Its Ash Tuesday in Vienna

Well as soon as I said to everyone that I haven't heard a thing about the volcanic ash cloud it pops up again ! May be it is my fault, especially as I am now in Vienna.

The plan is just a short trip. Fly Tuesday, come back Wednesday but as the ash cloud come further south may be I might be stuck here a week. I hope not as we are planning to go to Thailand on Saturday !

Of course being stuck in Vienna for a few days would mean I would miss the election. I've already voted (by post) so I have done my bit but it will be interesting to see the result.

I am home now

Ok so I am pretty lazy when it comes to this blog thing as I got back on Saturday and didn't bother to write anything else but it was all very straight forward and boring really. The plane was 4 hours late taking off but that happens anyway with Virgin. No signs of dust clouds on the flight, no strange engine noises. Just a simple direct flight back to London.

Bizare but I have not seen any further mention of the Volcanic ash cloud in the news.

Its raining

Yes thats right, here in "Sunny" Las Vegas its raining. Temperature has dropped. It got cold yesterday and today is raining, alot. Went outside for 5 minutes and got soaked.

We have kept up our cosmopolitan food tour... Monday was Thai/Malaysian food (SATAY), Tuesday night was Spanish Tapas (FIREFLY) and last night was Indian (GANDHIS). All these are within walking distance from our Hotel, so we are not short on choice for eating. Even after my illness last week may be I will put on weight this trip. If only I could take a swim and get some exercise, never mind.

In theory I should be in Copenhagen right now but even if I was in the UK I would not have gone. Easyjet ran the flight to Copenhagen but canceled the return. All other flights back from Copenhagen were full and so I would have been stranded in Copenhagen...and can I get a refund from Easyjet ? No chance !


We are planning to go to Thailand next month but it seems a civil war is breaking out there at the moment so thats another trip in doubt ! Best off just staying home in future

Upate on what we have been doing

Luckily I am not stuck here on my own. There are four of us from Crystal Vision here. It is good to have some company. Sunday we went to see the Valley of Fire National park. Lots of strange looking rocks. Different colours. Orange ones. Yellow ones. Red ones and of course grey ones. I now have lots of pictures of rocks ! If you want to see my rock pictures then come on round when I get back.

We also drove down to Lake mead, which is the big lake behind Hoover Dam. We considered hiring a boat but it was too late in the day so then drove on to Hoover Dam. It was just getting dark when we got there and so while walking across it we were approached by a Policeman and told we can't be on the bridge at night. Guess they don't want people messing around or jumping off or something like that ? I guess if we were here too much longer then jumping off might be an option. Anyway at least it felt like we were on holiday for at least one day.

Monday was back to work day and so have been working in my room, checking emails, doing quotes and trying to keep busy.

Your so lucky

"Your so lucky, having a week in Las Vegas" you are probably saying but it is hell !

Ok so it is not that bad but ...I have been ill for the last week. My bottom has been like a mini volcano. There were time when I didn't think it would ever stop. There was a no fly zone around my bathroom ! I spent two days stuck in the hotel room doing a yoyo between the bed and the toilet. No it wasn't something I ate. Thomas was ill on the Thursday before we left and threw up all over me, the floor, the bed, etc. It has been going around and Max had it for a few days as well. I am feeling better now but still not 100%. I am being very careful what I eat and drink. I have had my first beer for the week today. yes it was that bad.

We went shopping yesterday for some more clothes. But as it is unclear about whether the travel insurance will pay for things like this I limited my spending to several new pairs of boxers shorts which were definately needed.

Stranded in Las Vegas

So some Volcano with an unpronounceable name in Iceland has gone off and now all flight to the UK are cancelled. I am stuck here in Las Vegas after being here for a Broadcaster trade show. We were meant to fly back on Friday but the flight was cancelled. We knew it was going to happen and so we phoned Virgin on Thursday night and asked for the next available seats and have been told 1 week. We are lucky. Some people we spoke to on the same flight waited until they got a text from Virgin, on the Friday, to try to phone but did not get through even after trying for a couple of hours. They went to the airport and were told 3 weeks !


Friday and Saturday nights are the big nights in Vegas and so most Hotels were already full and therefore we could not extend our stay and had to get out of the hotel (Ballys). We hired a car and drove around to find another. The first we tried was full but by luck the one next door had some rooms (La Quinta). It looked a bit dingy when they showed us one of the rooms but we were desperate and so took it anyway. As it turned out they got us better rooms than the one we saw. We had to pay an extra $20 a night but it worth it.

So anyway here we are stuck in Vegas for a week.

The start of the blog

In order to pass the time and record my experiences while traveling i have decided to record it on a blog. That way when the alcohol dims my memory I can remind myself what happened !

Also friends and family can then read about it as well and then I don't have to bored them in person.

Of course I will probably get bored of doing it in a few days !