Los Angeles – home to Hollywood, the most famous people in the world, playground of the rich and the birthplace of American cinema.

It’s the showbiz and glamour capital of the world, so it was only right that I spent my final night in Fiji with an acclaimed surfer, bikini model and filmmaker.

It wasn’t quite how you are thinking – she had kindly let me jump into her private taxi to the airport at Nadi after I, as usual, left things too late to get there in public transport.

For once, I had a decent excuse, having spent around half an hour searching for my camera that had managed to go missing from the resort reception, where staff were supposed to be keeping an eye on it while the battery charged. I was quickly sent into a mild panic when I returned from a shower to find just the charger beside the sofa where I had left it.

After much searching, hunting through my bags, shrugged shoulders from the security bloke who had been sat in the reception area the entire time, and almost a resignation that someone had helped themselves to my camera so close to the end of my trip, it mysteriously appeared again behind the reception counter.

Quite what was going on I don’t know, but with the time approaching 6.30pm, a two hour drive to the airport, and a flight to America leaving at 10pm, complete with a recommended three hour check in, it didn’t take much for me to work out I was suddenly cutting it far too fine. That’s when I met Alison, who for much of the afternoon I had seen draping herself over the hammocks on the beach while her friend took photos. I’d presumed they were making some kind of publicity shots for the Beachouse, but it turned out they were working for the man who makes the hammocks.

With just $24 remaining in my wallet, after barely eating anything aside from free provisions in an attempt to save myself from taking any more cash out from a machine, I knew $15 would be needed for a public minibus back to the airport. But with barely enough time to catch one, I was pointed in the direction of the two girls who were busy loading tonnes of stuff into a taxi.

“I don’t suppose I can get a lift to the airport with you guys could I? How much is it?” I asked.

I was told it had set them back $120, so explained my situation and offered all I had in my wallet.

“Oh sure, just jump in its no problem,” she said cheerily.

It turned out they are both working on a freelance basis, as a model and photographer, specialising in some incredible surfing and underwater photography. It included promotional shots for Mojo Surf in Byron Bay, Australia, where I learnt to surf, and we talked about Adsy and the guys there I got to know in the couple of days I spent with them in the water. The girls dabble in journalism too, and both have websites that are well worth checking out here and here.

We spent the entire journey talking about our travels and line of work, looking at photos they had taken and finding out how they were managing to travel around from job to job, keeping costs and living expenses to a minimum. It was an exciting lifestyle, and one I could have talked about for hours, but sadly they were catching a flight back to their homes in Hawaii.

“Look, don’t worry about the fare, we’d have had to pay it anyway. Keep the money in your pocket and get yourself something to eat in departures,” Alison said as we arrived at Nadi’s international terminal. I tried my best to at least give her a few dollars, but she wouldn’t accept it. It was a lovely gesture, and yet again another example of the kindness you can find from complete strangers when you’re in a tricky situation far from home.

We had photos together before saying goodbye, promising to check out each others blogs when we find time. I left them as they made their way to the Air Pacific check in desk with the hope of avoiding another bill of more than $1,000 in excess baggage that they had been stung with on the outbound flight.

And so I made my way to the Los Angeles check-in desk for the longest flight of my entire trip, a 10 hour journey across the Pacific Ocean and the date line to the west coast of America. My original plan was to tour the west coast, going as far north as San Francisco, before flying from LA to New York to see friends and then back home at the end of July. But then I had the brainwave of ending my travels with something special, eyeing up how much of the globe I had travelled overland, and thinking about how great it would be to drive from coast to coast across America.

Route 66, the Pacific to the Atlantic, more than 2,400 miles along America’s ‘mother road’ to Chicago and then over to the east coast. Its the stuff of dreams for any petrolhead, and I grew to think of it as a fitting finale to an epic adventure. I even had my friend Ian, from Melbourne, and who I met 10 years ago while working on a children’s summer camp in New York, interested in the idea. With just about enough funds, it was a goer.

