Vegas

After a 17 hour coach journey where we swapped at LA and I had the most amazing smelling guy sat next to me we finally arrived in Vegas. The first thing we saw was a guy handcuffed to the railings in the bus station, Charlene loved it she kept saying it’s like something from Cops! Then we got a rude taxi driver who took us the longest way round ever. Finally we got to our hotel we were staying in the best western just off the strip there was 2double beds in the room, a coffee maker, tv with cable etc so it was a really nice room. We were very hungry so decided to try and find some food, after 20 mins of walking in the ridiculous desert heat we were all ready to faint and pretty sure Nat was already burnt! We found a place called coco’s and took advantage of their bottomless drinks – I think I had about5. We had some dinner and then headed back to the hotel, we were all shattered so decided to get some sleep and start afresh tomorrow.

I woke up at 9am and wrote in this untill the girlswoke up half an hour later, we then headed for the free breakfast at the hotel and were pleasantly suprised at the choice of pastries, waffles, muffins, cereal, toast, bagels, tea, coffee and juices...pretty good for a free breakfast.
Then it was time to lay by the pool and hope to resurrect this tanage!!

We had a nice day by the pool, coming in to order an amazing salad for lunch from quiznos. Then back out in the sunshine! Later we get showered and dressed, share a bottle of wine and get the free shuttle from the hotel to the mgm grand hotel. We do a small bit of gambling on the 1c machines and then get approached by a guy who works at the hotel offering us free entry and free vodka to two clubs in the hotel. We head to the first place and the music is really good and the vodkas are going down very nicely, then the next club where the music is still good and we have a dance. We met a bunch of guys in suits (from England of course) they were on a pretend stag do (don’t ask) and they were all a bit strange so we decided to sneak out of the place by pretending to go to the toilet. We met these 3english (of course we always end up meeting the english) guys outside who asked if it was worth going in, we ended up going for a walk up the strip and taking some photos before picking up some wine and heading to the hotel. Chars and I had fun taking pics of everything in their posh suite and I tried to convince them I was mistaken when I said we stayed at the best western of course we meant the Bellagio!! Soon it was home time however I can’t remember getting home exactly but I remember trying to find ice with char and nat conking out straight away. Also going to the shop and making nachos where they had run out of cheese and had to get the lady to help us, we never got to live that down as every time we went in the shop (which was next door to our hotel) she laughed at us! We spent the next day in bed recovering. Nat wasn’t feeling very well so decided against coming out that night, so me and char went downtown to freemont street and watched the lightshow. We had a buffet at paradise and it was lovely to have salad and veg and stuff again! plus 99c margarita! We loved down town, we bought loads of souvenirs’ 97c store!!! And bought some beautiful postcards to send home. We then got a bus to the strip and walked around visiting hotels like the venetian, paris, bellagio, imperial palace, the cosmopolitan and walking around looking at the sights! We went to the shops where myself fred andy and chris spent most of our time last year; drinking in the halo bar! Also I explained to char where Lis and Mike got married and where they had the reception etc, was a bit weird not having all my family around when i was with them all there last year. We got talked to by nearly everyone and everyone kept saying how much they liked chars cress, by the end of the night it was a running joke, one of the guys asked her it’s comfortable right?? he sounded like the gayest man in the world and really made us laugh. Some guy said to me that my hair looks great this way...as if he’d seen it any other way and char was this girl’s personal photographer when she kept complaining the photos were blurry! We’d decided if you make eye contact with someone they will talk to you in Vegas, so we spent our time looking to the skies or to the floor when any guy walked past. At 4am we decided to get a coffee at starbucks before we headed back, but when this guy started waving at us from across the room and came to join us he was so weird so we ran out when he went to get a coffee and got a taxi home!

The following day we spent by the pool as most of our days were spent. It was so hot and amazing there like 40 degrees, I spent most of my time in the pool as it was sooo hot. Then that night we showered and got a bus from the strip downtown, it took about an hour! when we got there nat still wasn’t feeling well and decided to head straight home, so I made sure she got some proper medicine for her throat as the paracetmol was not helping much. Me and char walked around for a bit and went for dinner before getting bus back. On the bus this man was with his wife and was so drunk he couldn’t stand and kept falling over, (reminded me of fred) haha. He fell down the stairs and literally out of the bus on to the floor tripping up his wife in the mean time, luckily char grabbed her and stopped her falling; shouldn’t laugh but it was hilarious!!! And this guy started talking to us talking about how much he loved English accents and was telling us about everything in Vegas and talking about the words we use and the words he uses; loo for us jon for him... he was weird! Then some guy starts talking to us and we turn round and do a double take as michael jackson is sat there talking to us. Literally a michael jackson look alike, (who we see later by bellagio and is the same guy I had a pic with last year) how strange. He had lipstick around his mouth and kept talking to us about how he met michael and lisa marie presley and michael told him he was gonna die like elvis! So weird, so we got off and walked home.

