flight to paradise

so it turns out that fiji is not quite as primitive as we thought, at least not on the mainland anyway. they have internet here and hot showers, although yesterday's was cold so i'm not sure whether it is just pot luck.

so

we left america on saturday. rach and i spent most of saturday looking for a homeless person to give all our leftover change to. but, typically, could we find anyone? could we bugger. i mean, it's not as if we've been bothered every single day for the last three months or anything. but as soon as you actually want someone to come and ask you for money, they all seem to be having the day off. we eventually found some suspiciously un-homeless looking twenty somethings who were probably collecting for their pot money - but what the hell.

we were all quite glad to be leaving america. i mean, we had a fab time and i feel like i've learned a lot but it was nice to be leaving behind all those little irritating things like them not including the tax in any of the prices so everything is more expensive than you think. plus the whole tipping every tom, dick and harry was truly grating on our nerves. but mainly we were glad to see the back of the homeless crazy people. i've never been anywhere quite like it. it really wears you down somedays. you start out quite sympathetic and feeling mildly guilty about it all but you end up just getting so pissed off with people asking you for money and cigarettes all the time and dealing with the complete nutters that walk the streets. it's a complete assault on you, day in day out. america is a very tough country where everyone just seems forced to look out for themselves. plus, the customer service in most organisations is absolutely zero, depsite what you're told. in the last hostel in hollywood, there were quite a few kiwis and aussies and they were all so normal, it was so refreshing. the thing about americans, it seems, is that they're completely unable to laugh at themselves (or, at least, most americans we met). it doesn't make them quite so endearing. we're definitely looking forward to getting to new zealand.

the flight from l.a. wasnot too bad, considering it was 12 hours. it didn't seem to last that long. i watched 'libre nachos' and 'posiedon' before trying to get some kip but it proved impossible to do so. air new zealand are not quite virgin atlantic. they don't have the thick rugs and the chairs don't have those side bits on to rest you head. plus, it's quite difficult sleeping in a chair anyway. i think i got a little bit of a snooze in because i remember dreaming about landing but it didn't last very long. we saw 6 hours of sunday between midnight and 6am until we crossed the dateline and then suddenly it was monday morning and we lost 20 hours of our lives, which must actually make us 20 hours younger than we were before. hurray. when we landed at the airport they had a trio of guitar players there, singing traditional calypso for all the new arrivals. we had definitely left america! in fact, i felt the furthest away from home, what with being in the southern hemisphere and there being a 12 odd time difference. america didn't feel too different to the u.k., what with seeing it all on the telly beforehand. in fiji, everyone greets you by shaking your hand and everyone calls out 'bula' to say welcome. anyway, by the time we got to the resort place, it was 4.30am so rach, myself and leah the scottish (who was from the last hostel and randomly staying in the same place) decided to stay up and watch the sunset. we sat underneath some tropical fruit tree. we thought they were mangoes in the dark but, by day, they were probably lychee or something. we had to watch out, though, cos random fruit kept falling off the tree every now and then. we heard rustling in the trees aswell and convinced ourselves it was a monkey. when it got light, however, it turnout to just be a cat. the idyllic scenario was punctured aswell as it turned out that our hostel was right next to the airport runway. we were really close to see and hear the next arriving plane at 5am. we had to laugh. there we were thinking we were in paradise... but we did see a frog and then it was pretty when it began to get light. it got light quite amazingly quickly. the clouds went from a soft peachy colour to golden to normal. i decided to call it a day and went to bed at 6am for four hours.

spent most of yesterday hanging around the pool. nobody felt like venturing very far. it was great, though. there's a poolside cafe where you can get a cup of tea for a dollar which is, like, 30p. tremendous value. and it's nice to not be considered a weirdo for putting milk in your tea. you can also get cadbury's chocolate here! it was really hot in the sun so i chose to sit under a tree and finish off 'the catcher in the rye'. bluddy good book. but the weather isn't stiflingly hot. it got quite cloudy in the afternoon. it's not really how i expected fiji to be, as i thought it would be wall to wall sunshine. but it's actually suiting me just fine. i can't really be bothered with the heat just now. i'm happy sitting in the shade with my book. it's actually lightly raining today but it's still alright.

