Lisa's Letters from La La Land: Leaving Las Vegas...

Today was one of those days where you have X amount of time and all the other 25 letters of the alphabet are just going to HAVE to squash into the available hours.

So it began with a little bit of a sleep in ( and I mean only a little) and up to pack our bags and then check out of the hotel, having our luggage held for us until we leave to board the bus to Anaheim… simple right?

Nup, turns out that when we got to the check out desk, there was some issues with a tip that hadn’t been written against our room on the first night and therefore, some lucky waiter got a second tip from the whole 14 of us. Some handled this news better than others. And you’d think it’d be a simple thing to rectify – just pay it right? – nup again… it dragged out for what seemed like about 30 minutes of hitting keys on the computer and then coming to the conclusion that we just had to pay it…

Sheesh…

So a handful of us decided we wanted to go take a gondola ride at the Venetian before we left, so we wended out way back to said casino and booked our ride. All these attractions in the casinos come with a reasonably hefty price tag so we really only did the things that would be ‘worth it’. And I will say, it was worth it.

Of course as is Vegas’s way, where you buy your tickets is a looooong way from where you board your gondola, but this casino is so breathtakingly detailed that it was not a chore to make our way inside and through countless walkways to the little Venice that was built inside.

We lined up and boarded in groups of 3, each with our own appropriately clad gondolier who as it turns out had the most astounding voices, and all seemed to have hailed from the origin of the fake we were now cruising down. The detail of this replica was second to none, and according to our gondolier it is in fact, an exact replica of the waterways of Venice. Along the waterway, buildings that were of course, miniature but still ‘full sized’ towered up to what looked for all the world like the daylight sky on the canals, made it really easy to believe you were right there in Italy.

In all too short a time, the ride was over, and after the obligatory stop at the gift store, we made our VERY LONG way back to the Cosmopolitan Casino, passing the Bellagio ( the only time I saw it properly - in daylight, and without fountains) and Paris again and Planet Hollywood.

This process took well over an hour and in searing near 40 degree heat, while those who had caught a taxi, did so in less than 10 minutes… lesson to all going to Vegas… CATCH TAXI’S….

This was our first visit to the Cosmopolitan and its decadence had our eyes popping, despite being seriously late for our lunch meet up, the ‘boudoir’ décor of this place was just gorgeous and we couldn’t help but gawk. With many hundreds of strings of ‘gems’ draped and hanging from what looked like several floors in every direction, when the pink lighting caught it, you couldn’t take your eyes off it.

We finally arrived at the Wicked Spoon restaurant at the FAR back of the casino ( another one I would HIGHLY recommend – for the dessert bar alone) and all the rest of our party were only just being led into our table. Lucky for us, there is often a very long wait to get in here.

OMG. The food here was exquisite. This buffet was for brunch, but the array of choices was way more than any human could possibly consume in one sitting.

I did 3 trips back to try different things for the ‘mains’ and then had to do a lap of the dessert stations before making choices, as I was already so full, those choices were going to have to count.

However, after savouring one plate of dessert, I did manage to head back for a second…

A handful of us decided that a taxi back to the Flamingo was the way to go, to allow for some last minute shopping or in my case, a flutter on the slots.

And I can’t believe I am admitting it, but this was my one and only gambling stint for my stay in Vegas. I really am not a gambler… money is too hard to make to throw away… but after half an hour on the slots, I can definitely see the attraction, as I walked away with my purse a little heavier and the lure to make it moreso was considerable.

Thankfully there was no time for any further punting, and we gathered to collect our bags and headed over to Harrahs Casino to board our bus down to Anaheim. Well, most of us… one of our number had forgotten the time and a major kerfuffle ensued to nut out the best plan of action.

In the end, the rest of us caught taxi vans with the luggage, and I and another stayed to wait for the straggler to gather bags ( and I purposely toning down the panic that was floating around) and made it in enough time to catch the bus thanks to some ‘Tokyo drift’ type of driving by our taxi driver.

We tipped him well.

But as things do, they worked out, we were loaded on the bus and on our way to Anaheim. The Luxbus was more like an airliner than a bus, with movies and snacks and drinks. And while it is the longest way to get there, I look back on this trip as quite fun. Stopping at a hole-in-the-wall diner type of truck stop in Barstow where of course, many of us bought yet more souvenirs, was a highlight despite the suspect loos and then listening to our hostess prattle away on the mike for many miles, watching the beautiful sunset over the desert and a few movies later, we found ourselves in Anaheim and checking into our hotel.

This was a HUGE day, but then many of them were, so by this stage, we’re taking them in our stride and just going with it now that the jetlag was starting to wane.

Once we’d settled in our rooms and regrouped, we wandered next door to IHOP for a late dinner and met up with our the newest member of our band, Jeannette, who hails from Delaware and again, it ended up a late night of chatting and filling in of what we’d been up to.

Let the Disney magic begin…