Bon Voyage Las Vegas and Aloha Honolulu

As I had been unable to reach the bus company the previous day, I had to get a cab to the airport and the only good news was that as it was early in the morning the roads and airport was not choc a bloc and I managed to sort out myself and check in at the smaller terminal 2, which is where Hawaiian Air fliy from.


I had forgot that Hawaii was another 2 hours behind Las Vegas so what I thought was a 5 hour flight was actually 7, and the difference meant that I wished I had thought to bring some of my own snacks along, as Hawaiian Airlines food was not as much as I would have liked, especially as I dont like extra salty pretzels.


The flight was one long and detailed continuous advert for everything that you can do in Hawaii, which was pretty cool as I had not had anything booked and it gave me a great chance to see exactly what I wanted to do when I touched down.


It also showed the new film Eagle Eye, which I could not take seriously for a second as the whole film was about getting one super computer to make the lead guy say a sentence into the microphone, but it being a super computer it could easily have tricked him into saying the words over the phone and thus negating the need for the film, but then that wouldn't have made them any storyline!?!


Touchdown in Hawaii was great and it was only a little later than I learned that Hawaii was actually the name of the larger island to the East, and that Honolulu, the capital, was on the third or forth largest Island named of O'ahu, which is also where Pearl Harbour can be found.


I thought that I would save a few bucks by taking the shuttle to the hostel, as it was a 30 to 60 minute trip by bus from the airport, but with their usual time keeping and relaxed attitude it was not until after 5pm when I finally reached it, though it was cool to hear again the Polynesian version of "Over the Rainbow" ( as heard on the film 50 first dates ).


Dusk in O'ahu is around 6pm, so I decided that it was best to book up some trips or the next few days and then go for a walk, and although the hostel receptionist was a bit of a wideboy talking the talk, he wasnt able to get me even $5 discount on my trips, despite me booking 4 trips all at once, and so I felt that I could have done a better deal negociating had I gone in myself alone and not bothered with trying to use him at all.


After I booked a trip to tour the Entire Island, Honolulu City Tour & Pearl Harbour, Twilight Catamaran cruise and Polynesian convension centre and dinner / dance, I went for a walk to see what was around and also to grab a bite to eat.


I stopped off at an American Italian place where they had the final of a college football league and I caught it just in time to see most of the final quarter, along with about 10 dedicated fans who whooped and cheered loud enough for 50.

After the meal I took a wander round again and almost reached the beaches, but I was stopped by a couple of fences and unsure as to how far round the would go I reveresed and headed back to the hostel.


OnceI got back in the hostel I noticed that there was a fairly lively and friendly crowd, again of mixed nationalities, all drinking and playing touch soccer in the hostel yard, so I slipped off my trainers and joined in just in time to get invited along to a local bar that was US $5 to get in and then US $1 a drink all night long.


I half chatted, half flirted with the others til I realised I was far too sobre to be on their wave length, so planned on getting to the bar and having a Mai Tai to loosen me up, only for the entrance to be US $10 and the drink to be over US $5 when you add the tax and tip, not what I had planned.


Apparently the hostel receptionist had been given the tip, but it was clearly not accurate and not being a clubbing person, I was certainly not going to pay US $5 a drink all night long just to catch up with the others, so with them all lost in their own drunken conversations I slipped out after just one and made walked back to the hostel, avoiding the gaze of the street women.


I have to say that more than any other place, in Hawaii ( or to be accurate in O'ahu ) there seemed to be lots and lots of young women around, more than there were men ( who maybe were all at the beach ) and more than there were middle aged or pensioners.


The other thing is that here there is a very big Oriental community presence, enough so for them to have their own tour buses, tour companies and fliers on the street newspaper stands all in a mix of Chinese and Japanese languages. I only found out the next day that the heritage of the common Hawaiian is so diluted from the original Polynesian that most people are not even 25% of any one nation and the tour guide's best friend is a mix of ten nationalities and he himself claimed to be a mix between Hawaiian, Japanese, American and Portugese.


