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Published: December 17th 2006
After our long and very boring wait in Tahiti airport we eventually boarded our flight to LAX. As we flew in over the unbelieveably vast city that is Los Angeles; views of skyscrapers and the Hollywood sign hit home to my island thinking mind that this was going to be quite a culture shock.
SHORT BUT SWEET IN L.A. We arrived in LAX with only a name of a hostel and not a lot else. Luckily for us, and unexpectedly, an English guy was waiting there to pick up the stray backpackers and take us to the Orbit hostel, based in West Hollywood and not far from the Sunset strip. The huge roads, the large in-your-face advertisements, the famous land-marks and the variety of LA people on the streets was a far cry from those lazy island days that I've been enjoying for the last month or so, with only the odd palm tree as a faint reminder. Along the journey in the large (American large) people carrier the driver pointed out a diner on our right called Pann's diner which is where the famous "Big Mac" scene from Pulp Fiction was shot, very cool indeed!
On arrival
to the hostel, we found ourselves in a very 'hip' part of Hollywood, on Melrose Avenue, lined with thrift stores and vintage clothing stores... our shopping paradise!
Knowing we had a lot ahead of us and that we'd be returning to LA before our flight back to England we thought we'd keep our credit cards in our pockets for now.
That night we were advised to go to a comedy night just a block down the road to a place called the Improv bar, where pretty much every American comedian has performed and anyone could turn up and do a bit of stand-up. The line up was titled College comedy, so we thougt it sounded pretty good and humour appropriate to us.
The night was really good and we saw some very funny acts, one guy is about to appear in a new Adam Sandler film and a couple of the othershave appeared on HBO a number of times, so who knows maybe soon I'll say "'ve seen him live." when watchin a film??
SIN CITY Thursday:
We woke early so we could go to Budget car rentals and hire ourselves a nice Chevvy for
a few days and for our drive across the desert to the world famous neon and gambling centre of the world; Las Vegas.
The drive was pretty cool as the sun began to set and as nighttime fell we could see the cloud of lights from behind the desert mountain indicating VEGAS. We drove in along the freeway by-passing 'The Strip' in order to get straight to the hostel - 'Sin City Hostel'.
After checking in we drove down 'The Strip' to be stunned and amazed by the craziness of Las Vegas. Neon everywhere you look, casino's, casino's, casino's; The Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Circus Circus, The Mirage all the big names. It was like being dropped into a completely un-real world and such a huge change from white sands and blue lagoons of Tahiti. After grabbing a McDonalds, which was quite the treat after Baked beans and Baguette's we got back to the hostel to prepare ourselves for a night on the town.
Donning our Fijian 'Bula shirts' and sunglasses we rolled on into Vegas on the Deuce bus, which runs up and down the strip every 15 minutes, to Caesar's Palace for a spot of gambling. On arrival we
strolled on in and sat ourselves at the 25 cent slot machines, when almost a second later a scantily clad middle-aged waitress, with breasts that must have cost her a few thousand Dollars asked for our drinks order. We ordered 3 Budweiser and they arrived promptly after, finding that we didn't have to pay for them, we mearly had to tip the waitress a dollar. We spent sometime trying our luck on the slot machines with no idea what we were doing and with drinks being brought o us when ever we needed them, we found that you could put $1 in the machine and make it last for an hour whilst ordering drinks freely. We swapped from machine to machine, guessing our way around the different flashing lights, when every now and again we won some cash back, usually $11-15, if we were lucky. Whilst we were there another scantily clad, large breasted, woman offered us Cigars, which we purchased and completed our crazy out-fits. As we walked around it was hard for the other people in the casino to ignore our almost celebrity like appearance and people began to chat to us everywhere we turned. We had a
lot of fun watching the big hands being played on the Texas Hold 'em tables and then it was time to leave.
SINNING As we left Caesar's Palace the doorman offered us a lift to a strip bar free of charge and all he wanted was a tip. As we were also celebrating Matt's second birthday of this huge adventure we gratefully accepted. He then turned to us and asked "so how do you want to get there... The Navigator or the Limo?"
Chuckling to ourselves we said "Er... when in Vegas, we'll take the Limo please"
He chatted to us along the way about the craziness that is Vegas and we arrived at a strip bar called 'Score's'. After being told to pull our jeans up we were allowed entry and the sleaziness of a Vegas strip club was being lived.
Chris and I didn't buy Matt a birthday present this year, until now, with the idea that we'd get him something he wouldn't forget too soon. $20 later and Matt seemed to be enjoying himself with one of the strippers sat on his lap.