my body is on some weird clock at the moment. i went to bed at 9pm last night and woke at 6.30am today. but it actually feels nice. it gets really dark here at 6.30pm so it seems good to get up and about. there's also not so much to do on an evening except have a drink in the bar so it all works out well. perhaps i shall start a new getting-up-in-the-morning-to-see-the-sunrise regime, you never know.

over and out - temporarily

so the tour of the stars homes was an interesting one. though it turned out to be a three hour walking tour with a trip on public transport and a bloke from the hostel showing us around, rather than a luxury coach shuttling us about. wondered why it was only ten bucks. but it was amusing. we walked past brad and jen's old marital home. they used to live next to danny devito. we also saw where frank sinatra lived and marilyn monroe's home. we mainly saw a lot of big security gates and trees, though you could get the odd glimpse of a building. apparently, aaron spelling's home has 123 bedrooms. now that's a lot of laundry. we also saw a bunny leave the playboy mansion which, obviously, was a particular highlight. what was interesting, though, was that there are no pavements in bel air and beverly hills. or at least not where all the homes are. everyone just drives everywhere, one presumes, or is chauffered around. but the roads were in a terrible state. they must not be paying their taxes. on the number 2 bus from hollywood to bel air we went past the viper room and also whiskyagogo, which is where the doors were the house band, pop fans. didn't see any celebs, though.

after the tour a group of us wandered about rodeo drive which is where all the posh shops are and where they filmed that bit in 'pretty woman' where they won't serve julia roberts. we were with amy the kiwi who took us into tiffany's and sprayed us all with the tester perfume. she had more balls than us to go in these shops. we were proper tourists. and really scruffy, too. i noticed that the jumper i was wearing had a hole in it and i'd already spilt my nachos down my trousers at lunch. eat your heart out, julia. it's amazing how these three months have worn my clothes out. i also seem to be losing random items of underwear aswell. it's all going a bit wrong there. we then went to a make-up shop where rach had gone giddy yesterday and she went giddy again today. it was then a trip to starbucks where we chatted with natalie from leeds about the trials and tribulations of travelling. very pleasant.

so, yeah, am spending the last night in america doing my laundry. rock and roll. they had a barbeque at the hostel and i'm now going to chill out with a cup of dodgy tea before rescuing my smalls from the dryer. what fun.

it is bizarre how we're going to lose a day of our lives this weekend. the flight to fiji (landing in nadi, pronounced 'nandi', dad) is at 20.45 tomorrow, is 12 hours long but we somehow land at 3am monday morning. i suppose technically we will still have a sunday but it will be lost somewhere in the ether, i think. how very odd. it's also weird to think that the first leg of our trip is complete. where did all that time go?! i think we're all glad to leave america and all its weirdos. it's been great and a real eye-opening experience but i definitely feel ready to sample a completely different kind of culture. the place where it looks like we'll be staying in fiji is part of the outer islands with no running hot water, phones or internet. it really will be back to basics. which also means i can't update the blog til we're in new zealand. but, fear not, i shall be making notes the old fashioned way and shall do a mammoth blog entry some time shortly after 11th october. though it will probably just read something along the lines of 'went to the beach' for each day. bliss.

vegas, grand canyon and lala-land

the bus ride between san diego and las vegas was just beautiful. we went through places like riverside and san bernardino that looked more mexican than mexico. and then we hit the san bernardino national park and began climbing the mountains. it was gorgeous. huge high blankets of mountain with deep gullies burrowed in and covered in matted shallow green vegetation. it looked like a massive bedsheet covering lots of sleeping giants, with jutting out arms and legs everywhere. and then we got to the top and it transformed into a desert. there were sandstorms and it got quite windy. we were travelling at the perfect time as night began to fall and we saw the desert at dusk. there were still mountains but they were sparse desert mountains and the light threw a perfect warmth across the land and cast the mountains in a blue shadow. then, with each row of mountain receding into the distance, the blue became whiter and whiter until it faded into nothingness. the silhouettes were literally breathtaking and, again, the landscape drew this emotional response. rach and i couldn't stop smiling at each other. it was misty, dusty, dusky and everything had an air of the unreal.

