LA to Melbourne
Last day in the US of A. Left the motel at 11am and went to look at the 3rd street Mall. Managed to waste about 3hrs there, then headed back up Pico to another guitar shop. Tim spent a while 'window' shopping and I stayed in the car reading. We had a late lunch at Rae's Diner, it was close to the motel and we wanted to try it out before we left. We still had four hours before the car had to be back at the rental company so we drove out to Malibu and watched the beach, waves, wildlife and surfers and drove into the foothills to catch the view from on high. LA gets a pretty bad rap back home, but if you stay away from all the tourist haunts, it's a town with its own unique and very quirky personality. And the northern beaches are beautiful.
Dropped the car back at Hertz and got driven to the terminal in the car, as we had so much luggage. Took an age to check in the bags and we still had more than 2 hours before boarding. Went to a bar in the terminal, totally over priced, rubbish service. Guess the lack of competition causes the problem. LAX is by far the worst airport we've been to in the country. Tim created quite a focus for himself playing Adro's guitar at the gate lounge. Ahead of us, 15 hours in coach.
America is beautiful, fascinating, picturesque, friendly and a very positive place to spend a holiday. We felt welcomed and save everywhere we went. Even after being away from home for so long we could happily have stayed to experience more of this extraordinary land. We were sad to leave and look forward to the opportunity to go back and experience all the things we missed this time around. There is much yet to see.
This travel diary has been brought to you by:
Margot Leighton & Tim Nikolsky
hipgeo.com
iPad 2
Notes
iPhone 4S
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America's extensive free wifi service
Trader Joe's
Westin Hotels
Hertz
Driving on the wrong side of the road
Thanks to everyone who checked out our posts.
