Greenock

Another 5 hours on the train and by 1:00 we're back in my home town of Greenock. First up was a trip to my aunts house where I was meeting up with a few cousins before we walked down to the world famous Cappielow Stadium to watch the mighty Greenock Morton do battle against their arch rivals St Mirren in the Renfrewshire cup final. Best cup system ever. No qualifying games just the two teams meeting each year to see who is the best in the region. 1-1 after full time it was straight to penalties. St Mirren won 5-4 but since they are a premier league team and Morton aren't I say we won.
From there is was off to my cousin Donna's house for a barbie and some drinks. Wasn't expecting a big one.... let's just say I needed to look at the camera the next day to see what went on. Nikki (whose house we are staying at) was not a well girl and spent the morning driving the porcelain bus. Needless to say I wasn't in the best form and spent the best part of the day to get off the couch.
That night was another barbie back at Donna and Dave's this time a little more subdued and more of the family was there. The little ones have all taken a stretch and the bigger ones are just the same : ) Always great to catch up with them all even if it is only for a few hours.
The rest of the weekend was spent shopping (finally got myself a Morton top) and also on Monday night we caught up with my dad's side of the family at the James Watt hotel. Good meal and again great company. Other than that it was across the water to Dunoon to see my Uncle Sammy's side of the family for lunch... boy was that a big lunch.
Tonight it's off to Glasgow for the night so we don't have to have a early one before our bus down to Manchester tomorrow. Curry mile is just 24 hours away... Get on it!!

Fort William/Skye

The last 2 days have been spent on trains, buses, ferries and in plenty of pubs. We arrived in Ft William around 4pm and headed straight to the Hostel. Ben Nevis (UK's tallest mountain) is only a 5 minute drive from here so it is full of back packers eager to climb it... that doesn't include us : )

Went to a pub for tea where they had possibly the slowest service I have ever come across. Must say though the dinner was goooood. I had a traditional Scottish chicken tikka masala with chips and Jane went for a steak pie. Hit another pub on the way back to the hostel after going for a walk down by the Loch. The scenery here is really nice, hills everywhere and the loch is really peaceful. A little boring if you want to be out partying but it's a nice change of pace from Edinburgh. We popped into another local ale house for one last beer before we hit the hay.

Next morning it was off to the Isle of Skye. It's about a 90 min bus ride plus 40 minute ferry ride from Ft William. Here there is a lit of tiny country towns, castles, awesome views and not much else. Struggled to find anywhere to eat other than a tine cafe near where the ferry docked. Certainly no pubs so we walked, and walked and walked.

We did learn about the origins of the McDonald clan and how they started McDonald restaurants to help fund their community's defences against the attacking Spanish. Because the Spanish were so strong and would have crushed them had they known they were building up such wealth they opened the first one under the name of Ray Kroc (or Crock in Scotland). As this was a dummy name this is where the term Crock of Shite comes from. Needles to say they made a heap of money and crushed the Spaniards... true story, I promise. By the time we got back to Ft William it was 5:00 and all the stores are closing by then so all there is to do it hit a pub or two and have a curry for tea. Tomorrow we head to Greenock just in time to see the mighty Morton play against St Mirren in the Renfrewshire cup final then it's hanging around the family for 4 days. Will report more at the end of that.

Edinburgh - Day two

Wednesday

Today the plan was to walk the Royal Mile, climb Aurthur's Seat, find a store that sells Nomination flags and have a curry for tea. Tick all the boxes except one... climbing Aurthur's Seat. We did start walking it but then we got kind of hungry so we headed back doon. We will do it one day. I couldn't resist the urge to head to the nearest KFC and have a Zinger Tower burger. This is the burger that turned wee skinny Dave into fat Dave all those years ago. Luckily for me KFC didn't make it a permanent fixture on the menu otherwise I'd be a hell of a lot bigger than I am now.

We couldn't walk all the way to KFC without stopping off for a pint so half way up the mile there is a pub called Tolbooths. Really nice looking pub on the outside, pity about inside.