Chris and I dicussed how un-real this was and such a far cry
from pretty much anything we've done on the whole trip, we also concluded that the strip bar was ridiculoulsy fake and stupidy sleazy.
One of the waitresses that had been hanging around our table for quite some time chatting to us then asked us if we wanted to join her and her friends at a different table. With the falsness of the place I almost interigated her about whether or not it would end up costing us money, but after a while I was cinvinced we'd be ok. At their table Grey Goose vodka was being drank from the bottle served in Champagne buckets and Jagermeister was there for all to enjoy, with another bucket full of Red Bull. Shots were passed around and we sat laughing and chatting with a load of once again scantily clad, thousand dollar breasted girls. After knowing our limits with the Jager and the Grey Goose we left the building, after spending very little money, yet being more than adequetly drunk. A taxi took us to the hostel where we crashed out.
Much of Friday was spent in bed, but we eventually dragged ourselves to a pizza resaurant where we ate and I
noticed a small bruise on Matt's neck, obviously we did buy him something he wouldn't forget too quickly, haha!
We went back tot he hostel for a bit more sleep then drank a few Natural Ice beers ($5.95 for 12, 5.9% Alc.) and heaed to Casino number two; The famous 'Bellagio' famous for its appearance in 'Ocean's Eleven'. We played more slots and drank a few beers, but the night was very half-hearted and we ended up calling a night fairly early.
We were up relatively early so we could take advantage of the blue skies to take some photo's and find the 'Welcome to famous Las Vegas sign'. We drove up and down 'The Strip' amazed at the sights we saw. The place is just so ridiculous, yet has a strange appeal; mini Manhatton, mini Eiffel tower, MGM Grand, Elvis impersonators on every corner and huge adverts advertising shows etc.
We found the infamous Las Vegas sign and then did a bit of souvenir shopping before a Philli Cheesesteak and booking some tickets for a show titled 'The Amazing Jonathon'. It was advertised as a comedy magic show and came quiet highly recommended.
Back to the hostel, then
a few Natty Ice beers, and we headed to the show, dressing up as much as we could and donning a pair of $1 dollar sunglasses bought earlier in the day. We walked, talked and pretended to be celebrities to everyone that approached us, much to our own amusement, acting as an English Indie band called 'Blue Tomorrow' (don't really know where that came from?).
In 'The Sahara', in the queue, a man in a suite stoud behind us in disbelief to our dress sense and willingness to have fun and then ushered his friends forward saying in our ear-shot "come on, I'm not sitting with these peasants".
We laughed loudly, thoroughly enjoying the moment.
When we entered the show-room we were directed to our seats by an old usher asking Matt "are you Chris Angel?" apparently a celebrity in Vegas.
The show was pretty good and had some funny parts, all of which were based around him trying to be amazing at magic but then seeming to be rubbish when the tricks went wrong. He also had number of situation jokes.
'Amazing Jonathon' was certainly not the classiest of shows and definatley not a show that demaned any
class segregation, which also added to our amusement when discussing Mr. Man's comment about us being peasents.
We left the show-room and met 'Mr. Man' in the toilet, by accident, and talked to each other in crystal clear, posh, English discussng the lack of class in 'Amazing Jonathon's' performance. As we did, when he called us peasants, he looked suitably un-impressed.
JACKPOT The night took us to the Casino downstairs where we enjoyed the $1 beers, but had pretty much had our fill of slot machines, so we decided to move on to a change of scenary. Just before we left I noticed I had 25 cents left to spin once again, I hit all the buttons and hit spin. As the spinning numbers and shapes came to a holt the machine began #binging# and the prize money LED lights began to shoot up. I sat there in complete disbelief as the number rose and rose, $50...... $100..... I let out a couple of "whoops"...... $150..... I began shouting with joy and shock..... $190..... $200...... right up to $225.25 where it eventually stopped..... JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was amazed and incredibly excited with my win and beamed with a smile
The Bellagio
no fountains though, sadly!for at least 2 hours afterwards, from 25 cents to $225.25 at the hit of a button I that I don't understand, the joy of Vegas!
We then went to a pretty dingy club but our celebrity appearance attracted a whole host of people, so we enjoyed to talking to all the Americans.
FREEZING COLD AT A GRAND CANYON SUNRISE We checked out before 11am and then began a long drive to the Hoover dam. This is where the original 'Superman' film was filmed and was very impressive indeed. It's the largest dam in the world and was appropriatley astounding, holding back such a vast amount of water.