and then, in a dramatic emerging through the hills, we reached death valley and the land just plateaued for miles and miles and miles. you just couldn't see the horizon, the land just melted into the mist. it looked like the end of the world. and the sky was so huge. overwhelming.

and then, in typical american fashion, the rapture was quickly broken at the california-nevada border by a small casino outpost. flashing lights and neon overtook the serene landscape and we came back to earth with a bump. the orange light cast made it look like the place was burning until we got nearer. vegas itself was a sea of orange street lights. but, as we got into the centre and we adjusted, it quickly became obvious how ridiculous but funny vegas is. there were hotels that were disney-type castles, hotels that covered about 50 billion square miles. everything was over the top and flashing neon. certainly a different kind of awe was inspired.

our motel was 'the biggest super 8 motel in the world', which actually wasn't that big. it was a crazy mixture of flashing bulbs, mock-tudor fronting and crazy paving. very strange. we dropped our bags and headed to 'ellis island' next door which was the motel's casino. after 7.5 hours on the greyhound, we entered the casino looking like rabbits caught in headlights. there were so many fruit machines with so many people sat, yes sat, at them. and the place was full of the bleeping of the machines. we walked through into the bar, unable yet to deal with the business of gambling. and what a place we found! we arrived just as they were setting up the karaoke, which apparently they do every night until 3am. jeez. and it was possibly one of the funniest nights we've had. we sat at a table next to matt-the-competitive - a guy who moved to vegas to become a professional gambler who also fancies himself on the karaoke machine. he was a proper bitch about everyone else, saying how 'they put this guy on first to make everyone else sound good'. mieow. and he was actually quite quite rubbish. but americans seem to take the karaoke soooo seriously. all evening it was like we were at the auditions for 'pop idol' or something. i mean, some were actually very good, but surely that's not the point of karaoke?! they just didn't get it. we were so amused all evening, especially when matt said he was going to sing a song to get everyone more upbeat after a string of ballads - he only sang bluddy 'i like big butts and i cannot lie'! this weedy little white geeky-in-a-bad-way bloke. the big div. oh, how we laughed.

so we ventured out into vegas and snapped the crazy hotels. the mock eiffel tower, the mock statue of liberty (which, incidentally, seemed more impressive than the real one (?!)), the mock brooklyn bridge, the giant 45 foot golden lion at mgm, the huge pyramid with the beam of light shooting out the top. crazy. we did do a bit of gambling in the evening. sorry, mum, but i did put a dollar in the penny machine - though, really, it was only to get the ensuing free drinks from the waitresses so, all in all, i did get my money's worth. the dev was more adventurous and used some money sent by auntie pat to go on the roulette table. it wasn't too bad. she only lost 15 dollars... the best thing was the outdoor bar we went to with the cheesy '70s cover band, resplendant in the obligatory afro wigs and everything. we were up there dancing with all the oldies, showing them how it's done. in vegas there are millions of the middle-aged. and no children. which was nice.

we got all extravagant and booked ourselves onto a tour to the grand canyon. this led to a surreal moment when i caught myself saying 'right, we'll have a look about vegas today, fly to the grand canyon tomorrow, head to hollywood the day after and then fly out to fiji at the weekend'. rock and roll, man.

