Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Well, I can safely say..... We've done Vegas Baby!! Oh my what a 6 nights and what a place! Am I glad I've been and experienced it, even though it wasn't on my list? Absolutely! Would I go back? Probably not! I think it's one of those experiences / places that you tick off the bucket list with no need to return!
As soon as you walk out of the sliding doors into the airport arrivals terminal at Vegas there are slot machines as far as the eye can see. A sea of glitz, colour, flashing lights and sirens indicating a win or potential win! We landed at 11.30pm and within an hour had checked in, showered and were sat in a bar with other members of the party crew by 1am.......with no clocks, hotels and casinos pumped with oxygen and absolutely no clue of the time Vegas lived up to its name and before we knew it the sun was coming up whilst we were wondering back to our room - and this went for most mornings that followed!!
Everything is enormous and excessive - the strip itself, the hotels, the casinos, the amount of machines and games you can gamble on, the money that changes hand, the drinks that are consumed, the food portions and of course some of the people, although there is also a fare share of beautiful bodies and faces out there too! The sights range from strange to vulgar to hilarious to extreme to darn right naked! Women with only petals covering their nipples and a g-string their privates, men with similar!!
The design and psychology around this interesting 'high street' is fascinating. At every moment the place is trying to rinse you of money. The tables and slot machines beckon you, the hotels charge you a mandatory resort fee on top of your room rate, the beggars (of which there were more than I thought there would be) are at every street corner asking for cash, the tipping system means it's expected to leave money even if the service is s*** (I hate this! You should tip for good service), the ATM charges you $30 to withdraw money, the hookers in the hotels plague any man going to the toilet on their own to take them upstairs and the guys on the street handing out flyers for 'our girls' encourage you to go with them to part with cash!
Trying to find a chair or place to chill out in the hotel is impossible - the only place to sit is at a bar in front of a computer black jack screen or on a slot machine - everything is set up for you to be popping money into that vast black hole. There are no tea and coffee making facilities in the bedroom - they don't want you up there - as soon as you're up they want you down stairs in the midst of the money machine that is Las Vegas!
What I loved about my 6 days in Vegas:
Being part of such a special day and watching Kelly and Paul get married and to spend such a fun holiday with such special friends. To think that 3 years ago we never knew these people existed and yet now to have been included in something so intimate and enjoying their company on a dream wedding.
Our trip to the Grand Canyon had to be another highlight - we took a helicopter flew over Boulder City, Hoover Damn and through the Grand Canyon before landing on the floor of the Canyon for a picnic and bubbles. The engineering behind Hoover Damn, the expanse of the scenery and enormity for the Canyon had me speechless. Certainly one off my bucket list and one that over exceeded all expectation. Will, our pilot had been in the USA Army for 21 years and now spends his days flying groups across this stunning, amazing and awe inspiring land - as does his wife!
To have been blessed to meet the special people in Kelly & Paul's life including Cheryl & Dom and Jim & Lorna as well as seeing the Wright clan again. I love meeting new people and learning about how their lives are intwined and how our paths have all led to this circumstance, place and time. I never grow old or intrigued of finding out about others lives and backgrounds - we all have come from somewhere so different and have our own stories to tell and are leading our own journeys.
Learning to play black jack and roulette - certainly a way loose all track of time and how to feel like your rich and famous, being brought drinks and throwing more money at the table than you ever normally would!
Tim's gambling skills! Pooling our money it seems was a great idea - Tim's the risk taker and if I didn't know better has the skills to work the slot machines and I'm the brakes - a great team so it seems!! Arriving with $1k to lose saw us finish the week on $1.3k - not a bad result considering you drink for free as your playing and we actually came away with more than we took (I can't take any credit for this mind!)
Seeing a show - well a Vegas trip wouldn't be the same without one! In theme with the holiday (our favourite slot machine was a Jackson inspired one) we chose Michael Jackson ONE - a cirque de solir show created in his memory when he died and that has now been running a year - what an incredible performance, the power and energy behind the choreography was infectious and the intwined choice of his tracks and music for the 2 hours was clever and amazing. A true tribute to an absolute legend.
What was less loved:
The heat hits you as soon as you get outdoors, 107 degrees - a record for this time of year we are told, was just too hot to be outside but trying to find a lovely bar indoors rather than a dingy casino sports bar or seedy strip club to have an afternoon tipple in was pretty difficult!
The rude people - unlike anywhere else I have been in the world. Having not travelled anywhere in the States I would hate to generalise but there were people from all over and at some point most of them were rude, whether it be barging into a lift before you have got out, not thanking you for holding doors open or even whilst gambling at a table. This went for staff and guests!
The lack of anything genuine from service to boobs! Even the bricks and mortar are polystyrene, but then again I suppose you just have to take all this on face value - it is what it is!
The fact that you can pretty much smoke anywhere means that the stench of stale old cigarette smoke seeps through the air-conditioning, is the first thing that hits you as you walk into the hotel or into the lobby for breakfast......get ready to urge!!
So after 6 days in Vegas I had visited the Grand Canyon and Hoover Damn, ridden the tallest amusement rides (and scared myself half to death) in the world on top of the Stratosphere, won $300 with Tim's help, seen two dear friends get hitched, visited the Eiffel Tower, been to St Marks Square in Venice, seen the Statue of Liberty, photographed pink flamingos at Flamingos, seen the water fountains dance at the Bellagio, got my picture taken at the Vegas sign, been in my first Hummer Limo, seen Michael Jackson ONE, eaten as much as I could at a hotel buffet and all between lying by the pool, playing black jack, roulette and drinking vodka and cranberry. So how would I sum up Vegas? Tacky, seedy, dirty, fake and an enormous in your face money making machine. All in all, if you take it for what it is, go with it and enjoy the experience it's well worth a trip and if you get to go - do it!!
- comments