Viva Las Vegas

It's never a good idea to start off a six hour bus ride with a flat ipod. It's also a good idea not to rely on LA cab drivers to get you somewhere on time, let alone get you there at all. Hence, we missed our 8am bus from LA to Vegas. Great way to start off journey.. But after harassing the tour lady we finally were able to get another bus from across town, and finally arrived in Vegas at 7pm that night.

¨Backing up¨ seems to be a term used quite often between Ness and I, especially after the last week of shenanigans. It definitely gets progressively harder to do the more often the term is used. Vegas Vegas Vegas....that place could literally be the death of me. We located the best bargain possible - $12.50 a night each at Circus Circus - and laughed when we asked the taxi driver what it was like, only for him to genuinely reply ¨I'm surprised that place hasn't been knocked down yet.¨

Carpet dated circa 1950's, evil clowns lining the walls, and lights flashing an array of vibrant colours welcomed us to our new playground. We soon found out that the smell that loomed around the hotel, and in the hilariously titled neighbouring building ¨Slots a Fun,¨ was actually the scent that Vegas was seemingly branded for. We came up with the perfect way to describe it - it smelt like a rotten fart that would come out of someone with a purely ciggie and beer focused diet. Without doubt there were plenty of those types around.

The variety of food in Vegas is very very limited, or way out of our budget. And after one day it becomes disgusting... Pizza, Mexican, burgers, hotdogs. Ooohh hotdogs, Ness and I had a very bad experience with those bad boys. Craving them in a drunken state at 4.30am in the morning on the first night, we set out on a 30min voyage to locate one. Big mistake. The lady literally squirted - yes squirted - cheese onto it like it was from a sunscreen bottle. I can't even describe in words what it tasted like. I don't even think I want to arouse that memory....

The first night we met up with Ellie and four of her buddies, and tried to cover as much ground as possible in one night. Went to a fair few different hotels and clubs, and drank a lot of middle-aged desperate men's pockets dry. The second night was much the same, and by the third day our heavy hangovers were so incredibly bad if someone had thrown me a noose I'd have gladly wore it as a necklace.

The hotels in Vegas are really amazing though. Left right and centre there is so much going on, as though each hotel is trying to outdo the next. Not quite as glamorous as in the movies, it's still an insane place to visit, but any more than two nights in that place and we would've turned into shadows of our former selves.

So we are thanking our lucky stars that the America leg of our trip has finally come to an end. The food, the people, it just isn't exactly our cup of soup. And now.... excited is an understatement - we've been waiting so long to submerge ourselves in Central America's rich culture. Mexico, here we come!

xxx