Day 228 and staying up till 1am doing my blog was regretable as I had to get up at 730am. Burns and I were off to see a Beckham-less LA Galaxy play the Columbus Crew. This meant we had to be up by 8 and ready to get a series of buses and trains to get to the ground. After 3 slices of toast for breakfast we waited 30 minutes for a bus, which Burns somehow didn't pay for. We each paid $5 for an all day pass at the train station. To get to the ground we had to go through Compton which was well nasty looking. Burns saw a sofa which was left by the side of the train station which was completely hollow. All that was left were the arm rests and the back. Also on the train there was a fat man snoring and a small kid, no older than 2 or 3 and he had a massive Mohawk haircut which looked awful. We got to the ground at 1030 and instantly found the many food stalls in the stadium itself. No wonder Americans are so fat, there were burger, hot dog and all other sorts of food outlets everywhere. There was even an "All You Can Eat' section for the obese people. It was roasting hot and I foolishly forgot to put sun cream on. I could feel myself cooking in the sun. We sat behind one of the goals during he warm up and a young girl of about 10-12 got hit in the face by a wayward shot. It glanced off her head and went miles in another direction but she was hurt. She started crying so a security guard came and offered her a free football as consolation. Burns and I couldn't help but laugh though. The standard of play was shocking. No wonder the MLS is a joke league. It was 0-0 till late in the 2nd half when Columbus scored after a shocking error from the Galaxy right back. Galaxy equalised in the last minute with a 25 yarder from Eddie Lewis, formerly of Leeds Utd and Preston North End. The journey back was shocking. We waited for 45 minutes for a bus, then got on and I stupidly sat next to a weird woman who was curious about my English accent. She also wondered if I lived in a big Victorian house. I was glad to get off the bus and on the train back to the hostel. I got a haircut on the way home. After eating Helen's leftover food from the restaurant last night, we went to Charlie and Liz's hotel to chill and ended up watching My Best Friends Wedding which the girls loved (and so did Luke Worrying) but Burns and I hated.

Day 229 and we were up at 6am after only 5 hours sleep ready for our bus to Vegas. The taxi that Luke had booked yesterday didn't show up so we crammed into a taxi and headed for greyhound. In the Greyhound centre there were some really annoying Americans being loud and I was thankful to board at 8am. Once we got to Vegas and stepped off the bus the heat that hit was instant. We needed a taxi to our hostel and ended up getting into the back of a white van with a random man who claimed he was a taxi driver. There were no seats so we sat on the wheel arches with our bags on the floor. He turned out to be a sound chap offering us loads of advice on Vegas. Our hostel was meant to be a truck stop but it ended up being rather fancy. Helen and I got a King Size bed to ourselves, while the other 3 shared 2 doubles in their room. After settling in we headed for the strip. I was sweating almost as soon as we left the room. It took us about 10 minutes to cross one road and about 10 minutes to cross the freeway and get to the strip. Everywhere I looked there were Casinos, lights, screens, and food outlets. The taxi man had described Vegas as 'A Single Mans Paradise' and we could see why. Booze, Women, and Gambling. After a few hours exploring, and getting really hot and sweaty we went back to the hostel, showered and went back out about 8ish. My stomach was feeling rather dodgy so I didn't have dinner, but the others had an all you can eat buffet at the Monte Carlo Casino. They all ate loads the fattys. They had 2-3 platefuls each and then Laura and Helen managed to eat 7 desserts between them! They were all complaining about feeling sick and bloated all night long as they ate so much. I spent this time scouting the casino and winning a few dollars on a slot machine. After food we explored the big casinos, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, and the Mirage before heading to a smaller casino to place some bets. I won $20 on Roulette, Helen was $10 up, Luke was about $30 but Burns was about $10 down. It was a surprise to me when I realised it was 230am cause when your in the casinos you have no idea what time it is outside. After hours of walking we headed home whilst trying to ignore all the Mexicans who were trying to hand us Call Girl cards and flicking them against their wrists.

Day 230 and we all had a long lie in till about midday. When I finally got up, I went out to the pool to sunbathe with the others in the intense heat. I was getting a good red/brown line from the sun but took time out to do my blog in the air-conditioned room. After more sun in the afternoon we headed out about 5ish for our first food of the day. We went to Excalibur and had their all you could eat buffet as it seemed the best value for money. Some promotion guys tried to offer us free show tickets but needed me and Helen to married to do so. After quickly getting away from this guy, we sat down and prepared ourselves for the buffet, which I would take part in tonight. Burns offered me some solid advice "go for the roast dinner and trimmings first, then go for the Chinese/curry". I Adhered to this and it worked well as I was able to eat a good amount without feeling sick. By the end of the second plate though I was struggling. I managed a small third plate but then we all moved onto desserts. Luke was the king of these, he managed to eat 6 and a half chocolate brownies. After dinner the girls went shopping while Luke and Burns lost some money on Roulette before we explored the MGM Grand. It was massive, and if we had stayed more than 10 minutes I would have got lost. We all met up and bought some playing cards from the Bellagio and MGM before finding a casino we could afford to bet in. On the Roulette wheel I was $20 up and after talking to the dealer for a while, managed to leave $30 after the dealer gave me a $10 tip! Burns and I had a quick go on Blackjack, but we both lost our $20 in a few hands. It was so addictive though and I was sure If I had more money I would have wasted it on Blackjack. We all were in bed by 11pm as we had an early start in the morning for our Grand Canyon Tour.

Day 231 and Helen woke me at 530 and I was in no mood to get up as it was stupidly early. At 6, we were waiting outside the Excalibur casino for our bus and we reached the company building by 7. After waiting 30 minutes for our pickup we got a free breakfast (Muffin, Apple, OJ) and got on the bus which we would be on for about 10 hours throughout the day. Our driver was called Jose and had the best Mexican accent I have ever heard. It was like something from a cartoon and I couldn't help but laugh everytime he said something over the microphone. He also had a habit of repeating things he said which made it even funnier. An hour in and we stopped at Hoover Dam for some photos. At 9am we stopped at Maccas and I had a sausage McMuffin. The trip was made shorter as we were able to watch a movie. Unfortunately it was a shocker. The Legend of Zorro, with Anthony Hopkins as Zorro. It was an awful film, but at least it passed the time. Lunch was at 1, and guess what, it was another buffet. We had Roast beef and mash which was nothing on the Casino buffets. After lunch we reached the National Park at 130 and got our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. It was spectacular, and even though we took hundreds of photos, they couldn't do it justice. After 40 minutes of photo taking we got back on the bus and headed further around the south rim. At Mather point we learnt that the Canyon was 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and about a mile deep (at its widest and deepest points). About 330pm we all reboarded the bus and headed back to Vegas. At about 930pm we reached Vegas and were all hungry so we went to a Jack in the Box fast food where I had one of the best burgers ever. Worringly though, this was another burger added to the many I along with Burns and Luke had had in the last few days. We took the food back to the rooms, ate and went to bed pretty early.