24 Hours in Las Vegas....

At last I have time for this post! It will take me a while to type but at 5 a.m. there is not much traffic on the site I am currently playing. I could play Pokerstars for a bit but I don't want to play much as I am not feeling A1. I woke up after just two hours sleep and wasn't able to get back to sleep. Probably a result of a crazy Saturday watching England triumph in the football and the rugby matches. Don't be surprised if England throw another upset in the final against South Africa! I was recently thinking of all the places I have spent just a day in, Paris (previous blog entry on this night), greek island of Rhodes, Beruit in Lebanon, Salzburg in Austria, Munich in Germany, Havana in Cuba just misses out as it was a 48 hour stay and one of the most eventful trips 24 hours in Las Vegas.......

A few years ago when I was in the habit of spending too much time and money in exclusive London nightspots I had one night where I met a beautiful girl and a whole chain of events started. When I was younger I never ever refused a last minute invitation to go out to a club. I had a theory that if I stayed in or went to a local place with friends the odds on anything life changing happening were very slim. However if you go out to the west end such is the traffic of new people there on any given day of the week you could meet hollywood film stars, your sporting idols, supermodels, princes, princesses, oil barons, many life changing experiences are possible. This night was one of those nights, my friend invited me to got to Chinawhite at the last minute. It was a midweek night and I had been getting ready for bed when I got ready and jumped in a cab. Wednesdays at Chinawhite used to be the best night out of the week at any central London nightspot.

Arriving at the club I bypass the usual several hour long queue (which for many still ended in getting turned away!). There were several of us in the club and we immediately hit the vodka! After a while I noticed a beautiful girl, I kept noticing her everywhere. After a few vodkas I was seeing double, wait a minute it is not the vodka.....its twins! A friend of mine informed me that they were pretty much regulars on the club scene and I wondered why I had not noticed them before, it turns out they were 19 so probably had not been regulars for that long. He introduced me to one of them and I instantly hit it off with her. We spoke for around an hour and then parted our own seperate ways, during the course of the night several times I would bump into her sister and go to speak to her before realising I had the 'wrong' one. The night flew past and before I knew it I was back at home dreaming about this beauty that I had met!

Several weeks later I was again in Chinawhites when someone kicked me from behind, it was not a hard kick and I turned around to see who it was.....lo and behold it was my 'beauty'. She says 'You bastard you said we should go out last time we met yet left without taking my number'. Bingo thats a great tell on her, if she is not keen then I don't know what keen means! I swap numbers with her and then done something I rarely do, I hit the dancefloor with her. Boy she could move that sweet booty! She was bumping and grinding so much so that when I left the club my linen trousers had brown streaks down them. I said NO way this fit girl cant have fucking shit down me, it then dawned on me that when I done the obligatory sniff and could not smell anything that it was fake tan. Some of it had clearly rubbed off onto my trousers, thanks god for that!

Now where does Las Vegas fit into all of this you may ask. On the first night she had mentioned it was her birthday coming up and I had been taling about a recent trip to Las Vegas, I was drunk and did not recall saying this but on hearing she had never been to america I said "For your birthday I will take you to Las Vegas". Thankfully back then I had a pretty sweet deal with a travel agent . I rang my man up on the Monday and booked two flights to Las Vegas. Unfortunately only non direct flights were available and they still cost just over £1000 each!

A week soon passed and then I was packed and ready to go to Las Vegas, before I leave my house I ring several times and get no answer! I know she is in London as she came down the night before. I am at Victoria station thinking great what a stupid drunken idea gone wrong. Then after several more attempts I get an answer. She had been clubbing the night before and had just woken up, she was staying in central London and within thirty minutes she was ready and at Victoria Station ready to get the express train to Gatwick airport. On the train her sister was sending several texts, of the two her sister was clearly the worst one. It suddenly dawned that we had only known eachother for a few hours and were about to go on holiday together. We had instantly connected though and got on so well, yet doubts started to creep in via messages from her sister. At the airport she comes out with " I don't thing I can go through with this, what if my sister is right and you are a murderer or something". I say fair enough I don't mind if you don't want to come, we can both get back on the train now and cancel the idea. Having already been delayed by her sleeping in time was now against me. I remained cool and calm then said one way or another you have around 60 seconds now to decide as if you don't the decision will not be needed as the boarding gate will have closed! It's a yes from her, I feel better than somebody who has just been given a yes by all the judges on pop idol!

On the plane she mentions a few more negative things from seeds sown into her mind by her sister. The trip out was an absolute disaster, it was with American Airways and never again! The flights were more expensive than usual due to last minute booking and they still charged $5 for each drink! Using my usual charm I was friendly to the trolly dolly and got many drinks for free. After several hours the girl asks are we nearly there, she nearly has a heart attack when she realises the flight is longer than a flight to Spain. The poor girl has never ever been away from her sister for a few hours, they even shared the same mobile phone. So thats twenty years of almost constant manipulation by her sister. When the flight is nearly over i feign sleep much to the disappointment of the steward who thought he was on to a sure winner by giving me so much alcohol! He felt pretty gutted!

