Grey Never Looked So Good

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Hello All, I'm home at last, safe and sound I'm pleased to say!!!

The Sunday in LA we didn’t manage to go to Venice Beach, but instead went to a market across the street and enjoyed a good rummage! In the evening the hostel put on a free BBQ, and true to form us Brits were first in the queue, and created a ripple effect of panic throughout the hostel before the first burger had even made it onto the grill! Was worth elbowing an Irish guy and American woman though, as those first burgers were tremendous, I’m sure they weren’t as nice later!

That evening we went out to a club called the Dragonfly. I was only able to afford it as one of the guys in the hostel who works there had arranged free entry and the shuttle bus was $3.00. Yeah, right!! I don’t think he’d actually arranged anything and as he was driving the bus did a complete no show! In the end we had to get a taxi there and entry was $10, so couldn’t afford a drink, or a hotdog afterwards! However, I was brave and tried not to sulk too much, and this really cute guy who was with us but I can’t remember his name, gave me a bite of his so all was not lost!!

Monday I left for Vegas with a cracking hangover and far too many bags! I ate a whole bag of Cheetos (cheesy watsits style, god I miss them!) and mooched around the airport trying not to get arrested. I was really nervous for the whole flight, so thank goodness it was only really short. Got to Las Vegas airport and was disgusted to find that you have to pay for the airport trolleys!! What’s that about?! I understand that smaller airports might have to but the McCarran airport is HUGE! I’m sure they can afford to buy a few trolleys with the amount of people wasting their money in the slot machines that are everywhere!

Anyway, rant over, got the airport shuttle that was fabulously easy to find etc, to my hotel, The Tropicana! For anyone that’s o’fey (don’t actually know if that’s how you spell it!) with Vegas hotels, The Tropicana was one of the original casinos where all the celebs used to go. Sadly, its not quite as posh as I’m sure it used to be, but its still pretty cool! My bedroom was massive, although I had two queen beds and not one king, which I was obviously devastated about! There was even a little balcony, and the bedspreads were in this proper tacky 70’s design; I loved it! There were five pools I think, and some of them had cascading waterfalls running into them! (these were the ‘adult only’ pools, goodness knows why!).

That afternoon I managed to go to the supermarket for some tea and then retired back to the room! I was still feeling pretty dodgy after the night before, even though I didn’t drink that much, and so was in bed asleep fairly early! Got up late, of course, and spent the day wandering the strip and buying crap presents for everyone. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to any of the free shows which the hotels put on, as after a day of walking all over the place, I was ready for bed, again! But it all looked very impressive, if not tacky and full of the old and disabled! Still, I would definitely come back for a couple of days for another look!

I did manage to have a go on some of the slot machines, and found myself thoroughly addicted! In my first go I doubled my money to $10, and promptly spent it on stamps! Me and my rock star lifestyle!! I also had another go and lost everything, (the princely sum of $2) and then played again doubled, tripled then lost it all! My favourite machines were these 1c machines. You could bet up to $1 at a time, depending on how many lines you had and how much you bet on each line! The more line you had, the more times you won and the more noises and flashing lights were activated! It was soo hypnotic, and mine played little tunes as well! I did have a limit though, and after I lost $3 I decided that I’d bet enough and called it quits, phew and not a moment too soon! With all the money that I was spending, I was obviously attracted unwanted attention and making others in the casino very jealous!

That evening I thought I’d treat myself to a hot tea, and so after wandering around the casino for ages I found the Garden Café. After ordering a table for one, ooh the pride in that moment, I decided on a glass of red and spaghetti meat balls! It was huge! How anyone has ever completed that meal astounds me. You got bread rolls (sweet I might add) to start, a dinner salad, the main and also a side of veg. (peas), it was massive! I felt like I hardly touched it. The waitress offered me a doggy bag (I’d definitely chosen the right place to eat, anywhere that offers doggy bags without being prompted is ok with me!), but I declined, as I probably would have eaten it all, and had two airplane seats to fit into yet.

The next day Wednesday, I managed to waste an entire three hours doing nothing, and then got the airport shuttle to terminal 2, I think! Jesus was a depressing place! The UK and Canadian flights go from there and maybe that represents the relations between those countries and America. There was nothing, oh a burger king, and the most pathetic excuse for a duty free I’ve ever seen! Some American had tried to tell me that McCarren airport was on a par to Singapore airport, hmm yes likely storey! I was not unduly impressed, and so sulked a bit, until my name was called over the tanoy to come to the desk! Aagh, I hadn’t removed the lip gloss from my hand luggage and feared the worst, until they handed me my ticket receipt which they’d forgotten to give me, how kind! So, surrounded my uncouth cockneys, I boarded the flight for home, with very mixed feelings! I was definitely looking forward to going home and I was ready to go home as well, but also my wonderful, amazing travels were coming to an end. I had no job, no money, lots of debts and some beautiful handbags, and I felt very uncertain as to what life would hold for me, once I set foot on English soil. Luckily for me, I had plenty of time to consider all aspects of my return home, as I didn’t sleep a wink on the plane!

Landed in the UK at 10am, and had to wait ages as they couldn’t get the little corridor thing they attach to the plane to work! It was 2am in America and felt truly awful, so I figured the only way to fix things would be to get straight into it, and so stood blocking the aisles in Boots for a good 15 mins, marvelling at the sandwich choice, and trying to choose the best combination of sandwich or salad, snack and drink! In the end I bought more, and almost cried when I dropped my bag of bacon frazzles all over the floor, ooh the cruelty! Loads people called me which was really really nice, and then spent a good 15 mins literally walking around in circles trying to find my gate! What a spoon, I almost cried, and then saw the sign in the corner, where I’d walked past about six times, oh dear!

Anyway, the flight was good, BA are so much better compared to Virgin, well the flight I went on anyway, and then big brother picked me up and took me home! Aah it was so good to see everyone again, but instantly felt like I’d never been away, but that was good, really nice!

Didn’t really do much over the weekend, just spent QT with pa and bro and then Sunday came home to mum’s! She cooked a fab Sunday roast with apple and blackcurrant pie and custard for pudding, hmmm, a bottle of champers to round it all off, perfect! My step brother is showing small signs of recovery as well so that made coming home even better, fingers crossed for the future!

This week, my schedules been very full of very important things! Monday, I spent all day sorting out all of my stuff that I left here when I went travelling; got rid of about 3 bin bags full so that’s good. Tuesday, I joined the gym, hurrah!! I decided enough was enough and today I actually went to the gym (felt fab) and I got my hair cut, woo hooo!!!! So as you can see I’ve been very busy! Ooh also, I can’t currently log into my hotmail account from mum’s computer for some reason, (I’m communicating by email with Microsoft to try and sort it out), so if I’ve not emailed you its not because I don’t care, but I really don’t want to use my Orange one for mass email as its so unreliable! It took me about 15 mins to log into it today, and it just infuriates me! I went to the library after my hair was cut, but of course it shuts early on a Wednesday, and Derby doesn’t have another internet café; I know gob smacking isn’t it! Also, I’ve got loads of photos to add to the web site , so when I’ve popped them all on, I’ll add another entry!

Its really really good to be back. I had the most amazing time whilst I was away, and met some really fantastic people, who I hope I’ll keep in touch with. The next trip will hopefully be to South America in a couple of years, but we’ll see! I think I’m going to miss writing my blog, so I might do one of those really sad online diaries that people with no life do, oh that’s me then! Anyway, love you all, thanks for tuning in, your comments have really kept me going over the last eleven and a half months, and until next time………

¡Diviértase, sea feliz y la sonrisa!

xxx

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