Sue - Los Angeles

Well anyone who says they can sleep on the plane isn't telling the truth! 

We arrived in LA exhausted but arrived to the most amazing sunrise. We then felt like we were being VIP fast tracked through LA airport....a very easy experience. Howard at customs gave us a great American welcome. 

After a few hours sleep we decided to tackle the public bus transport system...I always say that you never really get to experience a city until you tackle the local transport system and that certainly was the case in LA. Plenty of interesting people to keep you on your toes, but we never felt unsafe and everyone was helpful. Easy to get on the bus but how the heck do you know where to get off when you don't really know where you are going? 

After traveling through some very mixed areas we got off at Santa Monica. Well, what we thought was Santa Monica! Quite a modern revamped area of LA and a little touristy, being the end of the road for Route 66. Amazing, huge white sand beach..not many people at the beach though - a little cold with strong off shore winds. We were starting to think that we didn't bring enough warm clothes, but of course that has now all changed now that we are in tropical Florida heat!

We ate Churros on the Santa Monica Pier, checked out some of the fitness beach activity at Muscle Beach before taking a walk through the shopping street. Matt wasn't so excited about the shops (until he spotted a toy store), but the girls were in Heaven! Spotted 'Forever 21' which was recommended by a friend of Anna's (thanks Lily!) and it was hard to get them out of the store! 

Went to a great Mexican Restaurant for dinner then tackled the bus home (now dark....help how do we know when to get off). Day 1 was mastered without losing my bag, my husband or any of our children! Day 2 in LA brings a whole new Californian experience....that blog post is still to come, along with some photos.