After the pint and burger (tear was running down my cheek with each bite) we walked past a pub advertising Scottish music live from 9 o'clock. After just doing the Irish music pub crawl in Dublin we thought we had to give it a go. So we headed to the Hostel for a bit of a rest.

We went out for dinner to the local curry house. We had a fantastic meal although it was not hot enough. The waiter kept me in stitches. Here's this little Indian guy with the biggest Jock accent you'd ever hear. After drying my eyes and paying the bill we went next door to the pub. The music was ok but I put that down to the singer and the style he sings rather than Scottish music in general. Again Jane knocked back a Bulmers or two (I've lost count how many she's had) while I sat back on the waters and coke.

Check out tomorrow is pretty early then it's a 5 hour train ride to the Highlands where I doubt we'll get Internet access. I'll write more when we hit Greenock.

Edinburgh - Day One

Tuesday

The flight from Dublin was a quick one again (about 40 mins). We arrived in Edinburgh around 2:30 and once again Scotland has put on some spanking weather for us. Temperature was about 22 degrees, it was sunny and just a hint of humidity so that's perfect for me. We caught the bus to Waverley station which is as close to our hostel as we could get from the airport (or so we thought). From there it was a walk up to to the Royal Mile which is where we were staying. Anyone who has been to Edinburgh will know that the walk is nice and steep. Add a couple of 15kg back packs and some hand luggage and it gets a lot worse. Just to rub it in another bus that we could have got from the airport went past us and stopped almost out the front of our hostel. Edinburgh 1- Davey 0. Edinburgh then made it 2-0 when we read a big advertisement for Hibs vs Barcelona ON THE DAY WE LEAVE!!

I said in an earlier blog that this is by far my favourite city. One of the reasons is all the buildings on the old side of Princes st. I love how you can be in a shopping district, cross the road and all the buildings leading up to the castle are well over 100 years old. There is also heaps to do here whether your here for a day or a month. Good pubs, great food that's all I can ask for.

We headed from the hostel up the Royal Mile to the castle and took a few back streets where we found a pub called Greyfriars Bobby's. After reading the menu incorrectly (so much for skimming through the menu) I got a meal consisting of 8, yes 8, sausages and a heap of wedges. Dunno what I was thinking when I ordered it and needless to say I got nowhere near finishing it.

Again we headed back to the hostel to drink in their bar (cheaper beers). The hostel was really clean but it was full of 14 year old Italian kids on a summer camp excursion. Old man Dave was getting a little narky with all the noise they were making so after a few beers we went to bed. Still very very bloated after the sausage dinner... I won't eat for 3 days!!!!

Dublin

Sunday
Top o' the mornin' to ya all. Yes we're in the land of Guinness, limericks and leprechauns. The flight in from Gatwick was delayed by just over an hour (nice one Ryanair, we can always count on you to throw up something out of the ordinary when we're in a rush) but we got here safe and sound. The hotel is about 5 bus stops out of the city so a nice walk each morning was in order which helped build up my appetite for the black stuff.

After checking into the hostel we legged it through backstreets, alley ways and parks to get to the Guinness Storehouse. 7 floors of memorabilia, information and free tastings of Guinness. Best part of the tour was the Gravity bar on the top floor. You get a 360 degree view of Dublin which made it easier for Jane and I to decide where we wanted to go.

After downing a pint we wandered in the direction of town and had dinner and an Italian Restaurant. Nae too bad even if it was a bit pricey. From here it was just a hop, skip and a jump to Temple Bar. The place was buzzing as the Dublin based Gaelic Football team had just played and won their semi final (I think). Drunk English, Aussies, Eastern Europeans and one or two Irishmen around as well. In true Aussie style I was wearing thongs and wasn't able to get into any places (I reckon that was the easy way to keep the numbers down) so we headed back to the hostel for an early one.

