the comings and goings of me: Las Vegas and LA

Las Vegas! How do I even begin to describe this place! I thought Times Square was busy with people selling things, but it had nothing on Vegas. The strip, lined with hotels and casinos one after the other, is full of people handing out flyers for escorts, guys trying to sell nightclub tours and others dressed up in costumes (my favourite was Alan from the Hangover). It is legal to drink on the streets on Las Vegas so there are tourists walking around, sipping on cocktails in novelty cups. The dress code in Vegas is anything goes. At any given time of the day, you can see girls dressed in outfits from tracksuit pants and runners to sequined mini dresses and high heels.

On our first day in Vegas, the boys picked a place for lunch which was none other than Hooters. It definitely wasn't one of the classiest establishments I have eaten in, the customers were pretty much all male and the food was horrible but it was an experience nevertheless. After lunch, we set off along the strip to find the boys shirts and suit pants for our nightclub tour. And I thought shopping with girls was hard work! Eventually the boys had some luck in Macy's. We then walked the entire length of the strip looking for the Stratosphere, as the boys were keen to go on the rides at the top of the tower. Giving into peer pressure I went on two rides, the Xscream and Insanity which left me hanging over the side of a 350m tall tower, looking down onto the strip.

View of Las Vegas from the Stratosphere

After dinner went ventured down to the Casino at the hotel to try our luck at Craps. John and Ryan had been studying the game on YouTube and were excited to give it a go. The table that we played on was pretty quiet so the dealers were nice enough to help us with a few of the rules. It looks complicated at first but is actually quiet easy to play. The good thing about Craps is that it takes longer to lose money than other games like Blackjack and Roulette. That didn't seem to matter too much in the end, as I ended the night $100 down. Rhiannon became quiet a fan of the Sex and the City slots machine and won $130.

Day 2 in Vegas started with an early wake up call to catch the bus to Boulder City, Nevada where we would take off for our helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. Boulder City was originally established to accommodate for the workers who built the Hoover Dam area and is the only city in Nevada where gambling is banned. In fact, alcohol was illegal in the area until the 1960's. Our helicopter took us over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Colorado River and at one point we crossed state borders from Nevada to Arizona. We set down in a clearing in the canyon and enjoyed a champagne breakfast whilst taking in the breathtaking views of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is an impressive 446km long, 29km wide and 1800m deep. It's no wonder that it is classed as one of the seven wonders of the world.

Up in the air

Hoover Dam

Group shot at the Grand Canyon

Before our nightclub tour, we went across to the Monte Carlos for dinner and to try our luck at the Craps tables again. Ryan ended up $160 up for the night and I managed to drop another $100, so it was Ryan's first shout for drinks. The best part about gambling is the free drinks. We would tip our server $1 each drink, so really our drinks were only costing us $1. Just after 9pm, a driver picked us up from our hotel and we were driven along the strip, whilst enjoying some drinks in the limo. We were dropped off at XS which the boys proclaim is the 'best nightclub in the world'. The nightclub was huge and even had a pool in the outside area of the club. After a few shots and a dance, we ended up squished near the DJ waiting for Avicii to play. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur and I'm not sure if he even played or not. We ended up rolling back into the hotel around 5am. What a night!

Our limo in Las Vegas

With Rhiannon and John at XS Nightclub, Las Vegas

Safe to say that Vegas got the better of us that night as we didn't surface until midday the following day (thanks to the black out blinds in the room). We attempted to walk the strip to have a look in a few hotels and casinos but our hangovers soon got the better off us and we headed back to the room for an afternoon nap. On our last night in Vegas we went to Caesars Palace and watched the Bellagio Fountain water show which was absolutely incredible! There is more than 1200 nozzles that can blast water 460ft (140m) into the air. The fountains cost an estimated $40 million to build. To finish off our stay in Las Vegas, we stopped off at New York New York and had a go on the roller coaster which was a lot of fun.

Belliago Fountain water show

Las Vegas Boulevard

The next morning we said goodbye to Las Vegas and jumped on an early flight to LA. Once we had landed in LA we set off to Hollywood Boulevard to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There are people dressed up as celebrities including Michael Jackson and Johnny Depp, standing next to their star so tourists could have a photo with them (for a small tip of course) and there were companies on every corner, selling bus tours to see movie stars homes. We have learnt that it's easier to just ignore people selling things on the street because as soon as they hear your voice and recognise that you are Australian, they will hassle you. Next we headed up to Griffiths Observatory to get a glimpse of Los Angeles most famous landmark, the Hollywood sign. It's hard to get a decent photo of the Hollywood sign as it is stands on the side of Mt Lee and you can not get close to it. We went out for dinner on Sunset Boulevard and I couldn't help but feel underwhelmed by Hollywood. It lacked the excitement and flare that I had heard about from the days of Marilyn Monroe and Led Zepplin riding motorbikes down corridors and throwing tv sets from balconies of the Hyatt hotel (true story). We found a bar where we had a few drinks and Ryan won a free drink was completing 60 push ups in a row. We managed to catch the highlights of the NFL conference championships and I realised how much I'm going to miss American sport when I get back to Australia.

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Sign from Griffiths Observatory

Day 2 saw us venture out of LA to Disneyland. We were all pretty excited about Disneyland but were disappointed once we started walking around the park, realising that there wasn't as many rides as we had expected. We made a quick decision to leave Disneyland at jumped back into the car, bound for Universal Studios. We ran from ride to ride like big kids (yes, we were actually running!). Thanks to our front of line pass, we got to skip the 50 minute waiting time to rides such as Jurassic Park, The Mummy and the new Tranformers ride. We were only suppose to use the pass once for each ride but we used the 'dumb tourist' card to skip the queue a few more times. We stuck around at Universal Studios later that night to see Zero Dark Thirty at the cinema. It was intense but I was captivated throughout the whole movie. I'm not sure if it has been released in Australia yet, but if it has, do yourself a favour and go and see it.

With Donald Duck at Disneyland

On our last day in LA we did a quick spot of window shopping on Rodeo Drive then drove up along the west coast to Malibu to check out a few of California's beaches. First we stopped at Santa Monica and had a look along the pier which boosts a small amusement park with a ferris wheel and roller coast. We walked along the beach and tipped our toes in the water, but couldn't brave the freezing conditions for a swim. On the way back from Malibu we stopped at Venice Beach. I'm not going to lie, it was a pretty dodgy place. The foreshore is lined with tacky stalls selling anything from fake sunglasses to souvenirs and there was even shops selling prescriptions for 'medicinal' marijuana. We saw the legendary 'Muscle Beach' were Arnold Schwarzenegger trained in the 1960's, and watched some street basketball and local skateboarders in action. Once we were back in LA, we drove up to Beverley Hills to do some star spotting. I must admit, I felt like a bit of a stalker. We drove past where Biggie Small was shot and where Whitney Houston overdosed in the Beverley Hilton hotel. We stopped outside of the Playboy mansion and Michael Jackson's home where he died. We didn't manage to see any celebrities though. After dinner we realised we would be leaving LA the next morning $95 poorer, after getting a parking fine in Hollywood.