las Vegas is quite possibly the coolest place I have been to, everything is geared towards having lots and lots of fun. We stayed in 'Excalibur', a medieval themed hotel. In LV you can travel round the world in a few miles, my favourite hotel was the Venitian, so beautiful and even had real canals inside. Dave's was Mandalay Bay because of the waitresses wore very skimpy outfits. I even doubled my money gambling which was good, shame I only bet $2 in the first place.

Driving back through Death Valley was amazing, it is supposed to be the hottest place in North America, and it snowed!

Last night madness with Dave was fun, I drunk the biggest tail I have ever seen and proceeded to get absoultely wrecked. I am getting used to drinking tails, I have found a hotel here which gives out free drinks to its guests. I managed to blag my way in, made friends with the barmaid and now can get free tails before 7.30pm each evening. I haven't told them I'm staying down the road.

I'm just chilling out now in San Diego, the weather is very hot and sunny and its a lovely place to spend a few days. It is Thanksgiving tomorrow so I'm going to take my turkey sandwiches down to the beach.

Hope you are all having fun back home,

Sue

This is where it all begins

In January this year, I went on holiday to Australia for a much-needed break from life. While I was there, sitting on Bondi beach, I realised that a two week holiday wouldn't be enough, and so the minute I got back to work I asked if I could take a year out.

Ironically, since that holiday life has been pretty great, and so now I'm leaving a good job, great friends & family, a nice flat and a gorgeous boyfriend in order to go travelling. I don't know if I'm mad or stupid, maybe both :-)

Anway, this is the plan...

California, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand

I'm a complete mix of emotions; scared, nervous, excited. I'm reading a book at the moment, and it has a motto which is: 'May you all live in interesting times'. I hope my trip will be interesting if nothing else, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Sue