The day has finally arrived. We have booked our helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon (months in advance, all paid for and confirmed earlier in the week). I have my camera – all charged up – and a spare memory card. We’ve had breakfast. We are both sitting at the entrance of our timeshare office.
Waiting for [...]

If you care to have a re-look at ‘Heroes and Villains, you will see the first gallery of pictures from the Mojave Desert and Calico Ghost Town.

Just click on the thumbnails to see the bigger picture.

Las Vegas to [...]

The blog has just been updated to V3.0 and the theme has also been updated. As a result, the header graphics have been returned to the default pics. Annoying …

Will soon bring back the proper pics and do the long-needed changes to makeit easier to access the main tachras site and the Dave Book library.

Will need [...]

The Luxor at Las Vegas

I am working at it. Honest!

Between the hell of return to work and trying to catch up on three weeks work left in the hands of others ( less inclined, shall we say … ), and a whole mess of other things, I’ve not managed to do a lot.

I’ve gradually managed [...]

Back in the UK again. Was unable to find decent Internet facilities in Lake Tahoe ( journalism tends to falter at $1 a minute – $10 minimum – when using the business facilities in Harrah’s Casino! ), so the rest of the Nevada series had to wait till I got home ( and recovered from the [...]

During the journey on the Metro, I had imagined the warm welcome awaiting me when I reached the home of the friends who were to give me hospitality. An hour later, I stood in a Paris street with my huge suitcase wondering what on earth to do next. The house was dark, there was no answer [...]

Well, here we are, back again. By now, we’ve driven down The Strip in Las Vegas so many times, that we probably count as ‘locals’. Or is that ‘strippers’? (We know where to get pole-dancing lessons. And one or two other dubious delights.

We tried the Monorail. Parked at the Sahara and bought a day ticket. It [...]

Am now safely esconced (first time I’ve used that word!) in our Las Vegas accomodation. Nice place. Roomy, cool and reasonably well laid out. Not on The Strip, but then, we did choose the place ourselves. And the alternatives that were right in the centre of Las Vegas, were of the Mega-hotel type. Not to our [...]

The military say that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Well, I plan my holidays like a military campaign …

… and I have met the enemy!

First – the Airline. Virgin Atlantic
Book months in advance. Pay up front. Arrange your seats long before you go.
Try to check your seat. Virgin won’t allow it because all the [...]