If you’re looking for a fun, hot and wild holiday then Vegas is the place to go!
Earlier this month was my 21st birthday so to celebrate I decided to fly to Vegas for the weekend (weekend… yes I know, call me crazy).
We left London Gatwick on Friday (14th October) at 11am, stopping in Seattle for what was meant to be 1hr 33 minutes. Upon boarding our flight there was a problem with the toilet flushing and we got stuck on the plane for 2hrs before taking off so didn’t actually arrive in Vegas until 7.30pm in the end (this was so long and shortened our already short break). The only good part about having the stop was that we went through all of the secuirty checks in Seattle whilst waiting for the next plane so when we got off in Vegas we literally walked off the plane, picked up our bags and left the airport.
Once we finally got to our hotel – Bellagio, which was absolutely beautiful, looking like walking zombies we quickly showered and got ready to go to dinner. We then went and watched the Bellagio fountains go off and had a wander down the strip until we found a little restaurant to eat in and got a pitcher of some kind of dragon fruit cocktail which came out smoking!! By the time we had finished dinner our original plans of going out to downtown Vegas were scuppered by our heavy eyelids and inability to pick our feet up off the ground as we walked along – so back to the hotel to sleep we went!
Side note – The only disappointing thing about the hotel was that there was no balcony to stand out and admire the amazing view.
On Saturday morning – with jetlag on our side – we woke up early (I mean for me anything earlier than 10am is considered early) and went for breakfast at flamingos. There was a little bit of a queue to get in but this went down very quickly and we were soon seated at a table with a view into the gardens with real live flamingos strolling around. The breakfast was a buffet with lots of choice and was quite tasty (apparently in America, donuts, ice cream, sugary treats and syrup for breakfast is a big thing).
After breakfast we wandered back to our hotel where we got picked up in a limousine and taken to Sundance helicopters HQ where we were assigned our pilot and boarded our helicopter to take us to the Grand Canyon. This trip is unforgettable and the photos really do not do it justice. The views from the helicopter were just unreal and really do leave you speechless on how beautiful nature can be. We flew over the hoover dam and lake mead before landing inside the canyon for a cute champagne picnic. On the way home we flew over the Vegas strip for a birds eye view on all of the different themed hotels. This trip wasn’t exactly cheap but it was definitely worth it, you can’t go to Vegas and not see the Grand Canyon!
When we got back to Sundance helicopters we took a quick taxi ride over to the Shelby Museum to have a browse at the cars and then onto the local shopping outlet to pick up a few bargains whilst we were there. I managed to bag myself a Michael Kors bag for a fraction of the price I’d have paid back in England!
On Saturday evening we had booked to go and watch the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere at Treasure Island. After our dinner at Bubba Gump (if you love shrimp and lots of food this restaurant is a must visit – we love it here) we took a walk down to the show. All I can say is WOW! What a show. The acrobatics were breathtaking and the show certainly had some comedy moments to entertain the whole family! The only thing that let the show down was my extreme tiredness when my eyes started rolling during the performance and I had to really fight to stay awake - even though I really was loving every second of it the jet lag was kicking in big time!
We wanted to make the most of our weekend and so after the show finished headed to downtown Vegas to do the Slotzilla zipline. Unfortunately this was fully booked for the evening but we booked to come back the next afternoon so that we didn't miss out. We then tried to see the million dollars in Binions but this was closed off as it was too late in the evening (typical) so we gave up with being tourists and went for a (big - literally the size of Lee's head) drink instead. There was a live band performing, people dancing and a great atmosphere. We stayed for a few drinks and then headed back to the hotel where we become distracted by the slot game 'Buffalo'. We played (and lost) a few games of this so decided to go up to bed ready for our day of sightseeing on Sunday.
Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast in Bellagio. To be honest this was very expensive and not worth the money but was easy and didn't involve us leaving the hotel. (we woke up very hungry and no one wants 4 hangry people on their hands). After we finished breakfast we got a taxi to the beginning of the strip ready for a jam packed day of sightseeing (and of course a gazillion photos - which Lee was soooo happy about (note my sarcasm)).
We walked 10.7 miles, in and out of all of the different hotels - my favourite being the Venetian and Caesar's palace (where some random american people taught us how to play craps and helped us win $100 - buzzing!)
After getting back to the hotel, feet burning, we got a taxi to downtown vegas ready for Slotzilla. This was so much fun, I'd really recommend going on it to anyone. You basically fly like superman on a zip line all the way across the downtown strip whilst everyone below watched and waves. It's brilliant!! Whilst we was there we took a visit to Binions to see one million dollars (second time lucky) and then made our way back to the airport to say goodbye to a mad weekend in an astounding place!
We had a long flight ahead of us, leaving vegas at 10.15pm with a stop in NYC and finally landed at 8.10pm on Monday evening. I felt like I needed a holiday to recover but would definitely go back to vegas (maybe for longer next time so we actually have time to enjoy the sun.)