I believe that every traveller at least once needs to visit Las Vegas, Nevada. Everybody that has will tell you there is no other place quite like it and they'd be right.

Since my last visit in 2011 I've likened Vegas as not only another city, but another country entirely. It's like a place with its own jurisdiction separate to that of the rest of the country. I mean aside from possibly New Orleans where else can you get offered crack on the street in broad daylight among families and drink ridiculously big cocktails out of plastic cups that are two feet tall as you walk the streets? You can't do that in New York or LA or Chicago. It makes mall shopping all the more fun, and dangerous, when you can walk into a store with a drink in your hands and not having to worry about depleting your casino options is surely heaven for most of those serious gamblers. I wouldn't know, the most I spent over the whole weekend in casinos was at the buffet.

As strange or as nerdy or weird or just plain insane as it might sound I think the highlight for me this time was the buffet options. Anywhere from twenty to thirty five bucks will get you into an all you can eat buffet at most of the large casinos on the strip. All offer breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner buffets and let me tell you, you will not find a better buffet in all of Australia or America than what they have here. There is literally everything and it's almost a shame you have to get full. From the moment I came back to our lunch table at the Luxor buffet I said "You won't see me in another restaurant while we're here." or something like that. The roast meats, the pastas, the pastries, the Asian cuisine, the fresh vegies, fruit, pizza, fried chicken, I could go on and on and on. I'm foaming at the mouth just thinking about it. Oh, and of course the ice cream and desert menu, how could I forget that. Anybody who loves a good, big and broad feed needn't look further.

Vegas is also the place of many seedy strip clubs. You don't need to check them out to know about it. You've got people flashing cards at you all up and down the strip and after a little experiment on Saturday night I think it's been proven that these people target those with big girly drinks in their hands, like Maddi and I. You can't help but laugh at some of the language that comes out of the mouths. "Crack, steak and w****s, guys. Right this way." And before anybody asks the answer is an honest "No."

I've almost been convinced that all of the world's remaining smokers had a convention in Vegas while we were there. You can smoke in every casino floor which for me and many others was a throwback to the old days in nightclubs and bars where you would come home reeking of cigarettes and have a sore throat. Not at all pleasant for a non-smoker I'll assure you.

We went to the Laugh Factory show at the Tropicana on Friday night and heard enough filthy and downright offensive comedy to keep us entertained. This was because the original show I wanted to see was sold out, The Brad Garrett stand up show. Most know him as Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond. I went to the box office to get tickets and was told kindly that I was at the wrong door and to turn the next corner. "Damn," I thought to myself as I found the right door "That guy was huge. And his voice was more grotesque and deep sounding than mine." At second look after I was told the show was sold out by the right window I discovered it was Brad Garrett himself wearing a flannel shirt and trucker hat, to probably try and disguise his super human identity from everyone on the casino floor. He is one massive individual. We also think we saw an Arizona Cardinals football player eating a dinner buffet at the Monte Carlo but that was all for celebrity spotting. Oh, does Elvis count? I think we saw him about a half dozen times, and Marilyn Monroe, and the Joker, and the Power Rangers.

As far as I'm going I think I'm the first one in the history of the known universe to leave Vegas in better shape than he arrived. The head cold is now down to a mere, but persistent, sore throat and although no workouts were done just walking the strip a half dozen times and spending a few hours shopping at the premium outlets would have seen us clock up quite a few miles, kilometres I mean, in the legs.

I've now seen most of Southern and Central California in the past few days getting to and from Vegas. Lots of desert and rocky hills have provided great scenery. Heading in to Bakersfield, California you have Rockies towering over the interstate highways and your ears get a fair old popping out of it. I'm not sure what altitude I'm at right now but at least my ears tell me I'm high as a kite.