I have been here for one month now, and I have yet to grasp the vastness of this country. It has just taken me the entire day to get from Newport, California, to New York, New York. I left John Wayne airport this morning on a flight at 10.40 to Dallas, then Dallas to New York with barely 40 minutes waiting time. I landed at La Guardia at around 9.10pm. That was a strange airport, there was no information at all available as to what baggage reclaim belt I was supposed to go to to collect my bag. I just followed the crowd, waited hopefully at Belt B until Belt A started moving. I drifted over to Belt A and asked a silvery haired couple where these bags where coming from. They recognised the airport code on the tag and told me Dallas, Fort Worth. My bag came through just moments later and I went off to find the AirTrain, which I had looked up on the internet and found that it would take me from LaGuardia to Newark Airport, where I had booked a room for the night at a nearby hotel. I followed the directions for ground transport, but could see no evidence of the AirTrain. I checked with one of the red coated assistants, and, sure enough, there was no AirTrain. I dont know how I managed to mess that one up, but there you have it. I did. So, instead I had to get a minibus, and had to wait 45 minutes for the next one to Newark. It arrived on time and the transport assistant who had helped me kindly asked the driver to drop me off at the hotel, so I wouldnt have to wait for the airport shuttle at Newark Airport. And so, I finally arrived at my hotel at 11.10pm. There is a 3 hour time difference between CA and NY, so that made the trip feel quite a lot longer.

So, here I am, in my swanky hotel, taking advantage of a last night of luxury before having to start getting serious again about my life, and drinking a delicious smooth cup of coffee, catching up on my blog.

Four days ago I was picked up by Areck, Ani's Husband, on his way home from work so that I could spend the evening and the next day with Ani. We didnt have too much trouble with the dreadful Californian traffic and soon arrived at Ani's cousin's house where everyone was cooling down in the pool. The weather in California had been quite cool for this time of year, and certainly for my mediterranean blood, but on our return from Vegas we found that it had finally warmed up. I declined to go in the pool. My long walk down to the peninsula the day before had resulted in yet another touch of sun to the face and another interesting tee shirt mark on my arms and neck! I stayed in the shade and feasted on the delicious fruits that Ani's cousin brought out. I met quite a lot of Ani's family, and in particular her cousin Sophie from France.

I was invited to join Areck's family for their evening meal, so we gathered our things together and made our way back to his house. Areck's mum had prepared a delicious meal of tender breaded chicken breasts, vegetables and a lovely salad with balsamic, oil, lemon and crushed garlic in it too, which I had never had before.

After dinner, thinking of things to do, we came up with a trip to the local bowling alley. I also requested a stop at Cherry On Top for a yummy frozen yogurt with my favourite toppings. We called Sophie and another cousin of Ani's and made an evening of it. I was a bit more generous with my helping of frozen yogurt and added a few more toppings as well. It's probably a good thing I am not going to be here for much longer, I have definately gotten used to the bagels and cheese, frozen yogurts, burgers and coca cola!!! Time to leave I think!!!

We then headed over to the bowling alley where we ordered some drinks for the evening. I, for some strange reason, had forgotten to bring my ID with me, so when I was ID'd I couldnt produce anything. Ani's cousin thought very quickly and thickened up her french accent (she had a very good american/english accent in actual fact) and said "Dont you remember, you gave me your FRENCH ID earlier, I have it here in my purse". She had handed over her American ID, so handed me her French ID to hand in. I did so, not thinking it would work, and the waitress did look a bit dubious, but, after some discussion with her manager, decided that it covered what they needed it for and allowed me to order a drink. Sophie and I both ordered Mango Mojitos and when they came over they were the size of fish bowls!

The first round of games were terrible. Most people didnt score more than 50 points and most of the balls went in the gutter. However, strangely, after drinking our rather strong mojitos and trying a variety of methods of getting the ball down the lane, our second game produced much better results. We decided against a third game, bowling is only fun for a certain amount of time, and we called it a night, heading home for the evening.

The next day Ani and I took our time getting ready, and then headed into downtown LA, picking up Sophie along the way. I had mentioned to Sophie the night before that I spoke French, and that came in quite handy that day. We were sitting on the metro and we all happened to notice an extremely attractive woman sitting opposite us, applying make up. All three of us commented that we couldnt apply make up that well sitting carefully in front of our mirrors in our bedroom, never mind on a metro, with the mascara wand in one hand, mirror in the other and phone tucked under her ear. Of course, we didnt really want the woman to know we were talking about her, so Ani and Sophie commented to each other in Armenian, Sophie and I in French and Ani and I in Greek. It was pretty cool!