Stupidly, however, I managed to forget it was my dad’s 60^th birthday on July 21, and had an awkward conversation a couple of months back where I had a slightly upset father who believed I’d snubbed him for an extra week on my trip. I had to explain myself and how I’d thought he was only 59 this year – well, he does look good for his age (I know he reads this!)  – and being out of the loop on the other side of the world, events back home had passed me by.

With my sister Amy working for travel company Thomson in Cape Verde, dad told me how he wanted us all to be together for a week over his birthday. His idea was for us all to fly out to the island on July 19 for a week of sun, fun and relaxation together. It would be the first time in around two years we will have all been together, and a fitting way for us all to spend his birthday together.

The upshot of all this was that I had to shave some time off the end of my travels to get home earlier. I had to juggle around my plans to get back to the UK in time for the flight, meaning I am now flying out of New York on July 17. To do this, Fiji was cut from two weeks to six days, my time in the States was reduced by a week, and it would mean less time with my best mate Dan, wife Denise and my godson Nathanial in Connecticut before my flight back to London.

I was determined to still do everything I had planned, however, even if it did mean keeping to yet another tight schedule. I worked out the road trip of a lifetime was still possible, and my overland adventures that have become a bit of a theme of my journey would continue.

I boarded the Air Pacific jumbo jet at Nadi knowing that as well as flying substantially closer to home, I was about to become a time traveller. The quirk about going fully around the world is that you gain time when you cross the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean. It means you don’t lose any travel time, and even stranger, you arrive in America before you have even set off for the airport.

My 10pm flight from Fiji on the Tuesday landed at Los Angeles International Airport at 2pm on the same Tuesday afternoon. It would mean a single day lasting a staggering 42 hours, and with only a little sleep on the flight, I arrived in America with that horrible zombie feeling.

Worse still, arriving at the Budget car hire centre at LAX, I had yet more problems with my bank thanks to the ongoing restrictions HSBC have put on my account after assessing I was potentially a victim of card cloning. With a £200 limit on transactions in any 24 hour period, the £400 hold that the hire company needed to take from my account wouldn’t go through. Neither would they let me ring the bank from the office to get them to authorise the transaction. Instead, it was a search for some free wifi at the hotel across the road, where yet again Skype got me out of a sticky situation.

“We’ve given you a complimentary upgrade,” said the assistant behind the counter before directing me to a parking spot outside.

And there it was. Gleaming white, sparkling in the California sun, and a lot bigger than the budget economy car I had booked for the trans-America drive. It’s a Ford Fusion, and for the next two weeks, it will become home for Ian and I as we make our way east.

Ian doesn’t fly in from Melbourne for a couple of days, and we’d agreed to meet in Las Vegas, so for the first few days I was on my own. One of the advantages of having a car is that I’ll be able to get around so much easier for the next few days, but more than that, it means the days of lugging all my belongings around on my back are finally over. Most of my bags will be able to stay in the boot of the car, meaning after more than eight months of wandering streets with my entire belongings strapped to me, my back can finally get a rest

I stepped inside the car, put the air conditioning on full blast, and tentatively slipped the automatic gearbox into drive, inching my way out of the car park and onto the streets of LA. Being a fairly regular visitor to the States, I quickly got the hang of driving on the roads again, and headed to a McDonalds (where else?!) for some free wifi, booking myself into a backpacker motel near the airport.

It was a slightly strange place, with its fair share of odd people, but with a pool, free breakfast and dinner, unlimited coffee and wifi, all for just £12 a night, it was too good to turn down. I booked in for three nights, dumped some belongings and set off to explore the city.

And what a city it was. My first night I spent getting my bearings, working out the Interstate system and how to get around to the various famous parts of LA. I headed to the beaches, to find hundreds of people preparing for Independence Day with bonfires and beers. The famous Venice and Santa Monica beaches and resorts were thriving with people enjoying the start of the holiday period. There was very much a relaxed atmosphere about the city.

