RSS Feed

‘Travel’ Category

  1. Vegas Day 8 – The show….

    July 7, 2008 by Darren Cornwell

    Cirque Du SoleilSo we’re all still good, trying to get in a bit of rest before the big day on Wednesday. I didn’t actually get up until 3pm this afternoon after last night – it’s a weird sensation, grabbing an elevator downstairs after just getting up and straight away you hit the Casino floor – lights, noise, smoke and so many people gambling!!

    Anyway – turns our I hadn’t eaten for about 28 hours, so went to a nice restaurant and had a 16oz steak which not only woke me up, but also made me consider the possibilty that I might need a heart bypass soon!!! Some more gambling ensued and then we book into the Cirque Du Soleil’s ‘Love’ by the Beatles over in the Mirage.

    Turned up early and played some Blackjack – not going to well there. But the show was amazing, better than amazing, so precise, the colours, the lighting, the choreography, just a masterful spectacle shining with all it’s might – it really will leave a lasting impression, maybe I’ll get to see ‘O’ before I leave – let’s see how things pan out on Wednesday!!

    If my memory serves me correctly – tonight we’re off to a ‘Winner’s Party’ for all the WSOP qualifiers that made it through to day 2 – no idea where, what time or even how, but we’ll see later on this evening.


  2. Vegas Day 7…. I think.

    July 6, 2008 by Darren Cornwell

    Caesars Palace - Medallion

    I have no idea how long I have been here or even what day it is – I was asking the staff last night at Caesars what day it was – the kicker – they didn’t seem to phased, they must get asked that alot!

    Anyway, yesterday way long, spent alot of my time at the Rio reporting on Ice and his progress through the World Series – did I mention, Andy is through to DAY TWO!!!! Good on you mate! So I was getting various Cabs and shuttles to and from the Rio, saw some awesome play from some of the pro’s and kept a blow by blow account over on the poker blog – really great stuff, made better by the progress into the 2nd day!

    So evening time (circa, 12:30am) we met up and started having a little drink or 20! I eventually ended up at Caesars Palace watching the Blackjack tables – and got this awesome Medallion (I have a deal with the boss, to wear it all week long – when in Vegas etc), won some cash on the ‘Wheel of Fortune’, which made me have a few celebratory drinks of course – got into my sack at about 5/6am this morning – we have a three day respite now from the WSO, so we’ll find some stuff to do and then straight back on it! Maybe see the Cirque Du Solie tonigh.

    Note: Vegas is very busy! Caesars has more entrances than Tiverton has homes, that photo was taken at 5:30am, so that explains the graveyard like appearance of both myself and the surroundings!


  3. Vegas Day 6

    July 6, 2008 by Darren Cornwell

    A very quite day today for the most part, got up late, grabbed a buffet breakfast (I haven’t eaten anything other than breakfast since getting here) – got the let the Boss get prepared for the WSOP tomorrow. Spent some time in the Paris, a bit of shopping at Bellagio, quite a bit of money poured into the slots.

    Eventually made it to the Rio (via shuttlebus – very warm), to check out the WSOP 1st day, fucking mental – the place was so busy and it’s only going to get worse the further into the tournament we get – saw Gus Hansen and snapped a pic of him and Andy. Watched some Blackjack with these idiot Americans that really didn’t have a clue what they were doing – they were hemoraging chips within minutes. Met Angela from LA, I tell you – if all the women from LA are as insane as here, I’ll be moving there tomorrow – sounds like a great place to live!

    Met up with the Poker Glasses guys, met them a few days back – them seem to be doing alright – check them out at: Royal Eyewear. Grabbed some freebies off the various stands – most of it tat to be fair.

    We even managed to make it over to the ‘Planet Hollywood’, although it’s very difficult to anything but stare at the sheer number of dancers – they are everywhere, bad place to gamble – good place to gawk!!

