7th August 1991 Day 18

Diary
Las Vegas. 

The hottest and tackiest place so far. 80,000 slot machines but it seemed more than that. fat, old women pumping quarters into the machines at all hours of the night and day. Sad really, when you consider how much money Vegas is making from them. The consolation for us was that slot machines were so old fashioned in Britain that we weren't at all tempted and better still, because the slot machines took so much money the casinos did big meals at very low prices just to keep the punters in. People crowded round poker, blackjack, keno, craps and all manner of gambling games in the huge air-conditioned casinos along the strip. The heat outside probably helps to keep a lot of the people inside. 

We were aiming to get to the Grand Canyon but because of restrictions on international driving licences, excessive prices and unavailability of cars we decided not to bother and to escape from the gambling capital of the world quickly. George would probably complain there aren't enough Ladbrokes "Gives gambling a bad name".


Phoned Amtrak and got a cancellation to San Diego. Wandered back to the hostel and our lovely host with the NZ All Blacks baseball cap for whom even opening his mouth was almost too much trouble. I don't think Big John need worry. Chatted to one of our room-mates, Eric (!) the Irishman who had spent 18 months travelling and was getting a little bored. He had a suntan like Oz but at least he could blame it on the monsoon season in the Far East. 

Followed around by a gay  guy  with no shirt !

Walked to Glitter Gulch, the Union Plaza Hotel and the Amtrak Station within to pick up our tickets. We then encountered an ageing ticket man who had trouble operating the "puter" and accused us of violating the terms of our pass by changing our ticket 11 times. We reckoned it was twice but it probably came about because we'd used the same reservation number for every ticket since Omaha (as advised). Still, we got our tickets.

In the evening we got a bus down The Strip (aka Las Vegas Boulevard) and bumped into the two English lads who were at Raging Waters (Salt Lake City). Small world. Common Cliche. Wandered around the vast excess of Caesars Palace, the Mirage and other large casinos. At least the lights look good at night.


2011
You may have gathered that we thought Vegas sucked. I've been back a couple of times and have found no reason to change my mind.

I have been to the Grand Canyon with Christy in 1995 during our trip round the South West National Parks. A tad more interesting than Vegas. We did, however, stop in Reno, Nevada on that trip. Reno is the Calais to   Vegas' Paris. Reno, the place the bankrupts go when kicked out of Vegas. Maybe I should post some pictures from that trip. 


George - another Lufbra boy. Aka the Fat Controller. Aka Steve Heyes. 


The train we caught to Vegas was called "The San Francisco Zephyr" or was it "The California Zephyr". It was definitely "The Desert Wind" east bound and the station was inside the hotel. Apparently (see here), The Desert Wind was discontinued in 1997 and trains do not go to Vegas anymore.