Vegas, baby!
Back home. Don't want to be. I had a blast in Vegas even if I was there for such a short time, although with the amount of stuff I managed to squeeze in in 2 and a half days it felt like I was there for a week.
Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! I was really touched. It didn't really feel like my birthday down there, I guess because it's been so long I've been away I was more in vacation mode. Plus it was my first birthday without seeing my mum, but that's ok. We're doing a late celebration.
I'm not even bothering in checking FL, so if anyone wants me to see anything or tell me anything let me know.
So, like I said I had so much fun and it was pretty much non stop since we got there. I went with my dad and two of his co-worker's and one of the co-worker's kids (he was 18). That's how the whole trip got started with one of my dad's co-workers telling him about the killer deal she found to go to Vegas. One of the big points of going to Vegas was to see Love the Beatles Cirque de Soleil show. Of course the only two evenings we were there is when they show wasn't playing. I would have loved to see it and I do want to go back to Vegas, so I hope it'll still be playing there when I go back.
Thank you to everyone who gave me suggestions on what to see and do! Of course I couldn't do everything, but I did see a lot that you all recommended and I'm glad I did.
Vegas in (kind of) point form:
• We drove down to Bellingham, WA to fly to Vegas. However, they did change our flight so that we would fly from Bellingham to Seattle (a 22 minute flight, wtf?) to make a connection to go to Las Vegas. However we lucked out big time. My dad happened to mention how pointless it was to connect in Seattle when we were checking in, and the ticket agent said that they did have a direct flight to Vegas and we could switch. The reason we didn't know about this was because it was the first day of their summer timetable, so we jumped at that. Didn't want to waste 4 hours in Seattle. But the best part? We were upgraded to First Class!!! I've never flown first class before and it was awesome. It was a small plane so it was overly grand, but the seats were so much more comfortable and we get all the free drinks we could. :D
• We stayed at the Excalibur which we all dubbed the 'Lego Land' Hotel since it was so cute. I never thought I'd get to stay in a castle. :P Dad, however didn't realize that it was still legal to smoke inside the casino's/places in Vegas so he really didn't like that. Other than small problem he was fine.
• I love Vegas because if I want a full meal at 4 in the morning I just just go get one. It really is a 24 hour city, which is nice since I'm more of a night person than a day person. I also love that shops are open until 11 or more.
• I don't think I've seen more fried food in my life.
• The heat. I was all freaking out because it was supposed to be 37°C+ (101°F+) on the days we were there. Since most of you said it was a dry heat that did make a difference. I didn't go outside for a ton of time, but when I did I was surprised as to how bad I didn't feel. Yes, it was hot and I didn't like it, but I wasn't horribly uncomfortable either. Like I said, everywhere was air conditioned, so it was super easy to just go in somewhere to cool off. I also have never bought that much bottled water in such a short space of time in my entire life. I kept myself hydrated or as hydrated as I could, so I didn't feel sick or anything.
• The first day we were there we organized all the shows we were going to see and bought tickets. The hotel offered several deals ect. and we ended up purchasing tickets to go see Tournament of Kings and Criss Angel's Believe with Cirque de Soleil. They also offered some attraction packages, so I picked out to go see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor, the roller coaster at New York New York and the Sponge Bob 4-D ride. Dad opted out of the roller coaster and instead went to CSI: The Experience at the MGM Grand with his friend.
• The Titanic exhibit was just so beautiful and so haunting. If you have not seen this then if you ever get a chance you should go. The stuff they brought up from the bottom? I cannot believe it. To see actual pieces of clothing and jewellery people wore... it made it all the more real and sad.
• I went to the Venetian and saw the gondolas and the shopping inside. It was beautiful and I can't get over the detail and imagination of the place.
• My dad and his friend went to see the Jersey Boys musical at the Palazzo. While there I gambled a bit and won $21.80 on the slots! \o/ And the slots were Star Trek slots, so my prayers to Spock were answered. Kinda... I asked for a couple of thousand. XD
• The next day I went to the MGM Grand and saw the lion habitat and I got about 2 feet away from a lion (there was plexi glass between us). They were so beautiful and big! I wish I could have spent all day there.
• Unfortunately when I went to go on the roller coaster at New York New York it was closed due to it being too windy. :( I tried to go back later to see if it was open again, but I ran out of time. I'm kind of bummed I didn't get to go on it, but I'd rather live than get blown off of a roller coaster going at a million miles an hour.
• Since my dad had his hip replacement two years ago he can't walk or do activities all day like he used to, so while he rested his hip I walked (yes, outside on the strip) to the Paris to check it out. My dad's friend came with me and we took a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower, which was 540 tall. I got the full 360° view of Vegas from the top.
• After the Paris we went to check out the Bellagio hotel. I felt like I was spending thousands of dollars just walking through it. I even went into Chanel and everyone ignored me. :D Pretty Woman much? LOL Anyway, gorgeous hotel and beautiful artwork. I wish I could have gone into the gallery of fine art, but we just ran out of time. I'm still glad I went through it though. I had a gelato in there as well and brought home the gelato cup for my mum.
