But we did nothing, absolutely nothing that day...

I say we did nothing, we reached Anaheim, Los Angeles in our Toyota Prius after around 14 hours and 600 miles on the road. The road of choice was the Big Sur which to clarify is the picturesque winding route along Interstate number 1 along the West Coast. It was undoubtedly beautiful to look at but as the stress levels rose in solid traffic approaching LA we began to wish that we'd saved the time by taking the faster and uglier number 5. Directional inefficiency from the map reader and driver did not help, various profound disagreements ensued.

It wouldn't have been quite so bad had we not been letting down a man we'd never met before that had agreed to take us in as his guests for a couple of nights just next door to Disneyland. Some 5 hours after we should have been we shook Ronnie's hand and apologised for our general inefficiency. In truth he didn't seem best pleased and it appeared we might be in store for an awkward time of things.

It was soon established that he wasn't lying about problems with his eyes, when I'd made the Couchsurfing request he'd told me that he was unable to read my messages and that he'd prefer me to call. I'd complied fully but it hadn't really dawned on me that we'd be staying with someone in such a predicament. It turns out that being bitten by a spider (last November) can really screw you up.

As an employee of US Airways Ronnie has led a very well travelled life compared to your average American Joe. Getting free flights everywhere from Argentina to Rome he seemed to have an edge over me in the game of world knowledge, although he kept thinking Malta was in Spain so perhaps not!

His apartment was a small one bedroom place but he kindly offered me the sofa and Phil the bed leaving himself on the floor, he was so insistent that we simply couldn't refuse. I can't deny that it all felt a bit weird at this point. We were duly advised that despite the $69 entry fee, Universal Studios was the the choice for the following day and so that is where we went.

It was worth it, the studio tram tour being the standout highlight. Though at the prices they were charging it did feel a little like they were getting their own back for those movies that I may have considered illegally downloading a while ago (but obviously didn't!).

Onwards then we made it to see the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners. We got to see 4 home runs, which was nice...


After the game Ronnie joined us on a trip to Bubba Gump Shrimp (lovely) and a trip to Fullarton which is a local nightlife hotspot. By this time it was fairly dark so he was pretty much reduced to total blindness, I'd love to know what the twenty-something locals thought of two white English boys leading a 46 year old partially sighted black man through various crowded late-night bars and music venues. I certainly felt a bit weird, but really it was one of those times where you just get on with it without giving a shit what anyone thinks. I'm hopeful that after everything he forgave us for making him waste an entire evening, he has surgery in two weeks so fingers crossed he gets his sight back and can come to visit me in Spain :).

We were on the road again this morning and having purchased a Sat Nav felt a lot more confident about our ongoing journey. Some 90 minutes later we arrived in San Diego and headed straight to see the Padre's beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4. The stadium has real character and has probably gone in as my new favourite.

We're only here for one day but two things have struck me about San Diego, firstly it's standout the best place we've been to so far and secondly the people are just beautiful. I've never seen anything like it and I have to include Croydon in that, I really do.

All that said we've bottled it and returned to a hostel for an early ish night (after a few beers). We're headed to Phoenix, Arizona tomorrow to meet Eric and Jackie our hosts for two nights.

Until next time...