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Published: January 19th 2008
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New Orleans to Vegas
New Orleans to Vegas This Blog Entry Covers from the 14th-16th Jan
So me and Tommy rose around 9am and by the time i sorted myself out it was just shy of 10am, we headed into the center of New Orleans and i saw it for the first time in day light....lol, so as had been so usual on the nights out here we had great fun attempting to find a parking space, but we eventually found a parking space and although i offered to pay for the parking as i had before offered to pay for other stuff, i was then told not to worry and Tommy my savior as per the rest of the weekend had paid for another thing.
As has become customary on my trip so far, i gave Tommy a gift and lightened my load. I gave Tommy my trilby Billiabong hat and i had a new hat anyway as i had traded some shorts with his housemate Mark for a black Hurley baseball cap. before i left i had said my goodbyes to Tommy's roommates and the night before to Tommy's friends.
So me and Tommy had a stroll around the river front, the French quarter
New Orleans to Vegas
New Orleans to Vegas and Frenchman street and we both took some piccy's and went into the old Spanish cathedral which was quite spectacular and then we went around the French market and then back to the car.
We drove over to the Amtrak station which was only a few minutes away as its only couple of blocks down from the center and is close to the Superdome and basketball arena. We said our goodbyes and i headed off into the station, New Orleans has come on from Katrina but the are still signs of it trail of destruction in existence still and the Superdome was an unforgettable shelter for many, unforgettable for the wrong reasons.
I had time in the station to pre-book some more of my journey and so i booked my passage to the Grand Canyon, after i had been initially to Vegas and then passage from Phoenix to San Fransisco, my host in Grand Canyon would drop me to my next host in Phoenix so need to sort that leg out.
Before i knew it it was time to board the Amtrak and this time i was on the service called the Sunset Limited which would take
New Orleans to Vegas
New Orleans to Vegas me from East to West, a plane would have been quicker but too expensive and a greyhound would have taken longer and cost more. So it was do or die, because i had two days on the train and 6 hours on a bus from LA to Vegas.
The Amtrak train was a superliner, although this did not make it any better than the last one, it just meant it had an observation car, dinning car and cafe and i did not use the cafe or dinning car as they were rip off prices and the fact i had shopped at walmart for food was a very sensible decision.
The train moved off and i took some piccys as we we left and moved round the train and at the time the was only a few of us who got on at New Orleans, it got a bit busier as we moved on and stopped at La Fayette and Lake Charles and this was still within Louisiana.
At Lake Charles an hispanic woman got on and picked the seat in front of mine and once she was settled she offered me one of her gossip mag's to
New Orleans to Vegas
New Orleans to Vegas read which passed some time and was nice of her, at some stops the train stopped for cigg breaks and i got off aswell to get some air as i do not smoke and i saw the same folk every time for the rest of the journey and so we exchanged pleasantries.
We moved on to Texas and first stop was Houston it was dark by then but i took pictures anyway and well i had taken a few along the way so far aswell just to document the contrasts of the different landscapes within each state. I then tried to get some sleep, however at the next stop i was woken up by new passengers getting on and i had an interrupted sleep, the next day i took more piccys and eat and mingled on the train to keep myself busy and we went by some places like alpine Texas which was pretty much a small town in the middle of nowhere and i wouldn't want to get stuck there.
The train throughout the journey kept stopping and starting as the tracks are owned by the rail freight company and so Amtrak have to give way for
New Orleans to Vegas
New Orleans to Vegas freight traffic, not sure how true this is but amtrak is supposedly subsidized by the government as it does not make enough money to operate by itself.
Load's of tumbleweeds later and we hit El Paso and i got off and took some sunset pictures and then we headed through new Mexico and pass the Mexican border and the fence and patrols must be for show as i couldn't see them stopping much. It was getting dark again and i went to sleep and woke up traveling through Arizona and then finally the push on into California and pacific time and so that was another time change as in texas we changed to Mountain time.
We got to Palm Springs and they have loads of wind turbines which look cool and then it was a very slow stop start into LA and the meanwhile i was chatting to folk i had got to know on the train, when we got to LA we parted way's and the train was two hours late which meant less lay time in LA waiting for me thruway connecting bus to Vegas.
I wanted to get a soda in the station
New Orleans to Vegas
New Orleans to Vegas and the smallest note i had was a $50 and i bumped into the two flippino ladies i had met on the train and they were waiting for there connection, one lady was called Esther and im not sure of the other lady's name and i asked if they had change for a $50 and Esther gave me $4 and saids not to worry about the change and good luck with my travels and they both headed for their connection, that was really sweet and shows how nice some people can be.
While waiting for the bus i met a couple of Aussie guys and a Brazillian girl and they were all going to Vegas, anyway we got chatting and were laughing and joking all the way and it made the 6 hour bus journey whizz by and also the was a guy from Vegas on the bus who gave us some info on the history etc of Vegas on our way into town. I got contact details for the Aussie guys and will look them up in Oz.
I met up with my host Tim and he took back to his place via the strip so i
New Orleans to Vegas
New Orleans to Vegas can could get a look prior to heading out there later, then we got back to Tim's apartment and it was not far from the center and a nice compact apartment and Tim had a futon set up for me which i eyed with glee as it would be so much nicer than an Amtrak seat...hehe.
I showed and changed and dumped my kit and Tim took me back to the strip and he gave me a guided tour round the bigger casinos and the strip and gave me some history to each one and i took lot's of piccys and then i had a go on one of the slots. It was fun to see the strip and one to tick of my list, but im not disappointed about not being here longer as the is not much to do other than buy expensive drinks and waste money gambling. Something like Vegas is a sight to behold in the middle of the desert and is a marvel of engineering and technology.
It was very cold out, especially as it had been t-shirt weather in New Orleans and so we headed back to Tim's place and we chatted
New Orleans to Vegas
New Orleans to Vegas about traveling and many other things and checked emails etc till about 4am. Tim is a beer buff and got me to try some California beers which were very nice and also in the mean time we had been to Fresh and ready which is Tesco's American outlet and it was a nice store and the was fresh food as appose to the pre-packed lardy food that wal-mart tend to sell.
So i had pizza for dinner and got some cheese and bread for the following day. I went to bed at 4.3o am yawnnnnn
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