• The Tournament of Kings was freaking hilarious and awesome. For those of you who don't know, it is a dinner show where you eat around an arena and they put on a show based on King Arthur and the other kings of Europe. While you have dinner you are not given any utensils or anything to help eat your meal (except a napkin and wipes), so I had to eat my soup, chicken, broccoli, potatoes, roll and apple Danish with my hands. All the kings of Europe? Freakin' hot. We sat in Russia and the Russian king was really cute. They also had the male servants in leather speedo's with tights and boots. I loved it. XD After the show the guy who played the King of Russia came by with his horse and I got to pet him (the horse, sadly not the King).
• Once the tournament was over I went shopping before the Criss Angel Cirque show. I love shopping in Vegas. I didn't have a lot of money, but looking around there is just as fun.
• The Criss Angel Believe show was great. I wouldn't say it was the best ever, but I really enjoyed it. First of all we had tickets that were third row from the top of the theatre, but the usher asked if we wanted to sit closer so we all go upgraded to the 10th row! That was awesome. The costumes, set, props and dancers were all so glorious. The show itself was a bit disappointing. Criss did the standard illusions and I wasn't really 'blown away' like I expected to be, but I was still happy to see it. Overall I'd give it a 3 out of 5.
Sadly that was the end of the trip and we had to leave the next morning. I think we could have used one more full day to get in everything each of us wanted to see, but for what I was able to cram in I was pretty happy. On our way home we were upgraded to First Class on our flight again. :D
Great trip, wish it was longer, but still glad for the time I had there. I will definitely go back and maybe next time without a parental unit so I could go to some of the more 'adult' stuff by myself (I wanted to see Thunder Down Under XD).
I took tons of pictures and have uploaded them to my Facebook. If you want to see the full set you can go here.
A few photos:
Me in my Sherlock Holmes hat (I'll post a pic of it later so you can see what I did to really make it a SH hat) and the new earrings I bought. :D
Me and Sponge Bob!
The Venetian.
Shopping at The Venetian (this is all inside on the second floor).
Nine Fine Irishmen, a pub in the New York New York.
Kitty!
The Paris.
Shadow of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Eiffel Tower on the Paris.
At the Bellagio.
The Bellagio lobby had all these glass flowers hanging from it.
The King of Russia and his horse, Phoenix from Tournament of Kings.
Couldn't leave without saying hi to The King.
Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! I was really touched. It didn't really feel like my birthday down there, I guess because it's been so long I've been away I was more in vacation mode. Plus it was my first birthday without seeing my mum, but that's ok. We're doing a late celebration.
I'm not even bothering in checking FL, so if anyone wants me to see anything or tell me anything let me know.
So, like I said I had so much fun and it was pretty much non stop since we got there. I went with my dad and two of his co-worker's and one of the co-worker's kids (he was 18). That's how the whole trip got started with one of my dad's co-workers telling him about the killer deal she found to go to Vegas. One of the big points of going to Vegas was to see Love the Beatles Cirque de Soleil show. Of course the only two evenings we were there is when they show wasn't playing. I would have loved to see it and I do want to go back to Vegas, so I hope it'll still be playing there when I go back.
Thank you to everyone who gave me suggestions on what to see and do! Of course I couldn't do everything, but I did see a lot that you all recommended and I'm glad I did.
Vegas in (kind of) point form:
• We drove down to Bellingham, WA to fly to Vegas. However, they did change our flight so that we would fly from Bellingham to Seattle (a 22 minute flight, wtf?) to make a connection to go to Las Vegas. However we lucked out big time. My dad happened to mention how pointless it was to connect in Seattle when we were checking in, and the ticket agent said that they did have a direct flight to Vegas and we could switch. The reason we didn't know about this was because it was the first day of their summer timetable, so we jumped at that. Didn't want to waste 4 hours in Seattle. But the best part? We were upgraded to First Class!!! I've never flown first class before and it was awesome. It was a small plane so it was overly grand, but the seats were so much more comfortable and we get all the free drinks we could. :D
• We stayed at the Excalibur which we all dubbed the 'Lego Land' Hotel since it was so cute. I never thought I'd get to stay in a castle. :P Dad, however didn't realize that it was still legal to smoke inside the casino's/places in Vegas so he really didn't like that. Other than small problem he was fine.
• I love Vegas because if I want a full meal at 4 in the morning I just just go get one. It really is a 24 hour city, which is nice since I'm more of a night person than a day person. I also love that shops are open until 11 or more.
• I don't think I've seen more fried food in my life.
