Monday October 20th

This day didn't start well - I overslept and the reception had to call me at 15 mins past checkout time (11am) to wake me up.
I got ready real quick, but I didn't have to pay for an additional day which was good.

But it also ment I was in a hurry to get to Las Vegas in time to return my car.
So at noon the car was newly gased and ready to go - I had even filled the tires with more air (had a warning light on it and I wasn't take a chance I would get stuck in the desert).

And off I went.
And desert I saw. Like this:

and this:

and this:

But I have to admit it was a bit fun to drive in the famed Mojave Desert. :)


At about 4pm I was there ("slightly" faster than legal speed) and after spending 45 mins to find where to park the car - and where to return the key (the GPS I had couldn't tell me the exact location, so I had to ask several people...)
I got there 15 mins before they closed, so no extra charge there either. :)

And then to my hotel, The Excalibur!

(and this is just the backside of it...)

My hotel room (I live in Tower 1 on the 10th floor):


I went out to see the famous Strip (Las Vegas Blvd) right away -and saw several recognizable hotels:
The Luxor pyramid and Mandala Bay is just close by:


As is New York New York:


and MGM Grand (which I went into)...

...and found a lion cage!


Here we have the Monte Carlo

the Planet Hollywood hotel:

and Bellagio and it's fountains:


Paris:


and the good old Ceasar's Palace.

Here I also went in (to eat at the Planet Hollywood resturant, which strangly enough is not in the hotel of the same name).

The sights I saw there...
I thought I was prepared for the whole Vegas thing - but OMG, I am still amazed.
I am also amazed I didn't get lost in there. :)

Apart from a giant casino, they had stautes, fountains, a ship(!)

and a big Tojan Horse:

An amazing place!

Will be interesting to see what the other hotel will be like. I will go to several during the week I am here - and take photos of course. :)

My plans in Vegas so far is Grand Canyon on Wednesday and Blue Man Group on Thursday or Friday. I still haven't decided what to do tomorrow, but will do that before I go to bed.

Night!

Tuesday October 21st

Today I was going to do most of the Strip. Starting furthest away and work myself back to the hotel.

But first a few pictures of the Excalibur:

and from the outside:

So at the end (or the beginning?) of Las Vegas Blvd (The Strip) is Stratosphere - a hotel with a high tower, making it the tallest building in Las Vegas).

Now, here's the thing. On that tower - they have three rides.

Up I went!

Just the view was scary...

I was high up! About 260 m/866 ft.

I had decided to do two of the rides, Big Shot (shots you up the air and then free fall back again) and Insanity (an arm that spins you around, while hanging outside the edge of the roof).

The Big Shot took you up to a high of 350 m / 1149 ft. Intense!

But then unfortunally, the Insanity ride was temporarily closed due to heavy wind. I can't really say I was sad about hearing that.

I almost soiled myself just seeing the pictures of it, while being up there...

Here is one promotion picture of it, but they had others (real photos) that was way scarier.

I moved on down the Strip and got to another hotel with rides; Circus Circus.

Here all the rides were indoors.

I tried the roller coaster, which was ok for being indoors. However my sunglasses went flying on the first loop of the ride.

I looked for them "just in case" after the ride and actually found them on the floor betweeen two game machines. And they were intact! Can't believe it held for that drop.

Well, well - I can only say thank you for that. :)

Next stop of the day; Treasure Island!

They had a cool ship on the outside where they had "sirens" preforming in the evening.

Maybe I will go back there to see that one day...?

Then I came to the most amazing hotel today, The Venetian.

They had Venetian buildings on the outside

and on the inside!


They even had a canal with gondolas you could ride, while the guy sang italian songs.

and their own Marcus Square:

Really nice place!

The Bellagio wasn't too bad either:

This was a interesting piece they had; the worlds largest chocolate fountain!

After that I went back to the hotel. Got to get up for the Grand Canyon tour tomorrow, so I should be in bed early today - no shows for me.

But I might go over to Mandala Bay and see the Shark Reef tonight. In that case you will hear about it tomorrow. :)

Tuesday October 21st - part II & Wednesday October 22nd

Tuesday October 21st - part II
I did indeed go to Mandala Bay yesterday evning and looked at their Shark Reef.
It was pretty nice. Especially the part where they had made a sunken ship you went into and could se all the fish around you (including several sharks).