I planned on getting a good nights sleep as I had an earlyish wake up call the next day, with my trip leaving at 8:25, but my sleep was ruined by a commotion in my room around 4pm. I have not yet found out exactly what had happened, but in my half asleep state I am fairly certian that the police turned up and questioned a couple of other guests in my room ( who all had stayed out drinking in the club much longer than just the one I had stayed for ), some of the women in the other dorm rooms were a bit hysterical for a bit, there was talk of people being accused of Tresspassing and the guy from my dorm was unable to confirm his identity or even know what his eye colour was.


I could be wrong, as I tried my best to feign sleep - always preferring to avoid police and the legal system if at all possible, but whatever the full story was it was enough to disturb my sleep and make me a little grouchy the following morning.

A day trip to the Grand Canyon

If anyone tells you that the Grand Canyon is near Las Vegas, let me tell you that unless you like 5 or more hours travelling then as far as I am concerned, near is a very subjective term and for me I feel that no it bloody well isn't near at all.


My day trip was meant to be 12 hours hotel to hotel, and having to be picked up at a nearby hotel at 5:45 meant to me that I would be back by 6pm in the evening, and thus have plenty of time to go to another show, which was my plan. I ended up finally getting back after 11pm, having missed my chance to see anything else and very tired and bored of being on a bus, however confortable it was meant to be.


I didn't have time for a breakfast before being picked up, so it was nice once we had got all together to be given free muffins, a fruit drink and a hot coffee. The company were runnin trips to the West and the South Rims of the Grand Canyon, the West with the advantage of being able to take new Sky Walk across to look directly down on the floor, but the South has the Imax show, the worlds most watched imax film, and also supposedly has the best views.


The guide let us know that we would not be back in 12 hours and that we sould not expect to get back before maybe 9:00 or 9:30, which was news thta I wasn't too keen on hearing and which is why when I got back at gone 11pm I was pissed as at no stage was the traffic bad or anyone late getting back to the coach, so why were we almost 2 hours later than planned !?!


What I also wasnt expecting was that it was the closer I got to the Canyon the more cold it got, in the end it was -10 degrees celcius, which is ten degrees below freezing. Although I had some warmer clothes, especially thanks to my xmas present from K and her family back in Mexico, but I hadnt brought them and neither had I thought to buy or borrow some gloves, hat or scarf, but I really should have.


The first stop we made was passing through Boulder City and then stopping to take photos of the other side of the Hoover Dam. For safety and security sake, in both directios every vehicle is searched before it is allowed to cross the dam, the speed limit is restricted to only 10 miles an hour and no vehicle is allowed to stop not even for a moment to take photos. Thus the traffic that crosses the dam almost always has a backlog that delays you no matter what time of night or day you chose to travel, and at peak times it can take over two hours just to cross the dam.


It wasn't snowing before we reached Boulder City, but pretty soon after the landscape showed signs of snow in the shadows, getting thicker until it was about 2 foot thick before we made our first proper stop.


Because of the recent snowfall and the low lying fog, the Helicopter rides were cancelled, but the Imax show was worth seing, even if the screen wasn't like the imax I had visited in Ecuador and wasn't very domed or rounded and was just like a much taller screen than normal. The film was US $6 for a 35 minute film, but it covered the unknown hidden original settlers, the native american indians, the european / modern americans and finally left us with some great views taken from a microlight glider that was truly breathtaking.


Our first stop actually at the grand canyon was an hour long, but with me being unprepared clothes wise for the freezing temperature I spend most of my time in the gift shop watching a display video of the first americans to film their crossing form the north right down through to the south. It was more a documentary than anything else, but had lots of nice bits and the brothers were as nutty as they came, but thankfully both survived the ordeal and their films did indeed ensure them a place in history for their effort.


An hour or so later we made our second proper Canyon stop, and here I managed to get the courage to get near the edge and have my photo taken, despite being unable to stop my teeth chattering wearing only a t-shirt and my flimsy jacket. I was very temped on buying a fleece and hat at the gift shop, and for only US $25 each they would have been good investments and souveneirs, only I know that my bags are already full and so any extra clothes will just weigh me down on the travel up through Australia and the Far East, and they would probably be too bulky to send cheaply home after just the one use.


