Vegas Bound
Tomorrow I am going to America for the better part of two weeks. We start off in Las Vegas for three nights, then we’ll be road-tripping it. Highlights will include visiting the Grand Canyon to see what all the fuss is about, and white water rafting in Colorado.
Having watched 21 recently (card-counting film with Jim Sturgess), I feel that as soon as I sit down at a gaming table, I will have the almost irresistible desire to lean back in an overtly casual manner and cross my arms behind the chair . . . Fortunately I intend to do most of my gambling at the slot machines. I played the slots in the casino onboard the ship we cruised on last year. It was the first (and, so far, only) time I’d played them, and I won the jackpot on the I Dream Of Jeannie machine. All these masses of quarters came pouring out, and I had to get a second bucket to carry them all, and everyone gathered round to watch, attracted by the ching ching ching noise. It was great. My agent, however, tells me that this does not always happen when you play the slots. Hmm, I have to say I’m not too sure about that. I can’t help thinking that I will win the jackpot again. And if I happen to spot another I Dream Of Jeannie machine, then I will be sticking to it like glue.
Whilst we’re in Las Vegas we’re also going to do those crazy scary rides at the top of the Stratosphere skyscraper. I’ve never backed out of a ride yet but, having seen the pictures, I do have plans to get very drunk after these ones. Or possibly before. Perhaps before and after, just to be on the safe side.
I’m not entirely sure what the food is going to be like on this trip. When we go to Disney World in Florida there is always plenty for me to eat because the parks cater for vegetarians. In “real” America, not so much. During the New England road trip we did, I ate mostly mozzarella sticks. And twinkies. Now, I like mozzarella sticks and twinkies as much as the next person but, after two weeks of it, my taste for them diminishes somewhat. I also tend to skip breakfast when I’m on holiday because I don’t eat eggs unless I know they’re free range. So, whilst the rest of my family piles on the pounds, I will probably come back somewhat thin. An occupational hazard of being a vegetarian is that you do tend to lose weight on holiday. But perhaps I’ll just make up for it with the American-sized desserts . . .
Anyway, I now have to go pack. But I’ll be back in two weeks. Unless I get dragged off by a Laurence Fishburne type for card-counting; or I plunge to my death from one of the Stratosphere rides; or get washed away during the white water rafting. In which case, I won’t be coming back at all.
Tags: Holidays
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:40 am
Have fun. I did the whole Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and southwestern USA thing a good number of years ago (to date it, it was while Bill Clinton was still president). I loved it. It can’t beat NYC, SF, or Texas for first place in my heart, but it was great fun.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Have a great time! Hope you manage to find some decent food!
June 25th, 2009 at 6:42 am
Kwok Ting Lee - of the American cities I’ve done, Washington is my favourite so far. It’s a beautiful place.
Christine - so far food hasn’t been a problem. In fact I’ve been totally pigging out. I had pizza, pancakes, and bagels for breakfast every morning in Las Vegas. It appears my worries of coming back thin were grievously - grievously - unfounded.
June 27th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
That’s rather funny. Washington D.C. is my least favorite city in America. I visited it once around ’89, and apart from the Smithsonian, and the Jefferson Memorial I loathed it. I swore I would never visit it again unless someone compelled me with a big honking firearm to go there and so far it hasn’t. (Said person holding the big honking firearm should also probably avoid getting close enough to me for me to put an elbow into his throat and then a pair of fingers into his eyes, too, that’s how much I do not want to go back to D.C.)
NYC on the other hand…. Indescribable. Well, describable but it would take an outpouring of words to do so.
I’m glad to see that you’re not having trouble with food. I tend to be a bit picky about what I eat and frequently find myself in a bit of a bind when I travel.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:42 am
I like NY, but I definitely prefer Washington. I find New York a bit dark with all the skyscrapers. For me, Washington has more charm, and more of a sense of history. It’s a lot more spacious too, with all those beautiful old white buildings. Georgetown in particular, I thought was lovely.