On the road again

So we picked ourselves up out of bed and made it to the bus because we had to get on the road again and make it to our next destination the Grand Canyon! On the way we stopped at Walmart to pick up "supplies" - our tour manager uses this phrase constantly and it had Stacey and I in a tizzy the first few stops as we were like how rugged are the surroundings we're in that we will need "supplies" but as it turns out its just a language barrier and he meant pick up fun stuff like snacks and liquor - so we're cruising through Walmart and we picked up some ridiculously cheap booze and our best purchase yet our puffy bomber jackets with a warm fleece lining because since the blistering sun of vegas we have entered below zero temperatures! After Walmart we kept cruising and we had to take Route 66 formerly known as the main street of America or the mother road running from Los Angeles to Chicago

Fun facts:
- Commissioned in 1926
- runs for 2448 miles (roughly 3490 km)
- passes through 8 states

We enjoyed a delicious club sandwich from the road kill cafe "you kill it we grill it" being their slogan.

Finally we made it to the Grand Canyon! Enjoyed a quick sunset view before dropping our luggage off at the cabin the first night was low key because we had to get up early for our helicopter ride!

It was a bit chilly before bed so I switched the thermostat to "comfort level" holy moley the thermostat and I have very different comfort levels Stacey and I woke up at separate times through the night thinking we had been cooked through because it was so friggin hot! The only pro that came out of it was I think we sweated some excess kilos off, gotta be happy with that! but seriously you have been warned thermostat comfort levels are not what they seem!

So once we woke up from the sauna coma we braved the freezing temperatures to board a helicopter that flew us over the grand canyon

Canyon fun facts
- 5 million visitors per year
- 277 miles long (roughly 446 km) at some points it is 18 miles wide (29 km) on average 10 miles wide (16 km)
- American Indians had secret paths to get across that they wouldn't share with the Spanish explorers
- formed over 3-6 million by the carving of the Colorado river
- the south rim (where we were) is 6900 feet (2.1km) above water, a lot of ear popping and shortness of breath

The view was nothing short of breathtaking no photo does it justice you just have to be there.

After the helicopter ride one of the contiki kids said he was doing the Angel Trail Hike into the canyon so we tagged along and man I thought it was cool to fly over but walking inside the canyon is ridiculously awesome!

Seeing as we exercised up a storm we rewarded ourselves with cocktails at the fancy bar and got to see an
Elk! Just chilling out the front and devoured some delicious chipotle BBQ ribs whilst bonding with some of our fellow contiki travellers.

~JBomb

Viva las Vegas

So we took off at 730am to start our grand southern contiki from LA to NYC for 26 days through the delicious deep south of Emerica!

Our first stop sin city babay! The first night we had a group dinner family style at an Italian joint followed by a quick exchanging of vows at the wedding chapel by the lovely elvis! Then we headed to Freemont a street with a zoo of casinos and a roof cover of lights that was like a giant screen (if that makes any sense) so the pros of Vegas

Pros
- street drinking
- unlimited drinks whilst gambling
- street drinking (so nice I said it twice, yes roadies are awesome)
- ladies get oh so many free drinks!

Cons
- you can smoke anywhere (raaaaaank!)
- you cannot stay there more than 3 nights without losing your mind/soul/dignity

So after freemont we headed to a club in Caesars palace (name forgotten) and we boogied up a storm! And ladies drank free till midnight some would say that's dangerous I say it's awesome! And the rest is a mystery/blur...

So we had a breakfast buffet included with our room but I actually woke up early to catch up with an old friend I hadn't seen in 2 and a half years needless to say I looked amazing after strolling in at the wee hours, but it was awesome and that frappe revived me. Then I headed to the buffet hoping I could bat my baby blues (stole that from my tour manager) and use my voucher for lunch and it totally worked! That meal pretty much brought me back! I got Stacey to meet me and we inhaled our food then headed to the pool to tan as we were super low on vitamin D! Once we snoozed in the sun for a few hours we cruised the strip and watched the Bellagio water fountain show which was worth the wait despite my super grumpy comments (I was tired/hungover and for some reason hungry again??)

