Las Vegas, USA

As a bolt out of the blue Nicola and I decided to take a slight detour to Las Vegas in order to surprise Tommy on his 30th birthday. Another gift was giving him the privilege of blogging the events that's unfolded. So without further ado I give you Tom French to tell you the things that happened in Vegas that we didn't think needed to stay in Vegas:

"Our trip to Vegas had been planned for some time and anyone who has spent the tough British winter getting wet and cold will appreciate that the last few weeks before our departure became longer and filled with anticipation as we counted down the days. So, on a bright Wednesday morning, Big Bad Bill French picked up the French Brother's (Tommy the Perm & Big JP) along with Craig (The Boy Nunn) and kindly delivered the trio at Gatwick where we met with a fourth (and in my mind FINAL) team member Steve Chidd*** (Chids).

Following an unspectacular flight where we were surrounded by a group of Brummies with such names as 'Rambo' and 'Wonga' (I mean, who uses rubbish nicknames like that?!) we were in the Monte Carlo and the fun was about to begin. The Wolfpack started with a few beers in 'The Legion' (an English themed pub in the hotel - irony not lost on us) and soon we were on our way to The Mirage where we toured a few bars before hitting a casino called 'Harrahs' which I affectionately called Harry's (a premonition of things to come?) Now if anyone thought that the boys had forgotten how to play craps, think again! The Wolfpack cleaned out Harry's quite quickly, and following a combination of booze, tiredness and jet lag, the boys decided to call it a night.

The following morning, I was 30 and this day provided me with some of the greatest moments of the holiday and certainly some of the best presents ever! Craig (TBN) was talking cryptically about not knowing what could happen throughout the day. I was beginning to think that the Canadian Club and Ginger Ale had got to him when he took himself off to the hotel shop. 10 minutes later, there was a large knock on the door and a familiar voice shouting 'Room Service!' I opened to the delightful presence of Mr Rob Nicholls (aka The Big Kid or just Nicholls) standing there! Big hugs all round and soon we were by the pool talking about the surprise and who had helped to orchestrate things and keep it quiet. I couldn't really believe it and soon after we were taking a picture of the pack in the pool. It was during this moment that a rogue individual swam over and grabbed my leg. Fearing that a local dandy was making a statement of intent against The Pack, I braced myself for action (basically looked at JP and Nicholls to do something) and the when the assailant rose from the water I was delighted to see young Harry (The Mad Monk - known for obscene bets) standing there with a big grin on his face! I realised Nicola (Hard 8 Hilliard) was standing on the poolside looking much more glamourous. More big hugs and emotion followed and The Wolfpack had fully assembled. 7 legends, all ready to run around the desert terrorising craps tables and strippers (well not all of us).

Our first night out started with a trip to 'The Foundation Room' a bar in The Mandalay Bay with fantastic views of the strip (check out the photos). We then headed off to New York New York and the coyote ugly bar, a place where nice looking ladies dance on the bars and throw beer over you. The shot measures in there were silly! Big JP got a round of tequilas in but it was basically 5 short glasses full of tequila! We followed this with some vodka and soon everyone was rocking. A trip to the casino afterwards reaped rewards for the Monk and Hard 8, Big JP also scored heavily on the craps table. TTP lost a few dollars on the Casino War table where Nicholls was more fortunate, the highlight of this little escapade being the redneck American who joined us....

Croupier - "Hello sir, would you like to go to war?"
Redneck - "Yeah I'm going to war!"

TTP them took himself off to the Spearmint Rhino, a lovely little place which will get no further mention on the blog. Needless to say, it was $40 well spent!

Friday saw us chilling out by the pool and catching up on some sleep. Room 12-103 (TTP, TBN & Nicholls) were having it by this point, chilling out with George Michael in the room. Friday night saw us start in the Cosmopolitan watching a jazz band called 'Leftover Cutie' - google them, they were superb. We then went on a tour of the classy casinos, Bellagio, Ceasar's Palace, The Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn & Encore. Before heading back home to catch the West Ham game in our room. We were playing rubbish so turned off a half time and stuck 'Jesus to a Child' back on. Classic rinsing sounds.

