The city of sin

So after the credit card fiasco got sorted we needed to rent a car.

We drove around LA looking for the place we spotted on the internet which was doing a deal - $175 for a regular car for a week. couldnt find the place anywhere but i remembered seeing a place beside where Alex lived so we pulled up there.

The guy was some whacko from eastern europe and spoke little english. He tried to rent me a car with a broken seat, when you drove it you began leaning to the right on top of the passenger...not ideal!

Eventually we got sorted with a Ford Galaxy with AC so we hit the road and said good bye to LA.

Leaving the city isnt as easy as you think...the traffic during rush hour was terrible and roads are massive to say the least. Anyway we made it out on highway 15 as the sun began to set. Its a funny old drive, there are no lights on the road and everywhere you stop for supplies there are people returning from Vegas drunk and a bit crazy!

We drove and drove (well I did anyway) and as soon as you enter Nevada there are small bright pockets of Outlet stores with casinos and diners which look (to the untrained eye) like the great Las Vegas. So every few miles you'd hear me shout out 'Here we are...Las Vegas!' and then we would drive straight through in about 4 seconds...back to the silent darkness of the desert.

Around 9pm we arrived and found The Sahara Hotel quite easily. This particular establishment is at the southern end of the strip...a little bit out of the way but cheap ($95 for a room for two days) The interior walls have great pictures of Elvis and Sinatra outside the hotel and you can imagine in the 60's this place was the real deal. Unfortunately the big money came into Vegas in the 60's and 70's and the giant theme casinos took over peoples attention.

We went out for drinks and a pleasent walk down the strip to take in the vibe of Las Vegas. It was monday so pretty quiet. Shattered we went to bed looking forward to a full day of Vegas Fun.