mybigadventures.com

We got up and showered about 9 AM, packing the remaining few bits before checkout. We took all of our stuff down and checked out, then headed over to the Bell desk for the left luggage store. It was free to leave luggage, so we left everything apart from the camera and Dani’s handbag. Then asked about the shuttle service to the airport. It was going to cost $7 each and they went every half-hour. We decided to aim for the 4 PM shuttle which would get us to the airport in plenty of time for our 7:20 PM flight.

We then headed off to get some breakfast, and decided to go to McDonald’s, upstairs in the resort. Ate and then headed down to the casino to do a bit more gambling. We spent a lot of time between the blackjack table and roulette, with some ups and downs in some large bets on double or quits roulette - I think the largest bet was thirty-two credits (32 times 25 cents equals $8 dollars) - somewhat smaller than when Dani accidentally bet $11 on a single hand of blackjack! We ended up winning some money back today and finished up by about $20!

We walked around to the lobby to see if we could connect to the Internet and ended up connecting outside Starbucks, which was closed. We had a sit at the tables outside Starbucks and caught up on a bit of journal and I wrote a postcard for school - as Tom had requested one from Vegas.

Having posted the postcard and made use of the nearby facilities, we decided it was time to make a move. We went and picked up the luggage and asked at the desk where we needed to go to get the shuttle. Turned out we needed to have booked a ticket - a small, but rather important detail that the other person at the desk had neglected to mention. Either way, the man on the desk said it would be the same price or less to just get taxi - so that’s what we did. We got a taxi from just outside the hotel. The airport is really close and it cost just under $14 to get there. It seemed very quiet with very few cars about and, once inside, there were hardly any people about. We got checked in okay and they put our rucksacks in large plastic bags to protect all the buckles. It turned out we didn’t have to pay for the luggage after all. Before going through security, we sat on a bench in the large empty airport and ate crisps and finished the water and coke we were carrying. We then had to catch a short train to security and the gates. There were a few shops and places to get food in the departure lounge, but not a great deal. There were also a number of slot machines - in case you haven’t had your fix of gambling. There’s free Wi-Fi so we had a sit and I spoke to Lorna on Skype for a short while. We decided to get something to eat as we were feeling quite hungry by this point. We didn’t have a lot of time so we ended up getting a sandwich to share. We went back to the gate and sat down to eat - the sandwich was very deeply filled and ended up being a little messy. About 10 min later, we ended up boarding. We had to queue for a bit, as we were virtually last to board, but we got settled into our seats quickly. We had to pay to watch TV/films - the back of the chair had a swipe card machine embedded to pay - so once with had set off we paid for it on my TV ($5.99) and began to watch ‘42’ - a film about the first black baseball player for the international team in America. Flying out over Vegas night was amazing. Not only could you see the lights of the strip and all of the vast hotels, but we watched the sunset over the mountains, the light reflected in the pools on top of the mountains. It was all a vivid orange and looked beautiful.

We had a complimentary drink and settled down to watch the film. It was literally about 40 min later, when, to our surprise, the final announcement was called - making the final approach into LA. It’d seemed very quick. The landing was very quick - it did feel as if we were coming into land very fast. So, leg one of the journey was complete.

Headed off the plane and into LA airport to await our connection. We were a little surprised by the airport itself - it had a very temporary feel about it and seem to be just departure gates without any shopping or eating facilities. We had hoped for a ‘tat’ shop, as we haven’t been able to get a sew-on badge in LA, to add to our collection, but there was only a very expensive WHSmith- type shop, which did sell ‘tat’, but not what we were looking for.

Decided to investigate a little further and went down an escalator, signing a different terminal. At the bottom an old chap in a buggy asked where we were going. A little anxious that perhaps we were in the wrong place, we just vaguely said we were having a look around, looking for something to eat as we waited for our flight. At this, he offered to drive us to the next place, down a long corridor. Awesome! So we got a ride on one of those golf cart-buggy things! He dropped us off, directing us up the escalators. We got to the top; there was more choice, but, also, no suitable ‘tat’ shops. We settled for McDonald’s, sharing a double cheeseburger meal, as we weren’t sure what the food arrangements for the flight would be. It wasn’t long before our flight was due to start boarding, so we walked back down the long corridor to wait at our gate.

The gate had filled up considerably - people were clearly ignoring the ‘please do not queue until your group is called’ signs - you are assigned a boarding group, here. I think the plane was a little late arriving as boarding started late, although our actual departure time wasn’t really affected. They began to make announcements about how people in group 4 (us) and 5 may want to take advantage of an additional complimentary checked baggage opportunity - basically, they implied they were concerned about the lack of space and needed less carry on. So we checked our little wheelie case, taking the camera bag out to carry on. Boarding was uneventful and we got settled, snuggling under a complimentary blanket. Again, we had to pay for TV/film. Ben decided to get it again, to finish watching the film, but I thought I’d try to sleep. This turned out not to be so easy, however; I had the travel pillow tucked under my chin, but legroom was minimal. I did doze on and off, and Ben eventually tried to sleep as well.

As we had packed up our stuff last night, when we got up around eight, we were ready very quickly. In preparation for our flight from Vegas, we had tried to sort out our stuff really carefully, even laying out our clothes for today! So, we were ready to leave about nine-ish. Packed up the car and then went to check out. Checkout was very straightforward - the staff were very friendly and we were allowed to keep the key cards, which have beautiful pictures of the canyon on, unlike the slightly less-PG key cards from the Luxor hotel (containing pictures of semi-naked women!).

