The afternoon and evening was spent shopping and seeing "The Time Traveller's Wife" at the The Grove which was the local shopping centre. During our shopping expedition we came across a pair of Havaianas for US$ 178.00. Bargain!! We also gorged ourselves on a piece of chocolate cake from The Cheesecake Factory.
The whole next day was spent in Hollywood, walking the whole length (both sides) of the Walk of Fame! We saw hundreds of stars, and definitely gave our cameras a work out! We saw everyone from the Beatles and Stevie Wonder to Meryl Streep to Snow White, The Rugrats, Donald Trump and Britney Spears. In our travels we came across Sunset Boulevard, the Hollywood and Vine intersection, some very scary characters (who are obviously out of work actors) looking for money if you have their photo with them as well as the famous Hollywood sign.
We then got to the Kodak Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre and saw all the footprints and handprints of famous people in the cement out the front! Whoopi Goldberg, Hugh Jackman and the Harry Potter cast were some of the stars that were set in concrete. Out the front of the Theatre, there is also a quote from Marilyn Monroe:
"I used to go to Grauman's Chinese Theatre and try to fit my foot in a celebrity impression, it really meant to me that anything is possible... almost."
Then came the highlight of the day - Madame Tussaud's. It's easily the most famous wax museum in the world, containing figures of both current and past celebrities. I have never taken so many photos in such a short period in my life! It was so much fun. The only advice I can give, is to go with someone (so they can take your photo) and take a fully charged camera (and a spare battery if you have one - I'm not kidding!)... I had my photo taken with Britney, Brangelina, Will Smith, Nicole Kidman, Audrey Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, James Dean, Whoopi Goldberg, Cameron Diaz, Quentin Tarantino, Robin Williams, Tiger Woods, Lucille Ball, Halle Berry, Jack Nicholson and so many more!!
We had such a fun day! We got back, recharged our camera batteries and crashed. We met another girl from Melbourne called Rachel at the hostel and had a chat with her before turning in for the night.
My last day with Leticia was spent in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. We spent the morning walking to Beverly Hills, it wasn't so bad, just a little hot. But we definitely knew when we arrived, partly because there was a sign...
And partly because of the expensive cars and shops along Rodeo Drive.
We were so taken aback by it all, that we didn't notice a man running towards us, hip and shouldering me on the way past... Once we collected our thoughts and I picked my phone up off the ground that I had dropped, one of the other passers by mentioned that he probably stole something from one of the shops and was doing a runner... Classy, even in the expensive parts of town, there's still some scumbags! Leticia and I went into some of the shops (where the shop assistants proceeded to look us up and down and then go back to their conversations) and had a look around, and then stopped off at an ice cream shop for a well deserved break.
From there we jumped on a bus and headed towards Santa Monica. we spent the afternoon walking along the pier, and hanging out on the beach. The lifeguard stations are exactly like Baywatch, and the lifeguards patrol up and down the beach, it was pretty funny!
We got back to Hollywood around dinner time and decided it was time for some healthy food. So we got ourselves on down to the Whole Foods Market, which is a supermarket that only sells organic/healthy products. Of course this was the day I was craving Pop Tarts (but luckily the pharmacy around the corner sold some!). We marched on up to the salad bar at this supermarket, and made some of the best salad! It was AWESOME, we really needed it. 
I got back to the hostel and collected my bags before catching the shuttle bus to the airport for my red eye flight back to JFK via San Francisco. Met a chatty lady in the departures area at LAX. She wanted to know all about what I'd been doing and all about my computer and then went off to complain to someone at Alaskan Airways and tried to get an upgrade (which I think she eventually got) - funny character!
I got minimal sleep on the flight over to New York, but some is better than none, right? I got to the airport, collected my bags and then set off on my quest to find the terminal where British Airways departs from.
I found the terminal, but there was literally nothing there (until after the security checkpoint anyway). So I went to a different terminal, and posted the last of my postcards I had to post, got something to eat and then headed back. Then I went to the toilets and freshened up a little and settled somewhere and got online. I'm so glad I got that computer, because I don't know what I would have done all day in an airport if I didn't have it!
