Day 16: Hollywood

Las Vegas and forgotten phones

The last two days we’ve been living it up in Las Vegas. We got here yesterday and spend the day walking from one side of ‘The Strip’ to the other and back. That sort of took all day - there’s so much to see, so many beautiful hotels, casino’s, people, and general buzz. We had a good steak dinner at The Strip House (which, by the way, does not refer to strippers, but to its location on ’the strip’). We got out of the restaurant at 11pm and dove into the night life. What happened then is of course a big secret, because you know what they say: what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Well, at any rate, I went to bed at around 2am with a slight buzz :)

Today we slept in late, had some breakfast in our hotel (New York - New York), we rode the roller coaster, which Paul very much enjoyed and I substantially less so, and walked around a bit looking for a needle to open the 9 (!) blisters I had somehow managed to get walking around yesterday. In the afternoon we chilled a bit at the movies: we went to see Iron Man 2. It was an action packed movie for sure, lots of effects, but I found it less cool to watch than Kick Ass (which we saw in New York city) and The Losers (which we saw in Dallas). But nonetheless, a good 3hrs of sitting and allowing my feet to get better.

At around 6pm we went to dinner in the Outback Steakhouse. Neither of us really enjoyed dinner there, it was a bad deal. Then we watched some of the daily nighttime entertainment - a huge volcano erupts every day at 8pm, and another hotel has a pirates’ show (which incidentally was canceled because there was stormy weather with lots of wind). We then walked back to our hotel and took a bunch of pictures. But then all of the sudden I noticed I was missing my phone!! I must’ve lost/forgotten it in the Outback, so while Paul walked back to the hotel, I took a cab back to the restaurant only to find that they had not found it at all :( I was really upset for a bit, decided to punish myself and walk the 2mi back to the hotel, and when I got there, I found the phone in my bag after all. Fjieuw!!

We were a bit tired from the action last night, so we hung out a bit at our hotel, I smoked a great romeo e julieta cigar (which hit the spot, I was floating around when it was finished), and walked around the hotel/casino’s in our direct neighborhood. A highlight was definitely the luxor hotel. It’s a giant pyramid (believe me when I say giant). We then turned in relatively early (1am) and Paul is already snoring while I’m writing up our Las Vegas adventure.

Posted by Pim van Pelt at 1:25 AM

Why Rodizio is important

Eight months ago, to the day, on the 12th of september 2009, Paul, Marina and I were in Almere having dinner. We went to a place where they served an endless amount of rotissary meats on sticks, a Rodizio. While eating, the topic of our travels to the East, South and North came up. We had decided to travel West, because it was the one missing direction.

Today, exactly 8 months later, to the day, on the 12th of May (well, it is 7:36pm on the 11th over here in Los Angeles, but bear with us while we try to make an important point), we are in Dest. Dest stands for Wroclaw, Poland. A city of which we cannot pronounce the name. It also stands for “the destination” in a more generic sense. We are where we wish to be- a place of happiness, thourough life experience, great atmosphere, after driving about 8000km to get there.

Today, same as 8 months ago, we eat a Rodizio, in Los Angeles’ Universal City. We also celebrate 15 years of friendship, 4 major roadtrips, and what seems as a lifetimes worth of experience in three weeks crossing the United States of America.

I think this is beyond cool.

Location : 1032-1054 Universal Studios Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602 Posted by Pim van Pelt at 7:44 PM