Finally. It’s time for a new blog post. It’s December 2021 and we are on the road again at last.
I am currently sitting in our hotel room in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Yea!!!! Mind you our room in the Plaza Hotel is right at the front of the street almost on the main live performance stage in the Fremont Street Experience so the music blares till 1 or 2 in the morning (later on weekends). Thankfully after 3 nights they are going to move us to a quiet room tomorrow. (Post script – they have reneged on their offer for us to change rooms, no surprise.) There are two major functions on at the moment. The National Rodeo circuit is on for 10 days and the M400 USA Off Road Race is also happening just out of town. This has bought an extra 30,000 people on top of the regular numbers to Las Vegas so rooms are at a premium at the moment. But more about the trip shortly.
I ended my last blog post telling you of our mid-year trip down south to my 51st anniversary reunion with my navy mates. Since then we’ve had a few life changes. The biggest change was when Karen and Stu were posted to Townsville. Karen is back at 5th Aviation Regiment while Stu is at Lavarack working on his trade qualifications. It is so good to have them back in town especially with the cutest baby girl in the world, our granddaughter, Millie Jayne. Along with Adrian and our other two grandchildren, Joy and Sonny we have had many wonderful weekly family meals together. Between the rattling of knives and forks on plates, the wisecracks between adults and the laughter of the 3 children it has made it much harder for us to leave them to travel. Nanna and Grandy are having a ball babysitting all 3 at times and it is heart-warming to see the bonds building between the cousins. But travel we must.
Now let me tell you of our journey from Townsville to Vegas. After the PM declared that Aussies could leave home for overseas I started looking for flights. Normally I organise and book our tickets myself but after many attempts I had to admit defeat and go to Flight Centre for help. Many airlines are still scheduling flights knowing full well that they will most likely cancel it due to lack of travellers (at this stage). Then there’s the regulations and certificates to prove vaccinations are in order. I can understand different countries having different rules but interstate rules are crazy. Covid has a lot to answer for. Eventually we had our seats on a jet secured for December 1st for the USA via Fiji & LA before arriving in Vegas.
On Monday 29th November we were at the pathology lab for covid testing at 0630. The test had to be less than 3 days old when we got to the States and to allow suitable times for results this was our narrow window of opportunity. Our results arrived by email only hours before we were to fly out. We also had several questionnaires to fill in. One to leave Townsville (for QANTAS). One for Fiji Airways even though we were only transiting. Yet another for the USA. Then there are the vaccination certificates. It seemed never ending and if it wasn’t for Shane’s mammoth efforts to fight through the bureaucracy we’d still be at home.
It was supposed to be a 28 hour flight. Add in a plane 3 hours late and travel time to and from airports and it was almost 36 hours from the time we got out of bed at home till we got to our room in Vegas. I thought I might get locked up in Fiji. Despite our checking several sources about ‘duty free carriage through (transiting) Fiji’ the fat bastard at Fiji customs took my two large bottles of Bundy off us. No amount of reasoning or even showing him his own website with our rights was going to get him to budge. So then I refused to move until I saw him physically open the bottles and empty them out. The mongrel wasn’t taking MY Bundy home.
Anyway, our plane from Fiji was late leaving which meant we had to literally run a kilometre dragging our luggage from terminal 1 to terminal 6 at LAX. Neither Shane nor I thought we could do that (and I am not doing it again). We were the last people on board the flight to Vegas as they were only waiting on us. At Vegas we had to grab a taxi to the Plaza. Normally a $35 trip the cabbie turned his meter off at $45 when we told him we knew this city reasonably well and he was taking us for a ride. If we weren’t so tired it would have been a nice scenic trip looping several times around the city. Finally in our hotel room (see paragraph two above for that blast) we hopped into bed and slept solidly for 16 hours despite the noise outside. Yep, we were tuckered out!
The Plaza Hotel/Casino is one of LV’s original hotels and is at the top of The Fremont Street Experience which I love (not sure if Shane feels the same). Walking the FSE is free and one of the best spots for people watching. Shane and I both grabbed a Pina Colada (mine’s a 1 litre jug with an extra shot of rum) and just strolled the mall taking in the entertainment. There are heaps of casino/hotels in the street so cheap feeds and drinks are the norm. There was, on the night we arrived, an M400 Off Road vehicle show on so the FSE was extended to about 9 blocks. Some of the vehicles were amazing and noisy.
When there are no extraneous events happening the FSE is lined with casinos, outdoor bars, souvenir shops, even marijuana shops. Within the confines of the mall, buskers (and I use the term loosely) and pop-up stalls are every few metres. Groups of African-American kids are doing acrobatics and dance routines. Young women dressed as Vegas showgirls with their high feathered crowns are hustling while others are in various states of undress are charging to allow you to have your photo taken with them. One huge wheelchair bound woman (elderly with a mask on) was there looking for donations. How? She had her oversized, extra droopy boobs hanging out sitting on her lap with a sign saying “yes, they are real!”. It’s not just the females with their gear off either. There’s one bloke in a mankini advocating for a nude America and the Chippendales are there for the ladies to have their picture taken with them for a fee of course. There are magicians, singers and protesters everywhere. Meanwhile overhead people whiz by on the Slotzilla ziplines standing out against the video roof that covers the entire 5 blocks. The cacophony is extreme not just from the din of people but from the bands playing on any of the three live stages along the mall. The Fremont Street Experience is certainly ‘alive’ with activity. It’s just a shame it is all just outside our window till 2am.
Anyway, our mission for this trip is to get to our RAM and fifth wheel, resurrect them after 2 years in storage and decide as to whether we’ll sell and try another part of the world (I fancy the ‘Med‘) or just continue across America. Regrettably the weather isn’t great for this time of year and I am extremely wary of driving in the snow so we certainly won’t be heading north anytime soon. We’ve managed to hit the storage facility and inspect our rig and apart from the layers of dust from 2 years in the Nevada desert both the car and 5’er look fine. I even hooked up the van battery and got 12 volts going in the van.
Well that’s about it for now. We are thinking of staying in Vegas for NYE as we are told they do a good NYE celebration. But for now my main aim at this moment is to get this blog posted quickly and so far that’s looking good. All I have to do now is to edit and add photos and I can upload this episode.