It left me with my own problem about what to do for Independence Day, a day when America can celebrate all that is good about being, well, American. I searched the internet and narrowed it down to a couple of options to experience the day. It was either a night at the LA Bowl for some kind of America-fest, with what was described as the most patriotic night and the most spectacular fireworks in California. Or there was a baseball game between the LA Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds. I could get a cheap ticket online, and was just about to book, when another sporting fixture flashed up on my screen. It was for LA Galaxy, home to David Beckham.

Now, I’ve not had much luck when it comes to watching one of England’s greatest ever players in action in the flesh. I missed opportunities when he was playing back home, and so thought I would get the chance to see him play when I watched Real Madrid take on Espanyol at the Bernabeu a few years back. Unfortunately, he managed to get injured again just before the game, and while it will always go down as one of the most exciting games of football I have ever seen – a dramatic last minute 4-3 win that saw Real go top and win the La Liga as a result – I resigned myself to the fact I would probably never get to see Becks play in person.

So, thanks to a $70 ticket being offered for just $19 online, and free Independence Day fireworks afterwards, my mind was made up. I would spend the night celebrating US independence from British rule by watching the most American of sports. Soccer, or football to give it the proper name.

Before that however I had my sights set on seeing possibly the most famous sign in the world, in perhaps one of the most famous neighbourhoods in the world. The Hollywood sign in, erm, Hollywood.

While picking up the car keys from my room, I said a quick hello to a tall lad with glasses, who asked if I was going to the beach. I told him I wasn’t, but was off to explore LA.

“I’m on my way to Hollywood, for a look around. You’re welcome to come along if you fancy the ride out,” I said, expecting him to say no.

Instead, he said he’d love to. His name was Tommy, who it turned out was quite a quiet bloke and who was slightly awkward to keep conversation flowing with, but he was nice enough and it was company for a few hours. He was from Washington state, and in LA searching for work in IT. Yet he had lived in LA for years, and had never been to visit the famous sign in the Hollywood Hills.

“I can’t help but laugh at the irony of an English bloke, on Independence Day, taking an American bloke to go and see one of his country’s most famous sights,” I laughed as we climbed the dusty pathway towards the huge white letters.

The sign was one of the sights I had been most looking forward to seeing in this part of America. It is something we have all been brought up with, and a sign we see thousands of times, usually without realising in cinema and television. Interestingly, it was erected in 1923 and originally said “Hollywoodland”, the main purpose to advertise the name of a new housing development in the Santa Monica hills. But for whatever reason, the sign was left up and became something of a novelty.

The sign isn’t the original, however. By the 1970s, that had fallen into a state of disrepair, and while various pranks have been played over the year where letters have been rearranged or covered up, the sign, having bits of letters broken or missing, once actually read “Hullywod”.

We came across a steep side track, where two guys were scrambling up to another path. We followed, eventually catching them up. I got talking to one, wearing a red shirt, who was called Justin. They were visiting the city from another part of America, and were excited about getting so close to the sign.

The track ended up on a former road that winds its way up the hillside, towards a communications mast at the top. At this point we still couldn’t see the sign, despite approaching the peak of the hill. We did, however, come across yet another dusty track to our right. We followed it, climbing up another rocky pathway and discovering a plaque dedicated to Hugh Hefner, clearly his favourite lookout over Los Angeles which sprawled out to the horizon in front of us.

To our left, we could see a fence, and just a few metres below us, the giant ‘H’ that starts what is probably the most famous sign in the world.

“Lets go down there and touch it, I’ve always wanted to do that,” said Justin, who we’ve only just met.

I wasn’t too sure what the legal situation was when it comes to approaching the sign, but there seemed to be a worn track down the hillside towards the six-storey high letters so presumed it must be ok to get a closer look. But then my conscience got the better of me, after all, there was a fairly hefty steel fence along the side of the road that I had somehow found myself on the wrong side of.

In the distance I could see some form of warning sign, and a security camera that was pointing in our direction. Call me a chicken, but I decided the risk of arrest wasn’t quite worth touching the huge white metal letters.

Besides, I quite like America, and a ban on visiting the country after a spell of bird for touching one of their icons would be really annoying.

