Arrival in Las Vegas & Optometrist: Road Trip in the American West #1

After two weeks on a cruise where our brains were completely switched off, we return to normal life with great difficulty.

JB also has health issues (dental and visual) as we start our road trip in the American West. Fortunately, we booked very little and have the car for 36 days, enough to take long breaks to rest (and work).

The cruise ship drops us off at Fort Lauderdale. We spend one night in Hollywood before taking a flight (almost 6 hours) to Las Vegas.

Day 1

Upon arrival, we see several casino machines right in the airport, along with ads for the various shows. Las Vegas airport is close to the city, so taxis have fixed rates depending on the zone. Our hotel is fairly close to the hotel (Excalibur) so we get the cheapest rate ($21 + taxes). Not being very comfortable with tipping, we overdo it (a bit too much) with everyone, afraid of coming off as cheap and/or clueless.

Our hotel is huge, and just checking in takes at least 30 minutes due to the number of guests. We opt for mobile check-in to speed things up. Thus, our phones also serve as room keys (via Bluetooth). Super convenient (unless you run out of battery…). However, the hotel is so old it creeps me out a bit: it strangely resembles the one in the Shining. Including the elevator. I don’t feel good at all. Thankfully, the bedding is superb (it’s always top-notch in the US), everything is clean, and the shower is hot with good pressure.

I’ll barely have the energy to walk to the New York New Yorkcomplex. There’s a small food court mimicking New York streets. We find a deli with good reviews. It looks like Subway, but with too many options: bread, sauces, cheeses… I didn’t expect so many choices and questions and stand there with my mouth open when asked to pick an option. The hot pastrami sandwich remains my favorite. It’s not as good as the one we had in New York, but it’s still nice to have a good sandwich at a decent price.

I don’t know if I’ve become pickier or our neighborhood isn’t great, but our second time in Las Vegas is less magical than the first. We find it very cheap, the casinos are less classy than the ones we saw in Macao.

The next day, we’re supposed to head to Williams (a 3h20 drive) ASAP, but JB can’t take it anymore with his vision issues. He feels like he constantly has to zoom in/out, adjusting his eyes to see clearly. He asks his doctor friend (in France) for advice, who doesn’t seem too worried. That’s something. Given the road ahead for the next 30 days, I encourage JB to go to one of the many optician chains where he can get an exam and glasses without an appointment, same day.

So, at 9am, we pick up the car from Avis, which has an office right in our hotel (that’s why we chose it).

And at 10am, we go to LensCrafters for the “eye exam” after reading online that you can get examined without an appointment. Indeed, with ultra-sophisticated machines, an optometrist examines JB for $130 (+3% for card payment), showing him different correction options (she doesn’t even need to put trial lenses on; a machine offers 10 correction options via computer). He leaves with a prescription: his eye discomfort, according to the optometrist, is due to a decline in his vision. No eye problem or disease in particular. Phew.

However, this store doesn’t have the right lenses available and recommends us to go to Eye Glass World. There are several stores in Las Vegas, and JB picks the best-rated one, even if it’s a bit further south. The saleswoman takes forever to process our order (she asks us tons of questions about France!) but at least she has the lenses and we can get them at 5pm. All this costs €365 for two pairs of glasses (regular + sunglasses), lenses and frames included.

I call the hotel in Williams to tell them there’s no way we’ll arrive before 9pm (plus there’s a one-hour time difference between Arizona and Las Vegas), and the hotel reassures me that the key will be in an envelope since they were able to charge us via booking.com.

In the meantime, we have time to kill. First, we have lunch at an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant: we have 1h30 to eat as much as we want. It costs $27 per person. It’s a format I’ve seen at quite a few Japanese restaurants in Las Vegas. Service is quick. Value for money is decent.

We then go to Las Vegas Books, a used bookstore where you can actually seeEaston Pressbooks. It’s an American publisher, so I’m more likely to find them cheap here than in France. Verdict: these books are quite beautiful but probably not worth the $100 new. I opt for a used Easton Press book at $60, with the firm intention of reselling it in the exact same place a month later, even if I lose money. The most pleasant discovery is The Hobbit, 1st edition 8th impression, in poor condition, but at least it’s the first time I see a 1st edition. Below are the 3 books of the Lord of the Rings, 1st American edition.

A visit to Barnes & Noble (the equivalent of Fnac in France) allows me to buy Dune Messiah (deluxe edition), more expensive than on Amazon, but at least I can touch the book and flip through it before the purchase.

So I have something to read during my road trip!

At 4pm, we go grocery shopping at Target. We should have done a proper grocery run, because we’ll spend the next few days in the desert and everything will cost more. But we’re so tired that we settle for a pack of brownies (for breakfast), some sandwich bread, a bit of Laughing Cow cheese, and a huge 10L jug of water to refill our small water bottles. More for surviving the next few hours than for several days.

At 5pm, we’re told that unfortunately only JB’s prescription glasses are ready; the sunglasses have to be sent to the lab because they’re too complex.
We decide to come back to Las Vegas later to pick them up.

JB tries on his prescription glasses and worries because he sees better, but the accommodation/adjustment issues are still there. Driving 3h20 in the dark (it gets dark as early as 5:30pm nowadays) with his new glasses could be dangerous.

I reassure JB saying we can stop at any time on the way, even if it means losing our night in Williams; he needs to feel comfortable. But he’s braver than that and managed to drive 4h (we drive slower in the dark) with regular breaks at gas stations. We share the road with lots of trucks, but it’s better that way because they guide us with their lights visible for miles. We arrive at the hotel around 10pm Arizona time, completely exhausted.

We indeed find the key to our hotel room in an envelope. It’s a very clean and well-equipped motel. We settle for the sandwiches and brownies we bought at Target. Williams is a small town 1h from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s mid-November and the whole town is decorated for Christmas. JB is exhausted and falls asleep immediately. Tomorrow, we have to go to Maverick at 9:20am, where we’ll have our helicopter tour.