Wednesday October 22nd
Up very early - 6am to get on the bus to Grand Canyon at 6:30.
And I waited for the bus. And waited - and nothing came.
Finally I called them and they sent a mini bus to pick me up. Seems they had forgotten me.
The mini bus took me to a meeting point in downtown Las Vegas where several other mini buses had picked up people from other hotels to go on a larger bus that would take us to our destination.
Anyhow - I got onboard and off we went.

First stop was at Hoover Dam.

Unfortunately we only stopped to take photos. I would loved to go to the inner parts of that dam. It was mighty impressive!

Then the trip continued. We ate lunch at some place on the Route 66. And a few hours later we arrived at Grand Canyon. And Grand it was!



It was really huge. And we could only see a part of the whole thing!

And it was pretty deep as well - and not really much fences that protected you.It's a wonder not more people fall down and dies here...




You have seen it on film, pictures and painting. But you haven't really seen it, until you are standing there looking at this wonder.


Now featuring me!


Some more pictures!




Anyhow - that was fun to have seen it - but then we were heading back again.

I had planned to see my first Vegas show today and I it was going to be one of the six(!) Cirque du Soleil shows they have here in Las Vegas. Unfortunately my first choice, Mystique, wasn't available (we came back too late today from Grand Canyon and it's dark Thursday & Friday), so I went to my next choice; Zumanity at New York New York.

This was the first time I entered this hotel and just as you would expect, they had build mini New York inside the casino.

I plan to go on their roller coaster ride tomorrow.


The Zumanity show was pretty good. Especially the acrobatics. This show focused on sensuality and sexuality and had a fair share of that. I didn't complain.

After the show I actually gambled a little for the first time in Vegas.
I put the staggering five dollars at risk, but - believe it or not - I won a total of 10:47 (more than doubled my money!). Then I bought a beer for my winning. :)

Thursday October 23rd

I woke up late (actually the maid woke me up by coming into my room). But who cares - vacation, right?

First stop after I left the hotel was New York New York, where I went on the roller coaster. It was pretty ok - scariest part was they had made it in oldstyle - so you thought it might break any minute.

After that I bought tickets for the remaining shows I had on my lists, went into Madame Tussaud's and did some shopping.

That took some time and when I got back to the hotel it was almost time for show #1 tonight; the Tournament of Kings here at the Excalibur.

Middle age eating and entertainments. There was swordfighting, horseriding, fair ladies, acrobats, battle between good and evil - and no forks or knifes.

I was on the team of the Russian king and we cheered him on as he charged against the other kings. He did not fight fair, but who cares? It's the result that counts!
The show was good, but it wasn't much food you got.

After that I went to Treasure Island to see the Siren show they have there. Dancing sirens versus pirates. It was fun to watch. :)



Then over to The Venetian to see Blue Man Group. Finally! I have wanted to see them for a while now. I also got lucky. I had a mid-prize ticket ($99), but it was apperently a slow night, so they moved me closer to the stage and into the center - where the high prize seats were. :)

And what a show they had! It must have been the best show I have ever seen. They were just amazing - and very funny. The stuff they did was pure gold.
If you ever get close to somewhere they preform - you must go there!

Me and one of the blue men.


On my way back to the hotel I stopped at a bar in New York New York; Coyote Ugly. It was... different. Drunken american girls finally getting some time off from their parents and they go wild. We don't have that back home. At least not on the places I go to.
Anyhow. The place closed at 2am already so I went home.

Friday October 24th

Up late again (I can get used to this! :)

Took a stroll on the town, visited Paris

and went inside. Seems two legs of the Eiffel tower continued inside, which was a nice touch.

Other than that - meh. I never liked Paris in Europe, so I guess I am a bit tainted.

I checked out the (indoor) shopping street Miracle Mile without finding anything - except a thunder storm with rain and everything (still indoors...).

I also made my way to the Luxor before returning to my hotel room.

Getting ready for the show tonight - and my travel home tomorrow.

This is the last day of the vacation. Sad. :(

Friday October 24th - part II

Time for a new show!

I got on the Monorail and travelled all the way to the other side of the Strip - the Sahara station - and then walk to Stratosphere to get there. Not the bestest of neightborhood over there, btw...

Anyhow - I got there and made sure I had good seating for the show.
Also ate some chinese food while I was waiting for the theater to open.

I was there for the show Bite - a vampire show that had... potential.
Not telling too much about the show and what it had to offer - but it wasn't really that good to be honest. :(
I had hoped for more.

