Holiday Part 1

got back from los angeles yesterday afternoon from my wonderful 9 days in california and las vegas. 


i got there on thursday 5th jan and my plane was about an hour late departing london and arriving in LA. picked up my hire car and headed into hollywood to my hotel. it was evening rush hour in LA and so i got to my hotel around 7pm. checked in and popped out for something to eat and then went to bed early as i was tired from the long flight and i had to be up early next morning to pickup a couple of the guys from football who were arriving from australia and stopping off for a few days, on their way back to london. 

i picked them up on friday morning and that day we went around hollywood doing touristy things as they had never been to LA before. we also went up to griffith observatory and in the evening we went to see the la lakers v golden state warriors at the staples center. had never really been to downtown LA much before. jesus!, its not the LA they show on tv. it was rough and although the building are new and shiny, it looked like not the kind of place you would want to be out late in. 

the next day, saturday, we headed over to santa monica and went to the beach, played some classic old skool arcades and got something to eat. later in the afternoon we headed off on our 4 hour drive to las vegas.

we got to Las Vegas around 9pm and after checking in we went for a stroll long the strip and into a few of the casinos. i dont gamble and i dont even know the rules to play the games, but its still an interesting place for people watching and gawdy architecture. 

the next day, sunday, we went to one of the outlet malls and i picked up some things i needed and then in the afternoon we had a buffet at the luxor casino and spent the rest of the evening going round the casinos, losing a little money on blackjack and going to the hotel bar. 


the other 2 guys had to catch their plane back to london the following day, so i drove them back to LA where we all had lunch at la la's on melrose, and then around 2pm i headed off for my 6 hour drive to san francisco......