Yesterday I returned the key for my little Upper West Side apartment and headed out for a night at the oh so salubrious Ramada Kennedy Airport.

Packing was a nightmare. Even though I have sent back two parcels of stuff everything still seems to have multiplied. Had to invest in some extra travel space bags to squash it all in. But I managed and managed to get it in under the 50 pound limit by 2 pounds. Not sure what that is in kilograms but it is an absolute b***** to lift.

My night at the Ramada was not terrible. Although, the water in the shower was disappointingly lukewarm but much to my surprise it was reasonably quiet. One interesting feature was the fact my room smelt like a tube of Deep Heat. One can only surmise (or hope really) that a lot of athletes are forced to enjoy the hospitality.

I am currently sitting on a US Airways flight to Las Vegas. In order to get the flight, despite staying at the airport I had to get up at 4am to catch the 4:30 am shuttle to the airport. Arrived at the terminal at 5am. Queued to check in for half an hour, then queued to get through security for 45 mins (and they were so rude!). By the time I made it through I was starving and in totally desperate need for coffee only to discover this was the only place in NY which does not have a Starbucks. I was totally jonesing (American for craving….) for a caffeine fix. The queue to get any kind of food was so long and having just queued for about 2 hours I went for basically anything that could be found in the Hudson News stand. Thus breakfast this morning was a small tub of Pringles (my old fave) and a bottle of Sprite. Not exactlygreat breakfast and there was no food on the flight either.

The flight is 5 hours long. Totally painful. Domestic economy class here is dreadful. And there is a woman on the plane with a dog. Gross - Paris Hilton has a lot to answer for.

I did really enjoy New York but am looking forward to moving on as well. I am really looking forward to some warmer weather and a different climate. There is a pool at the place I am staying in Vegas and I think a few hours out by that would do me a world of good. And there must be something really strange about the NY weather. Odd fact- all of my jewelry tarnished black in the 2 months I was there. That has never happened before. Weird. And also, a clear plastic little thing on my suitcase turned yellow and fell off. There was also a lot of static electricity in the air. I got zapped constantly.

Vegas.

So the flight finally arrived in Vegas. We flew over he Rocky Mountains which was great, they are still covered in snow. And then the green suddenly turns to red and you are in the dessert. Still occasional mountains with snow jut out in the distance.

Las Vegas itself is actually quite big. The suburbs attached to it spread out for miles around the famed strip. Lots of new housing developments too. Unfortunately it was day time to did not get to see the strip lit up on the flight.

Las Vegas airport is totally trash-tastic. The airport itself is loaded with slot machines and tourist stores.

I am staying at the Sahara Hotel/Casino. This is one of the cheaper casinos, although, still not really cheap and you do not get what you pay for. To give you an idea of the people this hotel caters to - there is a liquor store in the lobby so you can grab a bottle of JB and neck it in your room before hitting the slot machines. Charming!

Vegas seems to attract a really mixed clientele. There are families here, god knows why, business travelers here for conventions that are held in the many convention centres in each of the casinos and there are packs of blokes here on bucks weekends and surprisingly a lot of girls here for weekends away too. Last night I had dinner at this Mexican place and at the table next to me was a bunch of old ladies planning their evening of slot machines and debating strategy. A little scary.

The Strip itself is actually called Las Vegas Boulevard. It is mammoth casino after mammoth casino. Outside the sun is hot and the sky is blue but once you step through the doors of any of these casinos you are taken to another world, or at least in many of the cases another country. The sheer scale is madness and it is so easy to get lost inside any one of them. In fact I did several times. Once the doors shut behind you are in huge rooms with no natural light and no obvious signs pointing to the outside. These rooms are full of thousands upon thousands of slot machines, craps tables and, well, whatever the hell else people play here. And, night or day people are on the machines in their hundreds.

My favourite casino had to be the Venetian. A little ironic given that I do not like Venice at all, but this was like Venice without the smell and pigeons! Inside there is an entire canal complete with gondolas you can take for a ride. Alongside the canal are hundreds of shops and you can even sit outside for lunch in a replica of St Marks Square with a freeze designed to resemble the sky at whatever time of day it happens to be. I had a gorgeous lunch and glass of prosecco at the Wolfgang Puck café on the square pretending I was outside.

All in all I do not really see the attraction of this place. It is full of the worst kind of people who wander around with magaritas in their hands being loud and obnoxious. Cannot say I would recommend it as a holiday destination to many of you, some of you may appreciate the kitsch value, but I found it unappealing as a whole.