Here is some of it's cast, which wasn't that bad:

I took a few drinks at the Stratosphere's C-bar afterwards, but no fun there so I took the Monorail back home again.

While walking past Coyote Ugly, I asked them how long they will stay open this night (it was 2am - the time when they closed last night) and since they said 3-4am, I figured, why not? It is my last day on vacation after all...

So I went in, took a beer - and as I was drinking my second, they closed. At 2:30, Thank you very much for that. :(

So I walked back to Excalibur, but all fun places were closed there as well (and this is suppose to be Vegas - the party town?!). Hence - me back at my room.

Tomorrow - going back home to the chaos that will undoubtable await me. Fun...

Saturday October 25th & Sunday October 26th

Saturday October 25th
Time to leave Las Vegas and go home again. Vacation is over. :(

Took a flight to Chicago at 3:30pm and then a night flight to Copenhagen.

Sunday October 26th
New plane at Copenhagen which took me home to Gothenburg again.
Landed at 3pm, so I have been in flight about 16 hours if I calculate correctly (which isn't that bad).

I will probably do some kind of summery if the vacation during the week. I am too tired for that now.

Californian Encounter - summery

A few weeks has gone now by since I got home - and this is a summery post on what was best - and what was worst. What I miss - and not miss.

What was the most fun things I did?
So many things, how to list them? Exciting new things to see every day, but on the top of the list I have to put Universal Studios, Blue Man Group, SeaWorld and the whole out-of-this-world-city of Las Vegas. And finally meeting Jennifer wasn't bad either.
But I think just the overall vacation - fulfilling one of my long time dreams; visiting western US - will be the memory of a life time. And probably the most expensive vacation I will ever have...

I have done some calculations on this vacation since I got back, and even if it wasn't as expensive as I feared during the trip home, I still went way over my initial budget.
The total sum of this vacation (flights, hotels, car, food, entertainment and so on) was about 61 000 SEK (8150 dollars). Even if I had some of that in savings to fund this trip, it will take some time for my wallet to recuperate. But it was worth it. :D


The worst part?
The car rental - first I had to pay way too much for the car - then I go and loose the key...
But I made it home safe and sound. Always counts for something.



So what will I miss from US?
Not mentioning living in hotel rooms for several weeks, I will miss this:
* Free refills in resturants. Why can't we have this in Europe? It is the best invention since the... I don't know - but something very very good!
* The friendliness in stores and resturants. I am not saying people aren't friendly in Sweden. Absolutly not. But they really do assist you more in the stores in US. Also in the resturants, but I guess that is because they are more dependant on tips than here.
* They sure know how to mix a Rum & Coke. I had this drink at several places and they all had one thing in common; it was so much rum I actually had to wait for the ice to melt a little to be able to drink it. Now that's what I call good mixing! :)


For the negative things... I can't really come up with anything right now except for one thing that annoys me; They always write the wrong price on things in the stores.
I mean, we all know we have to add the tax, so why not just include it on the pricetag? It sucks that you don't know the exact price until you get to the counter. Sure you know in which region the price will end up, but not the exact price, making it hard to have exact change when you buy stuff. And then you either need to prolong the purchase with calculating all the stupid coins - or go home with more coins than you entered the store with. Annoying!


Another interesting cultural difference I saw while being over there was that on the bus, when a better seat opened up, there was always someone changing seat grabbing it. Interesting; this happens sometimes in Sweden, but not very often. In LA, that happened all the time.

That's a wrap for this trip. Thank you all who took the time reading the posts I made! :)


And as a final note; no need to check this page for updates since I rarely make any posts in this blog. Although, who knows... maybe next vacation?

November 17th 2007

The Woman in New York
(Blast from the past-entry)

A bunch of years ago I was in New York and one of the things I did there was to visit the Statue of Liberty.

Since that is one of my 21s - and I am not sure I will ever be back there - I am making a post about it now (in 2018 - but I have moved the post back to 2007 when I visited the statue).

I took the boat out to Liberty island and (due to bad weather and off-season?) the queue to the statue itself was fairly short.

I went inside the status and got up a few flight of stairs (although the top floors were closed off) :(

Then I walked around the statue before taking the boat back to Manhattan.

All in all, a nice trip, but it was far from fantastic so I have no desire to do it again (unless I am there with someone who really wants to go there).

Utsikten från jobbet med nya telefonen.

Lunchdate