    Went to the Fontana room in the Bellagio later on and spent another 3 hours trying to catch the fountains playing Botticelli, and finally at 11:45am – we got it, great stuff. Hit a few bars and then hit my sack about 4am this morning.

    Finally, it’s the 4th of July, so I’m surrounded by American flags, fireworks and a whole lot of patriotism, they love it. I don’t know whether to be happy for them or a bit pissed off – they are after all celebrating their Independence from the United Kingdom- they must be glad to rid of us!!


  4. Vegas Day 2

    July 1, 2008 by Darren Cornwell

    Wow, last night was crazy – I’ve was up for 26hrs then my body just gave up completely and I slept right through until this morning!! So turned on the news this morning and what did I see but the following rather ridiculous weather forecast:

    The Weather in Vegas

    Some crazy type of rain due – it’s rains but the desert is so hot, it evaporates before it gets to the ground! I cannot get over the heat – even the wind is hot – I know how a chicken feels come sunday roast time!

    Up resonably early this morning, breakfast in the Paris, went to the Venetian, the Palazio, Caesars Place (it’s the size of Tiverton), Wynns, a couple of others I forget the name of – spent money in them all :( but didn’t lose very much at all! The crazy thing is, if you got into the Venetian you’ll see the following:

    Venetian Casino Canals

    Yep, a canal – but that sky ain’t real, the canal is on the 2nd floor – there’s an entire casino underneath!! The mind boggles as to how the hell they do all this – a shit load of cash springs to mind! So, I’m back at the hotel room – a quick coffee and this post and then I think I’ll enter a Poker Tournament and of course catch the fabulous fountain display at the Bellagio – see the video below – just WOW!

    Fucking video embedding – I hate this proprietary rubbish go to:

    http://www.vimeo.com/1001491 for the Daytime View and
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVOMReOMYyQ for the night-time view, they are both worth watching but they do not come anywhere near the magnificence of the real thing!

    Final thought – it’s hotter here than Istanbull, Egypt and Delhi! And it’s hotter at 5pm than it is an 1pm with the mid-day sun, what’s up with that??


  5. Day Six – Back to the UK!

    October 25, 2007 by Darren Cornwell

    Up early this morning, breakfast in the Ameri-Chinese restaurant (which was actually pretty good) and then packed bags, headed off to the car drop off point – dropped off one mustang – slightly scuffed (I drove over a curb last night after a few beers, in the parking lot) but otherwise unharmed. Nobody noticed and we were soon in the Airport boarding our plane to NY (after a 3 hour delay to the flight). Stopped for some portugese food in the Airport and boarded the plane back to Bristol.

    Disaster – No baggage for Darren! Didn’t even make it to NY, filled in a form, not happy at all and headed back home – lucky for me, my luggage turned up 2 days later – but hey, at least they couriered it to me – so forgive and forget!

    It’s cold, raining and green – just like England should be – now if I can just find the i-405 form and enter my application for permanent resident status I can move to the USA on a more permanent basis :)


  6. Day Five – Baltimore Bay and back to DC

    October 17, 2007 by Darren Cornwell

    Met up with the people we needed to see to discuss some more business related ventures – had a great lunch out on a balcony overlooking the bay in Baltimore – really nice view, average food – long wait times. Wandered around Baltimore for a while taking in the local shops, got told that some sunnies would set me back $5 then found out they were $255 – no thank you!

    No more driving for me today, passenger all the way back to DC, booked ourselves into the Marriott at Dullies Airport so tomorrow, we have a short distance to go to catch our flights! TIP: Don’t stay at the Marriott at Dullies (most of Mexico was working there), their restaurant was staffed by a load of incomprehensible Chinese people, it was so bad we left and headed down to the Old Town to grab a bite to eat – 2nd best steak I had! My GOD – ordered a bowl of onion rings – England = Onion rings the size of crisps, America = Onion rings the size of onions, only managed to eat two and I was stuffed!

    Back to the hotel, practiced some magic and zonked out with sheer exhaustion.