the canyon trip was ace, even if we did have to get up at 5am. we were transported to boulder city where we got into a tiny 20 seater paper (it seemed) plane. it was fab. you could see into the cockpit and watch everything the pilot and first officer were doing. you could see which buttons controlled what and everything. it was much more exciting than virgin bluddy atlantic, i can tell you that. you felt every single bit of wind, it seemed, and you also got fantastic views over all the country. we flew over the hoover dam and then headed towards the south rim. you could really spot the difference in the north and south rim. the north is much higher up so has vegetation all over it, while the south is barren. we landed and a coach took us to the edge of the canyon. it was spectacular. it was still only 9am so there was still the morning mist in the distance down the range which cast a bluey hue. you could see how the time of day and the change of light changed the mood of the land. the rock was very red but you could see how the sunset would make it even more amazing. the land seemed to change from blue to yellowy red to a light blue as you looked 180 degrees from right to left. i can't imagine how the first people to find this place felt. cos the thing is, i felt some of the awe-inspiring-ness was taken away by the fact that i'd already seen pictures of it. and also it's weird because we're seeing so many beautiful and spectacular things almost on a daily basis that you feel that you're not getting all of the full impact somehow. i mean, i was more blown away by the bus journey to vegas, if i'm honest, because it was all so unexpected. but then the flight home was also fab. in order to land the right way down the runway, the plane had to perform a 180 degree turn whilst going in to land. it was proper 'top gun' stuff, with the horizon getting all messed up. it was better than any rollercoaster.

and so we then had our very last greyhound usa journey to hollywood. i didn't actually realise it was the last journey until we were almost there. i found myself saying more surreal things like 'barry, i can see the hollywood sign', as the dev and i were sat on the bus. it's been a really weird week for that. los angeles itself is very underwhelming. there's a downtown with the skyscrapers which you largely ignore. it's then this big sprawling dirty grubby mess of several towns. we're staying just off hollywood boulevard, which is actually a very normal street. we went out yesterday towards the kodak theatre, which is where the oscars are held, and it is actually very ordinary. it's attached to a shopping centre, which admittedly looks very nice but is a shopping centre nonetheless. the walk of fame is also full of names you don't recognise. the hand and foot cement prints are actually quite cool. i was fitting my hands into some of them. i have about the same size hand as bette davis, though jane russell had massive hands. you also get accosted by people in full costume around there. the dev got into conversation with superman who just wouldn't shut up. rach got attacked by chucky. she proper screamed and everything. and so there we were, minding our own business, chatting to super heroes, when this bloke comes up to us and asks us whether we want to be in the studio audience for the us version of 'deal or no deal'. the next thing we know, we're whisked off on a bus and sat in the back row of a tv set. check that out! it was hilarious. we spent the whole afternoon clapping and whooping like maniacs full of e numbers. lovely myra won 83 grand whereas nobhead peter lost out on a quarter of a million, winning a hundred grand. we were willing him to lose whereas everyone else in the audience was getting giddy and shouting encouragement (though, to be fair, they probably just wanted to hear their own shouts on national telly - and, admittedly, i did shout out 'no deal' right at the last minute so my voice could be heard, but only cos rach told me to). the best bit was at the end where they needed to record random audience reactions so we were told to 'chuckle lightly' or 'laugh loudly into applause' on the count of five. i couldn't stop crying with laughter at rach clapping inanely like a mad seal and laughing theatrically.

and then, before we knew it, they bussed us back to where they had picked us up on the street. it was like being dorothy, whisked away to oz. what a strange place l.a. is, where such strange things happen. today, rach had a pampering day whilst me, the dev and a kiwi lass called amy headed to venice beach. hippyville. there were people on the sidewalk asking for money to go to their 'pot fund'. i say, get your own. we saw muscle beach, though there was a disappointing lack of people working out. there's a small grandstand thing you can sit on and watch. we got a smoothie and instead watched a basketball game between some blokes that probably should have been at work. one guy asked us if we were from manchester, which is the closest anyone has been yet. most people out here think we're australian. it was fun watching 'real' american culture in action. we then lounged on the beach, had a deluxe icecream full of cookies, and then wandered through the canals of venice of venice beach. they were pretty cottagey-type affairs on the waterside. a bit like norfolk, i presume. it seemed very villagey. all artsy and that. very nice.

tomorrow we are succumbing to the obvious and going on a hostel-organised coach trip round all the homes of the stars. should be a laugh, if nothing else. well, it's got to be done...

