ramblings of a wandering nerdan aimless amble on a winding road

Well after 7 days and 1200miles we (I – Kate was hungover) successfully returned to the car to Treasure Island. Although TI is literally across the road, I can see it as I type this, returning it was no easy feat. I had to return the car full. I had two options when I booked, one was to have a free tank of gas (petrol) and the other was a GPS. The GPS was a no-brainer and how hard can it be to return a car full?

Harder than you’d imagine.

Before I made the decision to fill-her-up, I read my rental agreement and found it was $8USD a gallon if they have to fill it up. This was an unattractive option as it’s only $2.65USD a gallon in Las Vegas. Return it full I’d have to do.

I sleepily asked the valet where the gas station was and he told me. I of course didn’t take any of the directions. So with no idea of where I was going and my trusty navigator fast asleep in the hotel room I set off. They say men can only do one thing and this was highlighted by the fact that I was concentrating so hard on staying on the right side of the road, I was neglecting to note where I was going.

So as turn-offs came and went I found myself on the way to lostville. The one thing I had on my side was the fact that I wasn’t turning, I was just driving straight. So after what seemed like an eternity I came to a gas station. I have no idea if it was the one the valet suggested or not, but it was a gas station. So I pulled in and filled up and through logic (and ease of use) concluded right was the way to go. So right I went and I just started driving towards the casinos.

And in no time, I was back on the strip with the Venetian on my right and TI on my left. I pulled into the TI turn off and drove slowly up the long driveway. Where was I supposed to go? Left right, left right, left right. I chose left. Of course it was supposed to be right so after literally 10 minutes trying to get the hell out of where I currently was, I made it to the TI carpark.

I walked around TI until I found the rental return place. Returned the vehicle and headed back to the Venetian. I was FREE!

If we look back at the trip here are some useful and not so useful facts.

We rented the car from Driveaway holidays in Australia. These guys are just a 3rd party but they charge in AUD and have all the big partners. Alamo, Budget, Avis, Dollar and who knows who else. Booking through them was a breeze and by booking through them, you can really help yourself out because you’ll be able to find a location convenient for you. If you were trying to find a good location through each independent website, it’d take you forever!

Even with the convenience and AUD charging, they were still cheaper than booking direct. Not sure how that works but it did! So would I use them again? Definitely. Total cost was just over $600AUD for 7 days. Sounds like a lot but that was a good car with GPS and unlimited miles.

Petrol is cheap here although they seem to think it’s expensive. I was paying about $45AUD a tank.

We drove around 1200miles.

You have to pre-pay petrol in the US no matter what time of day it is. Don’t bother sticking your Credit Card in a bowser unless you have a PIN. It doesn’t work.

Get a GPS.

Driving on the wrong side of the road is pretty easy although a little terrifying. Always better if you have a passenger so they can keep you on the right side of the road while you avoid hitting things.

The freeways/highways are great in terms of getting you around but in a lot of cases are poor quality.

If there is a polici-man on the side of the road, get in the other lane. Apparently they don’t like you passing too close.

That’s about it. Now that we’ve given it a go, we’ll definitely do another driving holiday in the US.

Internet access is $10 a day in Vegas so this is the first time I’ve been on and I dare say this will too be brief.

The major points since leaving the Grand Canyon;

• Hoover Dam – Awesome. How’d they manage to build it with the technology of the day is beyond me.
• Day One Ambush in Vegas resulted in us getting $10 Blueman tickets BUT we ended up doing a TIMESHARE presentation. Go figure (more on that later – I blame Kate entirely, and funnily enough she blames me entirely…)
• Day Two WAS the timeshare. We rescued the day though by drunkenly wandering the shopping malls and Casinos of the Strip. You haven’t had a shopping experience until you’ve done it with a beer in your hand! (Or a half a yard of MAJITOS!)
• Day Three was the recovery from the above drunken shopping trip experience and was also the returning of the hire car. It was such relief to get it back safely.
• Day Four (wow it’s already day four!) is today (Kate’s birthday) and we have breakfast arriving any minute – hence the brief post – and then we’re heading down to the other end of the strip where I think I’ll do the NewYork NewYork rollercoaster then we’re back here for Cher tonight.

We have the Blueman group on Friday and somewhere in there we’ve got more drinking and gambling to squeeze in. Oh, and some relaxing. Relaxing is important because when we get back, we have a house to paint, doors to install and bucketloads of plaster dust to find and eradicate.

I have a heap of updates but it’s almost midnight and we have an early start tomorrow (headed for Bakersfield) so I’m just going to do a couple of pictures. More to come….

This will be short as I have a date with the pub and if I don’t make it there within the next 37 minutes, I’ll not have met my promise to be drinking beer by start of business Monday (Melbourne time).

Air NZ was great. The seats I’m sure were roomier than our last international flight. Transit in Auckland was a breeze, food was great, entertainment was adequate and I slipped in about 5hrs sleep. There was very little turbulence, no noisy passengers and it was a breeze getting through US immigration/customs. We got a ‘1′ on our customs card which meant we got to go through the “you don’t look like you’re lying” line which expedited our exit at SFO.

The most traumatic part of our arrival was getting to the hotel. Anyone who is scared of flying has never been to San Francisco during a veterans day parade. Far out!

We had the front seat which was to say we were going to be the first passengers to fly through the window or just as likely, the passengers that would have ended up with a pedestrian in our laps. It was actually scarier than our night time arrival in NY a couple of years ago.

Anyway, my mouth is watering so I think that means I’ve got to go and meet Samual down at the pub….

After getting back from Brisbane I realized exactly how long it had been since I had been on holidays. It kind of gets away from you when you contract. So when Air NewZealand flights were released at $860 return to the US, I decided it was time to head overseas again.

The thing about impulse holidays though is they tend not to be all that long. We’ve managed to get 2 weeks off and more importantly save for a two week holiday.

So it’ll be 23 months since having two more more consecutive weeks off. I can’t wait!

Landing in San Francisco, we have a couple of days to relax before jumping in a car and heading off to Vegas via the Napa valley and Yosamite National Park.

Plenty more to come.

70 days to go………

Here I am again. At an airport typing away with nothing to worry about but where my first beer will be at the other end.

I’m off to Brisbane. It’s not London or Boston but it’s also not Melbourne so I’ll take a holiday any way I can. As I type this I should be doing a uni assignment, the reason for bringing the laptop to begin with but I couldn’t resist the urge to find out if WiFi was free yet in Melbourne Airport.

It isn’t but form memory, it is $3 cheaper than it was 18 months ago. It doesn’t seem to be any faster but what can you do.

I didn’t bring any check in luggage this trip so making my way through the airport was quick and wordless. It was 25 minutes drive, 3 minutes waiting for the bus at the long term parking area and 5 minutes on the bus. So with a 10 minute journey through security and walk to the gate here I am.

As this is the first time in 18 months that I’m going to be further than 150km from Melbourne CBD I am more excited than I should be for a 4 day fly-in fly-out visit to Brisbane. But as I mentioned earlier, you take it any way you can.

Well I have fulfilled my compulsive desire to write something pointless form an airport so I’ll leave it there.

Hmm as a side note, just saw someone older than me fondling the same e-Commerce text book that I used to semesters ago. Poor sucker! Been there, don’e that!