Woke up a lot fresher today! Maybe I'm past the jet lag...? Had a cup of tea and toast and checked in online for my flight to Vegas. It's delayed already - yay.
Got myself packed and ready to go when Alex came back from the post office. We chatted about the PCH and he offered me a lift to Union Station :)
When I got to Union Station, all I wanted to see was a Starbucks! When I finally tracked one down, I ordered a grande vanilla cream cold brew and Facetimed Caz. I updated my online blog then went to the all-famous 'snooze' at Union Station. I had the Caprese Benedict and a tap water.
A guy on his own came and sat next to me at the bar. We chatted for about 45 minutes before I learnt his name was Mark. He's from Sydney and has been in the states for 2 weeks. He is on his way to Chicago after lunch and spent a couple of nights in Denver like I did. He's done the PCH road trip too so we talked about that a lot and he gave me lots of tips that I've written in my e-notes. He's also been to Hawaii before - scuba diving. In fact, he's one step away from becoming an instructor and we discussed my fear of deep water being a potential barrier to trying it! Duh. He says that going on a 'discover' package could be good as the instructors hold onto you... To be honest that sounds even worse but I nodded and smiled, like a good British person. He told me that LAX Airport is a nightmare, "except for Tom Bradley." I'm sure I'll find out what that means one day. He got a 'vibe' about me and so decided that I would prefer NZ to Australia. So apparently Australian exchange rates are terrible and they get half of what they have in English money, while we can spend double of theirs. His pancakes arrived and looked amazing.
Mark left at 2:07 and his train was at 2:00. Oh, Mark.
So I walked around town a bit longer trying to find a bank that wouldn't charge me to take out cash but no such luck so I got the train to the airport.
My flight was very delayed but I got to Vegas okay. Started chatting to a girl from Colorado called Lauren who really wants to see Europe. She seemed so happy - I didn't tell her that Santa isn't real. Landing in the dark with the lights littering the desert horizon was strangely beautiful.
I took my shuttle to the MGM Grande and checked in and settled in. I was so tired from travelling that I was asleep by midnight. Such a comfy bed too!
Looking forward to exploring Vegas tomorrow.