the beach and mexico

so the train was an absolute delight. granted, it was half an hour late but they actually took your bags off you and put them on the train for you and they actually let you know that it was running late and actually actually apologised. my god. and then there was loads of leg room and we could get seats together and there was a plug to charge your ipod and a buffet car to get some coffee. it was paradise. we were so giddy. we were taking photos and everything. we just kept shouting 'a flushing toilet!! ha!!'. people must have thought we were from some third world country or another planet or something. there was an obligatory psycho but the difference was that it wasn't normal. people got up and moved from him rather than thought it perfectly normal to be talking to yourself at high volume. you have no idea how great it was. and then it was the icing on the cake to be travelling alongside the beach. the journey started at 9.21am, dad, (well, 9.51am with the delay) so it was still all misty so not quite the idyllic west coast jaunt in the sun singing 'surfin' usa' and all that. typical, we thought. but then the sun came out and it was the idyllic jaunt. except we were singing kaiser chiefs and arctic monkeys to each other instead. well, it was still a 6 hour journey and we all go a bit loopy after about the 5 hour mark.

san diego is pretty. we're staying in the centre of town by all the bars so it's not the quietest of places. plus all the hostels on the west coast seem to have well dodgy mattresses. nightmare. but it's handy for the bars - though i'm cutting back on the booze this week, mum, honest. it's also handy to get around. we got the bus to pacific beach yesterday and had a proper day's sunbathing. oh my god, it was so relaxing. the beach was more comfy than my bed so it was nice to have a snooze. and i didn't get burnt either, for the first time ever when sunbathing. the sun did seem to go to our heads, though, cos we had a random conversation about what we would call our children if we had any. we all decided on 'barry' whether boy or girl.

we saw the most beautiful sunset on pacific beach. the sea went that metallic colour and the sky was filled with silvers and baby blues and salmony colours. the light went all misty aswell. people walking by the sea looked like they were in cloud. it was gorgeous. i felt quite drunk with relaxation as we walked along the beachside street.

today has been slightly different. we're only half an hour from mexico in san diego so we got the trolley to tijuana. a bloke from brisbane and a bloke from swindon tried to scare me and rach last night by telling us all these horror stories of corrupt coppers in mexico planting drugs on you so you'd have to pay a million pounds to get out of jail etc etc. but we braved it, although rach spent the first ten minutes we were there clinging onto the dev's arm. it was actually quite fun. not a lot like mexico and a lot like tenerife, though we did see our first tumbleweed - and a bluddy massive thing it was too, right in the middle of the road. all the shopkeepers were out on the pavement trying to get you to go inside and buy things. they whistled, clapped and shouted at you from across the street and everything. but it was all good natured and actually quite funny. they kept calling us charlie's angels and saying that they had nice purses, wallets, cigars for us. they also kept trying to ply us with tequila. i mean, we're just not that type of girls. clearly. we had a nice mexican lunch and wandered about the streets. they have the bizarrest thing - they paint white donkeys with black stripes to make them look like zebras and then ask if you want your picture taken with them for a dollar. what's that all about?! the lads in the hostel called them zonkeys... we did give in to one particularly charming waiter bloke called freddi who offered us three-for-one margharitas plus a free shot each. i mean, how could you refuse that? bluddy strong, though. we got all giggly whilst listening to the milli vanilli they were playing. fab.

it made a refreshing change to be in mexico rather than another american city with the skyscrapers. even though it was clearly not the real mexico. but they had scruffy versions of spanish-esque buildings and the barren hillsides all around. it's clearly a poor country and they are desperate for the dollar. when we turned down one ladies offerings of necklaces she told us to 'not be so mexican', what ever that means. we did venture off the main touristy road and had a quick look at the old church and in the market. there were piles and piles of dried chillies and things we weren't sure what they were. there were lots of flies hanging round which somehow made the whole experience more authentic. not sure why.

not sure what we'll get up to tomorrow. we have one more day here and then it's vegas for the weekend. good lord...

it's not that far

the last couple of days in san fran were spent rather relaxingly. like we haven't been relaxing enough... i escaped on my own for an hour last saturday and went to a cafe around the corner. i had a cup of homemade soup and a coffee and finished 'huckleberry finn'. it was fab. a quiet five minutes all to myself.

