Los Angeles & Los Vegas
Author: Claire Robbins
We flew form Heathrow to Los Angeles with Virgin, a 12 hour flight which went remarkably quickly as we had the back seat video screen with films and games on demand.
On arrival we were transferred to our hotel in Anaheim, the area close to Disneyland and other theme parks.
The hotel was very pleasant but the pool facilities were not adequate enough for the amount of guests staying at the hotel. Perhaps they thought most guests would be out sightseeing.
We attended the welcome meeting with the Virgin representative which was quite informative, but we were quite happy to arrange most things ourselves.
The following morning we picked up our hire car and drove to Universal Studios, and spent the day on rides and tours of the studio. The best rides were Jurassic Park and Shrek .The one I really wanted to go on was not open – the Revenge of the Mummy, I shall just have to go back! We also visited Knotts Berry Farm which is the original theme park in LA, and we found very good. They are continually updating rides and we thoroughly enjoyed our day there.
Whilst in Los Angeles we found plenty of opportunities for shopping at various malls, and found many bargains as the dollar rate is so favourable to us.
After a couple of days we hit the road and headed for Las Vegas .The drive was surprisingly easy, once you hit the main route you just stayed on it. It took us about 6 hours, with a couple of comfort and breakfast stops, and another trip to a mall just over the border in Nevada. We stayed at Circus Circus in Vegas, which was a very large hotel but was adequate for our needs .The big plus was it had its own theme park on site. We made the trip to the Stratosphere hotel just down the road, and went to the top of the tower for the stupendous views of the Strip and the roller coaster around the top. Even if you don’t gamble it is worth visiting Vegas just to wander up the Strip and look at all the fabulous hotels and the entertainment they put on for you. The fountains at the Bellagio were a wonderful sight.
The following day we spent at the Grand Canyon .For me this was the highlight of the trip .We were picked up from the hotel and taken to a local airfield. After a safety briefing we flew in a 10 seater to the Grand Canyon over the Hoover dam and landed in Indian Country which belongs to the Walapi tribe. Most of us were very glad to land as the desert air makes bumpy riding in a small plane. From there we were taken to the bottom of the canyon by helicopter .The feeling as we swooped down from the rim to the bottom left my heart in my mouth From there we had a short trip along the river with a guide who gave us interesting facts about the canyon .We returned to the top by helicopter, and were taken to a outdoor eating spot overlooking the stupendous scenery of the canyon for a cowboy lunch. The return flight was much smoother.
We returned to Los Angeles by car to our original hotel, and spent our last full day looking around Universal Film Studios.They were not filming much that day but we saw the set for Friends and ER, but no major film stars.
We really enjoyed this holiday. Even though Los Angeles is not very pretty it has some very nice beaches, and there are mountains within an hours drive. There is plenty to do, and if possible we might return to see the things we missed on this holiday.
Contact Claire for holidays to Las Vegas and California.
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