We Are O Our Way

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Well at long last we are on our way for our 2 month adventure around the world. We write this entry from our hotel, Carriage House, in Las Vegas after the obligatory huge travel day to get here.
We left Waipukurau at 4pm on Wednesday 28th and were transported to Napier by a friend (Thanks JC) and flew Napier to Auckland where we met up with Bruce's family at the international terminal. They were all there and there was some food eaten, some diet coke consumed and a lot of friendly banter tossed around.
We went through to the international departure lounge around 9pm and got to the boarding area after Joy was singled out twice at various steps of the security process for further attention, her bags were swabbed for explosives. (Joy the terrorist!!!!)
We met George Wood, the polo mallet maker from Otane, in departure as he was on his way to Las Vegas to sell gear at an international polo expo so we had a fair bit of contact with him right through until we took separate taxis to our hotels.
Left Auckland at 1030pm and headed for LA. Man, that's a long flight. We headed into our second Wednesday the 28th and finally arrived without incident in LA at 2.30pm local time, Wednesday 28th September. We managed bits of sleep time and weren't too bad on arrival.
As our bags had been processed right through to Vegas and we had been ticketed right through at Napier our way through the airports was a bit easier but in LA the security is worse that ever but we made it through and headed to Las Vegas on time at 5.30pm, arriving at 6.30pm.
Made it through the airport OK after what must have been the longest route march through any airport we've ever been to and got our bags and into a taxi to the hotel. We had a great taxi driver who was very helpful with all sorts of info.
After registering at the hotel and catching our breath in the room for a bit, we headed up to 'The Strip'. Having never been here before and only having seen it in movies and on TV, it was a truly amazing sight. More neon signs than even Hong Kong. we wandered up one side for a bit and then down the other, took in the Belagio fountains playing, and ended up at Hard Rock Cafe for some dinner (and of course the tee shirt to add to Joy's collection).
Now back in the hotel and off to bed to try to sleep as we get picked up at 7.30am in morning for our all day Grand Canyon tour which doesn't get us back to the hotel until around 1030pm. By that time Trevor and Robyn will have arrived and be booked in and we look forward to their company for the next 2 weeks on our US leg of the trip.
That's day 1. It would be so much easier without that 25 hour day to get here but no pain .... no gain.

Catch you all later and hopefully some photos of the Grand Canyon tour.

Love to all the kids in Wellington.

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Comments

[Bobbi]

Hi guys! Bruce I think you must be jinxed – our dollar has dropped against the US and it’s only been a day! (Not that you\'ll be worrying about that!) Looking forward to your next entry... From the health and planning crew