Viva Las Vegas!

The flight to LA was dreadful. We were grounded in Melbourne for 3hours before taking off due to fuelling issues. Rather be late than dead though!

I stayed in LA for one night with a view to spending more time there in a couple of weeks before I fly to New York.

After this whistle stop I made the 300 mile trek to Las Vegas. I don't think I've ever seen a place like it, it's literally insane. Everywhere is brand new, apparently if a building is older than 10 years it gets destroyed and rebuilt.

I checked in at the imperial palace hotel which is by far the nicest accommodation I've stayed in so far on my trip, and being midweek it didn't cost much more than the 20 bed dorm I slept in LA.

It's currently the height of summer and the heat is nothing like I've witnessed before. Being in the desert, it's a very dry heat and there's no rest bite as the evening temperature is still above 40degrees.

Then there's the gambling. There is no end of casinos to choose from and even during the week they're packed to the rafters. For someone with no casino experience it can be a little intimidating therefore I thought it'd be a good idea to tackle a bucket of corona as a pre casino warm up.

Having decided not to attend the Neighbours night in Melbourne due to the $40 entrance fee, I had made a promise to myself to spend this money at the casino instead. In addition I had a premonition of a black, black, red sequence. In no time at all my $40 had accumulated to $320. I felt like I was in a dream. Before I could do any more damage, I exchanged the chips I had for hard cash and ended the night with a tidy profit!

Today's gambling aim is to partake in a game of poker if the stakes are reasonably small. Also I'd like to put a dollar in a slot machine and win a million! I'll let you know how successful I was, maybe from my yacht in Hawaii!

one things for sure, Vegas is a well and truly amazing place. While it may not be for everyone, you have to admire how it's in a world of it's own. The place is buzzing, bright lights, bustling streets 24/7 and the tackiness isn't too overpowering.

I heard a rumour that the casinos don't have clocks and pump the air with oxygen to keep people gambling. This is completely true. I was so pumped with oxygen, I couldn't sleep even back at my hotel room at 5am.

I have to make sure I sleep tonight as I need to be up early for my helicopter ride over the grand canyon tomorrow, the limo picks me up at 9:30am (i really have to stop spending money!!).

After the grand canyon I'll begin my journey north to Sacramento to visit my godmothers sister Pat & Dave.