Day 17, 18, 19, 20 - Lou & Claire Party in Las Vegas..but suffer The Hang Over

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So where do I start to try & cover all the last few days? It's all such a blur so will try & capture as much as I can - apologies as this could be a long one!

Well it's Saturday 20th August & I'm currently sat in Las Vegas airport waiting for my plane to Toronto. Can you believe I'm now half way through my trip??? Time is flying! It's probably easier on my tired brain to work backwards to when I last talked to you all so I'm going to start with yesterday - Friday 19th August which started as the day form hell but ended like a day in heaven!

The day really started from continuing from the night before & it's at this point what happens in Vegas will stay in Vegas between myself & Claire. All I can say is that even though not much alcohol was consumed....only 3 drinks each, mainly due to the fact a jack daniels & coke will set you back a whopping £8....but somehow we went from being merry....... to drunk........to very drunk ...to we need to leave to leave the night club NOW ....to waking up sprawled around a hotel room grunting to each other every so often to make sure both of us were still alive as we were SO ill.

I've managed to train myself when drunk to sleep in the recovery position to increase my chances of getting through severe drunkeness but still this was BAD. If any of you have seen the film "The Hangover" our hotel room reminded me of this film. Very messy. We had to go through till receipts from the bar to try & work out when we actually left & piece together the night.

The nightclub is on the 51st floor & we don't know how we actually got home (Oh actually I've just remembered we did start drinking in the hotel room some cheap brut champagne from Walmart on an empty stomach...maybe that didn't help matters!)

Now considering I'm not a seasoned drinker or clubber, unlike my younger sister, I did very much better in coping with the hangover. Now obviously the first step is to put the DO NO DISTURB SIGN on the door. There is NO WAY any housemaid is stepping through the front door of Room 703 today. Oh no! This clean up operation with have to be done by the Varlows.

The second step is hang over food. Now we hadn't eaten the previous evening so our stomachs were very much empty by now. Claire is at a point where she can't get out of bed so big sister is the one who takes the challenge of finding food as room service was rubbish. With the time past noon breakfast was going to be pizza.....freshly made 10 inch neapolitan cheese & mushroom pizza. Oh poor Claire....she managed all of 1 mouthful & that was it. It was one of those moments when you want to cry as you feel so ill and hungry but your stomach is saying "no way is that coming anywhere near me"!

So any plans we had for the day had gone to pot. We literally didn't leave the hotel room apart from myself going downstairs on the odd occasions for bits of rubbish food which we felt we could stomach. Now for all those who know Claire, the sun worshipping goddess, she missed a full days sunbathing!!! This is an absolute first for her which just indicates the poor state she was in. Oh it's probably also worth mentioning at this point that she hasn't suffered any prickly heat & has survived the scortching desert heat! It's all down to some £40 bottle of Declour oil stuff.

(Claire - as I'm writing this I'm still chuckling to myself & getting funny looks from the bloke next to me on the plane. Oh & I've just remembered we did get a free Vodka when we were gambling in Caesars Palace so maybe we started drinking earlier that I thought...bit's are starting to come back to me now 2 days on!)

Now today is a very important date in the whole road trip for Louise so will dedicate a few paragraphs to this momentous occasion. Today I'm going to see Matt Goss at The Gossy Rooms in Ceasars Palace. Now some of you (anyone under the age of 30) are probably thinking who the f**k is Matt Goss. Well he was part of one of the biggest boy bands, Bros, in the 1980's & still holds the record for being the youngest artist to play Wembley Stadium (again for the young one's out there that's the original Wembley Stadium!).

Now back in the 80s every teenager was in love with either Matt or his twin Luke...for me, well I'm not fussy I'd take either, but Matt was always the one I had the soft spot for. I can't remember the exact year but I'm guessing around 1988ish I went to my very first concert.....Bros Push Tour at Whitley Bay Ice Rink...not really a classy location. Now I'll admit it between friends I fainted at the concert, (pretty much in the first 10 minutes I think) so I was hoping he wouldn't have the same effect on me 20 years on! If someone had said to me in 1988 in 20 years you'll be still swooning over Matt but in a 5 Star Las Vegas hotel, with a killer hang over, I would have not believed them. How life's journey pans out eh?

So, we eventually managed to get dressed & out of the hotel into daylight at 6pm still feeling pretty crap. We weren't capable walking to Ceasars Palace in our current state so decided to take a taxi. Big mistake. Having a Serbian mad man taxi driver, swerve round back streets, thud over speed bumps & having a near 3 way crash is not good with a hang over & delicate stomachs.

Somehow we arrived at the hotel semi-alive & decided to head to a repeat visit to The Cheesecake Factory which was a favourite of Claire's. Ever had that "eyes are bigger" than the stomach followed by "my stomach can't take food" feeling. Yep.....we struggled through a bit of salad, a couple of chips, a bit of chicken & some sugar bursting coke. It was one of those occasions when you have to apologise to the waiter that the food was lovely but was far too much & we were hungover. What a waste of money that was & we couldn't face any cheesecake.

