Viva Las Vegas!

Waiting in Brisbane for the take-off

We have arrived safe and sound, but after 24 hours in Vegas I am beginning to wonder if we are still on Planet Earth. This place is as artificial, souless and fabulous as I had expected. Today we walked for four hours without once going outside into the real world. Inside the casinos there are no clocks, no windows, no exit signs and they pump fresh oxygen throughout so you don't feel tired at all. The sights make you smile and wonder - people drink alcohol any and everywhere, Elvis sits on street corners swigging from a 1.5L vodka bottle, and there must be a million slot machines.

The 14-hour Qantas flight over wasn't as bad as I expected (I am now a big fan of the rows of "two" right down the back of the plane - a lot more elbow room and only one person to crawl over to get out of your seat). We all watched a few movies and by the miracle of the International Date Line, arrived in Los Angeles before we had even left Brisbane.

Forget about the "King" in Vegas - check out the "little prince" in his suite at Caesars!

I have been reading Bill Bryson and he writes about what he calls the lobotomising of America. Listening to the safety instruction on yesterday's American Airlines flight from LA to Vegas confirmed this for me. The air hostess (a dead ringer for Joan Rivers) announced that all electronic devices had to be turned off before leaving...and then went on to explain that this meant switching your device from the "on" position to the "off" position!

Arriving in Vegas by air really does reinforce how this city was built in the middle of nowhere. Despite its sprawling single-storey suburbia (2.6million people live here), the real beauty of the flight was the emptiness of the desert surrounding it framed against the backdrop of snow-covered mountains.



Daren and Logan in front of the Bellagio Fountains (Pita, I obviously wasn't paying attention when you explained how to change images from landscape to portrait orientation)

Anyway, Caesars is fabulous, the weather is warm and sunny (we are thinking of spending a few hours poolside this afternoon), and Las Vegas has lived up to my bucket-list expectations so far. Daren and I have decided that "The Strip" isn't named after the non-stop parade of famous hotels and casinos, but rather for all the touts handing out free entry vouchers to the huge number of strip shows you can choose from. Interestingly, they seem to target the married men the most when handing these out!

Every celebrity in the USA seems to have their own restaurant in Vegas - including one of my favourite country singers

Food impressions so far: Drinks are all bucket-sized; softdrink is "soda"; one meal and a side has usually been adequate for all three of us; saccharine tablets and powders come with a range of vitamins added; and any longer than a month here would see all of us become diabetics.

Off  to Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage tonight for The Beatles "Love" show (thanks Byron for the tip) and then Hoover Dam tomorrow and Grand Canyon by helicopter Tuesday.

Inside the Caesar Forum shops - if only I enjoyed shopping more...

PS My mobile doesn't work (I will pick up a US one when I eventually find a phone shop), but you can still text us on Daren's mobile if you need to (0438220973).

Useless fact of the day: Elton John has performed more than 3000 shows at Caesar's Palace.