Whilst Scotland were on their travels scraping a 1-0 victory in Liechtenstein, Ailsa and I were heading down the stip to meet Matt in the MGM Grand sports bar ... where he assured me he'd be winning lots of money thanks to his extensive knowledge of all American sports. When we got there he was already down on two events with a third yet to kick off. Matt introduced us to his friends that seemed to have travelled from far and wide just to see him. A strange concept indeed!

As Ailsa had yet to see much of the Las Vegas strip we dedcided to head outside and walk north past some of the casinos. We weren't outside long, however, when we changed our minds and dived back into air conditioned bliss. It may have been October, but it was still a good bit hotter than exam study time in May back home. We had taken refuse in the Miracle Mile Shopping Mall ... it does exactly what it says on the tin, but without any miracles. There wasn't much to see but it was good to spend some time catching up with Matt. The mile of shops seemed to have worn the group out and we started to follow our path back to where everyone was staying at the south end of the strip. Ailsa and I followed Matt to Excalibur, initially discussing the merits of Brad Pitt movies and laterally having a heated debate about American politics. Although there wasn't much debate to be honest. More a raised voice agreement about the state of it all.

Whilst we were in Excalibur Matt received a message that some of the guys were planning on visiting The Gun Store to fire a few guns and would we be interested in joining them? I was happy to go with the crowd for the banter, and Ailsa saw it as the ideal opportunity for a once in a lifetime shot of a firearm.

We met Matt's friends at the MGM Signature, who had kindly offered to drive us to the Gun Store, and spent what felt like an hour scouring the extensive multi-storey car park looking for the correct Honda. This polava also included a phone call to someones wife/girlfriend who was either sleeping or in a bath and didn't really want to help find a car.

It was finally located and off we travelled to the Gun Store. When we arrived there was a stall outside where you could choose your gun package (zombie pack, WWII pack, girls pack etc) or make up a custom package from an array of advertised guns. I didn't even realise that many variations of guns existed until I saw a list of the firearms they had in stock. Ailsa went for a girls package of glock (not sure what's feminine about that) and an AK-47 ... painted pink and with a Hello Kitty transfer on the side. Classy! You also had to choose your target at this point: options ranged from gunmen with hostages, terrorists, zombies and ninjas. Ailsa opted for a plain bullseye type target, the Americans viewing her oddly.

When we got inside we were warned of a long wait: there was a 1.5 hour queue twisting back and forward like an RBS branch on Saturday opening. While waiting you could marvel at the array of guns fixed around the four walls of the waiting area, or wonder exactly which gun was making that intense booming sound on the other side of the wall.

When the marksmen were nearing time to head into the gun range itself I left them to it and headed outside to people watch: there were the mini-buses dropping off excited young folk, families bringing their young children in to fire weapons, and a guy come out for a cigarette only to be told he couldn't get his place back in the queue. Straight to the back!

Ailsa came out of the Gun Store excited to have done it and apprehensive about every doing it again ... either because the power of the gun kickback concerned her, or that she was such a good sharp shooter her talents could be dangerous in the wrong hands! I'm sure the Gun Store have rarely seen such a tight cluster on a first time shot! Matt, however, can fire a gun at me anytime and I doubt I'd flinch.

After the lengthy spell at the Gun Store we were running late for having dinner and catching up with the UK crew in Fremont Street that night. To help us out we ordered some Trump Tower room service (more reasonably priced than you'd think, I have to say). What we weren't expecting was that when it was brought to our room the waiter waltzed straight into the room and set up a full dining area for us, complete with tablecloth, silver cutlery and single serving glass Ketchup bottle. All for some curly fires and a club sandwich!

Thomas and Hannah said they were going to check out the Fright Dome at Circus Circus so we planed to meet them there, but before we got out of the taxi we received a text to ward us off - the Fright Dome wasn't very scary and may have been aimed towards young teenagers rather than adults. Still, the journey to Circus Circus was worth is as I randomly put a note into a slot machine and promptly won $40. This whole Vegas thing is a breeze ...

I cashed in my winnings and we jumped in a taxi to Fremont Street: home of the Las Vegas old skool casinos and a 90 foot video screen canopy. The gambling and drinking round these parts is definitely cheaper. It seems to be a reasonable thing to do to sit at a bar, put $5 in a video black-jack game, receive a free drink for "playing the game", cashing in your $5 and walking away. I can't really see the flaw in that system. Cheap gambling meant smoke filled casinos though so when we met the rest of the UK crew we went outside to watch the light show on the extensive overhead video screen. We timed it nicely and were treated to a Queen medley, with images of Freddie and Brian May flying backwards and forwards above our heads. The only bit I didn't understand was the climax to We Are The Champions where they displayed an image of Freddie Mercury backed by a fluttering Stars and Stripes. Did I miss something there?! After the Queen tribute the next installment was Time Warp with a distinctly halloween feel to it.

There was reasonable success when the group took to the roulette tables and we retired to a quite spot of the casino (they seemed to be playing a variation on bingo) to discuss our various wins and catch up on how each others holidays had gone. Steve, Pam and Claire were intending to stay up all night as they were to be picked up in their hotel lobby early the next morning to be taken for a helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon. Ailsa and I didn't have such grand plans and a good sleep before the final full day in Vegas seemed like a good idea.