The first transfer is a nightmare, security checks took so long that the two hour gap in flights nearly was not enough to make it in time to catch the connecting flight. Then there is a delay of several hours due to bad weather. Once we have boarded the plane once again there is a delay, we are forced to sit on the plane on the runway for over FIVE HOURS! During this time we are given just one glass of water, upon request for a blanket my girl is told we do not carry blankets for every passenger look in the above locker and if one is there it is, if it isn't it isn't. Is this the worst airline of all time or what? Charge you for drinks, charge you for headphones and now this. The heavy night out before has left her feeling rough and grouchy, add to that the delays and it being that time of the month and my nightmare is clearly just beginning!

We arrive in Las Vegas after a total travel time of 23 hours. Whilst waiting for luggage she reads more texts on my phone from her sister. Her sister is telling her not to forget that the next week somebody is taking them to the Monaco Grand prix in his own private jet and how great it will be. Suddenly things take a turn for the better, a guy is holding a card with my name on. It looks like the casino has sent a limo to pick me up, obviously due to spending a lot on the tables there in the past. We get to the casino and in my room a bucket of Corona on ice is waiting for me as well as a fruit basket and a box of chocolates. The girl is impressed and I am starting to think perhaps all the hassle so far was not in vain after all....

As soon as we wake up there are plenty of texts from her sister going on about the grand prix trip. She suggests to me that we cut the trip short by a few days, this is the final straw for me. I have had 23 hours of hassle getting out to Las Vegas with her, and now this before we have started. I say sure no problem I will shorten the trip now, I pick up the phone and ring the airline and change the flights to the NEXT day! American Airlines want $150 per person to change, are they for real i scream down the phone it has taken me 23 hours to get to Las Vegas. The lady agrees to waver the charge.

Bearing in mind that if I am in Las Vegas for a week it will no doubt cost me a small fortune, added to that some limitations due to her being 20 years of age. I just don't feel she is worth all the effort anymore, she looks at me in shock. I decide to make the most of the 24 hours though, one of the casino directors who I knew said I should just send her home the next day and stay out there. I am not that evil! In the next 24 hours we hang out at the pool in Caesar's and drink some amazing cocktails, the weather is great unlike back home! Next some shopping at the forum shops, truly amazing shops! We then take a helicopter trip to the grand canyon and land there, it really was an amazing experience for both of us. To top if off for dinner I ask what she would like and she says a steak, so we go to Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian. At the time it was constantly being voted as one of the best restaurants in Las Vegas and definitely the best steak restaurant. I go to the reception and find that it is fully booked yet I manage to blag a table. Wow none of the reviews mentioned that just for a steak its almost $200, great food but a bit steep! O, well.

After a great 24 hours in Las Vegas it is time to leave, teary eyed she says can't we stay a bit longer? I reply no. Then for another nightmare flight home, its de ja vu with delays and ATROCIOUS customer service. On the first plane when we go to sit down I am informed that it is not my seat. I say of course it is, I show my boarding pass. I am informed that we have been seperated due to the fact that a couple with a baby needed to sit together. Surely this is not my problem and they could and should have just moved a traveller flying alone. I complain and the stewardess says "If you really want to sit together you can....but you must get off of this flight and board the next". What ridiculous customer service, I am fuming. We have delays again and it takes 24 hours to get back into London. Finally back at Gatwick we get our luggage and she wants to use a payphone to call her sister or something as my mobile battery is flat. I say platform 1 or 2 for next train to London and walk off and jump on a train that was seconds away from departing. The last time I ever saw her other than on television a few times.

I have not mentioned the girls name due to the fact that I have been hearing some stories of weird stalkers lately online. I don't mind if anyone stalks me however it is not right for somebody else to be stalked by some nutter, especially not a pretty young lady. In fact some freak called thebuilder86 asked me to post some pictures of my girlfriends on my blog earlier, clearly he either wants to just knock one out or do some stalker type actions. You would think that all the effort and money spent made the trip a total disaster, well there is one plus point to the story. It did not cost me one penny, the only time I have ever left Las Vegas without doing my nuts! On the first day I placed $100 split on numbers 20 and 21 as it was her age and her birthday. It slammed into the number 20 and I picked up $1750 covering all expenses in Las Vegas. The room was free as a comp from the casino, and as for the rip off priced flights as I mentioned I used to have a good deal with a travel agent and they did not cost me a penny. I would advise all travellers from the UK that wherever possible use an English airline and not an american to fly overseas. Even if it costs more money you will get a better service, pay for less drink and avoid the culture clash. As much as I like america and people from there some americans are simply retarded. At all costs avoid American Airlines. I often wonder what the girl is up to nowadays, I regret storming off once we arrived home and wish her well. Her mum did phone me and thank me for looking after her daughter but I never spoke to her again. She was a nice girl just I feel confused at how to cope when her twin sister was not with her.

Next blog entry is 24 hours in Rhodes.......(probably)