After quickly scoping out how I would get back to Santa Ana later on that afternoon from Union Station, we made our way to China Town. Ani had her amazing iphone with her and managed to direct us without any trouble to Santee Alley, using the bus network. We wondered around China Town for a bit, then got the bus taking us down Broadway to 9th street where we got out. We walked past a car park that was sectioned off for filming of a Sony advert and then rounded the corner of the street to reveal Santee Alley, a dream of markets and alleys selling any kind of clothing you could possibly wish for as well as anything else you might want to buy.

We had a wonderful time, walking up and down, browsing this and that. Ani was on a bit of a shopping spree, and by the end of the day she had Sophie and I hooked as well. I picked up a new carry on, to fit all the little bits and pieces that I have picked up along the way, little gifts of tee shirts and books, meaning that I needed just a little bit more space. And, seeing as I now had all this extra space, I picked up a rather snazzy belt that I saw.

Tired from the hard work of shopping, we headed back to Union station on the bus to get the train home. On the bus a local saw us trying to take photos and offered to take our photo for us. He was extremely chatty and was telling us all about LA, places we should see and places we really couldnt afford to miss. He wanted to know where we were from. Unfortunately I was slightly suspicious - was he going to ask us for some money for handing over this information, or follow us into the metro and accost us? I said to Sophie in French that there were three of us and one of him, so we could take him if we needed to (brave words from me, lol) and repeated the same to Ani. In the end it turned out that he was just a very pleasant man who happend to love the city that he lived in and wanted to make sure we did to. He helped us to the station and left with a wave and a smile, after showing us photos of his children that he was just getting on a train to go and see.

We arrived home and I had time for a lovely cup of tea before getting back on the train to catch my train from Union Station to Santa Ana. Spencer had been in San Francisco working for the day and his flight arrived back at about 7.30, the same time that my train was due back at Santa Ana. In the end my train was slightly delayed and so I only had to wait a few minutes before he swung into the train station to pick me up.

I have been suffering from allergies since being in Kansas, and the allergies seemed to be a lot worse in Spencer's neighbourhood. As I couldnt pin point what it was, I had suggested that I find a hotel or something nearby for my last couple of days in Newport. Spencer thought it might be a nice idea to check out Long Beach and so had booked a motel over the internet that had received some reasonable reviews.

We plugged in the address into the GPS and were on our way. Driving along I noticed some nodding donkeys randomly scattered about the place, in bunches of two to five at a time in areas the size of parking lots. Spencer informed me that yes, they were nodding donkeys sucking the oil out of the ground. I had no idea that you could get them in tiny spaces like this, imagining that they only had them in massive fields in the middle of nowhere. Some people even have them in their back garden! As we drew closer and closer to the address of the Motel, the area became seedier and more run down and dangerous looking. We pulled into the Motel and I had to stifle my nervous laughter. It looked like the kind of place that you see in the movies, when good people are running away from bad people, but the bad people usually find them and the good people have to take a flying leap out of the back window. Except this place didnt have a back window! Still, on the plus side, I didnt have an allergic reaction when I entered the room. We unloaded our cases (keeping the laptops in the car with us, just in case) and headed for the brighter side of Long Beach.

We found it quite quickly, parked the car for an eyewatering 8 dollars and headed off in the direction of the bright lights. Spencer had identified a piano duelling bar and I was really keen to repeat my Kansas experience so we headed there. This time Spencer had forgotten to bring his ID with him, but I showed mine and they let Spencer through. The bar had a great atmosphere and we ordered drinks and I ordered something to eat. This bar had a slighly different tone to it though and most of the songs had a rude side to them, bawdy songs with lyrics and words rhyming with various body parts that the whole bar could shout out and have a good laugh at. The painist kept calling out that he was running out of requests so we gamely filled in a couple of slips and sent them up with 5 dollars attached to each one. I was enjoying myself until I heard the pianist sniff disdainfully into the mike. "Five dollars says I have to play the next song - who wants to hear a bit of country?" A boo filled the room and I sank a little into my chair. He had to sing it anyway because I had given him five dollars, so off he went into "Friends in Low Places". I guess country just isnt as well received in cool California as it is in much cooler (in my opinion) Kansas and Georgia. He finished the song and sang another couple of requests before singing Spencers much more acceptable request of Aha's Take on Me.

We left soon after that as I was a little disgruntled at my song choice having been ridiculed, and the waiting staff were quite poor too. We headed back to our suspicous looking Motel and fell into a nervous sleep.