Monday
Normally I'd wake up on a Monday and think of how many different excuses I could make to stay in bed. But not here. I was up (even in time for breakfast) and we set about walking as far as our legs would carry us. Nath (b*stard) told us to go find a pub called the Liffey for a drink. Was closed down but in the end he was taking the piss anyway. For summer Dublin put a beach in the docklands to give the town something to do when it reached 20 degrees rather than every man and his dag sitting around and park they can find topless. Popped into The Met for lunch and a Guinness.
In the evening we went on a musical pub crawl around Temple Bar. We started at The Oliver St John Docherty then hit the Ha' Penny Bridge Hotel (the only family run pub in Dublin) and finished up at Brannigans just off O'Connell street. 2 genuine (you could tell by the accents) Irish musicians took us around and set up their instruments there and play some songs then it's off to the next place. Was a lot better than I thought it would be. had a great time and between sculling down the Guinness's and Jane knocking back her new favourite drink (Bulmers) we staggered home just in time to pack out bags and have a good nights kip before our flight to Edinburgh. I definitely need to come back here and have a few more days lookign around as well as seeing the rest of Ireland. So anyone up for a guys week away??????

London - Day 3

Saturday

This is the final chance we get to see the sites of London so the plan was to get up early so we could beat the rush to the London Eye which is always busy.... Again we didn't get out the house as early as we wanted and yes there was a big line at the wheel. It only took about 40 mins to get into our capsule then we were away. The wheel takes about 30 mins to go all the way around and you get a good view of the city.

After that we tossed a figurative coin and decided to jump on the boat to Greenwich Village and have lunch there rather than eating before we left. Had another pub lunch (that would be 4 in 4 days... waist line increasing) then headed up to the observatory to see the Prime Meridian (where time starts.... zero point for GMT). Got the tourist shot with Jane standing on the east side and myself on the west side. There are a few other sights to see there but can't think what they were right now... a planetarium and a few statues.

Back into the city we stopped off at a pub which was surprisingly quite difficult for a Saturday afternoon. Almost all the pubs were closed. James said in that part of the city the pubs do all their business on a Friday night and don't bother opening on a Saturday.

Finally found one then after a bevvy Jane and I popped into see a friend (Patrick) for an hour. He was having a party so we left him to it and went back to meet James and Kristy. Had dinner in Islington and as I write this we are sitting backing having a beer getting ready for tomorrow's trip to Dublin.

Once again thanks to our hosts for the lodgings and the awesome tour of London!!!!

London - Day 2

Friday

After another good sleep it was time to hit the foot path and take in some more of London's sites. We caught the Tube to Knights Bridge. Question... what is the definition of opulence?? Answer - Harrods. Between the Opera Singer performing on the escalators and the Egyptian escalators which were designed with such detail I could tell this wasn't a place a guy from Elizabeth Vale would be shopping in. They had all the polo gear and horse riding accessories which is lucky because I've broken my polo mallet.

From here we headed off to Bucking Palace and the House of Parliament for the usual photos and stopped in at the Silver Cross for lunch. Great service there... maybe not. I got the wrong burger and only realised this because I ripped the burger apart to see what was on it. On noticing this the table next to me saw that they had just been given mine. So the waitress gave me theirs.. not an issue as they hadn't touched it but then gave them mine ripped bun and all. There own fault though as the fat b*stard ate it without complaining.

We hit the Tower of London and spent and hour or so in there seeing the crown jewels and touring the Bloody Tower.

Now for the serious part of the day. We started at The Ten Bells Hotel for a couple of beers. Kristy, Paul, Zoe & a couple of her friends showed up then it was off to Brick Lane. This is a much smaller version of The Curry Mile in Manchester. Not a bad eat at Monsoon's Curry House then we hit a bar called 2012 where we kicked back for the rest of the night drinking Coronas, Mojitos and smoking some apple flavoured Shisha (a Turkish pipe thingy). Good company, not too bad weather, all in all a great day. Tomorrow it's The London Eye and who knows what else.

Pip pip!

