Sunday, 31 March 2013
After I went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall I went back to USA Hostels, checked out and got on a bus to Santa Monica. The buses are a bit different to the ones in the UK. Firstly there are no push buttons to stop the bus. Instead there are bus cords you need to tug. Also, if you have a bike you can attach it to the front of the bus before you get on. One thing that is the same, is the amount of crazy people on buses. On the bus towards Santa Monica, I was sat opposite this bloke who looked to be in his late 20s. Just by looking at him it was clear that something was mentally wrong with him. He was wearing dirty clothes and looked like he hadn’t had a wash in years. He asked me if I had a pen. I did but said no in fear he was going to stab me with it. A minute later he asked again. He then walked up the bus asking everyone for a pen and when he couldn’t get one he sat at the back of the bus for a while. Ten minutes later he walked back down the bus and sat opposite me again. He then asked the bus driver for a pen. He got a pen and sat back down. I then saw him take out a tiny torn up piece of paper from his pocket, write something on it and then gave the pen back to the driver. Two minutes later he asked me for a pen again ಠ_ಠ. All of this happened while I had my headphones on. Later after the pen bloke got off the bus I stopped listening to my music, took my headphones off and then heard a black man in the middle of the bus talking out loud to himself. Crazy.
Finally got to my hostel in Santa Monica, checked in and went to the room. The person who was staying in the bunk bed above me was someone from Taunton of all places. We even had a mutual friend on FaceBook. Small world and all that bollocks.
In the same room as me, there was a Japanese bloke who was about my age. He hardly spoke any English. I spoke to him for a bit and he somewhat told me he wanted to go Universal Studios. This was his lucky day because I had a spare ticket. The ticket was a print out and needed to be used as entry within the week. I tried to explain this to him but I’m pretty sure he didn’t have a clue what the fuck I was saying. Regardless, I ended up selling my spare ticket and making my money back. Not sure if he knew what he was buying really and I kinda felt bad. To cheer myself up I bought a new pair of Vans with his money. Ha.
At night I fancied eating steak. I walked into this posh looking steak house restaurant, looked at the menu, saw the ridiculously expensive prices, closed the menu, turned around and left without saying anything. Went to an English pub instead and had fish and chips. The pub was called Ye Olde King’s Head. Was quite nice. While I was there, a couple was sat to the right of me in dead silence. They didn’t say anything to each other in ages until one of them said “Those flowers at the reception are beautiful aren’t they.” Really Awkward.
The next day I went for a long walk to Venice beach. Took a lot of photos and saw the world’s smallest front yard.
Santa Monica is a lovely place and I would love to go back. Definitely recommend everyone to go there if you have a chance.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Time to go the Las Vegas! Flight was in the morning. Somewhat unsurprisingly I ended up getting on the wrong bus and getting lost. Was a nightmare. Not entirely sure how I managed to get to the airport on time.
On my flight I was sat behind a little kid who was trying to get attention from his mum. I’m pretty sure he said “Mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy” about 100 times. Annoying little shit. I also heard him shout out “We’re going to crash!” when we hit a bit of turbulence. Actually found that quite funny.
Flight landed safely and the first thing I noticed were the slot machines at the airport!
The hotel I was staying at the Circus Circus hotel, which brings me to...
Fun Fact #6: In the novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson wrote, “The Circus-Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This is the sixth Reich. The ground floor is full of gambling tables, like all the other casinos . . . but the place is about four stories high, in the style of a circus tent, and all manner of strange County-Fair/Polish Carnival madness is going on up in this space.” When the book was adapted to film in 1998, the fictional “Bazooko Circus” was a thinly-veiled stand-in for the world-famed resort, which had refused permission for the filmmakers to shoot on their property.
And now we know. (And knowing is half the battle. G. I. Joooooeeee!)
When I got to the hotel I did what anyone else would do and started to gamble. The very first bet I made was on the roulette table. I put $1 on black 12 or something like that and it landed on black 12! What are the fucking chances. Ended up winning like $40. Stayed playing and I ended up with about $100. At this point I should have left. Kept on playing and lost about $10 then thought okay I can make that back by betting another $10. Lost again and before I knew it I lost about $70. Such a bad gambler. Thing is, it doesn’t feel like real money you’re playing with. In my mind I was playing with monopoly money so it was easy just to keep on betting.
Later that day I took out $100, went back to a roulette table, put it all on black and lost it all....
I was only in Las Vegas for one night to see Penn and Teller. Because I booked my tickets months in advice I was lucky enough to be sat in the front row. Still haven’t got a clue how they do most of their tricks. The bullet catch was particularly impressive and was great to see in person.
Walking back after the show I was kinda sad because I knew my time travelling was almost over. Had an amazing time and I’m glad I did it. One question I get asked is, was it lonely to go travelling by yourself? Thinking about it, I don’t think it was. There is always something for you to do, so you don’t really think about being lonely. And if you’re staying in hostels you will always meet a lot of lovely people, so you will always have someone to talk to.
Wednesday, 3rd April
Time to leave Las Vegas and go back to the UK. Had to get up at 5:50am and check out. On my flight back to London I ended up falling asleep during take off. Heard an air hostess talking to this really rude passenger. She had to apologise for something she didn’t do and say shit like ”Sorry about that sir, yes sir.” I know it’s her job but I bet she was tired of acting and just wanted to say “fuck off” to the bloke.
Ended up sitting next to a lovely French women called Juliette. Was nice to have someone to talk to during the long flight back home.
Got back to England and of course it was pissing it down with rain. Heard someone in the airport say it was a “delightfully cold day” I smiled, left the airport and got on a bus back home to Exeter and a year later I finally finished my travel blog! Hope you enjoyed it.
I will leave you with one last fun fact.
Fun Fact #7: I travelled a total of 26,257 miles around the world in 31 days and spent 60 hours+ on a 10 different planes, 1 train and a number of different buses.
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