Where to begin on this leg of the tour is hard to say. So much happened in the three days that I don't think I will remember it all because so much time has passed. But while some memories have faded into the background of my mind, other memories will be with me for the rest of my life.
By this point of the trip, my friend and I had caught on that every time we left our hotel, we were to have a completely different tour guide with different tour guides
. The only consistent thing was that we were still on a Chinese tour, so we had to rely on our tour guides to speak English to explain the plan after they had just said it all in Chinese to everyone else on the tour. And yes, we were still the only two people from a Western country on this tour.
But what made the trip to Las Vegas the most memorable wasn't what we saw and experienced in Vegas itself; it was the tour guide herself who made the trip unforgettable.
The Las Vegas Strip - 2011
The day before, we had gone to Disneyland. As we were staying so close, we didn't need to be with the tour group, and the hotel sorted us out, shuttling us to and from Disneyland and answering any questions we had. So today, we were reconvening with our tour to head to Las Vegas for three days. What also made today a little different was that the people joining us on this venture stayed at our hotel the night before, unlike the other days. So we were at least confident that we wouldn't be forgotten.
The bus showed up with this thick pink stripe down the side. This should have been our first clue as to what we were about to witness, but at the time, neither my friend nor I thought anything of it. Then we saw the driver. He, an American, was wearing a bright pink pale shirt. Similar in colour to the pink stripe on the bus. This should have been our second clue. But alas, we didn't even bat an eyelid. Then suddenly our tour guide appeared. A short Asian woman who looked to be in her 50s. Full of energy and life. She was a real extrovert, ready to share her joy and passion for life with everyone. What made her stand out from the crowd wasn't her energy level (the second thing I noticed) but what she was wearing. She was wearing a bright, pale pink lycra suit from head to toe. Added with a very short but frilly pink and white tutu, make-up with glitter added beside her eyes and her hair covered in decorative clips. To end the style off, her short, spiky hair had bright pink streaks in it. To say her outfit matched her personality would be an understatement. And if there is anyone who matches my lack of care for what people thought about me, she would have to have been number one on that list.
After the initial shock of what we had seen (again, I hadn't left Australia at all before this trip; to remind yourself of this, you can read more about it in my previous chapter here), my friend and I were quickly bought into this remarkable woman's mantra and thought this tour just got that little bit more memorable. However, this wasn't the end of the surprises this woman had in store for us. While the bus driver and she had all prepared us for the colour pink being the overall theme of this trip, the final surprise was when we got onto the bus itself. We were unprepared when we walked up those steps to get onto the bus. And once it was in view, our jaws dropped. The entire bus interior wasn't just the same shade of pink along the roof but covered in Hello Kitty merchandise, trinkets, lucky cats in various sizes waving at us and fairy lights throughout. A toy was hanging or sitting on the upper shelves everywhere you looked. There were stickers, bags, and everything else, with a Hello Kitty face spread across the bus. The only thing I can recall that wasn't pink was the bus seats. I could sit here and theorise the many reasons why she hadn't covered the bus seats, but the truth is that I really don't know.
The next four hours of driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, our tour guide filled the bus with a lot of energy. The plan for the next few days and the history of the city we were heading to, Las Vegas, was explained. I don't remember anything said to us on that bus ride. But I remember the energy. And that is the important takeaway I took from this. At the same time, you may not always remember every single little thing that happened. If you can remember just one person, remember the energy, the vibe, a laugh, an overheard joke or just the objects around you while something happened. That is what makes a story memorable. That is what makes the adventure you had memorable.
While our plan was never to spend the entire time in Vegas with the group (we had booked a separate helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon and to see The Lion King on stage), to know that this leg of the trip was shared for a little while with this loud, unique, amazing, confident woman is a memory that I will cherish. I just wished I had taken a photo as a keepsake.
The Las Vegas Strip and the Lion King - 2011