London - Day 1

Thursday
We got the train from down south into London and were met by my cousin James. We're staying with him for the next 3 days in Islington (about a 5 min walk from the Emirates Stadium. The closer I got to his house the dirtier I felt... Arsenal Scum.. (not you James)

After lunch at the Duchess of Kent we headed out on the tube to the Tower of London. We got there late in the day so we didn't go in. Instead we crossed the Tower Bridge and walked along the Thames stopping off at the Anchor hotel for a bevvy. Plenty to see and do around there with Shakespeare's Globe and a pretty good view of the city across the river.

We crossed back over the Thames on the Millennium Bridge and headed up to St Paul's Cathedral where we met James' fiancee Kristy who was just finishing work. Popped into another pub (there's a theme here) called the George for another beer then it was off to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square & after dinner Piccadilly Circus.

Tomorrow is the big day where we try and see as much as we can and then meet up with our other cousins Paul & Zoe so there will be a whole lot more to write then.

Tally-Ho!

Portsmouth & Brighton

We spent the last couple of days lying around the house with the family catching up and brushing up on my sign language. First day was mainly spent traveling from Heathrow and then out to dinner with the everyone. Can't believe I was here 2 years ago. The little ones have all grown up quite a bit and it was great to just chat and take it easy.

Wednesday involved an hour trip to the pebbled beaches of Brighton. Aunt Ella, Uncle David & Zoe came with us and we spent the arvo having lunch on the beach and walking around the Lanes which were pretty impressive. Topped off with some excellent chocolate fudge just before we headed back.

All the family popped around that evening after dinner for more chatting and I am still trying to get some of those people over to Australia (to save me money on all these trips)

The saga continues..... next up London!

The Long Haul

Monday

Today we head for Heathrow. This involves a 1 hour flight from Buffalo to New York. Then a 1 hour flight from JFK to Washington DC and THEN a 7 hour flight to Heathrow. So far we have done the first two legs and we got upgraded to first class for the New York to Washington leg but it’s cattle class for the big leg : (

Ohhh Canada - Niagara Falls

Sunday
Another day, another airport. This time it was an hour flight from JFK to Buffalo and then a shuttle to Niagara Falls. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza on the US side but we headed across to the Canadian side during the day for a better view of the falls. We met up with Matthaus & Rookie around lunchtime and suprisingly I was hungry (doesn’t happen that often) so after a sandwich and chocky donut we went down to the water and booked our tickets for the Maid of the mist cruise. Definitely the way to go you just have to get a good spot on the boat and try to keep your camera dry.From here we walked along the water, had a very colourful meal (corn chips were dyed red, blue & green). It was great to catch up with Matthaus and Rookie. Can’t believe you guys had a 7 hour car ride ahead of you when we left... well in & thanks for tea!!

New York - Day 2

Saturday
What a difference a day makes. I now know how to set an alarm clock correctly. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Last night on our way back to the hotel or on the tour we say the line up for the empire state building and it was huge. The tour guide said best bet is to get there first thing in the morning so that is what we did. Out the door by 8 and yep there was no line up so straight in we went. Now for those of you that know me I am not the greatest lover of heights. That’s the reason I went out of my way to make sure I wouldn’t grow over 5ft 7. So up there on the 86th floor some 1200 feet above the ground big mucho Dave had his knees a wobbling and being a gentleman I let Jane take all the photos from right next to the fence. Very god view but I gladly headed down after 30 mins or so to continue with the tour.
The rest of the day was spent looking for the Ed Sullivan Theatre (where David Letterman does the Late Show), the Soup Kitchen which was home to the soup Nazi on Seinfeld plus a pretty cool 2 hour tour through the mean streets of Harlem. Well have I been greatly misinformed about that place. Was a pretty nice area, home to Columbia University & the tomb of Ulysses S Grant (America’s 18th president) nothing like the gangsta movies you see or the hood that the news channels always show you.
One thing I can’t find anywhere in the states are internet cafes. Heaps of places have free wi-fi but you need your own laptop to connect to their internet. So Jane and I went to Macy’s (the biggest dept store in the world) and bought a compact laptop to use for the rest of the trip. Only cost $600 and it is tiny so it won’t take up any room and we can update the blog a lot easier.
Tomorrow it’s off to Niagara Falls (Canadian side) to catch up with Matt & Rookie who are driving down from Montreal for a visit.
Stay tuned....

