Athene19 Visits... Los Angeles: Part II

Tuesday 20th July

We're going to Vegas baby!! Yeah! First stop - food store, so we could snack on the road there and back. I also had to take out more money - I'm not going to survive a week on $60. Nevada is a five hour drive, mostly through desert. I can handle five hours. Melissa can't handle more than two. I get cranky after eight - it took eight to get to Cornwall one year and I was screaming to get out of the car. As soon as we arrived, we did a mad dance. The strip is so much better in reality than on the television! We stayed in the Tropicana which is near the beginning of the strip, surrounded by the MGM, New York New York and Camelot. (I found out 6 weeks later that The X-Files taped an episode inside the Monte Carlo - Three of a Kind. I went ballistic, screaming to Anna that I'd been there. She just looked at me.) We walked down the strip, watching water shows and refusing the constant barrage of leaflets shoved into our faces. Obviously, Nevada legalise gambling but did you know that they also legalise prostitution...?? Oh-kay... Anyway, gambling laws say you have to be 21 to play so it basically sucks. We went to a quiet place to play but I was asked for ID. Oh well... Yep, I can't even hang around and watch others play.

Wednesday 21st July

Still in Vegas and it's fricking hot! Breakfast consisted of a rather soggy, icing-coated doughnut... I think I've just lost my sweet tooth. It's going to be a wonderful 101F today (about 35C). Phew... After attending an all-you-can-pile-on-your-plate-in-one-sitting for $7, we walked around, exploring our territory. Melissa and Jenny managed to win T-shirts for playing 30mins non-stop. Jenny lost $9 but Melissa gained $6. All luck baby! Show me the money! Oops, wrong film... We also had a rather violent pillow fight while trying to create another Bob Stickguy scene. It included jumping on the beds to try and get a better upper-hand. It abruptly ended when I jumped but landed on my knees rather than feet. Ouch!! When I finally managed to walk again(!), we went out in search of food. We went to the New York New York hotel, which was fronted with a Statue of Liberty. It had a rollercoaster intertwined around the statue and hotel rooms which looked fun, even though the track looked a bit unstable. We then went in search of the Comedy Club for some kareoke. Two blocks later, we still couldn't find the place and decided to head back to the Tropicana. Further disappointment was to come in the Lounge. We were sitting quietly, listening to the rather good band on stage, when the woman serving Mel and Jenny drinks, asked for ID. Bugger... She wouldn't serve them unless I scooted, saying that I could sit upstairs if I wished. 'Upstairs' was, of course, the arcade where the little kids go play Streetfighter. Did I look like I wanted to go there?! Geez... I trailed off upstairs, pretty put out. Melissa offered to go to the bar and bring drinks up to the room but I said it wasn't worth the hassle and would probably result in our eviction. After watching Friends and David Letterman, I felt better. It was the one where Joey says that he slept with Monica - cool!! I love Friends...

Thursday 22nd July

#California here I come, back where I started from...# Yup, we left Vegas behind mid-morning and made the long journey back to Los Angeles. We stopped at the last casino before leaving Nevada for lunch. The guys running the place weren't with it, really... They got an order wrong (onion rings instead of chips) and looked lost when we corrected them. Duh... We also tried to drive into Calico, a ghost town. Well, not anymore, because it's been turned into a tourist attraction, charging $6 each and god knows how much more for parking and stuff, so we gave it a miss. Something surreal happened as we neared LA though. As the turn off approached, California Dreamin' came onto the radio. It was kinda creepy... Jenny's parents are away for the rest of the week so we came back to an empty house. Jenny found out she had two job offers - yeah!! My sister had mailed Jenny while we were away, saying that I had given them the wrong phone number. I must have given her apartment number and not her parents' - oops! I gave her the right number and said that Dad didn't want me to call in the first place, so what was the fuss?? Another evening was spent with the television - Friends and My Fair Lady. Great!!

