Today we were doing the road trip to VEGAS! It
took us around 5 hours through red hot desert to get there. At one point the
temperature got up to 112^of, it was even to hot to have the roof
down. Seeing as there wasn't much traffic about on the road I thought I would
put my foot down and see what the car could do. As soon as I slowed down to the
speed limit again I noticed the blue lights coming over the hill! My heart sank
but to my relief it was only an ambulance. It was strange to drive through so
much desert then come to Vegas with all the huge buildings and people
everywhere. We had a drive up and down the strip looking at all the massive
hotels and casinos. We were staying at the Excalibur Hotel which was built like
a castle and had a King Arthur theme going on inside, we had booked and
pre-paid for our room before we came travelling, but when we tried to check in
they told us there had been a mix up and we had no room booked! It ended up in
me having to pay for the three nights again so we could stay. It took us until
we left to sort it out but we managed to get the money back. The first thing we
noticed while walking around Vegas was the heat, it was so hot! Even the wind
was hot. The only way to escape it was to go into one of the hotels. The
Excalibur is situated fairly central on the strip right next to New York New York, made to represent the New York sky line with a massive Statue of Liberty
and a roller coaster winding through it all. The Luxor is a massive pyramid with
a huge Sphinx outside it and Egyptian theme on the inside, and right across the
street was The MGM Grand which is where we had our evening meal of Tom Yum soup
and Sushi. We spent the rest of the night walking down the strip checking out
the other hotels like the Belaggio with it amazing water fountains and Paris
which has its own Eiffel Tower. Every hotel has its own casino, we never did
any gambling which is a bit of a cop out seeing as we were in Vegas, but we
will have to save that for next time when we have money to burn. The next day
we had to take the Mustang back which was a shame, I was quite getting into
driving it. We got a taxi to drop us off at Planet Hollywood where we had a
look around the shops before heading back to our hotel and hitting the pool. It
was a Friday so we got into the Vegas spirit and had a couple of cocktails by
the pool, that's where it all started! What exactly happened that night is a
little hazy, all I remember is going out and getting some Mexican food in the
Luxor, being given some free drinks in a club there before moving on and having
a few beers with a Canadian couple we randomly met. Then we went to a club in
Paris where another random couple bought us a shot of Patrone each, all I
remember after that is seeing the sun rise and having a massive head ache when
I eventually got up. The only thing for it was a visit to Hooters for some
hangover food! Unfortunately it didn't have the desired effect and we had to go
back to the room for some more sleep! It was Saturday night but we couldn't
face going out again and we were leaving the next morning so we just had a
slice of pizza each from New York New York and had another walk down the strip
to Caesar's Palace which has an amazing lobby, I think I will stay there next
time. It was time to check out and pick our next car up. I'd gone for a more
economical option and we ended up with a little Mazda 2. Alot different to the
'Tang but alot easier to drive, it actually fitted in the lanes and parking
spaces with loads of room to spare. We did feel like ants in it though next to
all the massive gas guzzling American cars and trucks, it only cost us $40 to
fill the little mazzy from empty!