Shuttle bus at 0600 to take me to the airport and I get the 0800 flight to Atlanta. A short stop at Atlanta and then the connection to Asheville.

A very short flight and then into the airport building and meet up with Trev & Lisa who've just flown in from the UK and driven here from Charlotte.

Check in to rooms in the Holiday Inn and then find a nice little pub serving real ale. Have a pub meal and a few pints and a very pleasant evening.

I know have 1 hour to kill before the bus takes me back to the hotel so I explore the streets around where the tour office is and, to my delight, manage to find an Irish Bar that serves 33 different beers. Can't think of a better finish to the trip so I partake of a couple of refreshers before heading off back to the hotel.

Once we got back to the mainland it was up to Pier 39 and a very enjoyable lunch at the Crab House.

Went into one of the attractions on the Pier called Aquarium on the Bay. 20 minutes and that was it. Good for young kids but that was it really.

Walked over to one of the other piers and got onto a harbour tour.

This was only an hour long and, basically, you leave the dock, go to under the Golden Gate Bridge (by about 50 metres), turn around and then go back to the dock via the far side of Alcatraz Island.

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Commentary is provided through portable headsets and you get the history of San Francisco and points of interest.

The tour bus picked me up on time and took us to their office just off of Pier 39.

Decided to do my own thing so walked down to Pier 33 and booked myself on the 0930 Alcatraz tour.

They take you across to the island, you get the spiel off of one of the rangers and then explore the island on your own.

Very interesting to see. The video of Alcatraz you can watch near the start of the tour dispels a lot of the myth of the place, and after that you just go off and explore. When you get to the cell block at the top, you pick up your headphones and get a recorded commentary [by former inmates and guards] as you walk around inside.

Some companies book full-day, or half-day tours here but I'd been there for two hours and saw most of what I wanted to see, So down to the dock, get on the next available boat and back to Pier 33.

I plan on going to see the Golden gate Bridge, Fishermans' Wharf, Alcatraz, etc., tomorrow so I speak to Sam in reception to work out the best and cheapest way to get there (the hotel's 20 minutes drive from the city. The website said, ...minutes from the wharf... just didn't specify how many!)

He says a taxi will cost me at least $50 each way. There's no public transport to boot from here, the only other alternatives being a taxi to the airport, a train into SF and then bus, cable car, tram or whatever across to FW - that'll cost between $30-$40 each way or to book on a tour to Fishermans' Wharf where you get picked up at the hotel, taken in, entry to certain sights and then brought back.

It's all day at FW so I figure I should be able to miss some of the scheduled stuff out, do what I want to do and then get the transport back - all for $69. Hopefully, it'll work out ok. (Though with my luck on excursions recently, I'll be bl***y surprised if it does).

Don't sleep particularly well. I seem to never sleep well before travelling early the next day, think it's something to do with worry over not hearing all 3 (THREE) alarms and missing my flight, bus or train.

Nevertheless, shuttle bus to the airport. Check straight in, breakfast, pleasant flight to San Francisco and shuttle bus to the hotel.

I'm only here for 1 day before flying to Asheville, North Carolina to meet up with Trev & Lisa who are coming over for a holiday.

They came across to Liverpool to see the start of the Clipper race last September so it'll be good to see them again. Trev's always up for a beer so no doubt we'll partake somewhat of the local fayre. Am looking forward to it.

Grab a quick bite to eat and decide to have '1 gamble' on roulette; well, when in Rome...

Cash $100 worth of chips and do my usual odds-black or evens-red (or a combination thereof).

This gives me a 25% chance of losing all, 50% chance of my money back and a 25% chance of winning on all/both - yeah, I know, big spender :-). Supplement this with the occasional individual bet on a number (of which I actually get two 'results' during the session, both in the nick of time, else it would have been endex earlier).

This huge gamble sees me through for well over 2 hours and now starting to get bored with it.

With $65 of the $100 remaining, I put $15 on a single number, lose that and walk away with $50. Seeing as I had a few rum and cokes whilst playing I actually lost about a tenner. Suits me :-)

Haven't been bitten by the gambling bug so that's probably it for the next few years...

As I've been stuffed by this tour operator on the land-sailing trip, it's too late to book anything today so I decide to update my blog and then go for a walk down to the strip.

"It's not far," says I

2 hours to walk there (84 degrees heat today), a bit on the warm side so I think I'll get the bus back.

Booked my airport transfer for tomorrow and then pack my bags ready for the off and then, beer time...

When I booked the trip on Friday, I requested that the company fax the confirmation to the hotel.

Morning and evening I've checked with reception and no fax!

My pickup is for 0900 from outside the hotel and I have to go online to see if the tour operator have emailed me instead.

Unfortunately, I have no wifi in the room. I complained to the provider and asked for a refund as the connection speed was so slow, now I have no connection whatsoever.

The only thing I can do is to use the PC-booth in reception. This costs $5 minimum (cash) and is $0.25 a minute. I log on to my email and nothing from the tour operator.

I get the number of the people who 'handle the money' (not the tour operator apparently) and phone them to see if I am going to be picked up in 20 minutes (now 0840).

