But full of energy with the look out to a nice bed, I started the about 4 mile walk to the hotel. At the gates of the airport, a nice lady told me, I should get a cab "'cause it's not safe to walk out of the airport!" But with no cash for a cab, walking was my only option.
Let me make one thing perfectly clear: The nice lady was not just doing a pitch! There simply weren't the sidewalks neccesary. So with the risk of being arrested for jay-walking, I began to cross the streets in order to get out of there. At Paradise Road and Tropicana Ave. sidewalks was okay, but cars are properbly going against you with 50mph- a scary experience! Saw one cyclist on Tropicana, gutsy fellow!
On the way, I passed "the Strip" for the first time, and snaped two pictures:
After about an hours walk I was at the hotel, just waiting for my comfy bed! But... I had to pay a deposit and some taxes, and with no cash we had to try the visa - but no luck! At this point I was starting to get nervous - stuck in Vegas, a long way from home, with no cash, no visa and no place to be except the bench at the reception!
I tried to call home, and Victor was suggesting I'd just charge it to his credit card, but that would only get me in at the room, then what about money for food? At the reception, they suggested to send some money via Western Union, as the cashier at their casino (it's Vegas, I think every hotel has a casino over here!) was a part of Western Union. I then tried to call Pedersen (my good friend and mechanic), and he put his girlfriend, Tina, on, who works in a bank. She couldn't do anything about my visa, but said, she would try to send some money via Western Union. At this point the clock was 11 pm local, 8 o'clock danish time, and I'd been up for 28 hours, with no more than maximum 4 hours of sleep.
While I was waiting to hear from Tina, a friendly, swedish, fellow Rocksbilly named Björn and his girlfriend Janika came over to talk to me. And he suggested, that if things didn't go well with the transfer, I could come and sleep in their room. "We are not sleeping on the floor, you can sleep there, if you want to!" At first I didn't think much of it, but later on I really concidered it- it would be better than nothing!
Back to Tina: She first tried to do the transfer via Western Unions website, but for some reason, even the hotline couldn't explain, she couldn't. She then tried to drive to the nearest kiosk with Western Union in Nykøbing F., but the girl responsible for the WU transactions had the day off. Tina, not giving up on me, then called a head and drove to Vordingborg to make the transaction from there. And this time with succes! So she wrote me, that the money would be ready to withdraw in half an hour, and she could take the aproximate 45 km (28 miles) trip back home. After half an hour was gone by, I could finally pay the deposit and get my room key - at this time it was 2:30 am local, 11:30 danish time, and I've been up for 31,5 hours with only a few flight naps of combined no more than 4 hours. So I didn't get much more than just inside the door, before I finally hit the sack thursday/friday night!
Keep 'em kruzin!
Dannerr