We decided not to stay another night in that Motel and decided instead on a pleasant looking B&B not far away. We wouldnt be able to check in until noon, so we decided to go and check out Santa Monica instead, and Venice beach and Muscle beach. It took us about 40 minutes to get there but it was worth the trip. This was yet another side to California that I hadnt seen. There was a pier with arcades and rides and fast food stalls. It was more down market than Balboa Island, with sooooo many children running around. We grabbed a bite to eat then headed along the sea front towards Venice Beach. I still havent gotten over the trauma of my bicycle incident and so I decided against renting bikes and walked instead. We soon entered the mouth of Venice Beach and it was something to behold. It was very alternative, with artists of all kinds displaying their talent and their goods for sale. Some people were just plain begging, and most of the artists didnt seem too bothered about whether they sold anything or not, they seemed to simply want to hang about, being alternative and having a good time.

My mouth hit the floor when I saw the signs drawing people to see the doctor to get their legal, medicinal marijuana. You can make an appointment to see a doctor, give him a list of symptoms that you may have (the list that qualifies you is very, very long) or simply 100 dollars, and he will give you a perfectly legal prescription for you to take to any dispensary to get your legal dope!

I prefered to go for my slighly less contencious drug of choice, that being Ice Cream, and enjoyed my chocolate brownie ice cream while walking the remainder of the route. We finally came apon Muscle beach and I was most pleased with what I saw. A very nice view indeed. Well done to those men who work out like that and then go and pose down at the beach. Bravo!!

Spencer dragged me away from Muscle beach and we made our way back to the Pier, marvelling at the various people out on their bikes, skateboards, roller blades and so on. One elderly couple was about to cross the streets laid out for bicycles when one chap barreling along on his bike yelled out STOP! They stopped just in time to let him whizz past. It was good timing of the biker, had he not yelled out there may have been a very nasty collision.

We made it back to the car without any bother and made our way back to Long Beach and our B&B. The traffic was atrocious and it took us twice as long to go back as it had to come. I dont think there is any way you can win in this part of California. Public transport is rubbish and the roads are super clogged with cars.

We finally made it and identified our B&B but unfortunately nobody was in. We decided a drink might be in order, so we made our way back the the 'Brit Pub' that we had seen on our drive in. As soon as we walked in Spencer leaned over to me and said "Hm, this is a gay pub" "is it?" I responded, nonplussed. We ordered a couple of beers and found a table, where I asked Spencer to explain to me why he thought it was a gay pub. First he pointed out the gay couple in the corner making out, then all the solitary men at the bar with interesting facial hair situations going on and finally the rainbows scattered liberally about the place. The gay music was great and I found myself singing along at full volume. Tiffany, Shania Twain, Pussycat dolls - they played it all! I ordered a 'not strong' G&T and after drinking my incredibly strong G&T I was definately in party mood.

We went back to the B&B to try to check in, and the person that I had identified as a homeless man opened the door for us to let us in. He was clutching an apple that I was pretty sure I had seen him holding three hours earlier when we had done our first pass of the B&B and he was talking very slowly. I suspected that he had broken in to the B&B and was pretending that he was supposed to be there, so Spencer and I thanked him for his time and said we would go for dinner and wait for Pat (the person that S had booked the B&B through) to return from her errands.

We had spotted a Greek restuarant earlier that also did Veggie and Vegan food, so this is where we headed for dinner. The food came and the combination of good food with my previous high from the gay bar had me crashing quite quickly so we headed back to the B&B where I embarrased myself and rather spoiled Spencers evening of planned entertainment by falling asleep by 8.30!!

The next morning I woke early and gathered my things together for almost the last time to head to John Wayne airport and catch my flight to New York.

And so this particular part of my journey is coming to an end. I have had an amazing time over here in America and I am so very glad that I have done it. I have visited 9 states in total: New Jersey (quite legitimately, staying in a hotel here tonight), New York, Indiana, Georgia, Missouri, Kansas, California, Nevada and Arizona and I have met up with old friends that I havent seen for a long time, and made a whole host of new friends. It has been a life changing experience, that is for sure, and I am very blessed and thankful to have had the opportunity to do it.

Now I have to turn my thoughts to the next part in my life adventure, seeking a new career and trying to fulfill all those other dreams that I have for my life.

I hope you have all enjoyed reading about my travels, I will miss updating you all!

Enjoy the last photos and my final video of my song for California, infront of Muscle beach!

England, here I come!