Saturday saw a trip to the Stratosphere where daredevils Harry and Nicola rode on the rides at the very top of the tower. In my old age I have become a coward and completely bottled it - it was so high up! Fair play to H & Nic.

Saturday night saw a new member join The Wolfpack, Chids girlfriend Catia (The Portugese Princess) and we were now known as the Hard 8's (there were 8 of us). We started in the MGM Grand, where they have recently relaunched their nightclub ''Hakasan'. The queues to get in were ridiculous! We decided to have a few drinks in a bar outside, have a few bets then move on. What happened next is the stuff of legend, in 3 bets on the roulette table, I was $420 up. We got a limo and hit the Revolution bar in The Mirage. We went for the VIP treatment and had a lovely area all to ourself, bottle of vodka with mixers and a bucket of beers. Better still, we had our own bouncer 'Brendan', who took me to one side and said, "I'm your security for the night, if there are any problems then please let me know and I will fix it for you". I almost felt inclined to start a fight just so we could make Brendan earn his tip!!!

With the vodka gone and various jaeger bombs destroyed, it was time to head home. Some of us were coherent, some of us were not (Hard 8 Hilliard's decision to only eat fruit and yoghurt that day not paying dividends!). To get home, we managed to commandeer a stretch hummer with a dance pole and disco lights inside. As the doors shut, "Harlem Shake" came on and there was a 5 minute riot inside! Someone has a video of this (I think Rob and Craig) and hopefully one day you will all be able to see it - absolute classic stuff.

Most people would probably call it a day there, but we are not most people. The RM12 boys (Harry, Joe, Craig, Rob and I) hit a craps table in the Monte Carlo and boy did we hit it! Big JP was on fire! He was shooting the dice for about 20 minutes and everything he rolled turned to gold. TTP, TBN and Nicholls had bet on all of the numbers being rolled (except the 7) with odds of 35/1 on the small and tall numbers separately and 176/1 for all of them together. JP could do no wrong and whilst we continued to reap the benefits of constant 6's and 8's, he slowly picked off all of the numbers. Soon with just a 5 needed to win the the big bet, the stick man could be heard shouting, "The shooter is on fire people, Come on JP, we need a big 5!" Joe rolled the dice and it was one of those slow motion moments in life, one landed on a 4 and the other took an age to settle on the 1! The RM12 boys celebrated very loudly and soon there was a buzz around our table. It has to be said that there are odds of 176/1 on this happening for a reason. It is quite possible we will never see a moment like this ever again!

Sunday saw some more chilling with George before a trip to the Wynn buffet and a night with David Copperfield. Now, some of Copperfield's tricks were pretty good, but there is something about him that I didn't like. He is a complete creep! The show was tailing off into a bland evening until yours truly got picked to help out on the last illusion. Once TTP was on stage, the crowd was buzzing, I probably helped to save the gig (Copperfield admitted this on twitter afterwards too, so...) he made me and 7 less interesting people disappear and reappear at the back of the theatre. Basically, I had to run out the back of the stage and round the theatre to the back entrance. Not magic. Afterwards, I was held back in a room where he asked us all to promise not to tell everyone how we did it!?! Does he think that people think he is actually a wizard?! He didn't shake my hand and wouldn't have a picture taken. Big time Charlie, he knew I was the main event in that room....

After this, the pack dispersed back to our home continents. Rob to Australia, H & Nic back to their travels, Chids and Catia staying on to visit LA and the RM12 boys back to Hornchurch.... The end of an era. But what a way to end it!

One last thing, the final flight back was pretty grim, compounded by the fact that Rambo, Wonga and the whole gang were sitting in front of us again!! Joe's impression of these whelks is amazing!"

Thanks Tommy! Nicola and I are now back in Lima continuing our Latin America journey. We had a fantastic time! We have some videos of the moment we surprised Tom and Joe in the pool that we will be loading shortly. Hope you enjoy.

Harry & Nicola

Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 125 - 142 HF