Next stop before the concert was gambling. After Claire's success yesterday we ventured back to the casino hall & kicked some kid off OUR machine. Now, with Friday - Sunday being the busiest days in Vegas, I'm not sure if they actually change the set up of the machines as it didn't play the same way as yesterday.....mmmmm... something smells fishy to me......because it wasn't the smell of green notes..... lost every penny! After losing around $20 (last of the big gamblers) we decided we wanted to start queuing to get into the concert as it was free for all seating & I wanted the BEST seat in the house. Now it would have been Matt's lap but that wasn't going to happy really was it?

It's at this point in the evening my sister is getting worried that I might embarress her. (I'm going to have to stop writing as I'm sat on the plane creasing up laughing to myself & tears are rolling down my face & I don't want the man next to me over locking what I'm reading!!!)

OK I've composed myself. As a start point I've made Claire stand in a queue, 30 minutes before the doors even open. Luckily there is an American lady & her daughter in front so we don't look like complete sad-os. They have never heard of Matt Goss so they get the same story I've just shared with you which they thought was amazing.

At 8.30pm the doors open but it's a civilised queue where you are greeted by a host & taken to a seat - no pushing & shoving like any british concert! Now one thing we take for granted in the UK is how we can sit on seats for free....oh no, not in America. You go into a nightclub & you want to sit down - you have to pay for VIP access...yes only VIPs are allowed to sit down. Well it wasn't quite the same situation but if you wanted to sit near the front, you basically had to pay more money by conning you to buy a large amount of alcohol!

Now remember the word alcohol isn't really something the Varlow sisters can bear to hear at this precise moment but I don't give a **** what it takes to get those front seats (can you sense Louise is starting to suffer from OFS - Obsessive Fan Syndrome). I'll just give them the bloody money for NO alcohol which he found very odd. I explained to the Host our hang over situation so did me a deal which still involved alcohol but at a reduced rate of £30 each which I thought was a bit of a bargain considering we'd only paid £25 for each ticket - so £55 for front table seats which virtually had you sitting on Matt's lap. (you'll read later on that actually the seats were a bit too close for comfort at some points of the night).

Now with hang over still "hanging" around & my brain not functioning at full capacity I didn't really understand the drinks requirements but somehow I basically agreed to buy A WHOLE BOTTLE OF VODKA - not a small one but a MIGHT BIG **** OFF ONE. All me & Claire wanted was the mixers - cranberry & orange juice, the vodka was going to be wasted on us. To cut the alcohol story short - I think we had 1 little measure each so ended up taking home a bottle of vodka which has been left with Claire & now understand has also made it's way back to the UK! At one point I was offering free vodka drinks to our new Amercian friends but we couldn't even give it away!
I've told Claire to take it home as a momentum of the night (OFS?) & worst case if she is struggling with luggage weight to empty the bottle down the sink!

So what was the night like? OMG, I'm almost hyper ventalating as it was just BRILLIANT. He was so lush. He's just one of those men who just gets better with age. Although I was sat so close I started to think if maybe he'd had a bit of "cosmetic work" considering he now lives in the US & everyone seems to have fake bits. My end conclusion was his teeth were done but I'm 90% sure he hasn't had any face work done - he just doesn't have that many wrinkles for a 40 something man! Anyway, I don't care - he still looks gorgeous.

Now before the show started, Claire made it VERY CLEAR that I was NOT to embarress her! What she classed as embarressment was fainting (obvously), screaming, getting up & dance & generally making a tit of myself. If you could see the position of our VIP seats which were raised above everyone else & in full view of 200 people you'd understand. So I was basically to sit there, keep my mouth shut & just clap when everyone else does!!! Well was that likely to happen.....HELL NO!

The concert was brilliant and we were sat so close he was even singing into our eyes. At some point it was actually a bit too close & i was convinced my face just said " I really fancy you" and didn't want to come across as a stupid teenager. I have to say I felt a bit more sorry for my sister as she has some semi naked dancers right in front of her so spent some of the concert with their crotches & back sides literally INCHES from her face...it really was a bit too much when you can see a girls stretch marks & cellulite right close up!!!!

Anyway, I'll stop rambling on about this concert but for me was probably the BEST night of the holiday. We got to meet Matt after the show which as you can imagine I was pathetic but got a kiss, hug & cuddle from him which was lush!

RIGHT ENOUGH OF MATT GOSS!!

So the rest of Vegas trip was just amazing! Claire had a great trip and both of us can't wait to return. The weather was amazing, over 100 every day so at times you were glad to get into a hotel for the air con. Most days we just sun bathed, walked the strip and lovely meals out. To be honest I don't think we really fell out (what would you say Claire?). The only watch out with Vegas is that on Friday and Saturday night the partying really does happen! All the young ones come into town and do some real partying which when you are in a room next to 3 men who start partying at 3pm in the afternoon and is still going on 5am the next day it does become a bit tedious. To a point where I went down to reception at 5am and asked for a new room as I was so pissed off! It worked though as I got an upgrade to a suite so at least Claire had a big room for her last night.

I left Claire on the Saturday to go to Toronto so she had one day by herself before leaving on Sunday. It was sad to say goodbye but it was the first time Claire had been away alone but she survived!

Anyway that is probably enough about Vegas as I now have over a week of Canada to start writing!!!

I miss Vegas but I'm back at the end of the trip for 1 night but believe me this won't be the last visit.

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Photos

Me & Matt
How lush is he?!

Roof Top Clubbing at Rio
Start of the night - sober at this point

Nightclubbing in Vegas
Night was starting to get a bit messy with some DJ from LA