With Chris behind the wheel we headed towards what he thought was the direction of the Grand Canyon, but I wasn't convinced, so as we drove over the dam in the slow moving traffic I asked someone which direction the dam was and the helpful, yet strange looking bearded American, pointed us the opposite way. For an unknown reason to Matt and I, Chris didn't believe it, so I then asked another man, he also pointed in the other direction. It was now amusing when Chris argued his
plan to keep going, in disbelief that it could be the other way. So I then asked another man, this time we got Chris to turn around and head in the right direction. On the way back I asked in a stupidly idiotic manner, where is the Hoover dam, much to the American family's enjoyment as they pronounced "it's right here man!"
It was a pretty long drive to the place where we wished to rest our weary heads, Flagstaff, and when we arrived we simply booked into a Motel and after a hearty meal of meatlof (in appreciasion of Will Ferrel in 'Wedding Crashers') then slept.
4:30am my alarm sounds and I jump into our freezing cold Chevvy to get the engine on and some heating pumped around the inside. The mission to drive to the Grand Canyon for sunrise then began. It was about an hour before the we were in the area and the sun was begining to light the night sky. As the Canyon is rather a large sight we couldn't seem to find one particular viewing point, on the map we were given that we wanted, but we eventually, after a lot of
rushing, found the main platform form which to view the sunrise, which thankfully hadn't broken over the canyon.
It was absolutely freezing. As it was dark we just assumed it was cold but as the sun began to rise and more light shone across the canyon I could see snow on the path near me. I was only dressed in a vest, T-shirt and a sweater as I threw my coat out in New Zealand, not wanting it for the islands.
I didn't really know what to expect from the canyon, obviously as one of the wonders of the world I knew it would be an amazing sight, but I wasn't prepared for the incredible size and depth of the open expanse before me. It is an absolutly amazing sight and well worth the rush there for sunrise. The highlight for me wasn't the sun rising but the full moon setting on the opposite side, something I've never seen before and certainly not so clearly and perfectly as its orange glow dipped behind the vast canyon.
I was so cold,I was in pain and felt sick from the coldness so once the sun had risen I ran back
to the car to get warm with Matt and Chris who were also freezing and blasted the heaters for 15 minutes or so. We then ran back out to get a couple more photo's now the sun was a bit higher and then it was back in the car and off back to LAX airport.
COULD HAVE BEEN A SCENE FROM STEVE BRUNELL'S POLICE CHASE VIDEO'S?! This drive was anything but slow. We were told it was about 4/5 hours from the Grand Canyon back to LA and by our time scale we could work out we had to put peddle to the metal in order to catch our 3pm flight to San Francisco and check in an hour before. We weren't sure how long it would take, but when we eventually saw a sign for LA that said 635 miles away, we realised this may be an impossible task, with having to hand the car back in at Budget too.
I was driving for the first half and the road was long staright and very boring, with Chris and Matt asleep aside and behind me I was struggling to keep my eyes open as I raced towards
LAX.
I have honestly never driven when I've felt this tired, but with the task that lay ahead it had to be done. My eyes became blurred, and my head and eyes seemed to become heavy. I opened the windows and put on some uplifting tunes and I got my second wind as, peddle to the metal, we reached a decent half way point, where Matt and I could swap places. I was instantly asleep and Matt was awake and adjusted to the task that lay ahead.
On our approach into LA on the 5/6 lane freeway, he swerved and dodged lane to lane, just like you may see on a LA police chase programme, when we finally arrived after thinking we'd never make it, at LAX at 1:50pm. We handed the car back very fast and then got a Budget shuttle to the domestic flights check-in desk. We tried to check in using the computer check-in, but failed to get it to work. Stressed I grabbed the attention of the United air stuard and enquired why it wasn't working. He went off with my I.D. and then returned to say we'd missed check-in, which said we had
to check in 45mins before flight. I worked out that we missed it by 3 minutes.
All that rushing and risking not only our lives but also getting caught by the police speeding, we just couldn't believe it.
After all the excitement things worked out very well, we were put on stand-by and caught the next flight an hour later for no extra charge to San Francisco.
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Megs from Melbourne
non-member comment
Crazy English barman and his shenanigans continue right through to the end!!
Awesome to hear that your still out on wild adventures and hitting the ground running where-ever you land!! Not long until your back on home soil in the nick of time for Christmas, although I don't know if its the sort of weather you want to come home too.. My little Aussie toes did not enjoy an all of 2 degree walk to work in London this morning (but still they are telling me it's warm!)!! Have an amazing time in San Fran, Megs xo