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Published: March 2nd 2009
Every journey needs to go out with a bang, and with the year long adventures that I've been having it'd be criminal if I didn’t go out in a blaze of glory - or at least earn one of the worst hangovers I've ever had. This is it ladies and gents the final steps before I board that flying people carrier back to the country of my birth, the only thing standing in my way now is my credit card limit and the city of sin; Kevin has arrived in Las Vegas, what the hell did he do there? Well you’re about to find out you lucky so and so...
Before I take you on that tour of debauchery, there is still some fun to be had in Los Angeles, California - where I almost got duped into being a scientologist! This was extremely different from my usual backwoods of New Hampshire USA experience. It was like America from TV and movies, expensive boutique shops, wannabee gangster rappers trying to sell you their CD's and the idea that a famous person is probably near by but your not quite sure where. Not to mention street names that people sing about
and name things after; Melrose Ave, Santa Monica Blvd and I could see Beverly Hills! Me and Hugo avoided the tours of stars home to save money and try and achieve something like our own unique experience. At the start of our LA day we passed by a free museum exhibition about the history behind psychiatry. It seemed very genuine and opened up with some good stuff about the Nazi's and old psychology methods like electro shock but as it worked its way through history I realised that the information was becoming increasingly strange. Eventually leading up to one video where it stated facts that most psychiatrists are paedophiles and are responsible for brainwashing terrorists, at this point we walked out only to be stopped by a staff member trying to tell us how scientology would save the world and would we care to make a donation. I’ve never rushed out a building so fast in my life; scientology I discovered is rife in LA! The walk of fame on Hollywood Blvd proved to be a safer tourist jaunt, it was cool to spot the really famous people, I never realised how much history is on these tiles; it started
The best worst hangover picture
It wasnt the worst but id say easily in the top 5.in 1958 and has over 2000 stars, so it's not easy to know everyone. Mannes Chinese theatre was great as well with all the concrete handprints that span back just as long as the walk of fame, it was cool to be on the site of so many famous premiers, with the Oscars Kodak theatre just next door! Felt good to be a proper tourist again.
Our hostel advertised itself as a cross between the 'Jetsons' and 'Austin Powers', I don't know what they meant by that but they were wrong. It was a fantastically standard backpacker’s affair until they announced 'free food and free drink' one night. I've seen this before, the free drink lasts ten minutes and the food is a bowl of crisps. However this was the U S of A; delicious lasagne and a whole keg of beer. The only people really taking advantage of the beer was me, Hugo and 4 Aussie guys it was a typical American keg party. Only made better by the cast of Germany's next top model turning up, not that I managed to have a full conversation with any of them but at one point a girl with stupidly
long legs rubbed my belly - great success!
After worrying about money for a couple of hours the bus to Las Vegas was finally boarded, where it then proceeded to tear through the Nevada desert as night fell; solitary light filled casino's and miles of billboards gave glimpses of what was ahead. This is a big city, that’s a point I'd like to stress, there’s the old strip at Freemont, the actual strip which is 4 miles long and the city itself has a population of over 1 million people. I stayed on the south part of the strip in a hotel casino, no youth hostel for me, I was in the Sahara - one of the original pioneers from the 50's. The south end of the strip is for the budget traveller though, and the sign saying the Beatles stayed here in the 60's only confirmed the hotels lost glory. But it was a hotel with a big room and a TV and a double bed and an ice machine and clean towels and it wasn’t a hostel! There was definetely a good time to be had here.
The first night was spent trying to work the
monorail, finding out where the good clubs were, being shocked that drink was free while gambling, being more shocked that no where ever stopped selling drink and discovering 25cent wings till 6am in Hooters casino almost made me collapse in a fit of joy. The next evening's activities started by finishing a bottle of rum in the room, followed by some dollar margherita's at our casino. Only now were we ready for the Stratosphere. The tallest building in Vegas that not only gives you a great view of the strip but allows you to ride three extreme thrill rides at the top of it! It's got a tower that shoots you highest part of the structure, a coaster that makes you feel like you’re plummeting to the ground and a claw that spins you over the edge. It was hilariously scary but making friends with some Japanese guys made it all worth while but that might have been the drink talking. Body English within the Hard Rock Hotel is one of the coolest clubs in Vegas we were told, and I think that guy was right. After bargaining with the bouncers on the entry fee we walked into the happening
cool of the Vegas underground, most drinks were 10 bucks so we asked the bartender to fill it with liquor and to our surprise he did. At 5am the great music and dancing stopped, but me and Hugo didn’t. As soon as I sat down at the roulette table I should have been thrown out but they brought me a double rum instead - I love this city. After 1 hour I was 100 dollars up, after 2 hours and a few more rums I was 40 dollars down. Time to cut the losses and head to Hooters for some cheap wings, after sitting down we were told we were too late for the wings, gutted. Hugo ordered a burger instead, I fell asleep on the chair. By 9am we were back in our hotel wondering why our key wasn’t working, turns out we were on the wrong floor.
By 4pm my hangover was having the time of its life, I couldn’t even eat my MacDonald’s, it was that bad.
But it was Vegas and a legendary night out.
Hugo then left, leaving me twiddling my thumbs of what to do before I skip over the pond back to
my starting point. How about go see a wonder of the world, you've already seen the picture so it’s no surprise I was at the Grand Canyon. There been alot of great moments during my travels but the south rim of the Grand Canyon was one of the things makes your heart skip a beat or two. The sheer obvious spectacle of what millions of years can do to the land was phenomenal. It was one of the best walks of my life, I made sure not to rush it. The gloomy weather took nothing away from the experience if not adding to it; the light passing through the clouds was a great contrast that made some impressive photos.
Standing at the very edge, looking down and taking a deep breath was more thrilling than many of 'adventure activities' I've done travelling. Before long though I was back on route 66 to Vegas, making time for a photo stop at the Hoover Dam, one of the most impressive pieces of modern engineering, I'd have to come back for a full tour though.
Vegas is a city of excess, a truly American city; where the hotels are big but the
all you can eat buffets are bigger. The sole purpose of this town is for Americans to come and spend their money; the city screams money, which brings a certain level of corruption. Life is all about balance and a few days in the corrupt-immoral-hedonistic city of sin won't harm anyone. I know I'll be back.
Right now I have some place else to get back to.
I have to wrap up my world travels. Returning on a jet plane to Scotland.
Am I excited? Will I be home for long? What lies in store for my life?
When I make up these answers for you the blog of 'a year of my life' will be complete, and you won't get a refund cause it never cost you anything.
Love Kevin.
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Iceman
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Living la veda
Yo Kelvinator, nice one dawg. Vegas is a crazy city but like I always so, I will try anything twice. We hit the Venitian and came home with out my camera, probably better as I got rid of a lot of evidence ; )