So I turned around and headed back for the relative safety behind the fence, watching Justin and his friend make their way down to the sign and touching it, making a metallic sound that echoed around the hilltop. They made their way up, laughing and joking about their achievement, and leaving me regretting not making the descent with them.

Then we all saw a police or ranger van pull up at a bridge far below, blocking one of the return tracks to the car park. Justin and his mate decided that they had better leave on a separate route, and took a trail through the bush back down to the bottom. Tommy and I made our way around the normal way – after all, we had done nothing wrong.

I will never know if the other two got arrested, as the last time I saw them they were stumbling down a rocky path, but I do know more about security at the sign having looked it up on the internet. As well as banks of CCTV cameras that I could see at the top, the sign is also equipped with motion sensors and infra red devices. Once they are triggered, the LAPD helicopter is automatically dispatched, and people are usually yelled at from a loudspeaker onboard and promptly arrested at the bottom of the hill. I’m just glad I didn’t take the risk!

After spending most of the afternoon looking out over LA and at nine huge white letters, I headed back to the hostel to drop Tommy off with a long drive down the Sunset Strip and along Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard to the main interstate. It doesn’t quite feel real to be driving along such famous streets, but the plush gated houses along both sides of the road in these incredible neighbourhoods are a reminder that the world’s rich and famous call these streets their home.

Speaking of rich and famous, it was time to travel to the Home Depot Center Stadium to watch David Beckham in action for LA Galaxy. The stadium was smaller than I imagined, and it was festooned with Beckham memorabilia and photos, while almost everyone wearing a Galaxy shirt had his named emblazoned on their backs.

He really has become something of a cult hero over here, as well as back home. I arrived just in time to see the teams come out onto the pitch, amid much American fanfare and waving of flags. Fireworks were launched from the pitch, and everyone stood for the national anthem. A Saturday afternoon game at Blundell Park for Grimsby Town versus Fleetwood this was not.

After scouring websites for team news, checking out injury pages, even looking at the David Beckham fan sites to check he hadn’t been dropped or injured before the game, I looked for the familiar figure on the pitch. Except he wasn’t there. I checked the bench. No Beckham either. Others around me were asking the same question, including the family next to me who had turned up especially to see him.

“The same thing happened to me in Madrid a couple of years back,” I told them, before being accused of being the bad omen for the night.

And I was – despite my checks and research, Beckham had been banned after picking up a yellow card in the previous match. Instead, I sat through one of the most boring games of football I have ever witnessed (quite a statement from a Grimsby fan!) where even the likes of Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan failed to impress.

In addition, sitting with American fans while watching the sport is a completely different experience to anything back home. It seems the actual action on the pitch is just a side show – the main reason for people attending the game is to try and eat and drink as much as possible within the 90 minutes of play. I swear some people see it as a challenge. A couple in front of me brought an entire coolbag full of pre-prepared meats, salads, bread and pasta. A full evening meal, to eat while watching football from the stands.

And you can forget a meat pie and a pint here – it was all about candy floss, churros, nachos and hot dogs. Basically, baseball meets football, America meets England and everyone leaves the ground three stone heavier than when they went in.

On top of all that, and not content with the action on the pitch, the crowd tries to entertain themselves too. At half time, a dinosaur came onto the pitch (I know Beckham is getting old, but that’s not me being funny – it really was a dinosaur) and families had to shoot the ball past the dinosaur to win tickets to some theme park. Kiss cam came on the big screen, forcing some of California’s most hideous couples to smooch in front of thousands, and in the process making far too many people gag on their nachos.

Then someone came out and launched t-shirts into the crowd. There was some kind of ‘lucky seat’ game that meant everyone had to search under their chair for a golden ticket. Then a row of people in front of me started jumping around after being chosen as the ‘lucky row’ to appear on screen and win something free (probably food related).

In addition to all of that, while the game was going on, one section behind the goal was constantly making noise thanks to being orchestrated by a man in a pit with a loud speaker, along with much arm swinging, chanting and the odd rhythmic ‘dee-fense cha cha cha’, the sound of which just makes me baulk at the abuse of our national sport.