• The heat. I was all freaking out because it was supposed to be 37°C+ (101°F+) on the days we were there. Since most of you said it was a dry heat that did make a difference. I didn't go outside for a ton of time, but when I did I was surprised as to how bad I didn't feel. Yes, it was hot and I didn't like it, but I wasn't horribly uncomfortable either. Like I said, everywhere was air conditioned, so it was super easy to just go in somewhere to cool off. I also have never bought that much bottled water in such a short space of time in my entire life. I kept myself hydrated or as hydrated as I could, so I didn't feel sick or anything.
• The first day we were there we organized all the shows we were going to see and bought tickets. The hotel offered several deals ect. and we ended up purchasing tickets to go see Tournament of Kings and Criss Angel's Believe with Cirque de Soleil. They also offered some attraction packages, so I picked out to go see the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor, the roller coaster at New York New York and the Sponge Bob 4-D ride. Dad opted out of the roller coaster and instead went to CSI: The Experience at the MGM Grand with his friend.
• The Titanic exhibit was just so beautiful and so haunting. If you have not seen this then if you ever get a chance you should go. The stuff they brought up from the bottom? I cannot believe it. To see actual pieces of clothing and jewellery people wore... it made it all the more real and sad.
• I went to the Venetian and saw the gondolas and the shopping inside. It was beautiful and I can't get over the detail and imagination of the place.
• My dad and his friend went to see the Jersey Boys musical at the Palazzo. While there I gambled a bit and won $21.80 on the slots! \o/ And the slots were Star Trek slots, so my prayers to Spock were answered. Kinda... I asked for a couple of thousand. XD
• The next day I went to the MGM Grand and saw the lion habitat and I got about 2 feet away from a lion (there was plexi glass between us). They were so beautiful and big! I wish I could have spent all day there.
• Unfortunately when I went to go on the roller coaster at New York New York it was closed due to it being too windy. :( I tried to go back later to see if it was open again, but I ran out of time. I'm kind of bummed I didn't get to go on it, but I'd rather live than get blown off of a roller coaster going at a million miles an hour.
• Since my dad had his hip replacement two years ago he can't walk or do activities all day like he used to, so while he rested his hip I walked (yes, outside on the strip) to the Paris to check it out. My dad's friend came with me and we took a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower, which was 540 tall. I got the full 360° view of Vegas from the top.
• After the Paris we went to check out the Bellagio hotel. I felt like I was spending thousands of dollars just walking through it. I even went into Chanel and everyone ignored me. :D Pretty Woman much? LOL Anyway, gorgeous hotel and beautiful artwork. I wish I could have gone into the gallery of fine art, but we just ran out of time. I'm still glad I went through it though. I had a gelato in there as well and brought home the gelato cup for my mum.
• The Tournament of Kings was freaking hilarious and awesome. For those of you who don't know, it is a dinner show where you eat around an arena and they put on a show based on King Arthur and the other kings of Europe. While you have dinner you are not given any utensils or anything to help eat your meal (except a napkin and wipes), so I had to eat my soup, chicken, broccoli, potatoes, roll and apple Danish with my hands. All the kings of Europe? Freakin' hot. We sat in Russia and the Russian king was really cute. They also had the male servants in leather speedo's with tights and boots. I loved it. XD After the show the guy who played the King of Russia came by with his horse and I got to pet him (the horse, sadly not the King).
• Once the tournament was over I went shopping before the Criss Angel Cirque show. I love shopping in Vegas. I didn't have a lot of money, but looking around there is just as fun.
• The Criss Angel Believe show was great. I wouldn't say it was the best ever, but I really enjoyed it. First of all we had tickets that were third row from the top of the theatre, but the usher asked if we wanted to sit closer so we all go upgraded to the 10th row! That was awesome. The costumes, set, props and dancers were all so glorious. The show itself was a bit disappointing. Criss did the standard illusions and I wasn't really 'blown away' like I expected to be, but I was still happy to see it. Overall I'd give it a 3 out of 5.
Sadly that was the end of the trip and we had to leave the next morning. I think we could have used one more full day to get in everything each of us wanted to see, but for what I was able to cram in I was pretty happy. On our way home we were upgraded to First Class on our flight again. :D
Great trip, wish it was longer, but still glad for the time I had there. I will definitely go back and maybe next time without a parental unit so I could go to some of the more 'adult' stuff by myself (I wanted to see Thunder Down Under XD).
I took tons of pictures and have uploaded them to my Facebook. If you want to see the full set you can go here.
A few photos:
Me in my Sherlock Holmes hat (I'll post a pic of it later so you can see what I did to really make it a SH hat) and the new earrings I bought. :D
Me and Sponge Bob!
The Venetian.
Shopping at The Venetian (this is all inside on the second floor).
Nine Fine Irishmen, a pub in the New York New York.
Kitty!
The Paris.
Shadow of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Eiffel Tower on the Paris.
At the Bellagio.
The Bellagio lobby had all these glass flowers hanging from it.
The King of Russia and his horse, Phoenix from Tournament of Kings.
Couldn't leave without saying hi to The King.