Lobby of The Hilton, Los Angeles.

Not a bad night's sleep considering the time difference. But awake around 6.00am and dozed for a while. Enjoyed a nice breakfast in very pleasant surroundings and relaxed in the lobby, shown here, while Susan skyped her mum.

The hotel was celebrating Easter in a big way and had an Easter brunch, $35, complete with two magnificent ice sculptures that took half a dozen people to gingerly and carefully lift into position. All good so far.

Found car rental firm was just down the road from the hotel which meant we could walk a couple of hundred of yards rather than taking the hotel shuttle back to the airport and then taking the rental shuttle to pick up the car.

That's where it began to unravel as there was a long line at the check in desk which took well over an hour. Par for the course, they tried to sell us additional insurance which we didn't need as we'd bought annual cover in the UK before we left. When we refused their offer the person changed from bright and interested to one who wanted to get rid of us as soon as possible. Happens every time. We eventually picked up the car and hit the road.

The journey to Palm Springs was slow but interesting, taking 2 1/2 hours instead of the predicted two hours, travelling through miles of suburbia before entering the hills and finally the desert where the temperate hit 28c (82f)

The Sarguaro is an interesting hotel with gaudy, bright paintwork which seems to have a love hate relationship with its guests. Seems OK to us, but these are early days.

I was hoping to post a desert shot today, but the opportunity didn't arise so you had make do with the imposing hotel lobby. We're planning to go to Indian Canyon tomorrow . So you should expect desert blips rather than the inside of hotels.