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Here is a snap sot of the drive we did

Viva Las Vegas!

We arrived in Las vegas at about 10.30pm. The strip was jam packed with pedestrians, cars and punters. It was such a sensory overload it woke us up after our long drive. Its great when you feel that surge of energy stem from pure excitement. We battled to find a decently priced motel. Some of them wanted $100 and they didn't even supply wi-fi. Hotels on the strip charge that much for a hotel room with amenities!

We drove a little further out and found a place for $49 for the night. The heat in Vegas hit us, I knew it would be hot but wasn't quite ready for it. Up early again the next day we made our way to The Venetian to look around and grab some breakfast before checking in. We knew we had to try everything we could in the american cuisine and ordered pizza for breakfast. A pizza slice and a coffee for breakfast - good morning!

There is so much to take in when it comes to the architecture, interiors and decor of the hotels that we really did just spend about 2 hours walking and gawking. Ready to check in we joined queue in anticipation of staying in a hotel room at The Venetian. We got to our room and it really did not disappoint. Whenever we stay somewhere pricey I brief James on where to place our bags to make for 20 mins of me going around taking photos of the hotel room We had a business area, lounge, dining area and massive bathroom. Glorious! It was so glorious we took a nap to recharge our batteries for the organised chaos that is Las Vegas. This hotel room was not far off our suite at The Westcliff in Johannesburg where we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary, it just wasn't on the Vegas Strip.

Refreshed we headed back out into our hotel and took a walk around. We had a tour booked for the early evening and were being picked up in a limousine at The Palazzo which is conveniently joined to The Venetian. There is so much to see you almost feel at a loss at what to do with yourself. Your mind is just rolling over with what you can see and with what you can possibly remember you wanted to see. We had a few spins on the slots while waiting for 5pm to come around which was fun. Thank goodness we had a tour booked, it took the pressure off just a little.

Our limo arrived and unfortunately the air-con wasn't working too well. By the time we arrived at our tour I was melting! Leather seats, bare legs and perspiration are not an ideal combination. In addition to his watch, I bought James a helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon for his birthday. I also thought it was the perfect way to see as much as possible in the limiting 36 hours we had in Vegas. WIN WIN.

All I can say is money well spent!!! It was a 45 minute flight out from McCarran Airport over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and finally over the enormous Grand Canyon. The sunset cast a beautiful glow over the mystical red rock and it went on forever - in a good way. You honestly cannot comprehend how huge the canyon is until you see it for yourself. The Grand Canyon is so vast it feels as if you are travelling at snails pace in the helicopter. Once we flew over the Grand Canyon for about 15 minutes we had another 45 minutes back over the canyon and Lake Mead toward one of the most glorious sunsets I have seen yet. Seeing the Grand Canyon from such a view made me wish I could go back in time and be a cowboy or an indian.

To say it is hot in Vegas is the understatement of the century. It is hot and dry. It was 44 degrees at 7pm when we were trying to get going on our sunset helicopter tour and our tour guide and pilot Mike told us it was closer to 50 degrees for 2 weeks prior to our arrival in Vegas. Ouch!

The tour finished with flying over the strip once the sun had set to enjoy all the lights with an aptly selected soundtrack playing. Viva Las Vegas!

We left our hotel at 5pm and returned at 9.30pm and had a serious appetite waiting. We satisfied our American appetite with a burger from Johhny Rockets which is another burger chain - When in Rome.

Our crazy road trip adventure was catching up with us, that or our hotel room really was that appealing that we hit the hay.

We made our way to Caesars hotel and casino for breakfast so we could try out 'The Cheescake Factory'. The portions at this chain were rather huge and unfortunately we didn't have any room left to try out one of their 25 cheesecake varieties. Refuelled we made our way down the strip taking photos of just about everything and seeking relief from the heat by exploring each hotel that came up next. We started at Caesars and saw The Bellagio, Cosmopolitan and eventually got a cab to The Stratosphere. The Stratosphere have the highest rollercoaster/ride in the world. Once up there the rides didn't look intimidating at all but once the ride shot out or up - everything inside if you screamed when you couldn't see the building you were on top of and the city of Las Vegas waiting for you below.

With our insides muddled we got a cab back to further down the strip and the next hotel we went into for relief from the heat was New York, New York.

For the South Africans, it looked just like Monte Casino only it was made to look like you were walking around New York instead of Italy.

The heat was really starting to get to me, it felt like my head was going to pop and all I could think of was getting back to our hotel to go for a swim. We went into the Wynn to take a look around and look at their pool, got a little lost and had to go back out the way we came. We saw some topless tanning on our way through - its funny cos they have a sign up at one of the three pools stating, 'European style bathing is allowed at this pool only'. How funny! We had to think for a second and then the we clicked, the heat was slowing down brain function.

We had a show booked for 9.30 pm that evening so went back to out hotel room for some recovery on the couch, blogging and a couple of Spiced Golds with coke. Mmmmm….

Back out again after a couple of hours we made our way back to the Wynn for Le Rêve. We had just over an hour to kill until the show so James tried his hand at some BlackJack. It was good fun, we met a great couple who were from L.A and who at first thought James was from Ireland. That broke the ice quite well. After learning we were South African it all made sense and the guy was telling us he was chatting with Ernie Els in Vegas six months prior. That was pretty cool.

Showtime!

Le Rêve was out of this world. The experience starts when you first enter the theatre and realise that it is not your typical theatre. The circular 1608-seat theatre is situated around a pool that is 68-and-a-half-feet in diameter and 27 feet deep with the furthest seat only 42 feet from the water. Gymnasts, aerialists and synchronized swimmers appear from every angle, at times ascending from the water, descending from the high arched ceiling or running through the theatre and alongside the audience. This show has drama, comedy, magic tricks, hi-energy dance, ballet, smoke, wind, rain, snow, and fire. James and I agreed we hadn't been that amazed and entertained since we were about 6 years old.

