Friday, November 21, 2008

vegas trip

I was in austin and the labour day weekend was around. There was 3 days holidays since the labour day was on a monday. We thought it would be a good time to visit some places. We were mainly targeting either Log Angeles or Las vegas for the trip.
Raktim, our trip initiator made the analysis on which destination to choose. Los Angeles has Universal studios, one of the best six flags, hollywood and disney world. Whereas in contrast to these Las vegas is purely fun with casinos. Since most of them agreed there is more variety in the LA trip we opted for that. Intially two air tickets were booked one for Raktim and other by Senthil. Everybody else were still thinking as to go to the trip or not. I thought for sometime and decided to go since such opportunities to visit a place like LA would come after a long time. I also booked the tickets after a couple of days. The remaining 7 people of the team dropped out, probably because of the cost which was turning out to be too much for a three day trip. Even the best of Raktim and Sampreeth couldnt convince the rest to join. So finally it was the three of us on a trip to LA, california.
We now had one week to plan the trip. Everyday the trip plans were changing. There was a six flags in san antonio as well which is only about a hour's trip from Austin. So immediately we decided to drop six flags in LA and instead visit this one immediately. Sripad had arrived only a couple of days before but we all insisted and soon we made our way to San antonio. I had no previous experience in driving in US so most of the people were scared. Probably the drive on the car driven by me was the most scariest experience rather than the rides in six flags. he he he. Anyways, since I now graduated from a rookie driver to a good driver I gave the idea of going to Las Vegas as well since its just a 3-4 hour trip from LA and also we now have two good car drivers in Raktim and myself ;)
Finally it was decided that if our flights land on time then the plan would be like this... saturday universal studios, sunday las vegas... sunday night vegas casinos and monday afternoon and evening hollywood. Disney world was also dropped since we felt it would be mainly for children. We also decided to have a back up plan in case the flights were late since we were dependent on three flights. One in which Raktim and Senthil were travelling and the other two which I had to take to reach LA(since i booked little later). Even if one of those three flights were late we have to re-plan our schedule. So the back up plan was las vegas on saturday and saturday night. Universal studios on sunday and rest of LA on monday.
My flight was to leave austin at 6 whereas others were to leave at 7. I decided to take the super shuttle leaving at 4 and Senthil and Raktim were to come in Raktim's car after an hour. I was ready by 4 but even at 4.30 I couldnt find the shuttle. I called up the customer care and they told me there was no booking on my name. When I asked them to re-verify they confirmed that there was some booking and the shuttle would reach any minute. I waited and waited and finally at 4.45 there came my cab. After I boarded the cab I realised that I was the first person in it and it had to pick up many more people :( At 5.05 the cab boarded 5 more people but it was still roaming in downtown. I went in circles again and again. I was feeling whether it would ever reach the airport. I became restless and called up my friends. They friends were getting ready to leave in another 10 minutes. And then.... the cab driver put a complete circle to an apartment and stopped right in front of it. He must be searching for some address which he has no idea where it is. After sometime, the cab driver got out of the vehicle. He was still searching for something. It was all silent and dark all around. Nobody knew what was happending, and our driver went absconding. Everybody in the cab were looking at each other puzzled, trying to find out what was happening. I called up my friends and they were about to start from the hotel anytime. I was about to ask them to pick me up on their way when I saw the same cab driver was knocking somebody's door. Out came a person who was supposed to board our cab. He took another 5 minutes to finally board the cab. After the driver was back in his seat, one of the cab member started shouting at the driver saying her flight is at 7. He cooly replied saying we will be in the airport in another 10 minutes. Even I didnt worry much since when I travelled earlier it took me only 10 minutes to finish all the formalities and the airport isnt that far, normally takes only 15 minutes. The drive from that place to airport felt like a long long time since I kept thinking what would happen to the trip. Also I had to take two flights to LA so if dont catch this one I would surely miss the other one and one entire day out of the three day trip would be spent travelling :( Finally the cab reached the airport at 5.30. I quickly collected the boarding pass and within five minutes I finished the security check and was ready to board the flight. I then called up my friends who were scared weather I would be able to catch the flight or not. I told them all was well. They had reached the airport and were parking their car. I then, switched off my phone and boarded my flight.
It was a very small flight and my seat was the last one. The last row and the last seat. There was no seat on either side. Restroom was on the other side and in between was a foldable seat to be used by the crew. Then the air hostess came and sat next to me. She was very beautiful like a typical american gal. As expected, I started a conversation with her. I spent a lot of time chatting with her. She showed me her schedule, 5 flights on thrusday, 4 on friday, 2 on saturday and one on sunday. Suddenly she picked up the mic and made an announcement. "Please put on your seat belts, the flight is about to take off... blah blah blah". I always thought it was a pre recorded announcment but here I see her talking right in front of me. She left for her duties serving the customers. I waited sometime for her. I fell asleep. I woke up in nevada, pheonix. It all a barren land a desert, full of hills and sandy mountains. I messaged my friends indicating that I reached pheonix. waited for another one hour and boarded the flight to LA. In a couple of hours I was in LA. Thinking my friend would already be waiting for me I called up my friends. They told me come to the place where the pickup bus to enterprise comes. Even though I went there I couldnt spot my friends. We then realised there must be many similar places in the airport. So we decided to meet up at enterprise. I boarded the enterprise bus and after sometime from another platform my friends also boarded the same bus.
I registered myself as a co-driver along with Raktim for the car. Since the car booking was done thinking that there were many people, he had booked a big car Cherysterl. For a trip to vegas a luxurious car like this one makes perfect sense :D so we took the car had brunch and headed straight to Universal studios after a quick stop at the hotel. We decided to take the VIP pass as we expected a huge rush due to the long weekend. LA looked more like india with high traffic jams. We bumped right into a traffic jam. we tried avoiding highways but even that didnt help much. At 1.30 we reached universal studios. We parked our car under jurassic park and headed to the enterence.




