Viva! (Took me ages to think of that one)
Trip Start
Apr 22, 2010
1
4
14
Trip End
Jun 03, 2010
Where I stayed
Las Vegas, Nevada
Friday, April 30, 2010
Due to popular demand (thanks Nerilee and Katie) am blogging about my adventures in Las Vegas. Seriously though, it won't be interesting to anyone except for me. You've all (at least, most of you) have seen me drink, smoke, and gamble before (maybe not all at the same time, which is probably my most favourite thing about Vegas), so you know how this story is going to go. Oh well.
Landed in Vegas about 4 oçlock Thursday. The thing that struck me the most about the airport was how small the baggage claim bit was. No wait, the thing that struck me most about the airport were the 4000 or so slot machines that lined the halls. I knew then, that I was in for a blast.
Driving from the airport, you see the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Manhattan Skyline, Lady Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, and a few other major world landmarks, all within about 3 miles. Vegas is huge. Not in area, in fact, you can walk the strip really easily, but everything within the strip is giant. The hotels, the casinos, the shopping outlets, everything is massive. And everyone around is drunk. Apparently its the only place in America where it's legal to drink on the street.
The first night I drank a couple of giant beers out of a can (Heineken comes in pint sized cans, see attached photos), then went to the hotel's casino, (we stayed at Circus Circus). Played some blackjack, some slots, drank a shitload of free drinks, stumbled up to bed at around 2.
Next day, went for a wander up and down the strip, and went inside a few of the casinos. Circus Circus was pretty cool, it had an adventure park within the casino/hotel, but it's really dodgy compared to some of the other places, like the Bellagio and Caesar's. Saw the Bellagio Fountain show, where they shoot massive streams of water up from this fountain in time to music, which was really cool (only issue was the song, that stupid Celine Dion one from Titanic).
That night, the girls went to a club at the Wynn, and I gambled at the Wynn. Notice a recurring theme?
Went to the O Cirque De Soleil show the next night at the Bellagio. Was absolutely incredible. The show is centred around water, so the stage contains this massive pool thing (apparently holds around 4 million litres of water), and the show featured divers, trapeze, contortionists, and a lot of other cool stuff. If you get the chance, you must check it out. It's incredible. Prior to the show, I gambled at the Bellagio.
The next day was our last at Vegas. We checked out some of the outlet stores (once again, cheers Katie), Tina bought a bunch of Guess stuff at ridiculously low prices, then I gambled at Circus Circus. The funny thing was, I won enough on blackjack in the last fifteen minutes before we had to leave for the airport to cover the cost of the previous four days. Awesome.
Had a fantastic time in Vegas, and kinda wish I had another one or two days, to take in another show. Also, didn't get a chance to go the Grand Canyon. We didn't start looking at tours until the Friday, and I didn't realise that the Canyon is about a 4 hour drive from Vegas, so all the tours take at least 12.5 hours to run through. Could have taken a helicopter, but I hate flying, so so much.
Vegas is so cool. Can't wait to go back. Only issues are the food, which is rather disgusting, and it's soooo dry (funnily enough, considering it's in the middle of a frickin desert). And the water tastes like soap.
Oh, and we took a limo from the hotel to the airport. The guy was desperate, and it cost less than a cab. It would have been a lot more impressive if we had caught a limo FROM the airport to the hotel, but hey, thems the breaks.
So, in summary, thankfully, my Vegas trip was more 'Hangover' and less 'Leaving Las Vegas'
Hope you're all doing well,
Liam
Comments
So jealous. So glad you won! Which was your favourite Casino? And did you implement my "tip the waitress big for the first drink" theory of getting free drinks quickly? And were you spun out by the outfits on the waitresses? They all look like they are on their way to men's magazine shoot. A particularly tasteless men's magazine.
Yeah, certainly did the big tip at the start thing, and they kept coming back! The outfits were a little out there, considering most of the waitresses I saw were in their early forties (expect at the Bellagio, where some of them were pretty smokin'). Favourite casino was probably at the Wynn, but I spent most of my gambling time at Circus Circus, as it was convenient, and pretty cool.