New York - Day One

Friday
Some call it the town that never sleeps, others the capital of the world. I like to think of it as New York – The town that never bathes. If you intend on coming here please do so once you have lost your sense of smell. In saying that the place itself is awesome and the 3 nights we stayed there was never going to be enough time to see it all.
We arrived at our hotel late Thursday evening after our flight was delayed by about 40 mins (that makes up for all the ones that have gotten in early. The hotel was ok. In mid-town about 6 blocks away from the Empire state building and a block away from 7 or 8 Indian restaurants.. I was in my element.
We went to a Japanese restaurant for some sushi then called it a night. The plan for the next day was to get up super early and start our hop on/off tour from Time Square. Little did we know I have not mastered the art of setting an alarm clock and we woke up about 10am. This threw out our plans a little so we legged it to Time Square, got our bus passes and jumped on the first bus we could see.
The pass gave us access to a downtown & uptown loop, a tour of Brooklyn, a night loop of Manhattan and Brooklyn plus access to the Empire State building observatory, the Southport Sea Museum and a cruise to Ellis and Liberty Island.
We jumped off the bus at the World Trade Centre site a.k.a Ground Zero to have a bit of a look around. They are starting to build some new buildings there so most of it was closed off and you couldn’t really see inside. The church next to the site, where the NYPD & FDNY set up their base camp during the recovery was worth a quick 5 minute look. Here there are still shrines to those that were working in the twin towers plus there’s a chair that George Washington sat on at the first mass he attended after he was inaugurated (a bit random I know).
From here we walked down to Battery Park where the very first battery was ever made (if you believe that then I have lost all respect for you). Down here we lined up for about 30 mins waiting to go on the Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty Cruise. You have an opportunity to get off at the 2 stops but really the best photo ops are on the boat so we just sat there until it headed back. Took an hour all up so not too long that we would be missing out on anything else.
After walking past Gordon Ghecko’s old building we jumped back on the bus and I decided to do my bit for international relations with a trip to the UN. After brokering a peace deal between France and Italy (was quite hard as both sides were trying to surrender) we stopped at the Rockerfeller Centre so Jane could audition for ER. After realising that her acting is as good as my attempt at humour we looked around Central Park looking for Central Perk of Friends fame. Unfortunately it doesn’t exist but we got some great pics of the park with the city in the background.
The tour then heads back into Time square and it’s getting close to 5 so we find a dodgey Italian buffet, eat there then head out on the night loop. This takes in most of what we have already seen but it gives you some pretty good photo ops with the city lights and sunset etc.

San Fran

Tuesday

Who's idea was it to drink late then fly out early the next day... d'oh it was mine. After finally coming to the realisation that I lost my wallet we headed off to the Airport. The flight was meant to be about 90 mins and as with all other flights we've had so far it was way early.

Stayed at a hostel in the middle of the city. It was pretty close to Union Square which is perfect for getting around. We dropped the bags off and headed straight to pier 33 for our Alcatraz tour. We had tickets set for 12:00 so it was always gonna be close as to whether we'd make it. The tour was packed and it took about 3 hours to get around what we wanted to see. Could have spent a lot longer there but I really don't get into flowers that much and a lot of the tour was about the different species of flowers on the island.. yawn.

We finished up and started on the hop on/off tour that we had booked. 48 hours, a few different loops with stops at all the major attractions. That is definitely the way to do it when you are visiting a city that has so much you want to see.

Let's see we took in The Bay Bridge, Fisherman's Warf & a Trolley ride. We went on the night tour which did a lot of similar places but also took in Alamo Square. This has the 5 houses called the 5 sisters that were on the opening credits to Full House.