The following day we were all tired, nat wasn’t feeling well still however the medicine was making her better, we stayed by the pool again, then had a craving for pasta at night so ordered some in and had a reasonably early night. The following day we AGAIN spent it by the pool it is literally too hot to move here. We were meant to be leaving by now but decided to stay on for another4nights as we love Vegas so much plus nat hasn’t seen much so far. Then at night, char, myself and a much healthier nat headed to the strip. We went to The Harley Davidson Cafe for nachos and chicken which we shared and sat outside watching this daredevil guy in a flame suit get set alight and shot out of a cannon onto some mats. Then we went to bellagio to meet yaz and jim, was soooooo good to see her, I haven’t seen her in nearly 5 months and I miss her so much, plus I’d forgotten how ditzy she was, the stuff she came out with was funny. Jim decided to talk to me about the spurs vs Liverpool game while iv been away (trying to wind me up) and tried to convince me Kenny Dalgliesh had been sacked. I didn’t believe him the little b*****! Yaz had forgotten her ID so we headed back to their hotel the mirage to get it and went for a $10 drink in The Beatles bar, i told jim it was only cos he wants to be around anything from Liverpool that he suggested this bar and Yaz came out with “what have The Beatles got to do with Liverpool”...oh my how I’ve missed her!! We then decided we needed to go somewhere cheaper and found this rock-house club opposite my old hotel Imperial Palace and it was $5 dollar girls open bar and $10 guys open bar...bonus! As we were walking there yaz said i like your bracelet and i told her i had made it out of a coconut she was suprised then asked if she could smell it... yes yaz but it only smells of varnish now:) God I love this girl! We got some drinks, at the start the music was not great but got better throughout the night. Yaz and Jim left after one drink as they hadn’t slept in 26 hours and god knows how they were even still standing now! Char, Nat and I stayed an hour or so longer and we taught nat the look to the skies or floor ignorance. She got lots of practice that night as there were a lot of strange people out. We had to head home just after 12 as we were getting picked up at 6.10am in the morning to go to the grand canyon and hoover dam! We got home and ended up speaking nearly all night, probably because we knew we had to sleep.

The following morning we woke up (at stupid o clock) at 5.45 got dressed and washed and managed to get to the shop to get money out and had brekkie at the hotel before the coach picked us up...go us!!

The day was sooo long from 6am till 12 at night when we got back but we loved every minute of it. Saw the hoover dam and the grand canyon was incredible! I hated every time nat or char stood near the edge and couldn’t look but other than that it was gorgeous, very surreal! We walked about 3miles along the grand canyon and took lots of pictures! Words can’t really explain it you need to see it to believe it. We had a driver called walter and he was a bit mad and spoke far too much on the microphone. We may have gone to the grand canyon and the hoover dam but the main story of the day was my clumsiness... we were in a bit of a rush all day and we got to this place and were told to get our free lunch and go straight to the imax theatre to watch the grand canyon movie thing (which was quite boring) so we got our pizzas and drinks and balancing our sauces on top of the box we queued for the film. As i tried to get my straw in my drink I felt something slide off my pizza box....uh ohhhhhhhh I heard a little thud and realized my mustard had fallen to the floor...oh s***tt it had bounced on the floor and I had a bit up the side of my dress...luckily not too much, then I hear a gasp behind me and turn round to see this woman had mustard all up her shorts ...s*** I’m so so sorry I say to her as I turn to face her and she has mustard speckled all over her face I think the worst part was the big clump in her fringe....oh god I was mortified but at the same time found it hilarious! And Char and nat laughing didnt help me control my laughter. As we left the movie I heard some lady say I’m gonna have to go to the restroom as I still have it all up my shorts and arm!! Nat classed it as the highlight of USA so far and I kept making jokes that she must-ard had a great day!!

The following day after a very long sleep we spent the day...by the pool of course and headed for a night of sightseeing, we were earlier this time and by 7 were in the shuttle on the way to the strip. First off this time we went to the Bellagio fountains where we took some awesome photos of the beautiful fountains and hotel. This lady took a picture of us all and then proceeded to tell us she was a fortune teller and was doing a couple for free so readour palms, apparently I am going to have a very long life and I am very sweet but very stubborn. She also said I am very generous. To Char she said she’s sweet but a very bad liar and can be a flirt..haha, To Nat she said she was ...guess what yeah she said sweet but she said she can let people walk over her as well. Afterwards Char and Nat started looking at my lifeline on my hand comparing it to theirs and realising mine was much longer muahaha. I then got approached by a man asking if we wanted him to take a picture of all of us, he was stood there unshaven with a beer in his hand and cut off shorts which I’m pretty sure he cut off himself...but hey we’re in America everyone looks strange. So he took a picture of us and luckily I got my camera back although as chars said it did look like he was just zooming in on all our chests. We couldn’t get rid of this man so we headed into Caesars Palace where Nat got very excited by the pictures of Celine Dion all over the place. We then walked to bus stop stopping at the Mirage on the way and watching the volcano show. We were waiting in the queue for the bus when this guy came up to me and said what we all queuing for I said naked men what are you waiting for? and he didn’t have much to say after that soon enough after a lot of rambling he left. After a long wait we finally got on a very crowded bus and got off at the stratosphere. We met some guys from newcastle there and we ended up going on two of the rides there. The other ride I had gone on last year with Katie, Fred and Chris. The first ride we went on throws u over the side and then stops, it looked very scary esp last year it looked the worst. It didn’t help that I was sat next to a 40 year old man who instead of seeming not scared was like oh my god oh my god oh my god....I was laughing at him telling him he was not helping, but it turns out it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. The next ride was called big shot and it shoots you up to the top and to the bottom again that was worse than the other one my necklace came off but luckily I caught it. I think i was more preoccupied with Nat’s screaming on this ride; was very amusing!
We then headed downtown to Freemont Street so Nat could finally see it, we had planned to go for buffet for dinner but it was late by then and we were passed the proper hungry stage so just grabbed a slice of pizza and watched the light shows, we had a bit of a gamble I put Jamie’s B’day on roulette and won nothing ha ha but tried a bit more and one 20 odd dollars and so did the girls I think. We then got the bus back to the hotel and it was about 2am when we got back in. We had to leave in the morning for San Diego, Have loved every minute of Vegas and can’t wait to come back :)