Now, I promised pictures - and by joe, I will deliver them! (Never mind the fact that I've been back in the country for the past oh, almost three weeks now? Not the point!)

As much as I love nearly all of my pictures from the trip, if I posted them all I think I'd end up using my entire bandwidth for the rest of the year, and possibly cause the internet to spontaneously burst into flames, so I'm going to have to be choosy and just post my favourites. Sounds easy, but it's hard when you have approximately 900 favourites. I'll do my best!

If you've got a good half hour to spare, you can check out the rest here.

1. San Francisco

The first step on my journey, way back at the beginning of August. It was stunning weather, not too hot, not too chilly, and blue skies all round. Our 'close to the city' hotel ended up being a good hour's walk away, but it was right along the bay and past some amazing houses and streets, so it wasn't too terrible. Sadly Alcatraz was booked out in advance which was disappointing, but I loved the rest of the city just the same.

2. Los Angeles

The hostel was right on Venice Beach, as in overlooking the boardwalk. Pretty impressive, even if the boardwalk itself is full of crazies twenty four hours a day. While in Los Angeles, I managed to cram in quite a bit of sightseeing - from Santa Monica pier, to Hollywood Boulevard, to Universal Studios and driving around Beverley Hills. No celebrities though, at least that I could spy.

3. Anaheim

Ah yes, the land of Disney! We stayed here a good few days before beginning the Grand Southern Contiki tour - plenty of time to explore. At Angels Stadium, I caught a baseball game against the Yankees, which was an experience! And my dear Kirby-face flew into the USA, and thus the giggles and self-portrait shots commenced. This was my third (!) time to Disneyland, and I still loved it just as much as my first.

And there we have part one, the West Coast. Stay tuned!