we had different people staying in our room every night in san fran. on the saturday night we had a lady called rose who, essentially, was homeless and just staying in hostels. we were freaked out a little to begin with because she immediately told us the story of her life, how she came from trinidad but is unable to find a job and so she is now selling the u.s. version of 'the big issue' to get by. she kept going on about all the horrendous places she has stayed and kept crying on us. she also went on about george bush and tony blair aswell, saying that they were worse than hitler etc etc. she seemed like a lady on the edge which was a little disconcerting. it certainly made the massive homeless problem in san fran a lot closer to us. i mean, when we went to the golden gate park, we walked down jones street which was just absolutely filled with people on the street. and the bus station had lots of people kipping down in all corners. it was much worse than in any other city we've been in. rose got me thinking about responsibility. i mean, she's basically an illegal immigrant so why should the u.s. taxpayer be responsible for keeping it together for her. especially as it was she that decided to come to america in the first place. but now she has no money, not even to get a greyhound ticket to another city (you can see now why there are so many weirdos on that bus who have scraped the few dollars together) so she can't fly back home, even if she wanted to. it's basically education at the root of the problem. we've met other illegals on our travels but they have a skill and are basically employable. it seemed that rose had nothing to offer. it was so sad. you could see that in a few months or years she will probably join the large population of crazy street people.

and the crazy street people are now so normal to us. last sunday we decided to wander down to the arts district to see a film. as we were waiting to cross a road, there was this guy in the middle of the street throwing his jumper at cars and flailing about, shouting to himself. and we didn't bat an eyelid.

the arty district was nice. they had a big complex with a carousel and various interactive art installations. we went to the MoMA shop, though not to the actual galleries. it had that beautiful glittery concrete on the pavement outside. it was a sunny day so, as you walked, it felt like you were walking in heaven. the film we saw was 'the illusionist'. it was cheesy and predictable but enjoyable, rather like the other film we've seen over here, 'superman'.

we bid a fond farewell to san fran on monday. despite all the homelessness issues and the nutter issues and the dodgy areas, it is a good-looking city and one in which i'd live. i loved the crazy hills and the fresh arctic breeze that blows. we got the bus to santa cruz, singing the thrills song all along the way. it really wasn't that far. it was also the last day of our greyhound pass so we had much cause for celebration.

santa cruz is full of weirdos but in a different way. it's a fairly small town so the homelessness issue wasn't as prevalent. no, the streets this time were populated by people who were all off their heads on weed. it was quite strange walking down the street of an evening, watching everyone interact and yet not really realise other people were around them. the visit got off to a good start when, in the taxi from the bus station, 'walk of life' came on by dire straits. how fab. the taxi driver said he would have to charge us extra for dancing... we were also staying in a motel so it was cool to have a clean room with a bathroom of our own. you really can't comprehend the relief we feel at being able to leave our shower gel and shampoo in the bathroom.

i would compare santa cruz to windthorpe, near skegness. it was a small beach and the season just finished on labor day so everyone was going home as we were arriving. (dad, labor day didn't provide us with too much hassle. they let buses through on the bridge, though not cars. the only hitch we met was that it was more difficult than normal to get a taxi...). santa cruz has a small arcade (they call it a boardwalk but it was concrete not wooden so i don't think that's right) on the beach and, apparently, has the oldest beachside funfair on the west coast (1906). it was great jumper-and-shorts weather, which reminded me of holidays at skeggy. they also had hilarious seagulls that made noises like they were laughing all the time. how great is that?! in fact, we got so giddy that, i'm afraid to say, i had one too many shandies on the first night. we ended up in a bar that was selling spirits for a dollar and we went all 17 again and drank too much. i got to know our toilet in the motel very very well. but thank god we were in a motel and not a hostel. imagine having to jump off the top bunk, run down the corridor and then wait for an available loo every time you needed to vom. nightmare. and then i really missed not having my mum and a kettle and a toaster to make sugary tea and buttery toast the next day. it's really rubbish being hungover in a strange place. i spent the whole day in bed. and, sorry dad, it was my dad's birthday and i was unable to call him as i was unable to form sentences for most of the day. what a rubbish daughter i am. but i was thinking about you, dad, inbetween all the dashes to the lav.

