Michey_b’s travelling around

Checked out of the hostel this morning but as the bus wasnt until the afternoon i hung around the hostel and by chance started talking to a guy from Holland who was also heading to Las Vegas and had a car – result. I offered to pay for all of his gas if he wanted a passenger. we headed out of Flagstaff and drove through mostly nothingness for 5 hours. The scenery was beautiful however and its amazing the vast open space this country has. We stopped at the Hoover Dam to take some photos and check out the comparison between the desert and this man made structure.

The first view of the strip and sin city after 5 hours of driving seeing nothing but desert and then out of nowhere this famous sight appears before you. And the cost of gas for that trip – $20 yes thats ten whole pounds – amazing!!

My lovely driver dropped me off at the Stratosphere – my luxury home for the next three days – i had to walk through the casino to get to the check in desk and wow its certainly an eye opener thats for sure. Having checked in and had to pay an extra $15 in resort taxes – for what i dont get but oh well its still a steal for 3 nights. Anyways so im on the 24th floor the top floor that is – also home to the presidential suite – unfortunately not mine but my room is gorgeous and i totally recommend to anyone on the road to once in a while splurge and stay in a hotel – it just feels like luxury to have your own space and own palatial bathroom.

I wandered down to the main floor and man its easy to get lost in here and had a little gamble. For dinner i decided to try out one of Vegas’ well known things to do – the all you can eat buffet. The one at the Stratosphere costs $20 and man there is a lot of food – stations with soup, salad, italian, mexican, chinese, american (fried!), and then the desserts. Wow i managed a paltry amount and then was full – travelling certainly shrinks your appetite – i would have once upon a time done well at this but not anymore. Being almost unable to move i staggered back into the casino and played on a few more slots and tried one of the next big Vegas like things – free alcohol. Now its not as great as it sounds let me tell you – first you have to be playing a machine and then find a waitress to order your drink from – this part is definitely tricky. Once you have signalled said waitress and ordered your beverage you carry on playing whilst she brings back said drink. Now i think they must actually go to Tennessee to get my Jack because it takes like 15 mins and by then you have spent more than the drink costs into the damn slot machines! argghhhhh. Lesson learned anyways and i suppose there is the age old saying ‘you gotta try everything once’ Yeah right.

I retired to my room to watch TV on my giant personal TV screen and the big news of the day is the death of Heath Ledger – i still cant quite believe it and my heart goes out to his family and his little girl.

The next morning i headed down to the pool for a swim and even though its only 15 degrees i have use of a swimming pool and im damn gonna use it!! So swimming fast lengths to warm up and then retire to the jacuzzi which is bliss let me tell you.

On my last day i caught a bus down the Strip to the other end and got off at the New York New York. This part of town is crowded with well known sights including the MGM Grand, Coca Cola World and The Bellagio, Ceasers Palace and Paris hotels just down a bit further.

Walking back towards the Stratosphere you then pass the Mirage on the left and my favourite The Venetian on the right – one day i want to stay here.  (Note to self find rich man who can afford to stay here!)

In the evening i went to watch 27 dresses in the cinema and then headed down to the Bellagio to see the famous water display and it certainly wasnt a disappointment –  it was awesome.

There is no way i could stay here in this city any longer than 3 days – its just chaos and the amount of money people spend is crazy.  Its a great place to see however but i would so be broke if i stayed here any longer.

Tags: USA

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 4:27 pm and is filed under USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.