We walked away speechless and made our way to The Palazzo for a late dinner of dim sum. It was nice to eat something other than a hamburger. It was off to bed as we had to make our way back to London the next day and it was already 2am. Vegas never sleeps - we do.

Seeing as it was our last day we thought we would end off on a good note and ordered breakfast to our room. It was really good and nice to eat a meal without the sounds of Vegas surrounding us. We were sad to leave such a wonderful adventure behind but we were also glad to be going home. It has been chaotic at times but it has been the trip of a lifetime!

10 days

4 aeroplanes

1 Chevy Tahoe

150 gallons of fuel

2000 miles

1 limousine

1 helicopter

2 rollercoasters

9 different beds

1 very special birthday

1 lost suitcase

lost count on the hamburgers

lost count on the photos taken

THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME!!

A Birthday, Boobs and Beaches

We arrived in Santa Monica really late and got straight to sleep for a full day ahead of us the next day. This was the day I had been planning for - James' birthday. The morning got off to a great start with coffee and birthday presents, mission accomplished - James loved his watch!

We headed down to Venice Beach at around 10am and found a place to rent bicycles, rollerblades, cruisers and who knows what else. It cost $10 each to hire a bicycle for an hour and we are so glad we went with that option. The sun was blazing down on us and thinking we could walk along the promenade was rather ambitious. There really would be no excuse to be out of shape if you lived near Venice Beach, the whole beach looks like it is catered for exercise. There were so many people jogging, cycling, rollerskating and using other contraptions to get in shape. Venice Beach is an eclectic mix of smoke shops, t-shirt stalls, tattoo parlours and bohemia. We got to the end of the promenade and realised we missed Muscle Beach.

Luckily we could make a stop on our way back and Im glad we did. It was really cool to see but I can only imagine how hot those guys must get lifting weights in the baking sun like they do. It costs $10 per day. I only say that 'cos I thought it was free, I guess they need to pay someone to wipe down the equipment. Trust me on that one.

Once our hour was up we headed back to the car to go and get some 'birthday brunch' in Malibu. We found a place called Marmalade Cafe. Lucky for us they served breakfast until 3pm, so we got to finally have a breakfast worthy of such a birthday and it went down a treat. After taking a look around we saw everyone else was eating salad. James and I were the only ones with a hearty plate of eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast. They do have an amazing variety of salads in most places in the states, even McDonalds can offer a chicken salad with berries and walnuts.

The strange thing about visiting L.A is you feel like you are constantly on the look out for a 'celebrity'' - funny thing is, it looks like everyone else does it too. Some people walk into places looking around hoping to be noticed. It kept us entertained and it felt a lot like some parts of Johannesburg.

Malibu is cool - if you live there. Every road we wanted to turn down to explore was gated off to non-residents. This pretty much leaves you with one road to go on which is the freeway. After searching a little longer we found one road we could go down and on our way out of the road James spotted a pair of girls tanning topless. Nice! Happy Birthday James!

We hadn't booked any accommodation for ourselves but had an idea on where to stay. A friend of ours recommended The Grafton on Sunset Boulevard. This was a pretty cool hotel and we got a free upgrade to a room by the pool. Faaaabulous!!! We sat by the pool and enjoyed a Spiced Gold and coke, for those of you who don't know, this is James's favourite drink. We searched the net for a suitable birthday dinner and found a place called "Ago". This is Robert DeNiro's restaurant, they serve classic italian cuisine and it was delicious just really simple classic tastes. I saw Stephanie Pratt known from the reality show The Hills walk into the restaurant. It was noticeable 'cos she took a walk around the whole restaurant before deciding on a table in the far corner. As we finished up our evening another celebrity walked in but James and I cant think what his name is or what he is known for, we just recognised him.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel to enjoy a nightcap at the pool. Another Spiced Gold and coke at the pool on Sunset Boulevard to finish off a great birthday.

We checked out of our hotel, another day another dollar and we headed for the Hollywood sign. We took a slight detour and enjoyed a take away from Wendy's - another burger joint. They had the most amazing iced tea and it was massive! I ordered a medium which Im sure was about a litre of iced tea.

Hollywood sign done, picture taken, NEXT. We then drove down to see the "Walk of Fame". Parking was scarce and the walk of fame is soooo long. It was also really busy - you could easily spend about 3 hours looking at all the star's names. After the walk of fame was Rodeo Drive. This was cool to see. Its not that long at all and you don't see anyone go in or out of a store to buy anything. It is lined with the likes of Chanel, Cartier, Juicy Couture and Gucci. Still no celebrity in sight! The traffic in L.A is really congested 24/7 which is why up next was The Grove. This was a really luxurious shopping centre. The had a tram within the shopping centre and 80% of the stores are outside with gardens and fountains in the centre of the stores. James and I shopped up a storm, my second visit to Victoria's Secret. I could buy everything in that store only because it isn't available in the UK or SA. I had to point out the photos to James of our very own gorgeous Candice Swanepoel - Victoria's Secret model, born and bred in South Africa, Kwa-Zulu Natal to be specific. Go SA!

After The Grove we headed to Caffe Roma for one last attempt at a celebrity sighting and some great italian food. Prior to our holiday I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger being papped on two different occasions eating at this restaurant. Only arriving at 3.30pm I knew our chances were slim. The food was great and a perfect pit-stop before our five hour drive to Las Vegas. We didn't see Arnie (sad face) but as we walked out Jake Gyllenhaal passed us. Thats as good as it was going to get and we needed to hit the road!! Bye Jake x