I did, however, see the reasoning behind the loudspeaker man – without him, the atmosphere would have been deathly. Even the family next to me admit that Americans simply don’t know how to behave at the ‘soccer’. They don’t know whether to just stay quiet and eat (which on the whole they do) or let their inhibitions go a bit and cheer for their team.

Instead, they have many failed attempts at a Mexican wave, that old chestnut that was once common in the Eighties but probably hasn’t been seen at a football ground back home since, well, about the Eighties.

Eventually they got it going, and I admit, I joined in. It wasn’t because I wanted to, or because there was peer pressure to join in with the Americans around me, who, by now, had embraced their English visitor who could explain all the rules and give stories of football across the pond. It was simply because it was something to do, and it took my mind off the banal game in front of me. It was either that, or buy something else to eat and drink. Perhaps we see part of the problem here.

The Beckhamless Galaxy went behind in the first half thanks to a weak goal by their Philadelphia counterparts, before levelling in the second half with a goal that sent everyone wild in the stands. There was even blue and silver confetti launched from the top of the stand that fluttered down on everyone to mark the momentous occasion.

They went on to lose by conceding a stupid and sloppy injury time goal, which left everyone heading to the nearest burger stand for a final feed before taking their seats again to sing ‘God bless America’ and ‘Born in the USA’ en masse while thousands of dollars worth of fireworks went up in smoke above one of the stands.

It would have been a great display if someone had worked out which way the wind – and therefore the smoke-  was blowing and planned accordingly. Instead, after half an hour of obscured flashes and flames, everyone headed out to the car park and joined a queue for the interstate.

I, meanwhile, headed back to the car with the knowledge it probably was, now, the last chance I will have to see Mr Beckham bend it on a pitch in person. I did see Frank Lampard and his missus in the ground, apparently meeting Becks to watch the game, but that was as close as I got to seeing a free kick expert in action on the night.

I had a couple of visits to Hollywood Boulevard during my time in this famous part of America, enjoying a couple of strolls along the Walk of Fame. It was no other than Journey’s star that was the first one I actually recognised along the strip amid all the past movie, music, radio and television personalities who have their fame recorded in the most permanent way with a red marble star in the sidewalk.

The walk of fame is surprisingly long, a good 20 minute walk in each direction, and it can be good fun spotting the names you know, from Elton John to Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera to Arnold Schwarzenegger. There were special stones for people like the crew of Apollo 11, including Neil Armstrong, who set foot on the moon for their special achievement, while the LA Dodgers and various industry partners get special mentions in the path for their help with promoting the area and the Oscars.

After spotting Journey’s star, I didn’t stop believing at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, where I marvelled at how small some of the world’s most famous hands and feet are in the cement stones that make up the famous forecourt.

Grauman’s is known as one of the most famous movie theatres in the world, built by famous showman Sid Grauman who is seen as one of the key figures behind cinema. To have a hand and footprint taken here is often seen as a career highlight, even by the most famous of celebrities. Apparently, there are two stories about how the tradition began: one has Mary Pickford as the actress who stepped in wet cement on her way to see the magnificent new building shortly after it had been finished, and the other credits Norma Talmadge with the misstep. Grauman decided it was a wonderful way to have a permanent record of the stars, and began inviting selected film personalities to put their hand and footprints in concrete.

To this day, the world’s most famous people get on their hands and knees here to leave a lasting impression – and their films are often premiered in the theatre within. It was fascinating to wander around, braving the throngs of tourists and spotting the many famous names and messages.

Amid more driving through Beverly Hills, I called in at the Apple store in Hollywood to finally sort out the long-running saga of my iPhone, which has not been right ever since it was unlocked by O2 back home and upgraded to iOS5 through iTunes. Regular visitors to my ramblings would no doubt have picked up my frustrations at carting my iPhone around the world with me, only for it to sit in my bag redundant most of the way after it either breaks down or locks up on me. Since inserting a New Zealand sim card in it, once again it had been rendered useless, somehow locking itself to Vodafone Australia despite being supplied with an unlocked device in Sydney.