i recovered sufficiently the day after that to be able to go on the rides on the funfair. as it's now off season, not every ride was working. but we started on the sedate 1911 oldest-carousel-in-america-or-something before moving on to the dodgems. we then finally built ourselves up for the rollercoaster which was a lot scarier than it looked. it was an olden rickety thing which probably made it more scary. it was funny listening to rach scream all the way round. and dev made her go on it again and again. poor bugger. we then reverted to our 14 year old selves (or the 14 american selves we would have been had we lived out here) and went to the arcade to play on the dancemat and grabber things. the dev won a cuddly toy and everything so we now have a tom out of tom and jerry travelling with us. he is quite a useful pillow substitute when travelling.

we were going to head straight to san diego but, what with vomiting intermissions to the trip, we left it quite late to book anything. so we ended up having a short stop in santa barbara this weekend before heading to san diego tomorrow. and what a stuck up place! oh my god. it's actually a really really beautiful place. there are mountains hugging the place with hillside villas and palm trees and it's all very italianate with the terracotta roof tiles. but the place is full of rich beautiful people who seem only concerned with being rich and beautiful. i mean, people actually seriously rollerblade here. we went to a bar on the first night and ended up coming home early because everyone seemed to look at everyone else as if they were a bad smell. and no-one seemed to actually be proper friends with anyone they were with. they were too busy checking out their hair or something. i didn't realise that the whole beverley hills thing was actually true. but it hasn't all been bad. we have been sharing our room with three irish lads - whahey! they were really funny. they had more money to spend than us and boys probably don't notice bitchy women as much so they seemed to have a fab time. it was funny listening to their stories when we all woke up around midday. they seemed to end up at a lot of parties where, apparently, everyone has a business card that they randomly hand out. everyone really does want to be in the movies here.

so we're off to san diego tomorrow and we're getting the train. hurrah! perhaps there won't be quite so many weirdos on amtrak. and apparently the train goes along the beach all the way down the coast. it ain't called the surfliner for nothin'...

VIP-ing it in napa

it's been a really random couple of days. yesterday we went to golden gate park. we rowed a boat and then did the whole doe a deer thing around the park in a 4-seater bicycle surrey with a fringe on top. it was quite quite mental. we went on proper roads with this thing, remembering to stay on the right hand side. we cycled profusely up hills (one woman shouted 'go girls go!!') and then we went down the hills with our legs in the air going 'wheeee!'. 'twas fab. we waved at everyone we met.

we then decided a drink was in order so we went down the haight road to a bar and met a pirate called captain bob and a chap called jonny. we all drank merrily and also commentated on the local beer which tasted like soggy biscuits. anyway, turns out that jonny has a bmw and he wanted to show us around north california so he called for us this morning and took us wine tasting in napa valley (which is where mr big went towards the end of 'sex and the city') and we've basically spent the whole day getting shitfaced for free cos jonny is a member of lots of vineyards. hurrah! and this includes drinking one hundred dollar bottles of wine for t'laugh. ha! it was most idyllic, sitting in the private members area on a patio in the sunshine, appreciating the various aromas and bouquets. we've been VIP-ing it all over california today! and we met colleen at chimney something vineyard who wanted to come with the 'yorkshire lasses' round the world and we very nearly kidnapped her. and then jonny had a beatles cd so we sang heartily all the way back, again waving at everyone we saw. how cool.

we've now just got back from the mission area after a few more bevvies out. how much have we had to drink today?! i chatted with a guy called thomas about the yellow sticker thing and the monty python security measures in the u.s. the weirdest thing is that it is 2.15am here but it's 10.15am at home. which is a whole other day. i got an email from my mum yesterday and she sent it just as she got up but i hadn't gone to bed yet which proper freaked me out. how far away am i?!