Seeing Moore of the world: Week 1

Given I haven't been in touch with anyone yet, and I'm sure Mum and Dad would be bursting to know what we've seen and done, I thought I'd put this together as a diary of our ventures.

27 December 2006 - in transit

A long day. The 14 hour flight from Sydney to LA felt like 28 hours. As expected, I got less shuteye than the English cricket fans have had moments to rejoice in the Ashes (apart from when SKW and Pigeon retired). At least Libe got a few minutes, and at least they had Kenny on to entertain me. What a cracking Aussie. What a cracking way to leave oz - if that feel made me anymore glad to be an Aussie, I would have stormed into the cockpit and asked Captain Ponting to turn the plane around.

I was later to discover that despite the massive queues at Melbourne Airport due to the luggage conveyor belt breaking down, this was to be the best organised airport I would set foot in for a while.

27 December 2006 #2 - LA

Landed in LA at sparrows fart (which in the Oxford Dictionery is now defined as 'bloody early', or 7am). Despite the warnings that clearing Immigration & Customs upon arrival in the US was to be as uncomfortable as sandpaper undies, it was about as painless as bowling to an English tailender. It was standing in a queue, a walk to a Immigration Counter, responding 'business' when asked why we were there by the officer, and saying 'thanks' when he handed our passport back. 'Customs' was easy too - simply involved showing our passports to another officer, no baggage inspections or questions asked. Which was lucky, given the 100 cane toads I've carried over in my bags and have since released into the Californian wild.

The one hiccup arose in the form of one of Libe's bags failing to make the trip, which would subsequently arrive at our Hollywood Hostel the following day.

The scene upon walking out of LA Airport

My first thoughts, upon seeing the destination of that van in the picture above, and the big sign below, was: Jeez, I knew Laxy's email list was big, but not this big...

Just outside LA Airport

The streets of LA on the way to Hollywood, and clearly the inspiration for a certain Simpson's Halloween episode.

Hollywood boulevard

The rest of the day was a battle, which resulted in us collapsing tired at 7pm and sleeping for 14 hours straight, clearly a record for me. In between, we managed to browse through Hollywood (which is overrated if you ask me), and do a tour of the celebrity suburbs of Beverly Hills and Bel-Air (which was significantly better). Our hostel was just off Hollywood Boulevard in Orange Drive, literally 200m from where the Oscars are held and the Walk of Fame (with the stars in the footpath) is located. The hostel's facilities were very basic, but location was the key. But apart from 1 block, the rest of Hollywood is dirty, rundown, uninteresting and a little intimidating.

The houses in the celeb 'burbs are just different - like comparing Footscray to Toorak. Such a tour is a must-do in LA. Its just one big name (or knob) living next to one big name (or knob). Although I could argue that this is a real 'Castle'...

I was actually surprised at how many celebrities live in this neighbourhood... surely it makes life easy for the paparazzi? Among the big names were your Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Madonna, Hugh Jazz, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, I.P. Freely, Jack Nicholson, Julia Roberts, Rod Stewart, John Travolta...