I spend the rest of my second stop admiring the sunset from the safety of the nearby hotel and restaurant ( while cuddling a wonderfully warm hot chocolate for less than US $2 which was a bargain anywhere let alone in a tourist trap like here), while my american fellow tourists watched the big game of football on the television. Despite being set out from Las Vegas I was very surprised that there was really no majority of tourists from any one country as I spotted Romanian, French, Canadian, Russian, English, Japanese, Korean and German tourists.


The trip back was broken up by a couple of pit stops near road side cafes where the driver let us out for toilet breaks and to grab a bite to eat, and also by watching Shanghai Knights and Shanghigh Noon movies with Jackie Chan.

Coming from a small downtown hotel I was last to be dropped off and althogh I had wanted to watch a show and do a little gambling before going to sleep, by the time I left the bus I was shattered and so were most of the other guests in the hotel as the gambling card tables and roulette wheel were quieter than I had wanted, so I just gave it a miss and went to bed.

A New Start and a New Year in Las Vegas, USA

After a few days relaxing in some of the nicest spots in Mexico for the holidays it was time to once again continue travelling and start up my blog writing again.

As my flight from Mexico City was due at 7am I chose instead of risk taking a taxi early in the morning or sleeping in the airport over night, instead I chose to take the Metro to the airport and then walk about a bit til I found a hotel.

In the end I found a couple which were within walking distance and chose one that was about 1,216 pesos a night, a lot less than advertised but then I was already there half way through the day and was in no desperate rush so could pick and chose.

For the last time in Mexico I stayed in my room and tried to sort out my stuff and belongings and after ditching a few unessentials I was able to do up my both main and secondary bags, with the bulk of the clothes in one and the small and electrical bits in the other, with my laptop seperate again.

I had always thought that my precautions were being a bit over-paranoid but I learned the following day that this was not the case.

Mexico City airport was very busy, even at before 5am and thankfully there were enough people on duty that spoke English, or American, that checking in it was not a problem, despite the hotel free shuttle dropping me off at the wrong gate.

The flight to Denver was one of the roughest that I have ever had, with it dropping repeatedly in turbulence for a few minutes which made me almost lose my breakfast.

At Denver I had to recheck my luggage and go through customs, as I had just arrived from another country, and I was so tempted on just tying it all up and checking it all onboard, but something still told me that it was a bad idea and so once again I checked only my clothes in the main bag.

When I had arrived in New York last year they had taken a thumb print, but this time around they were requesting all fingers and thumbs from both hands, which was a real surprise, yet for some strange reason it all happened a lot quicker than it had in NY and before I knew it I was collecting my luggage and rechecking it onboard.

The flight to Las Vegas was breathtaking, with beautiful sights and scenery all around, with the many reds and browns of the mountains all laid out beneath me and the pale bleaching tide mark that clung to most of the shores of the great lakes.

I was sat next to a couple of Americans strangers who soon enough got chatting about medical problems, marathon races and their kids while I just gazed out of the window and wondered where it all way leading.

As we can in to land I could see all the big named hotels all lined up along the strip, huge buildings that stuck out like sore thumbs against the backdrop of so many other tiny small shops and houses, and I was reminded that all of the truly big hotels have in excess of one thousands rooms available.

Touchdown was longer than I had expected, mainly due to the fact that I had forgotten that the clocks had to go back 2 hours from leaving Mexico City and so both the flights were an hour longer than I had imagined, but the good news was as it was a national flight I did not have the fuss going through immigration again.

I had already booked a bus shuttle service to my hotel, but although I checked it in myself, my main luggage did not arrive and so I had to make a claim and find out what had happened to it at the lost property office.

The smug buggers no longer call it lost, as it happens so frequently, instead they call it "delayed" and happily told me that it was still in Denver, arriving on the next flight and I can have it delivered direct to my hotel at no charge sometime after 6pm the same day.

No mention of it being a total cockup, of compensation or even much of an apology, and I get the feeling that they lost or rather "delay" many more bags each day than I care to imagine.

The airport itself was a hint at what was to come, as it was very tidy and modern, stuck in the middle of a strip of desert and you had to pass more than a dozen slot machines just going from the arrivals gate to the first of the toilets.

