This one's going to be tough

Wednsday 23rd December 2009

When Jan and I were planning this trip Las Vegas was always the first place we both knew we wanted to come. He had been before; this is my first time. I had always thoguth we would see it together.

Now I am here without Jan, it is going to be tough.

Immediatley you arrive in the airport, it feels like nowhere else. They have slot machines and gambling in the baggage reclaim area, along with large screens advertising Cirque de Soleil and Cher in Concert.

Outside there are enough neon lights and huge plasma screens to make Blackpool look gaudy. And I love a bit of neon.

We had booked rooms at the Luxor: the big, black pyramid of a hotel. When it was built it was one of the largets hotels in Vegas, now it is dwarfed by others around it. We decided not to waste the reservation, so here I am.

You can tell it is a luxurious room, as it has a table and arm chairs to sit on. No sitting on the bed to watch TV in this room.

Inside the hotel it is noisey, like a family of five demented children on the tube can be noisey. Everything wants your attention at the same time and insists that you join in with the fun.

It also has that feel of New Year's Eve, that you have to be having a fantastically exciting time right now, with everyone else.

I know that I will get used to it. Ironically it reminds me of Cairo (the real Egyptian city) which I found really difficult at first but ended up loving. But this one is going to be tough.

I know Jan is missing me just as much as I miss him.