Los Angeles

After a wonderful sleep-in, we continued our sightseeing of La-La Land by heading south to Long Beach to see the Queen Mary. This was another sight that had been recommended to us. Before heading off, we returned to Denny's again for a good, cheap breakfast before leaving.

Unfortunately, the Queen Mary ended up being something of a disappointment. Whilst Long Beach itself was quite a nice area, the boat wasn't really worth it. When we arrived, we purchased a guided tour as it seemed to be the best way to see everything of value. As it turned out, our guide was a weirdo! Maybe it's just our Australian cynicism, but every time he would speak, I could feel myself and Ted cringing. Some people might describe him as funny and entertaining. We described him as, well, weird.

The boat was also not as romantic as I'd hoped. Maybe it was the Starbucks they'd installed in it. Maybe it was the movie room that was showing a Spongebob Squarepants movie. Either way, it was hard to imagine the bygone era that the ship stood for. We thought we would get to see some of the cabins, but we didn't. I had originally wanted to purchase one of the longer, more detailed tours, and I was grateful we didn't.

We spent some time exploring the Long Beach area before heading back. For lunch, we stopped at a local shopping center for Panda Express which is less enjoyable now that I'm vegetarian! After returning to the hotel, I did some quick laundry before we went for a walk down to nearby Hermosa beach for dinner. We really loved it down there - the wonderful beachside atmosphere was a lot more pleasant than the Santa Monica area. After dinner and a few beers, we then caught an Uber back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we head to the first leg of our journey, which is to North Carolina. These driving holidays of the USA are always some of the best times we've had here.Read more