After a photo session under the universal studios globe we bought the tickets and entered the park. We took some more photos in front of some black statues. Only after sometime did I realize that one of them was a real human being. god only knows how a person dressed completely in black and painted in black can stand in such hot sun and act like a automated robot. Anyway we first entered what was called as the house of horrors. This wasnt much scary only lights coming on and off and there was also not much scary sound. There were some people acting dressed as monstors but one of them got very irritated when I started mocking him ;)



Then we headed down through the escalators to the special effects section. There were a bunch of escalators all very big seemed like never ending. We then entered back draft. This was a simulaton of a house on fire and was wonderfully controlled fire inside. After seeing visual effects we saw how some of the sound effects were created. Mummy ride was good which was a roller coaster ride in the dark and with horror sounds and a reverse ride. Jurrasic park ride was also different than the rest, huge roller coaster in the water. We went up the escalators to back to the place where we entered. Simpsons ride was one of the best simulation rides I have seen. Shrek 4D and terminator 3D were my personal best. The drive through universal studios was also intresting. It was seven by the time we came out of universal studios.

Then we decided to visit hollywood even though it was dark. We kept searching for the place and finally reached the place. There were many people dressed up like famous actresses. Senthil took his photo with a marlyin monroe lookalike but when it came to us the camera battery went off ;-) Anyway we had enough for the day and decided to go back to the hotel and take rest.


As decided next day we would be in las vegas and the night also over there itself. So having the hotel back in LA makes no sense so we decided to cancel the hotel for the next night in LA and instead book it in vegas. Fortunately everything went well and we got the hotel at a good price in vegas as well. While Raktim was busy with all this, Senthil, the water boy could not resist taking a dive at the swimming pool inside the hotel. So finally after finishing all the formalities in the morning we left the hotel at 11. In a few momemts I was driving in the most costliest places "Beverly hills". We found a guide car which was going through the most famous houses of that place. So we started following that. After sometime when they realised that we were following them they tricked us and somehow managed to get us out of their trail :-) It was decided we had enough of beverly hills already so started our way to vegas at about 12.30. Since its a 3-4 hour drive we thought we would reach there latest by 5.

The drive to vegas was one of the best. The landscape was changing every few miles. This was one of the best places to drive. We took a lot of photos in every new landscape. Many were telling us that it would have been better to go to vegas directly and forget about LA. But according to me it was worth going to LA and driving all the way to vegas. The landscape even though it was a dry barren land was wonderful to see. Driving in such a place was wonderful.


