Day 1: Travel and LA

After a most wonderful waking time of 4:00 A.M., we got on our way at around 5:10. No big troubles at the airport, off the ground at around 6:30 and in Memphis about 7:30. We had a quick layover and breakfast break and were headed towards LA around 8:30. Four hours later (2 by the clock), we touched down in LA around 10:30, and then the day began.

Since we landed in LA at 10:30 and our flight left at 10:45 P.M. (greater than 12 hours), Delta made us pick up our bags and recheck them, so a bit of aggravation there. After grabbing the bags and making a run for the shuttle, we rented a car and began heading for our day around LA.



(We definitely tried to go way conservative with the car... Not too shabby, huh?)

First stop: Hollywood and Lunch
About 10 miles away (~45 minutes), Hollywood was the obvious choice for great lunch at a cafe to see the movie stars and live the high life. But, since we're so good with directions, we became quite famished



and settled for lunch at this place.



Not the best choice, but it got the job done.

A quick pause for a well deserved tribute to such a great, great man.


(hope you caught the sarcasm)

After being so devastated that Hollywood was trashy and overrated, the next obvious choice was, of course, to go find the Hollywood sign.



No luck, though, as all roads did not lead to the sign.



Since Hollywood was a bust and the sign was MIA, we decided to head on to Beverly Hills, at which point we found the real Hollywood.



Much, much more fun and exciting.

Second Stop: Beverly Hills
The Hills were only a short drive away, so we headed that way and stumbled across Rodeo Drive.




Beverly Hills was of course awesome and the houses were beautiful as expected...

Third Stop: Santa Monica
Before we left for the day, I was informed that we would be seeing the beach while we were in LA. So off to Santa Monica we went. We rode the ferris wheel on the Pier and mostly just walked around and checked everything out.



Fourth Stop: Marina del Rey
On the way back to the airport, we made a quick detour through Marina del Rey. We just got out and walked around the marina, and didn't see anything that looked too appetizing so we headed back to the airport.



Upon arriving back at the airport, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the California Pizza Kitchen, and then waited a few hours to hop on the 14 hour flight to Sydney. Sunburned and tired from a long day out, we were both ready to get on the plane.

The flight was mostly uneventful, and we both slept somewhere around 7 or 8 hours. We did have cool TVs in the headrest in front of us, so we got to watch all sorts of movies and TV shows. Even though it was a pretty cool set up, by the end of the flight we were both ready to get off and get moving.

A few more pictures from throughout the day...