Wednesday

Continued the tour plus jumped on a Golden Gate Bridge/Presidio tour. The Presidio is where George Lucas has a lot of his studios plus there is a heap of old army barracks and houses there. We then got off at the bottom of Lombard street and walked to the top of that. It is the street that zig zags at the top because it is so steep to stop any accidents should breaks fail. It was a hell of a climb (I think they said it's the steepest street in the world (dunno about that. Hang about... Google... nope it's the crookedest..) Speed limit on the street is 5 mph.

We walked back down it then up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower before walking down 440 steps to the Fog City Diner (used in the movie So I married an axe murderer). That was pretty much enough touring for us so we found an internet cafe (there are stuff all of them in the USA). Tomorrow it's off to NYC. It's a 6 hour flight so doubt anything will happen tomorrow but then again you never know when I'm leading Jane astray.

Take me out to the ball game....

Monday
After the last few days where it has been non stop with the 4th of July, Vegas and Tijuana Jane and I decided to have a rest day. Romeo went to work so we both got up, packed our bags (tomorrow we leave for San Fran) and then headed down to Pacific beach to do a bit of shopping and have some lunch.
They have a Ripcurl shop there and all the t-shirts were $20 which is damn cheap. Instead of buying more Ripcurl shirts we decided to head to a few of they touristy shops and get a San Diego top then head back top Juliet’s place. On the way we stopped off at The Australian Pub which is pretty poo.
The evening was one of the best I’ve had since we got here. We headed to The Tilted Kilt which I think was meant to be an Irish bar with scantily clad beer wenches serving our ales. From there it was fish tacos and a another couple of beers before we went into Petco Park to see the not so mighty San Diego Padres take on the Florida Marlins in the baseball. The game itself I have never really gotten into but since I’ve been over here it’s the only sport on TV so you find yourself watching it whenever you get a chance. For the record the Marlins won 3-1.
During the 8th innings we headed up to the roof top bar at the Marriot (on the 22nd floor I think) where we watched the rest of the game and continued to knock back a few more quiet beers.
The low point of the trip came in the taxi on the way home when John ‘Romeo’ Girvan stole my wallet (either that or I lost it). Now comes the fun part where I have to cancel all my credit cards (which also cancels Janes!!!) and get a new one sent out urgently.Tomorrow we fly to San Fran. Girv you’ve been an awesome host and Juliet and Sara thanks for everything as well. Loved San Diego!!

Tijuana

Sunday
No trip to San Diego is complete without the John J Girvan tour of Tijuana in Mexico. The place is a cross between the bad bits of Kings Cross and the worse bits of the Eureka on a Sunday night. Girv and I were 'home.' The girls on the other hand looked a little out of place.
After crossing the boarder (no checking on the way into Mexico) you can immediately smell he urine. Something tells me they're facilities consist of the nearest doorway or tree.
We stopped in at Taco Locco for some Dos Equis & Tacos. 10 beers, 11 tacos.... $26.00 It's clear why Girv goes here now.
Next up was a place that said on the door "Sorry We're open" Good Sign. Supposedly Vias knows this place well or at least their window he jumped out of when trying to evade paying the tab.
Highlight was seeing two Mexican cops around tea time arrest 2 blokes and take cash out of their wallets in the middle of the street. The whole place is dirty but definitely good enough for a Brahma night out!!

Las Vegas

Saturday

Well it was time to hit Sin City. As you all know Davey is no stranger to casinos and my word there are a lot of them! The day started not too early (luckily given that yesterday was a big one) and we flew across the desert (which by the way is very different to our deserts, quite rocky and even with some lakes!) and hit a bit of turbulence as we approached Vegas airport (which I am told is pretty much par for the course). We jumped into a cab which took us to the Venetian Hotel right on the Strip. I can't imagine anyone wanting to stay anywhere else! We had a great suite - 2 king sized beds in a split level room, and 2 big screen TVs (not that we spent much time in the room!) Immediately after we arrived we spent about 6 hours wandering around the strip (save for an hour or so enjoying the sumptuous buffet at the Bellagio) and saw all there is to see. And countless guys (and the occasional girl) flicking cards with pictures of "escorts" on them. Classy. But really it was quite amazing (and HOT - over 40 degrees in our language). The live lion in the MGM Grand. The indoor outdoor area at the Venetian and Paris. Oh and the water show at the Bellagio. Davey has become quite the connoisseur of fountains!!!!