Our second night we saw a variety show called V which was insane! Full of crazy daredevil acts from around the world such as tap dancers, magicians, extreme jugglers, amazing rollerblading duo and buff men doing rope acrobats definitely worth seeing!

Then we headed out in limos filled with champagne cruising up the strip to get photos at the Vegas sign and went to an extremely over priced club Tao at the Venetian where Stacey ordered a glass of champagne costing $16 that was the moment we decided to bounce and head to to Stratosphere, an amusement park on top of a hotel needless to say the view at midnight was amazing! And we rode the insanity aka the claw! Then it was time to pass out and wake super early and see if anyone missed the bus...

~JBomb

My time to shine

My lovely birthday started off with a happy birthday from my top bunk amigo Stacey! We quickly checked out of our hostel to check into our hotel in downtown LA and then scooted off to lunch at the Border Grill guess what cuisine it was... Mexican of course because mama wanted a birthday margarita and that is exactly what I got! It also happened to be national food day, coincidence I think not! So we ordered the two course lunch with plantain empanadas and a quinoa deep fried something a rather as starters, both delicious! And of course my main was fish tacos! Then the restaurant surprised with a cake it tasted like banana flan it was awesome! After that we bounced to get our nails did and then we headed to a bar called Edison with a 1920s theme, black and white movies projected onto the walls high ceiling and crazy lightbulb only lamps. We indulged in fancy cocktails for happy hour then headed to the Lakers vs Clippers game at Staples Center which was a nail biter until the end! Then we hit up a roof top bar which is a chain hotel NYC called the Standard Hotel. Then we crashed and awoke for our first day of our contiki tour!

~JBomb

Today

The 24th hour
Of the 24th day
In the 24th year

Will be golden

~JBomb

Hollywood

After checking into our hostel located half a block from the hollywood walk of fame we cruised the star studded sidewalk whilst hunting for lunch and decided to hit up the Hardrock cafe for a delightful cocktail supporting breast cancer research for Pinktober, Stacey was jonesing a salad so naturally she ended up with a ginormous burger with an onion ring inside of it #Emerica

Then we took a spontaneous tour stalking the stars homes in Beverley hills and the Hollywood hills and seeing that famous sign on the hill.

For dinner we enjoyed an all you can eat BBQ from the hostel then we headed out to abuse happy hour and found some vintage bars that took our fancy such as the Parlour room serving $5 well (bottom shelf spirits) drinks so I introduced Stacey to my spin on a gin & tonic (I just prefer them with fresh mint) then we cruised to the Piano bar with a quick pit stop at an "NYC" pizza joint check out the slices bigger than our heads! The Piano Bar had amazing live music folk, jazz etc and even cheaper drinks! $4 G&T's. The band performing did an amazing cover of Grace, by Jeff Buckley "It's never over, a kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder" Then we trekked it home to get ready for the sunshine!

Santa Monica & Venice beach
We caught an express bus taking about an hour and a half not including the waiting (public transport in LA was very different to most of the major cities I've been in but we made it work) the view was breathtaking we cruised the Santa Monica pier enjoyed some lunch and walked down to the water edge. I never thought I would miss the feel of sand between my toes but I have! We also got to see the classic lifeguard deck made popular by so many shows such as bay watch and the OC! There were also mutant seagulls like 2 times bigger than a normal one, it was creepy. Then we ventured to Venice beach to check out the market stalls and rollerbladers, obviously. It had a wicked Mexican feel to it with the bright painted buildings/houses and all the shirtless old men with their leather tans selling their goods.

We got ourselves a tan/burn, indulged in some Louisiana southern fried chicken from Popeye's then crashed to prepare for my epic birthday!

~JBomb