The above pictures are some of the photos that we took on the way to vegas. Taking all the photos on the way consumed a lot of time and by it was evening growing dark by the time we reached vegas. Without wasting any time we visited one of the casinos. The city is full of casinos, so to attract customers there is some sort of attraction or other. We went to one such casino which had a huge water fountain. The crowd was so huge that we roamed around the place for an hour to find a parking spot. We had to be content with watching the fountain from the traffic jam. :-) We then entered one of the casinos. We started gambling in one of the casinos. Since Senthil was new to this we thought of pooling some money and start playing. Each of us pooled in 20$ and started playing rolley. Soon we started winning lots of money. Our 60$ became 100$. The owner of the casino realised that we are winning too much and started asking us to show our ID cards. Raktim showed his ID card and I showed my indian driving lisence. The casino guy said he doesnt accept indian driving lisence. He asked me to either get the ID card or leave the casino immediately. Since we were winning I asked Raktim and Senthil to continue till the first time we lose some money. Meanwhile, I left the place to get my passport which was there back in my car. It took me almost 20 minutes to get back to the casino after collecting my passport. After checking my ID card the security guy called up everybody in the casino to tell that I had a valid age proof. Most of us were shocked looking at the security and the way they react. When I was told to leave the casino, the same person reportedly told all the casino staff that I dont have proper ID card with me and I am not allowed to gamble in that casino. In case I had lost money then nobody would have even asked me about my ID card. Its only because I was winning I was treated that way. Anyway all this didnt effect us much. By the time I returned back the money 60$ became 120$ and had lost the play once so we stopped at that. Then we had dinner at the nearby place inside the casino and then headed back to the hotel. We freshened up in the hotel and then headed back for a night in vegas.
We quickly got out of the hotel and started searching for whats best in vegas. The search took up almost an hour but yet we couldnt find a good one. Then finally we entered a big mall. There we found a place where we could spend some time. It was almost 4 'o' clock by the time we decided that we had enough of casinos. This was a smaller casino and my 20$ became 60$. Senthil and Raktim had enough and wanted to get back to the hotel. It was quite late so I dropped them back to the hotel. I got a little greedy and wanted to continue in the casino so I headed back to the same casino since this place was only a mile away from the hotel. This time I lost 30$ and also there were not many people so this time it was too boring. So I headed back to the room and had a sound sleep.

The next day morning we woke up at around 9. Our return flights were scheduled at 7 in the evening from LA. The previous day evening we realised that the grand canyon is very near to vegas. So we called up our friends back in Texas to find out the exact distance from vegas and the route to get back to LA from grand canyon. After talking to them we realised that the trip to canyon would be almost impossible since this was a long weekend and there would be too much traffic as well. We had to drop this idea. At about 11 we started our way back to LA. Since we had already taken a lot pictures while coming to vegas we thought that drive back to LA wouldnt take long, max by 4 we would reach. But none of us imagined what were to happen next. What we were about to witness was perhaps, according to me, the best part of the trip.

I started driving. We were just out of vegas city and we got caught in a traffic jam. This was one of the worst traffic jam that we were caught up with. Since this was a single road inside a barren land we could see a long distance and as far as we could see it was full of traffic jam stand still. There was no other road in sight. We had to get through this jam. It took over an hour to cover a distance of 10 miles. In the traffic jam this was the first time we came through a intersection. I thought it would be faster to try the service road and then back to the same highway thinking it would be slightly faster. So I took a right turn. The traffic was so much that I couldnt switch lanes. Raktim said since I am in the left most lane I should take left even though we were supposed to go straight. So I took left and went under the highway where we were supposed to go. Thinking that it is another road where we can take a U turn Raktim asked me to take a left turn again. Unfortunately this road headed back to the highway in the opposite direction. The next intersection in the highway is another 10 miles ahead. This turned out to be a horrible mistake. To cover this 10 miles we took almost an hour and we were heading back to the same place again. Since going thru the jam again was too much for us we decided to avoid highways. So in the next intersection we came though another small road which was 90 degrees to the highway. Senthil exclaimed "where are we heading". Raktim wondered are we going in the right direction. 240 miles became 290 miles once we switched to no highway mode. As we were in no mood to get back to the traffice we went ahead. To convince my friends I said in the desert you will find road intersecting at 90 degrees only ;) This road was far different than the normal american straight roads. Also the way I was driving in full speed even though the road was very narrow full of up's and down's, Raktim got a little scared. This road headed straight into the desert. The scenery was too good. We stopped for a while and took some wonderful photos.




