Los Angeles: Santa Monica

California here we come

I'm writing on Adrian's phone as we haven't had access to a computer yet. So watch out for spelling mistakes and auto-correct stuff ups galore! Our flight across, 15 hours, was not so bad. We got great entertainment value from the chief flight attendant who used the word 'baggie' to describe the zip lock bag you put your liquids in. Seems this word is quite normal in the American dialect but sounds like you're talking to a 5 year old in Australian :)
We got to LA an hour earlier than we'd left Australia. After we figured out the confusion of airport shuttles and buses we spent the afternoon at Santa Monica. The beach was packed and Santa Monica pier was crowded with vacationing American families buying tacky souvenirs and going on the old style amusement park rides. On the lower steps of the pier, a few men were fishing, mostly pulling up weeds and rubbish. Made me think though what a beautiful spot it would be when it's peaceful, in the early morning.
Today, after a huge, amazing sleep, we picked up our hire car and actually drove out of LA and up the coast to San Simeon where we are now. Adrian mastered driving in reverse but we still haven't worked out why people turn right on a red light and whether people actually read speed limit signs?
Tomorrow we drive the rest of the way up the foggy Big Sur Coast to San Francisco. We have 'if you're going to San Francisco' on our road trip CD and we will be wearing flowers in our hair, Adrian included, whether he likes it or not.

Here's the plan :)

Hobart - Melbourne - LA - San Simeon - San Francisco - Seattle - Chicago - Ohio - New Hampshire - Boston - New York - Copenhagen - Bornholm - Berlin - Vevey - Venice - Cinque Terre - Rome - Hong Kong - Hobart