Saturday 14 January 2012

USA 28 December 2011 – 13 January 2012 (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco)

LAS VEGAS    28 December - 2 January 2012

We arrived in Vegas to some warmer weather (thank goodness) and the smell of gambling, sex and booze lol. We made our way to the Marriott and unpacked for the week! We went out to see the glow of lights and the hustlers that make this city so famous. Next morning we took a 90 min plane tour over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the world renowned Grand Canyon. We were totally amazing by this natural beauty and felt awfully small after seeing it J
That night we joined a pub-crawl, visiting La Casa, Coyote Ugly (Rhe wasn’t too keen on this one again), Piano Bar and Studio 54. We all had a great night meeting new people and seeing some of the great clubs Vegas has to offer. The next day we met up with Trev, Maddy and Tiny again and went to see the Holly Madison Peep Show. The show was really good and we had an awesome 3 course dinner at PBR Bar and Grill beforehand! After the show we organised a stretch SUV for all of us and we cruised up and down the strip, visiting the Little White Chapel, Downtown and Freemont St.
After another big night we walked the strip again and visited the Venetian, Caesar’s Palace and Miracle Mile for some shopping! New Year’s Eve came up very quickly and we had drinks in our room before joining the estimated 300,000 revellers on the strip. We played some blackjack in Caesar’s Palace and then went to the Bellagio at 11:45pm to see the Water Fountain Show. We counted down to 12pm and the boys lit up their cigars and we all celebrated the new year!! Afterwards we went back to Caesar’s and had a ball just hanging out and getting free drinks in the casino J
New Years Day saw the boys playing golf at the local course and the girls shopping, again.. We went back to Freemont St (old Vegas) that night and had fun looking around at the old casino’s, the glowing street and the live entertainment everywhere. We hired a Dodge Charger on the 2 January to get us to Los Angeles!!
Grand Canyon Plane Tour
Grand Canyon
Hoover Dam
Lake Mead



Flight Photo
MGM Grand Casino
 Pub Crawl .... Good times
Luxor
The Strip
Vegas Eiffel Tour
The Venetian
Gondalas

Holly Madison Peep Show
SUV Stretch Ride
Vegas Sign

Little White Chapel
Bellagio
Water Show
Caesar's Palace
 New years Fire works
 Trying to win big
 Round of golf few beers= Happy days
Fremont St - Old Vegas
Road Trip
Green Bumblebee


LOS ANGELES & SANTA MONICA   2 January - 9 January 2012
We made the 4 hour drive to Los Angeles from Las Vegas in our sexy Charger and went straight to Santa Monica Pier. It was really gorgeous here, walking along the pier and having drinks while the sun set over the ocean. We drove to our hotel where the girls checked in and the boys had a great time dropping the hire car back at LAX. Next day was full of fun rides, 4D movies, cartoon characters, studio tours and theme park food while we were at Universal Studios!!  After our big day at Universal we went to Lucky Strike Bowling and caught up with the other three again J
We went on an LA tour the next day and saw Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, Celebrities Homes, Farmer’s Market, Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre and the Walk of Fame. We saw Napoleon Dynamite here too!!
We went back to Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach on our last full day, we hired tandem bikes to cruise along the whole beach, checking out the muscle men, volleyball players, the homeless hippies and massive palm trees so iconic to this area. Glen scored us all free tickets to Rob Schneider’s new sitcom called Rob (starring Rob and Cheech off Cheech and Chong!) We were in the front row of the audience and we were the only people that got a group photo with him and we got to shake his hand too!! We all went to Hard Rock for dinner and said goodbye to Trev, Maddy and Tiny who were heading some the next day.
EJ and I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain on our last full day in LA and we have such a good time. They had 8 of the most extreme rides in the world and we enjoyed every second of them haha We had dinner at Maui and Sons that night, who serve five Coronitas in a bucket for $10! Score! Later that night we both got a much needed Thai massage. We have really enjoyed our time in LA and would definitely visit again J


Santa Monica Pier
Pier
Santa Monica Pier
4D Show
Universal
Lucky Strike Bowling
Chinese Theatre
Rodeo Drive

Criddal and Glen with Chuckie
Venice
 Tandems at Venice Beach
 Venice Beach
 We met Rob Schneider
 $5 Buckets!
Six Flags Magic Mountain


Glen and Criddal - Superstar
Superstar

Seafood Restuarant haha


SAN FRANCISCO  9 January - 11 January 2011
On the 9th we flew to San Francisco for the last two nights of our trip! We arrived after a very short flight and checked into our hotel near Union Square. We walked around the city and went for dinner and cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. Just to put into perspective how massive the American meals are, we all ate our ‘shared’ meals and then still had enough to get leftover bags and feed the homeless guy on the street on the way home.  Next day we got the ferry to Alcatraz and spent a good few hours exploring this fascinating and historic place.  We really enjoyed visiting Alcatraz and we had a really clear, calm day, giving us awesome views of the city and the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges.
From there we went on a tour bus and visited the main sites such as Fisherman’s Wharf, the View Point, Chinatown, Union Square, Golden Gate Bridge and the Financial District. We had an early night here as we have a big day of travelling the next day (SFO – LAX – BNE – GLT)! San Francisco was very quirky, full of character and incredibly hilly!

Shower Room at Alcatraz
Prisoners
Re-modelling lol


Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate




 
HOME BOUND  11 January 2012 – 13 January 2012 
We are currently sitting in LAX waiting for our flight at 10:55pm. We flew from San Francisco this morning and have been trying to relax in the airport. We are so very excited to be going home and can’t wait to see our much loved family and friends. We have literally had the time of our lives on this trip and we would recommend everyone to try this at least once in their life.  We have shared so many experiences, happy and sad with our old friends and new friends and we can’t wait to catch up with everyone that we have met along the way. We will always cherish what we have at home but there simply is nothing like travelling…

Signing off for the last time…
EJnRHE xx