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Published: November 18th 2015
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We booked the car rental with Enterprise and turn up to collect the car and sort through all the paperwork and such when, as we are about to take the keys, get asked if we want insurance. It seems that in the USA the price you pay is simply for car rental without insurance. We then get told it's illegal to drive in California without liability insurance (which makes sense) so we were being trapped into paying their car insurance which turned out was twice the price of car rental. Back to the drawing board as we refused to pay such as steep price. Hannah leaps in to action on the walk home and spots a traffic cop and politely asks her a few questions and we get a great recommendation of carrental8.com. A recommendation from a traffic cop has to be good, right. Right! Booked the car and collected it the next day as we loosely plotted our route; LA – Grand Canyon – Las Vegas- Death Valley – Mammoth Lakes – Yosemite National Park – San Francisco – Monterey Bay – Big Sur – Santa Barbara – Malibu.
We collect the car from Fox
Rent-a-car at LAX and make Hannah drive it back. The first time she's driven in the USA and it turns out we went straight on to the freeway. The hairiest moment however was yet to come; it turns out there was some damage to the car from the previous renters (which was noted on the paperwork), they'd had a 'fender-bender' and dented/scraped the rear bumper, so much so that the passenger's side had unclipped from the car, so as we are driving along, you can see the rear bumper flapping in the breeze ever so slightly. We think nothing of it as the car rental company already know about it and we drive on. We decide to set off early the next morning. Very early. The alarm goes off at 1:45am and we head for the Grand Canyon; a drive that, once out of LA, is simply straight (and boring) roads for hundreds of miles. Not an easy drive when you're tired. We keep swapping driver so the other one can nap – thankfully I can sleep anyway it seems, so get a solid forty+ winks.
We arrive at the South Rim of the Grand
Canyon (which all the guides says has the best views) and I lead Hannah – who hasn't seen it before – with a blindfold over her eyes, to the rim. We get there and she opens her eyes and is greeted with 90% of whiteness. The clouds have rolled in and cover the view like a blanket. We get some gaps in the clouds every now and then so it's not a total loss. Then head to the airport so Hannah can fly over it in an airplane. Or not. It gets cancelled because a thunderstorm has just rolled in. So a 9 hour drive through night for about 15 minutes of viewing time. Ah well, still worth it. On to the next stop - Vegas.
Another long drive of about 4 hours and a quick stop off at Hoover Dam (because when in Rome, and all). As we get closer and closer to Las Vegas Hannah keeps asking if each town is Vegas. “No, you'll know it when you see it” I tell her. She's sceptical until suddenly we see a glow behind one of the mountains. She now knows what I mean...
An early night is needed after all the driving, so we hit they hay after a quick exploration around our hotel (Circus Circus – the well known cheapo hotel on the Strip). Up the next morning and it's Hannah's birthday – I surprise her with a treasure hunt around our suite before revealing her gift of a helicopter ride over Vegas at night. To say she is happy would be an understatement! We spend the day wandering around all the casinos and melting in the dry desert air before eagerly awaiting the flight. We wait at the allotted pick up point which was confirmed by three different staff members, but when the pick up company are 20 minutes late I start to panic thinking I've been swindled. Luckily they called and it seems the driver was in the wrong place. We hopped on the bus – a giant limo, and we are the only ones in it and drive to collect one more couple at the other end of the Strip before heading to the airport. I didn't expect the helicopter tour to come with a rally drive experience around Vegas, so that was an added
bonus. We made it safe and sound (just) to the airport, and after the experience I was no longer worried about a simple ride in a helicopter. Free champagne on arrival (although I am still tee-total following my alcohol poisoning at my leaving party in the UK) and we're off. Seats are assigned by weight and the birthday is lucky enough to be sat front and centre, right next to the pilot – I clearly made out that I had planned this, but it was a lucky coincidence.
My first ride in a helicopter was absolutely amazing. Airplanes I do not care for but it seems I've a new love for flying and thoughts flash through my mind of becoming a heli-pilot when I get back home. The flight was amazing albeit too short. We did a full circuit over Las Vegas, and to say it was amazing would be an understatement! If you're ever there, you HAVE to see it this way. It is so worth the money! We could hear everything that was said by us and the 4 other people in the helicopter, but Hannah kept forgetting and kept saying “oh my
gog, this is amazing. Oh my god. Best present ever. Oh my god”. I think it's safe to say she loved it.
Back down to Earth and we wander the Strip for a few drinks and a gamble and finally head back to our hotel at about 2am having walked the whole Strip – it's much longer than you think and takes a good hour to walk. Normally, that would be fine but right now my feet were on fire from so much walking and so little rest. Felt pretty safe until a random man (obviously intoxicated in some way) walked up to us and growled and barked right in Hannah's face), followed by a man trying to walk between Hnnah and I as we walked arm in arm. A swift shove and punch to the chest and he backs off and we finally get back to the hotel for a much needed snooze.
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