California Dreamin

Tuesday 15th July

The sun rose over the Las Vegas strip but our stay in Sin City had come to an end. We had booked a 2pm shuttle bus to the airport so still had a few hours to kill in the morning.

Travelling days are always a tad monotonous as usually everything that we want to see during our time  in each city has been done.

I am not as sad to leave Las Vegas as I was Orlando because as I had previously mentioned, it had its spectacular sights that are a must see but you never felt 100% safe with people throwing CDs at you and demanding money or slapping prostitutes cards in front of your face all the way down the strip. Every city has its fair share of weirdos but as the main tourist pull is the strip it is all concentrated to that area.
I would go back as part of a trip but not especially and next time would include a trip to the grand canyon which would take a full day and have you back in Vegas for the evening when everything comes to life.  The excalibur itself was quite nice, away from the hustle and bustle of the main casino,  not the best view but hey,  we weren't there to look out the window.

We spent the morning browsing the souvenir shops, couldn't really go that far out because we had to be conscious of the time.

We ventured back into New York New York and had lunch, I couldn't resist a final quick gamble on the fruit machines before we left... Determined to hit the jackpot... But not doing so.

Before we knew it 2pm was here and it was all aboard the bus to McCarran airport, seemed like we only just got there despite the eventful few days we had!

Took us ages to grapple with the self check in service email. Delta you have successfully failed to create an easy usable experience for your customers.

The airport itself also contains lots of slot machines in every terminal building for those who just have to gamble from the moment they arrive until the moment they leave. Not for me,  I had done enough.

Our aircraft was only a 2x2 seater with it only being a 1hr 5min  hop over to Los Angeles. The time flew by (no pun intended) and we were soon on the ground in LAX. The weather here was significantly cooler at 80F with a nice breeze that was a welcome break to the heat in Dallas and Las Vegas.

Once we were reunited with our bags we headed for the super shuttle station (sounds more fancy that it was) to get transport sorted to our hotel in the Hollywood area.

The shuttle bus took 1hr 45 minutes to get to the hotel as LAX is located out of the city centre and our hotel was in Hollywood. He did have to drop others off as well bit that's the first time the shuttle ride has taken longer than the flight itself!

The hotel itself is OK, nothing special but within walking distance of the main attractions in Hollywood sounds a great location.

After walking the streets looking to find somewhere to eat baring in mine we were unfamiliar with the area, it was late and we were aware of dodgy characters we only looked for a brief while before settling for an IHOP  (international house of pancakes) not far from us. Very nice it was to! Had a Philly cheese steak.

Tomorrow we head out to explore LA, home of many a celebrity, who knows, we may even see one!