They check my details and tell me that the booking still hasn't been confirmed. She also tells me that there is no way she can get in touch with them and get me on the tour today - do I want to reschedule?

"I leave for San Francisco tomorrow, refund please."

As you can probably imagine I'm not impressed by this! Their online booking system informs me that this is going ahead yet no-one bothers to tell me that it isn't so I don't reschedule 'something' and it's too late to get onto another tour. That's 3 days out of 4 in Vegas where I'm not actually doing 'anything' - what a waste!

After the unplanned stop, we carry onto the interstate, through the 'Joshua Tree' forest...

...back over the Hoover dam...

...and back to the hotel.

A great day out! A big thanks to all the guys on the trip today: Gary (boat driver), Art (minibus driver) and to Randy (for not cancelling the trip as I was the only one booked).

Looking forward to the land-sailing tomorrow...

Out of the helicopter and Art is waiting in the minubus ready to take me back to Vegas.

Before we get to the main interstate, we have to go about 14 miles on a dirt track. Art and I are talking when he slows the van to a halt and backs up.

"What's the problem?" says I.

"Rattlesnake!", says Art.

"Very nasty, double venom (neuro and haemo) and very aggresive," says Art.

"Close enough," says I.

We have 5 people to each boat and one driver, Gary. The plan is to head downriver and enjoy the sights and scenary of the awesome Grand Canyon. We're going to be on this trip around 5 hours so it's going to be a good day. The temperature is forecast to be aorund 83-84 degrees and we're told it'll be 10 degrees hotter where we are on the river.

We're told that we have to go over 6 sets of rapids, varying in 'grade' and we are going to get wet :-). That's going to be good because it is very hot down here: there's no breeze and it's stifling.

Off we go...

It's not long before we 'hit' the first rapids. A very gentle introduction to what lies in store.

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Video of boats going through the rapids:

- our boat (14 MB )

- the 'other' boat (5 MB )

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Through all 6 sets of rapids and then we stop for lunch:

After lunch we carry on down the river...

...to the drop-off point, late afternoon and a helicopter pick-up and fly out of the canyon:

A 0315 wake-up and outside for 4am to be picked up by 'Art' in the tour bus. I get in and am told, 'it's just me and him', no-one else confirmed. I am so pleased they didn't cancel this trip - cheers guys.

We have to be at the transfer point for 8am so we head off south on the '93', over the Hoover dam and into Arizona.

Not much traffic about so we make good progress, even stopping for some breakfast at a truckers cafe before we hit Route 66. Art is telling me about the various 'sights' and points of interest as we go and it's a good trip to the Hualapai Indian Reservation and Grand Canyon National Park and the transfer point.

Book in, get onto the school bus and 17 miles down the rough track to the river; first sights of the Canyon are awesome: you see the photo's but they can't, and don't do it justice.

... and pick-up the boats at Diamond Creek.

They seem to have this thing over here that you have to phone the tour company 24 hours before your trip to confirm. I phone the company 'Rebel Adventure Tours' to confirm my trip for tomorrow. The guy I spoke to, Randy, says I'm the only one on their tour so he's thinking of cancelling it!!

Now my main reason for coming to Vegas was to see the Grand Canyon. The land-sailing was just an aside. I very rarely gamble (and I mean rarely), last time was about 6 years ago (£20 in a local casino on a night out) and, to me, one casino is much the same as another - absolutely no interest in them at all. Anyway, Randy says he'll phone me back shortly to confirm.

Half-an-hour later, I get a call saying there's potentially another 6 who may be coming on the trip so it'll go ahead - relief, I can tell you. It's a 4am start so not a late night tonight.

For the rest of the day though... get on the local bus to 'The Strip' and take a walk:

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...and the 'Fountains of Bellagio'

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Get up and go for a walk around the downtown area. Seems to be pretty much based around the FSE and not much else.

The hotel - the Fremont - is on East Fremont Street and there they have the Fremont Street Experience, this is a pedestrian area covered by a huge video 'roof'.

Unfortunately (for me) the whole street is just 'tat' souvenir shops, hotels and casinos; sorry to say it, but IMO, Vegas really.

Need to do some stuff on the internet so it's back to the hotel and, as the hotel doesn't have wifi, I sign up to a company who, supposedly, provide wifi to the 'downtown' area.

I sign up for the duration of my stay in Vegas and then, basically, for the rest of the day, am struggling to do anything as the connection speed is so slow.

However I do manage to exchange a few emails (slooooow process though) and I get an email from the guy who is running the land-sailing trip tomorrow. He's been caught up in the American Airlines flight cancellations and can't do my trip tomorrow.

"He can do Sunday?"

"I can't (GC tour), I can do Monday?"

"He can't (fully booked out), he can do Tuesday?"

"I can't (flight), refund please?"

"No problem, it'll take 7 -1 0 days."

"Why?"

"That's the process."

"@#;@!*&"

I try a couple of other companies online and manage to get a booking for Monday so that's good.

Out for a walk to get a bite to eat at night and the Fremont Street Experience takes on a whole different aspect:

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