Vegas, yeah baby!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Wednesday 15 February 2012 11:19
We had an eventful trip to Vegas! We got to the bus station with plenty of time to catch our 8.30am bus, however, when we got there the scene that greeted us was not good! there were just tons and tons of people queueing, loads of them! People had clearly been there all night, and things were nuts! We found out quite quickly that the three previous buses to Vegas had not turned up, so there was a bit of a backlog of people wanting to get to Vegas!!! It was also Saturday 2nd July, so Independence day weekend!!! Ben got in the queue to pick up our tickets, and I got in the very long queue of people wanting to get to Vegas! While waiting, I saw a sign about priority boarding, where you can pay $5 each to guarantee your seat (a given you would think if you had booked a ticket, but not always!) and be the first to get on the bus. I got Ben to enquire about this, as it also meant you went to wait in a different less crowded area, which we did, and it all worked out well! I really don't know why more people didn't cotton on, but glad they didn't or we would have been in trouble! They were laying on more buses, to try and sort out the problem, and after hours of waiting, a few buses turned up, and we were some of the first to get on! After a rocky start, we were on our way! It is only about a four hour trip from LA to Vegas, which was nothing compared to what we'd been used to!
When we arrived we got off the bus and my eyes nearly dried right up! It was about 40 degrees! We got a taxi to our hotel, The Stratosphere! It is at one of the ends of The Strip, and is quite noticable, as it is tall and thin, and has rollercoasters on the roof! We went straight to our room, which was a beautiful, huge room with a huge bed! It was total luxury! We had a great first night, we stayed in our hotel casino and signed up to the loyalty card which gave you discounts for the buffet, and you got points every time you gamlbed. We also went to the Information Desk, but found out that in Vegas hotels the Info Desks are not places to get tourist advice, they are places to get signed up for Time Share talks! We managed to get ourselves signed up for one the next day! We had a very late night, and it's true what they say about you losing any sense of time in Vegas casinos! The drinks are free as long as you're gambling, so we had a few, and had a fun night!
The next morning we had a mahoosive lie in! We didn't get up until midday, which was such a luxury after so many days of sightseeing and making the most of our days, it was lovely to know we had 7 days here, so there was no immediate rush! We had the first of many buffets for lunch, which was yummy, and there was so much choice! We then got picke up for the Time Share presentation, which we were promised was only a two hour committment and some free food. We also got given free tickets to a hypnosis show, $100 to spend in our casino, and a free buffet, so for all the free stuff we were happy to go along to listen and then leave! But as with all these things, we got sucked in a bit, and ended up staying a LOT longer than we had planned. However, I still to this day think it was something we would have used, and although I am glad we didn't sign up to it, as we are saving for a house and it would be a monthly committment we could do without, I think it was actually a good idea! We evertually walked away, having wasted the whole afternoon! However, we were happy with our freebies, and we managed to make $100 of actual cash from our $100 voucher in the casino, so that was fab! That evening we walked up the strip, and took in some of the sights and sounds! It is funny how hot it still was even really late at night! We went to Planet Hollywood and had a look around and got some dinner. Back at our hotel casino we won on one of our favourite slot machines 'Deal or No Deal', we actually did pretty well and got nearly $50 out of it! My other favourite slot was the Dirty Dancing machine!!!! We had a great time gambling, which seems funny, but we set a limit and stuck to it, and the money usually lasted us all night, and we often walked away with more than we started with!
The rest of the week passed with late nights and lie ins, lots of time lazing by the hotel pool, and having a really good time! We managed to visit all the big casinos, like Ceasers Palace, the Venetian and New York, New York where we rode the famous Yellow Taxi ride! We ended up going to one more time share (mainly for the free stuff!), and went to see The Blue Man Group show, which was a fun, but very odd experience!!! We also went to a live hypnosis show, which was absolutely hilarious!!! We even went back another night as it was so funny! Ben and I had made a pact to go up on stage (as he invites anyone who wants to, to go up at the beginning) if we came again, but Ben chickened out!!!! I still went up! He does a few things to all the people on stage, and then begins to whittle it down, and send people back to their seats, I was one of the last to be sent back, and had been merrily playing my violin until that point! It was a weird sensation almost like being so relaxed, like when you are snoozing when you're alarm has gone off but you don't actually have to get up!
We had decided to visit the Grand Canyon while we were so near it, but couldn't decide how to see it! We nearly booked a helicopter ride, which was way expensive, but much less time, but you land in the canyon, not on the edge of it, which we weren't sure we wanted to do. The other option was a coach trip, but the whole days was something 19 hours, with a mega early start, long bus ride, time at the Canyon, and then a long bus ride back! It was cheaper, and also we decided we wanted to see the Canyon from the top, rather than from inside it, so we booked the coach trip. It was a long day! However, it was great! We stopped on route 66 on the way, and went in a few gimiky shops and heard the story of Angel, the man who saved route 66 from extinction! We also stopped at the Hoover Damn on the way to have a look at that feat of engineering! The Grand Canyon was AMAZING! it was truely breathtaking, and totally worth the trip! We were lucky enough to spend a couple of hours walking around in the sunshine, and then we headed back to the entrance area to get an ice cream before heading back. We were sooo lucky, as while we were inside getting our ice cream the heavens opened and it rained soooo hard!!!! Some people were half an hours walk from the entrance, and there is no cover whatsoever, they were drenched to the bone! We all had to get on the bus as the rain let up, and many people had a rather soggy journey home!
Our other favourite thing in Vegas was the Freemont Experience! It's basically a way to get people back to Old Vegas, where it all began, and away from The Strip, and the whole area has this really fun vibe. It's where there is a huge overhead light show in the street, and it is sooo cool! The light show starts every 15 minutes, and is usually themed, the first one we saw was Queen themed. Everyone stops in the street and watches it, the music blares out, and it is brilliant! We had a fab evening, a great seafood buffet at one of the casinos, and played on the slots, which are known for being 'looser' than the strip ones! The Freemont Experience certainly was a highlight.
All in all we had an absolutely fantastic week in Vegas!!!!!
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