California dreaming: A ten-day family trip to the Golden State

A big birthday calls for a big holiday. Vickie Maye heads off on a ten-day family trip across California

Los Angeles, California, by night

The voice on the speaker directs us through the winding, leafy hills of Beverly Hills. 

We continue through junctions and intersections, take an immediate right here, a sharp left there. And suddenly we find ourselves awkwardly parked up in a gated, affluent-looking cul-de-sac.