Anyway, I jumped in the bus shuttle and pootled off down to my hotel, on the way asking the driver what was the best show to go and see and was pleasantly surprised when he admitted than in the 12 years he had lived in Vegas he had never wanted to see any show.

Being early January the desert was not anywhere near as hot as it could be, and as the day drew in it got chilly, enough for me to need a jacket.

The hotel I have is on Fremont Street, where about six of the downtown hotels all got together and agreed to rig up a roof right across the street, calling the whole thing the Fremont Street Experience, and there you can find just about anything you want, asuming it can be sold in a shop, bar or hotel.

I have never been much of a gambler, so the slot did not interest me, however the young pretty girls they got working on most of the blackjack tables were wearing little pink frilly skirts and showing enough cleavage to make Dolly Parton proud, such is the attraction that is Las Vegas to many a busty girl looking to make a good living.

The hotel itself was more set up for gamblers than anything else, and I didnt even see it have any advertising for tours, but with so many neon lights and huge billboards I was well aware of what was on offer ever since I set foot off the plane on landing.

I had always had a liking for the way Penn & Teller reveal some of the more elaborate magic tricks and so when I found out that they were putting on a show tonight in the Rio Hotel I was all up for it, despite not having any luggage and still being dressed as I was when I woke up this morning.

The taxi to the Rio, which is just off the strip was $20, almost half the cost of the show ticket, and I began thinking again that perhaps owning a car while travelling isnt such a bad idea, but then I had already paid for the tickets and I did not want to miss it now.

After the cab ride I had a little time to kill and not much place to use it outside of the Rio, so I stopped off at a burger joint inside the complex and was entertained by two pianists who played some old rock and roll, billy joel and requests, only if they were submitted with a presidential seal of approval, which was any note bigger than a $1.

During their intermission one of them almost came up and talked to me two or three times, but he either didnt like the look of me or the table of middle aged women looked more appealing, and each time he ended up returning to them to smile, glad hand and kiss them and take more requests for the show.

Night time brought out more people as the city seemed to come alive like never before, and by the time I was sitting down in my seat waiting for the show to start there was a long queue of people all happily lining up to sign an envelope that would be used by P & T a little later during the show.

I was a little disappointed with the fact they chose to focus on plenty of slight of hand and paid assistant in the crowd gag, as I prefer the old glorious smoke and daggers, excape from water, etc, etc, kind of magic show, but it was still great to watch and will be one of the highlights of my trip to Las Vegas.

I tried to walk back to the hotel but my legs got tired half way, and without a clear map I did not want to end up lost so I grabbed a taxi and was inwardly fuming when the first thing he did as turn around and go right back to where I had just come from as it also had a "quicker" main highway that would take you from the strip to the downtown area.

However, lets not forget that the taxis charge by the 1/12 of a mile and not by the time it takes and so in the end I paid more to get back than I did than to get there, even though I was only half the distance away to start with.

Back in my hotel I managed to retrieve my lost luggage, as it had been delivered about 9pm, just when the show was starting, and despite it being Vegas I still had to get my clothes cleaned and so I asked the hotel receptionist to do it for me, and I have a feel from the receipt slip that my laundry bill will be bigger than my accommodation charge for 3 days.

After having seen the best of Las Vegas I began to get the feel that it is all very fake, more so than I first imagined, and that indeed behind every smile, every billboard or poster the truth is about a million miles away from what they were letting me see from street level.

Las Vegas is a place where people go to spend money, lose money gambling and watch entertaining shows of one variety or another, everyone knows this, but still they could at least be a little more grateful when you do hand over your hard earned cash, as so far all I seem to be getting is shafted every which way except the one I'd normally want.

I could still hear the music from the street outside as early as 2am, due to the single glazing and poor sound proofing that the room had, and indeed being a smoking room I noticed more than a few fag burns on the bedspread and such, evident that the hotel was not a 4 or 5 star one, but never-the-less it was cheap, large and in a central location so perhaps I shouldn’t complain too much.

I finally drifted off to spleep to the sounds of the German rock group Scorpions still ringing in my ears.