We arrived in Vegas on the Sunday night at about 10pm with the plane landing, as far as we could make out, actually on the main strip. We didn't know it but the airport was extremely close to the proceedings, giving you that instantaneous surge of excitement rather than being transplanted to some obscure periphery surrounded by industrial estates that you usually encounter at a major airport.
After about two minutes we encountered our first slot machines. Hundreds of them lay side by side, even before you have the opportunity to claim your baggage, waiting for you to whack out your wallet like a child who can't wait till Christmas morning to find his presents. Still, it gave some indication of what was to come.
After a swift shuttle journey we arrived late at our hotel, the instantly likeable Bills Gambling Hall. Despite the ominous sounding name it was, in every respect, perfect. The decor, resembling a turn of the century gambling hall had a slight grittiness which gave the whole 'I'm actually in Vegas' feeling even greater meaning. Our room, which was incredibly cheap, was just spectacular. Beautifully, they had put us on the top floor which gave us incredible views of the strip and in particular the Bellagio fountains, the ones made famous from the end of the Oceans Eleven movie. As giving us something magical to end our trip goes, we got everything and more. In the room we had two huge double beds, the ultimate indulgence for a bloke who's night sleeps are mostly spent working around his fiancés ridiculous sleeping position. We also managed to wangle a huge plasma tv, great for the early morning euro kick offs due to time difference!
Once downstairs we walked past our first experience of the many different game tables and made our way to the bar..$2 margaritas! From there we sat taking in the scene surrounding us and started to get excited. Our Vegas virginity had been broken.
After listening to the worlds worst collection of karaoke singers (think large American women singing Alabama country hits) we hit the road, walking over a grand bridge to the other side and into the Bellagio. I think now, with hindsight in mind, that we definitely picked the most luxurious casino first. It was full to the brim with high stakes gambling tables, designer shops and lots and lots of marble. The lobby was huge and next to it sat another big room, this time a conservatory filled with thousands of flowers, it's hard to describe but every inch of the room was taken up with something colourful and expensive. After finishing with yet more two dollar margaritas we stumbled back to our room. It was, amazingly, 4am. Time had vanished.
The next morning we were up and raring to go, eager to get started and hunt down some deals. It wasn't long before we found 1 dollar beers and margaritas!
We had, amazingly, through our accommodation at Bills, free use of the pool next door at the Flamingo. A huge pink edifice bankrolled and built in the early fifties by the New York mafioso. Despite the pool area being populated by the complete antithesis of the New York mob it was still the perfect place to some impressions of a rotisserie chicken as the thermometer quickly headed towards forty degrees, in the shade. The people who were packed into the pool, mainly screechy groups of forty something women from New Jersey or Pheonix lounged around drinking spirit mixtures out of a large plastic soft drinks container which made the whole thing, blokes included, resemble a very large adult theme park. It was great, in a way, to see people genuinely drunk at 11am as you didn't feel bad for substituting breakfast for a bucket of beers.
We tried to last the day around the pool but we were eventually beaten by the incredible heat. By 4pm it had reached 42 degrees in the shade which, added to our already consumed beers, left us feeling decidedly dodgy. Despite it being the last chance to top up our tans we would have to forfeit it all to make sure we didn't melt. The heat was, in every sense, insane.
Fortunately, by spending our day around the pool we managed to score free tickets to a show that evening. The performance, a comedy entitled 'defending the caveman' essentially centred around a comedian talking about relationships and how when all is said and done, women will just get their own way, it's just a fact of life. It was, for free anyway, a top show in one of those theatres where you get to sit with tables and served cocktails by a smoky waitress.
This would essentially be our time here for the next few days. The great thing about Vegas is that despite it's status as a city of frivolity and temptation it can be done on a budget. In fact, even without really trying you could spend so little that you would wonder, in the twilight hours at the end of the night, whether you really did put your last remaining ten dollars on red.
The next day, after a huge breakfast, we took the incredibly cheap deuce bus to the northern end of the strip to the real origins of the Vegas experience, Fremont Street. It was here many years ago that the gaudy Vegas we know today formed it's everlasting roots. We went inside some very old casinos here, mostly frequented by the Jackie and Britney types clad in nylon with their buckets of quarters. We even got our prize number called out with the chance to win $10,000 but in the end we only managed 2. Still, it's better than a slap in the face, at least we invested it wisely on another game of roulette..
That night we managed to get extremely cheap tickets for another show, this time a comedy hypnotist called Mark Savard. We'd never seen a hypnotic show before but after this, I cannot wait to see the next one! It was truly amazing. He got around thirty people up from the crowd and through a variation of differing techniques whittled those thirty down to around eight, the ones who had mostly taken to the hypnotism. I can't go through what happened in fine detail but era just say we have never in our 28 years of life, ever laughed as much as we did throughout that show.
It was a great last night in Vegas. Afterwards we went for monstrously expensive cocktails sat above the strip, having a great time people watching and playing 'spot the Brit', I think with great success. After a quick mooch around the infinite space of the MGM Grand we bought some alcohol soaking pizza before heading back to the room, the time, yet again, was nearly 4am. In hindsight, knowing we had to contend with two consecutive night flights we may not have been so stupid!
The next day was our final day in Vegas and on a way the final day of the trip. It was one of those days where we were more tired than we thought it was ever possible to be. We wandered around the last of the mega casinos, Excalibur and Luxor before heading back to Bills to sit in the dark for a few hours until it was time to leave this momentously insane city. On the way to the airport, driven in a bus by a very inquisitive guy called Tony we had one of those epiphany moments that seem to highlight the very nature of your experience. There has been that thinking, everywhere we have been that it is all very normal, something even that most people get to do. After speaking to this friendly bus driver, we could not be any further from that kind of thinking. this guy was speechless at the nature of our trip, the fact that two people experienced so much, visited so many countries and did it all independently, it's just something, he explained, that Americans just can't grasp.
Frankly, I find this amazing. A country so rich, full of people who revel in foreign food and culture within their national boundaries but who are just so scared of experiencing the real world outside.
So there we go, nearly ten months completed and 16 countries visited. We battled through our consecutive night flights in a sleep induced haze passing through nine timezones in the process. When we touched down in London things started to get very surreal. So much time away had almost institutionalised us into thinking that what we were doing was normal and that 'home', that place we left all those months ago, was just an imaginary place you pushed to the back of your mind.
Upon seeing our families though, smiling emotionally with tears in their eyes, things started to become very clear. We had done it, we had circumnavigated the world. It was, for the both of us, an indescribable feeling.
I know some people have neither the time, money or inclination to go travelling and its definitely not for everyone. Financial responsibility, children, careers all have to have their place and i understand that. However, it is in one breath the most beautiful, frustrating, life affirming, exciting, tiresome and unique experience you could ever wish to acquire and we will miss it like a lost friend. We've visited 16 countries, rode 23 forms of transport and met some truly incredible people. We have had the best ten months of our lives and despite the onset of reality just around the corner, I hope the rest of our lives are just as memorable. For the last time, for now,
Tommo and Shell - over and out x
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