Anyone ever been to Las Vegas? Well I haven’t. But that changed when I left Los Angeles two weeks ago. Yes already two weeks ago. On CouchSurfing.org I was looking for people who were interested in making a small road trip to the Grand Canyon and also making a stop in Las Vegas. And to my surprise I met some people!

After some emails I met up with Sara - a 27 year old girl from Sweden - who was also in Los Angeles. We had a cup of tea on the Hollywood Boulevard and decided to rent a car and drive all the way. We rented a car for a week from Dollar.com and got a pretty good deal. 135 US dollars for the whole week. Well of course without taxes and stuff so the grand total was just under 200 bugs.

So the next day me and Sara met again at the airport to pick up the car and without knowing we got two more free surprises.. the first being an insurance. Yes of course we need an insurance but we didn’t know the price per day which was 21 US dollars. DAMN. Anyway, we took the insurance and got our next surprise. A free upgrade to the next class! WHOOHOO.

We entered Hall 2 where we could choose our car. About 40 vehicles were lined up. My eyes fall immediately to a real American car, a 2009 Dodge Journey. A nice big car which was save to drive in, had all the luxury you need, and was big enough to sleep comfortable in.

Exit LA

We left Dollar Car Rental and turned right, no clue which way to go. After doing some study on the map and trying to find the best way to leave LA we entered our first highway. It took us about 1,5 hours to actually leave LA and be on the Interstate 15 towards Las Vegas.

I love driving and doing that on the American highways was really fun. They have a strict speed limit which I tried to follow, but sometimes the highway was so straight forward and just asked me to drive a little bit faster. Also other car where passing me all the time so I figured out it would be okay to do it.

The surroundings along the way didn’t change very much. It was all desert once you get out of LA until you enter Las Vegas. Boring but also quite interesting. Here and there we passed huge settings of gas stations and restaurants. And as quick as they came, they disappeared again. Driving to Las Vegas was very strange.

I see the strip!!

Around midday we got closer to Las Vegas. And by the time I saw the 5 mile sign, I also saw small parts of a city that’s know as Las Vegas. We closer we got, the more I saw and the bigger the hotels got. In front of me I saw the Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Strip. We took the exit for downtown, drove just 2 minutes more, turned left, and there I was.. Driving my rented 2009 Dodge Journey onto the Strip. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! One hotel after the other, one bigger than the other. Luxor, Excalibur, Tropicana, MGM, New York New York, Monte Carlo, Planet Hollywood, Paris, Bellagio, Flamingo, Caesars Palace, The Mirage, The Venetian, Palazoo, Treasure Island, Wynn Las Vegas, Encore and in the distance the Stratosphere. WAUW!

I chose the middle lane of the 5 we had  - yes 5 lanes each way - and drove as slow as I could. My camera was taking photos of every meter we drove. I must have said ‘Aah’, ‘Ooh’, ‘Look at that!’, ‘Oh my god’ and ‘What is that?’ a thousand times. Driving here was really spectacular!

After all that excitement we parked the car at a diner, went inside, ordered a big hamburger, opened our laptops and checked for any new messages. We were waiting for couch request to be answered. Luckily for us a German couple invited us to stay at their place for the night. So we finished our lunch, got in the car and navigated the Dodge to their house, a 20 minute drive west from the Strip.

Willkommen auf der bank

Julia, Tim and their two little girls from German - who came to Las Vegas about 5 years ago - welcomed us very friendly. Before we left I send about 20 couch requests but not one had been answered, but Julia decided to host us last minute which was really kind of her. It was only for one night because the next day we continued our way to the Grand Canyon.

Tim and Julia gave us many tips for what to do and what to see here in Las Vegas, but everything there is to do happen to be on the Strip. So we drove back and parked the 2009 Dodge Journey at Treasure Island and started our walking tour.

The Strip

Everywhere were you go on the strip something is going on. We started at the Treasure Island which has a show every hour called The Sirens of TI involving 30 half naked beautiful women dancing on a pirate boat and being attacked but 10 half naked men from the other side. Singing, dancing, fire, water and big explosions - 15 minutes of entertainment for free.

Then we walked over to the next hotel which had a active volcano. Unfortunately no half naked women dancing around, but still 10 minutes of free entertainment. And then there is the Bellagio with their huge water fountain that spits the water around and up to 20 meters on all kinds of music. Every 15 minutes or so, a 5 minute show starts.

Then there are the casinos. Amazing to see! By just walking down the strip I must have said ‘Aah’, ‘Ooh’, ‘Look at that!’, ‘Oh my god’ and ‘What is that?’ again a thousand times. It’s impressive how they come up with such great ideas for buildings and ways to attract people. And not only the big casinos and hotels are amazing, but also the cars driving around and the people on the streets. The whole Las Vegas Boulevard is one big entertainment show.

And than we entered some of the casinos and again I started saying the words ‘Aah’, ‘Ooh’, ‘Look at that!’, ‘Oh my god’ and ‘What is that?’.. Especially in the Bellagio I was very much impressed. But I can’t remember a casino which wasn’t special from the inside.

Free drinks in Vegas!

While Vegas is build to spend money in, there are ways of getting some things for free. Drinks for example! By just sitting in front of a slot machine and pretending your playing, a nice lady will walk by asking you what you want to drink. And 2 minutes later you will have your nice cold beer. No one cares if you play or not, or if you get up and leave. But you have to give the lady a dollar tip.

But don’t tell anyone about this secret!!

After a long day of driving, walking up and down the strip we found ourselves in a nice bar with live music and a free drink in our hands. We both were pretty exhausted so we went back to our couch for a good night sleep.

Danke!

Julia, Tim und Kinder, vielen dank für eure Gastfreundlichkeit! Es hat mich gefreut euch zu treffen und wenn immer ihr mal in Holland seid, seid Ihr auf jeden Fall herzlich willkommen um auf meiner Bank zu schlafen.