On the first step of the journey, we drove back through Kaibab National Park. It was very picturesque and we saw a number of birds of prey hovering, with whiteheads. We think they may have been bald eagles. A couple also had white beaks, so we’ll have to look them up when we get home. The journey was straightforward - very straight roads and light traffic. We got to Kingman around 12 PM and stopped for lunch. We went to Denny’s and it was a very friendly and typical small-town diner. I had a salad, which turned out to be vast! Mixed leaves with grilled chicken, apple slices, dried cranberries and glazed pecans, with balsamic vinaigrette - delicious! Ben had a club sandwich with fries, and it had virtually a whole turkey in it, it was so vast. As we hadn’t had breakfast, we decided to treat ourselves to desert. I had pancake puppies - little balls of pancake batter, with syrup for dipping - for $1.99. Ben had a huge chocolate ice-cream sundae, with Oreo cookie chunks and cream - a bargain at $2.99. The whole lot only came to about $25, including a tip. Amazing!

Having had lunch, we crossed over the road to get some petrol. We put in $30 and it didn’t completely fill the tank - it seems a little more expensive to fill up than the previous rental car. Once back on the road, the rest of the journey was really good - more straight roads and easy directions. Once again, we stopped at the Hoover Dam to go up on the bypass bridge to look down to the dam. Although was very hot, it was windy, so the air wasn’t so ‘heavy’ feeling. The view from the Bridge was spectacular and we caught Bruggers on camera again! There was some interesting information about how the bridge was constricted and why - as a bypass to connect Vegas to Phoenix more easily and ease congestion around the dam. We approached Vegas at about 4 PM. We found a petrol station and put in another $15 so that it was full for return. As we headed into Vegas, the directions were leading us towards some particularly heavy traffic, but we recognised where we were, so we diverted, making it back by about 4:20 PM, in plenty of time for our 5 PM deadline.

Up in the Luxor car park, we unloaded the stuff by the door to minimise carrying it in the heat. Ben parked the car, while I waited by the stuff. Going into the hotel, Ben checked the car back in while I joined the queue for the hotel check-in. Ben wasn’t impressed that no one was available to check the car over with him, to authorise that no damage had been done and hence we couldn’t be charged. We dislike the way that they just hold you over a barrel. The check-in to the hotel was also less than impressive. The woman was less than helpful - lacking the necessary skills and communication - and barely told as anything. We went up to the room to dump our stuff, and discovered that we had got a room in the pyramid - with a view over the five pools. As there was no fridge in the room - you could hire one for $25 a day, but we didn’t think this was worthwhile - we collected ice from the ice machine and filled the sink, chilling a bottle of water and Coke - perfect!

We headed down to the casino floor and gambled a bit, and then headed out, to take photos of the hotel at night. We went to the bridge over to the MGM, to take photos down the strip, a slightly different viewpoint from before. It also got the MGM building in, although there was work being done on the main building, so their lights weren’t on.

From here, we went into the Disney Palace, visiting a gift shop, for more ‘tat’ items. However, found some awesome items and ended up going back again to get more gifts! Went to McDonald’s for some tea and then went back to the room to grab the tablet in order to check in online for our flight tomorrow. We headed down to the lobby to get onto the Wi-Fi - the hotel has now sorted Wi-Fi access, but it’s limited to only two hours. We got connected, but struggled to check-in. I had to go to get the charger plug as the battery on the tablet was critically low. Ben tried to get Lorna to help, but it wasn’t happening. We gave up and ended up heading back to our room to phone. I inadvertently called 911 in my attempt to ring out, but eventually succeeded and very helpful woman from United Airlines sorted us out, resolving the issue with our check-in. We finished the evening back in the Luxor, gambling on our favourite blackjack and roulette machines. Though we were up at many points, we took some heavy losses, having gambled big and lost (we are talking about $0.25 machines here!). We called it quits about $40 down.

We had planned to get 10.30 boat to Positano today from Sorrento, however the plans quickly fell apart when breakfast didn't arrive until nearly 9.45 meaning we wouldn't have time to get down to the dock. Figured we'd just go to Capri today instead, but then noticed in the guide that we picked up from the tourist information (down by the docks) that there is a regular local bus that runs every 20 minutes (a big improvement on the boat that only went twice a day). So, we went to the train station to catch the bus, and were pleasantly surprised to get 24hr tickets for just 8 Euros each, which was ideal as it also gave us the flexibility to go to Positano and\or Amalfi. Even better, a bus had just arrived, so we aprt onboard, taking a seat on the right hand side where (we'd read) you could get the best views. We set off! 

It took about an hour of winding mountain passes so an hour was about enough! But as promised, the seats had offered the best views - of panoramic seascapes and the small coastal townships. Arriving at the top of Positano, we took a few photos of the view, then heading down through the maze of passages and stairways that were heading for the beach. As we went, we passed by many little shops, particularly selling ceramics, and we bought some little pottery chillies for our kitchen. 

We spent some walking along the seafront, watching the many boats ferrying about more tourists. Took lots of photos of both view and the town itself. Positano is very pretty with lots of colourful buildings built almost on to of each other like giant steps, following the line of the cliff with the many small passageways and stairways weaving in between. We kept seeking shelter at various shady spots as the sun was bearing down again today (around 34 degrees celsius).

Starting to feel hungry we went to a restaurant just off the sea front for some lunch. After lunch, feeling tired and hot we headed back up the cliff, towards a bus stop, this time on the other side of town. Were glad we had gone to this bus stop as not only was it a shorter walk, it also offered some of the best views of the town. The journey back was muxch the same offering the same splendid papanoramas. Arriving back in sorrento, we quickly retreated back to our room for some rest. Headed back out around 9 for some food. Went into a very nice restaurant called Villa Rubinacci just outside town. The food was delicious and we would highly recommend it should you get a chance to visit. Capri tomorrow!