We did a little gambling (and no winning!), not much drinking, and probably could have spent several more days there just SEEING everything, let alone seeing any shows etc!

The above photo was actually taken INDOORS. We knew it was indoors because it was a pleasant 25 degrees as opposed to the 40 in the real outdoors!

4th of July

Friday
Time for the yanks to let their hair down and celebrate one of Tom Cruises better movies. We rocked up at Juliet & Sara's around 10:30am & tapped the keg. It was light beer so it was going down like water. Jane brought a couple of bottles of Champers to keep herself ticking and I decided to get in on the keg stand, ice luge & any tequila shot that was going around.

After downing an entire glass of tequila around 6pm Davey wasn't a well boy and went to the loo to relieve himself of the past 3 days food. In doing so I managed to miss the fireworks and awoke Saturday morning to find everyone had gone other than John, Sara, Juliet, Jane and another couple that were staying with them.

A quick inspection of the photos from the night before found that I don't like wearing pants when I've had a few and Jane who was very drunk early on managed to save face by kicking on into the wee hours of the morning. Big highlight was the body shots off one of the girls!!

Next up.... Vegas!!!!

San Diego

Wednesday cont...
The Girvan tour of the US rolls on. I must say if you ever get a chance to go to the states take this man with you. Not only does he know every cheap bar but he has googled all the interesting facts about the town so you dont go wanting.

On our arrival we got to meet the very lovely Juliet & her room mate Sara. We sat back and had a few beers talking about all the things that Australians do way better that the US :) It was a reasonably early night (about 1am) as we were due for a few big days coming up.

Thursday
Jane and I set off to San Diego Zoo. Natural home of the Panda and home to the grizzlies from Anchorman. It's set out a lot like Taronga Zoo but without the million dollar views. We spent most of the morning/afternoon walking around trying to push our way past thousands of school kids who were on their summer holidays.

From here we checked out the museum district before our tour organiser picked us up and took us down to Pacific Beach (PB as the locals call it) for some brews. First stop was La something or other which seems to be well known for it's endless supply of topless guys. John promises me this was a once off and normally it's pretty much 50/50

The Shore Club was next followed by the Fire House for tea, Moon Doggies & another pub which had peanut shells all over the floor was our last port of call.

The flight & LA

Well after a suprisingly good night's sleep Jane and I awoke Tuesday morningready to begin the trip. We arrived super early at the airport and on checking we were told we had been upgraded to Business Class for free. Obviously my reputation as being a high roller was leaked to United Airlines so I was treated accordingly.

The flight was an easy 13 hours complete with reclining chair, silver service and a three course meal. Not only were we upgraded but we were upgraded before one of Australia's premier boxers, Mr Jeff Fenech who was sitting back in economy with the rest of the scum.

On arriving in LAX we were given priority baggage claiming which meant we were through customs in about 25 mins. No smiling though!! They take it very seriously over here and I wasn't about to push my luck (we've seen how strict the Aussie border security can be).

John J 'Romeo' Girvan was there to greet us, the weather was awesome and it was time to hit Santa Monica & Malibu for drinks, dinner and 'a quiet night' 6:30am I strolled into the hotel after getting lost in what John calls some of the roughest streets in LA. Luckily ignorance is bliss and I just kept to myself and finally made it back.

Wednesday was spent making our way down to San Diego via Hollywood, Rodeo Drive and the OC. Already I can see from what we've eaten that if you don't like cheese you won't be able to eat here. I had a burger with Jacks and Cheddar (cheese and cheese) disgusting but when in Rome....

Next stop is San Diego and we will add more at the end of that trip.

Catch ya!