JOMEL Adventures Positivity (def): "Anything other than being in the office."

Las Vegas was better than I had anticipated. I really didn't think I'd like it, but once there I realized why so many people have hens and bucks parties there. It is a never ending party! But it's sort of sad a little as well, a little depressing to see how much money people can waste and the extravagance of the hotels, although impressive, is just crazy! I don't like gambling and Jo tends to only like it when with mates so we didn't hit it up much but we did check out a lot of neon lighting and one of the hundreds of buffets they have in every hotel. And yes the hot shower and room, although simple, seemed like a decadence to us! We found out the next day that 2 of our mates were in Vegas that same night as us- not that we were in any shape for a big night....we needed to recuperate from hiking.
Once showered and rested our next stop was Santa Monica in LA to stay with a mate, Lan. So on Mon 5th we kept driving west to the coast until we arrived at the Google palace where Lan was being put up for a few weeks. And then it was straight onto the beers. That night just happened to be Cinquo de Mayo- a Mexican celebration so the theme of that evening was tequilla.....a bad, bad decision. The night started out civil enough; we strolled along Sunset Boulevard and checked out a few bars and pubs in Santa Monica, played some pool and darts, made friends with the locals etc (I also got my first, and probably last bullseye!). Then it got a little messy. To summarise, there was: a broken phone, a lost hoodie, a husband strolling the streets at 3am talking to bums, a wife sleeping on a couch in the lobby of a hostel and Lan snug as a bug in his own bed :)
Next day Jo and I were battling big time. Lan however, somehow miraculously went to work- I guess it was a Tuesday after all.
So Tues evening, 6th May, was a little tamer. We did pizza and saw "Ironman" and wished we hadn't wasted the whole day hung over in bed craving the safer and quieter life of the country.
On Wed 7th May we started our drive north along the west coast but not before doing a drive by through Beverly Hills and taking a quick snap of the unimpressive "Hollywood sign".