Friday 23rd July

'Tis a sad day. Jenny leaves today because she has to go back to camp. Melissa's flight leaves late tonight and mine leaves tomorrow morning. Dad called me though, saying how worried he was about me... at least he let me go! The others also talked to me but not about anything in particular. Melissa says it's because they miss me. Funny, they usually hate me when I'm at home. I did get hold of a American Monopoly board though - cool! This is going to be popular when I get home! We helped Jenny pack her car and we took loads of photos. Jenny even took her fish with her! Melissa and I moped around, nothing to do but wait to say goodbye. We did watch Orlando though, which Melissa informed me was the only Virginia Woolf book she hasn't read yet. I think I'll try and read it too because it was a weird film... and the woman looked really creepy! The film ended and Melissa left at 10pm. We hugged goodbye... and had trouble letting go. A case of déja vu - this happened last year. Jenny left first and relatively fuss-free but by the time it Melissa's turn to leave, it sunk in that I wasn't going to see either of them for a year, so I felt they were abandoning me. I slept in Tricia's room again. It has a fan whereas Jenny's room has the window open, and I was shutting myself in!

Saturday 24th July

Got up really early this morning, surprising considering I've been up at 11am most mornings. Maybe it's nerves. I think it is. I re-packed my horribly haphazard suitcase (I've been living out of it for 16 days - gimme credit!) and kept going around the house, making sure I'd packed everything. I'm bound to forget somehting - it's tradition. And it's never my toothbrush. I promised Melissa I would re-confirm the taxi booking so I plucked up courage and phoned, hoping I would understand the voice the other side of the line. He was clear - I think he was Canadian... Nothing to do for two hours. Melissa suggested I run around the house naked. I just looked at her blankly and then said, "Why not?" Her turn to look at me. Ameicans are shocked easily - Cady was right. I decided to update my journal to pass the time. By the way, the taxi was to pick me up at 2 o'clock. 2pm came and no taxi. 2:10... 2:15... 2:20... 2:30... (lots of ringing later) "Hi, I was supposed to be picked up by a taxi half hour ago?" Yeah?! (He sounded pretty gobsmacked) Uhm... address? "Uh... (panicking at the sudden loss of Jenny's address) hang on." I rushed outside to find the house number, ran back in and told him. Oh... I'll just see if the driver is all right... Hang on. I'm beginning to think about crying now. I haven't the faintest idea how far away the airport is and even then I have to find the terminal, the correct departure gate and check in my luggage and... Hello? Yeah, he says he's in traffic and will be there in 15 minutes. Miss Benton, right? (Total shock) "Uh... yeah...?" Your plane doesn't leave till 5. Just sit back, relax, and you'll be home in no time. "Okay... Thanks... Bye..." I said rather numbly, wondering whether Mel had also mentioned I was 20, single, and would he like my number?

The rest of the journey was fine. The taxi driver was loads of fun. He was late because of traffic. He drove the long way around to the airport to avoid the hold-ups. There was a couple in the back who were going to take a tour of Europe and they spent the whole journey trying to remember what the combination was on their suitcase - it had the passports and tickets inside. The driver talked 19 to the dozen. We passed a smashed up car and he said casually, "Bet that car tried to jump from one freeway to the other. They all think they're movie stars around here." He then rattled on about how he took four Chinese businessmen to Chinatown and they took out $5,000 of Traveller's Cheques. They asked him to take them to Vegas and he said he'd never do it again. They hit the strip and each of them went in a different direction with $5,000 in their pockets! He said he had to lecture them on naïvety! He then talked about how he was a college student at a technological institute. The people there are toying around with the idea of having a hotel underwater. He then launched into detail about the architectural problems and that it would take years just to calculate the design, work out the amount of oxygen needed for each diver for construction, getting people to fund and work for the project, etc. He was actually quite interesting to listen to and it certainly made the tedious journey easier to cope with.

I arrived at the airport with half hour to spare. I have $10 left out of the $340 in total that I withdrew. The flight saw me sitting between two businessmen: one from England and one from Texas. The English guy's family were from Norfolk and Barnet so he understood what I was talking about when I told him where I was from. They were going to Germany for a meeting and were cool to talk to. I got home finally and was greeted by a worried Dad. No surprise there! But I was too tired to argue. The rest of the day consisted of desperately trying to stay awake. We played my American Monopoly game which was a big hit and helped keep me awake. I gave in about 6pm and slept until midday Monday.

Thus, I survived my first trip abroad and on my own.
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