I went to the check in desk and waited and waited until it had actually opened - I was waiting in a line with no service, pretty funny... Checked in and then hoped like hell that I would get on the flight (as I as flying standby). They told me to go wait at the departure area, so off I went. Something funny in the USA is that there is no outbound customs check, they just take a slip out of your passport that they stapled in when you entered the country! So I spent another two hours waiting and found out that I was on! My 12 hours waiting at the airport was nearly over!!
I jumped on the plane and had one of the worst nights sleep. Again I was flying 'overnight' and I had a screaming baby two rows up from me, so decided to watch a movie instead. I would like to say that I arrived in London without a hiccup, but let's just say I was waiting a little longer at the baggage carousel than I would have liked to!! 
And so began my European adventure!!
We were so taken aback by it all, that we didn't notice a man running towards us, hip and shouldering me on the way past... Once we collected our thoughts and I picked my phone up off the ground that I had dropped, one of the other passers by mentioned that he probably stole something from one of the shops and was doing a runner... Classy, even in the expensive parts of town, there's still some scumbags! Leticia and I went into some of the shops (where the shop assistants proceeded to look us up and down and then go back to their conversations) and had a look around, and then stopped off at an ice cream shop for a well deserved break.
From there we jumped on a bus and headed towards Santa Monica. we spent the afternoon walking along the pier, and hanging out on the beach. The lifeguard stations are exactly like Baywatch, and the lifeguards patrol up and down the beach, it was pretty funny!
We got back to Hollywood around dinner time and decided it was time for some healthy food. So we got ourselves on down to the Whole Foods Market, which is a supermarket that only sells organic/healthy products. Of course this was the day I was craving Pop Tarts (but luckily the pharmacy around the corner sold some!). We marched on up to the salad bar at this supermarket, and made some of the best salad! It was AWESOME, we really needed it.
Of course we got back to the hostel and found out it was free pasta and beer night, but we got some nutrients, so I guess we can't complain, and we still managed to get the free beer! And when that was all finished, we went to the servo to buy some more! It was an awesome night!
My last day in LA was spent with Rachel at the Grove. We hung out by the fountain, looked at some different shops, played with the Apple products in the Apple Store, visited the market close by - ate red and yellow raspberries (it's funny the yellow ones taste the same as the red ones, weird!!) and bought some souvenirs. Then on the way back to the hostel we stopped past the Jewish deli/bakery and bought some baked goods! Yum!!
I got back to the hostel and collected my bags before catching the shuttle bus to the airport for my red eye flight back to JFK via San Francisco. Met a chatty lady in the departures area at LAX. She wanted to know all about what I'd been doing and all about my computer and then went off to complain to someone at Alaskan Airways and tried to get an upgrade (which I think she eventually got) - funny character!
I got minimal sleep on the flight over to New York, but some is better than none, right? I got to the airport, collected my bags and then set off on my quest to find the terminal where British Airways departs from.
I found the terminal, but there was literally nothing there (until after the security checkpoint anyway). So I went to a different terminal, and posted the last of my postcards I had to post, got something to eat and then headed back. Then I went to the toilets and freshened up a little and settled somewhere and got online. I'm so glad I got that computer, because I don't know what I would have done all day in an airport if I didn't have it!
I went to the check in desk and waited and waited until it had actually opened - I was waiting in a line with no service, pretty funny... Checked in and then hoped like hell that I would get on the flight (as I as flying standby). They told me to go wait at the departure area, so off I went. Something funny in the USA is that there is no outbound customs check, they just take a slip out of your passport that they stapled in when you entered the country! So I spent another two hours waiting and found out that I was on! My 12 hours waiting at the airport was nearly over!!
I jumped on the plane and had one of the worst nights sleep. Again I was flying 'overnight' and I had a screaming baby two rows up from me, so decided to watch a movie instead. I would like to say that I arrived in London without a hiccup, but let's just say I was waiting a little longer at the baggage carousel than I would have liked to!!
And so began my European adventure!!
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