Raktim took the wheel from here. We went ahead for about a mile from here where we found an intersection. Suddenly the GPS started showing 590 miles. We got a little suspicious as to why suddenly it had to show double the distance. We stopped at the intersection for sometime to decide where to head next. We switched back to the highway mode and the GPS started showing us the way back to the highway in the exact road from where we came. The highway was 10 miles back and nobody was intrested in getting back to the highway. There were a few buildings nearby and we thought of asking someone as to how to get back. In the third building that we went to we found someone. This building had a gate far far away. Raktim and me tried crossing the gate and went inside. There was a man who saw us from far away. Raktim instructed me to stop and started shouting "How to get back to LA". Apparently Raktim and Senthil saw this person put something in his pocket(probably a gun). This person didnt understand English. He called a lady inside the building and both came out. They instructed us to get back to the highway and follow it to reach LA. Raktim still wasnt convinced. He waited at the intersection for another vehicle. Another lady also instructed him to get back to the highway. Now we headed back to highway as we were quickly loosing a lot of time. We reached the highway at about 2.15. We were exactly at the same place 2hr and 1 hr back :D.

When we arrived back on the highway we hoped that the jam would have cleared off, but unfortunately it wasnt. Anyway it wasnt too late. 5 hrs in hand and 198 miles to go. Considering no jams we would have reached in 3 hours. So with jams we thought we would reach in 4 hours. I started driving again, and I felt like I was driving in India with so many vehicles around. Since it was getting late I started changing lanes frequently which is not advised in US. The traffic was very painful. We covered only 20 miles in the next hour. Till now Raktim advised not to move in the shoulder(rightmost). Finally Senthil convinced Raktim that we should now start using this lane. Whenever we would see traffic we would take this lane. Senthil then came up with the advise that since we are driving in this lane the car should be driven by Raktim since he has US license or it would take up a lot of time convincing the police that I have a valid non-US driving license. This was a good advise so Raktim moved into the drivers seat. At one place there was too much traffic. We were going in the rightmost lane (not the shoulder) and ahead of was were three huge trucks. Normally US trucks are very huge and long. There were three of them one behind the other. Since there was too much traffic almost stand still we decided to take the shoulder. We were half way through overtaking the first truck when suddenly even the truck decided to take the shoulder. That truck almost hit our car. We stopped the car and took reverse by a small distance. We waited for the truck and it abondend the idea of taking the shoulder. So tried again for the second time to overtake this truck through the shoulder. Again the same thing was repeated. This time Raktim put the car horn. First time we heard the sound of the horn and it was tooo loud. The truck driver saw us but he just ignored us. He took the shoulder and we were stranded in the shoulder. After sometime again the stupid truck driver abondened the idea of taking the shoulder. That driver wasnt allowing us to go ahead nor is he using himself. For the third time we tried overtaking that truck. Anybody's guess what happened next. :-) This scared Senthil. He started smoking heavily sitting the back seat. After three times we decided this is enough. We used the emergency lane (leftmost lane) and overtook the three trucks.

100 miles to go and it was already 4.30. With the amount of traffic we werent sure whether we would make it to LA on time. Raktim was in full form driving in full speed in the shoulder, switching lanes like he was driving in india. Everyone thought we would surely be caught by the police. I was waiting when we would be caught. Raktim had the track record of being caught for overspeeding. The previous two weekends he was caught for overspeeding. At one point of time we even crossed 100 mph mark. Unfortunately (coz only this was left) no police caught us this time. We reached the outskirts of LA by around 6 '0' clock. We had to return back the car, oops before that fill up the tank. We found a gas station filled up the tank and returned the car by 6.30. Not sure how within the city limits even though we were driving at 80 mph nobody caught us. Anyway we then boarded the enterprise bus and got back to airport at 6.45, just 15 minutes before the flight.

The flight attendent asked us if there was any check-in luggage. We had one check-in luggage and 3 hand baggages. She refused to give the boarding pass saying it was too late. We tried to convince her but that went in vain. We even offered to leave our check-in luggage back in LA, but yet we werent given the boarding pass.

We stood in another queue to get an alternate ticket. Everyone was calculating how much extra we had to pay for the return ticket as we missed our flight. Alternate tickets were arranged through chicago which would leave LA at midnight and reach austin the following morning at 10. The person issuing the tickets took our check-in luggage. He left the desk immediately.

Raktim and I were wondering where he left and where our check-in luggage went. That person had actually handed over the boarding passes to Senthil which we realised after about five minutes. We were releaved after looking at it. We informed all our friends that we would be late to work the next day. There was no more unexpected events after this. We reached austin the next day.


This trip included everything adventure, excitment, tension, high speed driving, gambling, fun and what not. nothing can ever match this trip. One of the very best.

Senthil wanted to review this blog and also put this trip in his perspective before I posted it... but some things remain unfinished...