Bye bye NZ, hello LA...

Venice Beach pier, Santa Monica; Los Angeles
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Adventure begins with a sad goodbye to Lisa & dad at the Auckland airport, for flight at 6pm. (Sorry Pania, missed you by only minutes!) Travelled back in time, arriving in Los Angeles at 11am same day to a beautiful sunny LAX Airport! Was a long but good 12 hour flight from NZ, and even managed to watch a few movies, get a bit of sleep and enjoy the continuous food supplied to us! Decided to stay in Santa Monica for the night, so found a hostel right down by the beach. Checked in, then walked in the sunshine down to beautiful Venice Beach! Heaps of homless people  out, including one guy who had a sign 'World's greatest Vino' on, and was singing '..help me get drunk!' Walked down to the pier and ran into a guy who turned out to be a tour guide in Beverly Hills. (Next day ended up going on a tour with him through downtown Beverly Hills & Hollywood seeing all the sights!) Cruised around and just relaxed for the next 24 hours, before heading back out to the airport for flight to Calgary to see De Santis crew and surprise mum!