Having spent $40 on Skype credit with four separate calls to Apple support, who in turn pass me on to Vodafone, who in return send me an email three days later telling me it was an issue with Apple, who then send me back into this vicious circle by sending me back to Vodafone, I had grown sick of being passed from pillar to post.

I walked in and for once their sickly smiles and warm welcoming style couldn’t cut through my frustration. I went straight for the top, asking to speak to a manager, which resulted in me getting an appointment straight away at the ‘Genius bar’. Where I was told they wouldn’t unlock it, there was nothing they could do, and it was an issue with my carrier.

There was no way I was leaving until it was sorted out, and so I sat myself down and told them as much, fed up with Apple and the phone networks around the world constantly passing the buck. I dug my heals in. After being asked to explain the who sorry tale three times to three different people, eventually the manager was sent to speak to me.

“I have explained the story so many times, I have a case number, can you not call Apple support and get the rundown of what has happened before finding me a solution to all these problems,” I asked.

“I’m sorry sir, I cant call Apple support, they are nothing to do with us.”

So not only can they not communicate with the networks they sell their phones to, they can’t even talk to sections of their own company.

“This was a phone issued in Australia, we can only change phones issued in the States,” came another little gem, that only served to raise my frustrations.

“So, effectively, you can’t travel anywhere with an iPhone because if you get problems, you can’t get help, and the networks around the world lock your phone even it its unlocked,” I said.

“That is the case I’m afraid, yes.”

It was a ridiculous situation, and an area that really needs highlighting. Iphones, as great as they are – simply the best bit of kit around if I’m honest for ease of use and capability – have one major flaw. Once you put another sim card in, it will lock to that network. You then have to faff around getting it unlocked again, only for it to lock to the next network you put a sim in from. And when you need help from Apple, because it is officially a carrier issue, it can be like getting blood from a stone, constantly being batted away back to whoever supplied the sim card.

This time, however, I wasn’t going anywhere, and they knew it. I was eventually given a phone to call customer support on, while sat inside an Apple story, because the different members of staff couldn’t possibly talk to one another. And there I sat, for the next hour and a half, to some engineer somewhere in America who looked into all of my accounts, replacements and problems over the past few years.

“As well as Vodafone Australia, your handset is locked to a network in Korea,” I was told.

The plot thickened.

“The serial number on your account is for a handset from Korea. Have you had one from there?” I was asked.

While I had visited Seoul for an hour between flights in November, there wasn’t enough time to have a drink, let alone buy a new phone. I repeated my serial number three times to make sure.

“I have spotted what it is – someone has written a digit down wrong on one of your replacements.”

Somehow, in Meadowhall, one digit went down wrong. Instead of my phone, it registered as a complete stranger’s handset in Korea. And since that day, their phone has been unlocked on numerous occasions by networks on my behalf, while being accused by me of not carrying out the procedure. It turns out they were, but not on my handset.

“I’m really sorry sir, it does seem to have been a mistake by one of our staff that has caused all of these problems.”

I relayed this to the staff around the Genius bar, who a couple of hours ago had adopted the ‘its your fault, your problem, deal with it,’ mentality in trying to get me out of the shop. Suddenly they had all changed their tune, and to be fair to the manager, he couldn’t apologise enough, even giving me a new pair of headphones for free.

So now, with one solitary digit being amended on my records, hopefully that will be the end of this long running saga that has driven me mad. Its just a shame that for the majority of this trip, I have been without my music, maps, phone, emails on the go, Facebook and Twitter in my hand, and everything else that helps while on the move thanks to the clever little touches incorporated into the handset. And Apple will be getting a strongly worded letter, complete with a claim for international phone calls and three new (cheapo) handsets I have had to buy in various countries just so I can make calls.

Relieved that I seemed to have finally got a result, I went for a pootle along Rodeo Drive, the shopping district of the stars, along Hollywood Boulevard to take in one last dose of the Tinseltown atmosphere, and smiling at how normal it felt to be cruising around one of the most incredibly rich and famous areas in the world.

But it was time to move on – I have the road trip of all road trips to begin, and it was time to get my kicks on Route 66.