Waking up in our one bedroom suite in early looking out at the infamous Vegas strip was a humbling memory from 2016. As cheesy as it sounds, I’ve come a long way (literally) in the past few years and travelling has really helped me find myself and overcome certain things (like the dreaded quarter life crisis). It’s definitely the planning, the preparation and taking you out of your comfort zone that helps.
Life is way too short to stay in one place forever. If you can, get out there. I’m not saying quit your 9-5 and head to the airport, but more like manage your time and money and try to make it happen. Obviously, it isn’t a priority, surviving is. But in this day and age it’s easy to get caught up in the mundane cycle of life and forget that there is SO much out there to experience, eat and explore…
Anyway, back to Viva Las Vegas…
We got ready and I quickly Googled somewhere to go for breakfast, that being IHOP which was around a 5 minute Uber journey from the Trump Vegas (sorry guys). I’ve been in America tons of times and never experienced iHOP – my mind rushed to that episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch where she was inundated with pancakes, what more could you want …right?
All I can say is that I would NEVER eat at iHOP again (I can only imagine it must be like what those detox teas do to your insides…) and you should avoid it if you can too. Some things are never as good as they seem. After the international hell of pancakes (ha), we had a quick look around the Stratosphere, grabbed yet another Uber to Planet Hollywood and decided we’d use our day to explore Vegas. In contrast to my trip in the summer of 2015, I actually hadn’t done much exploring, perhaps due to the heat and perhaps even more due to the heat. I will take the advice of the internet and never go in August again where temperatures are in the 40C range. Even thinking about it now is making me sweat.Thankfully I’d worn my trainers to explore rather than flimsy sandals that’d cut into my feet and leave me feeling miserable. This is where I show my age but I’m going for more comfort over styles on my travels these days. Hello Crocs (#fbloggers).
We walked through the opposite end of the Strip going through hotels such as: New York New York, The Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and Treasure Island. Let’s just say these aren’t my cup of tea apart from Mandalay Bay (the shark tank is so cool) but worth a look anyway. One word of a warning is that you may get approached by some people for a timeshare meeting, a simple no won’t do, but my answer is always that I’m leaving the next day (pure lies) and have last minute bits to do. I knew everything was bigger in America, but you only realise how big it is when it takes you 10-15 minutes to walk through every hotel on the Vegas. Despite all the signage and stopping every now and then to try our luck in the slot machine – you really do need time and energy on your hands.
After being bothered at The Excalibur to go to a timeshare meeting we realised we needed to make some plans for tonight so I remembered there was a Tix4Tonight stand not too far at the Planet Hollywood. If you’ve never heard of Tix4Tonight, they provide fairly cheap tickets to all the shows in Vegas but they can only be purchased at the stands. Seeing as Vegas is one of the most entertaining cities in the world, it was only right we saw a critically acclaimed show. That being in the form of The Chippendales. Our tickets worked out as half price and we managed to get pretty good seats considering it was a few hours before the show. I’m a strong believer in the idea of not paying more, when you can pay less.
We then walked back down the Strip, meandering in an out of each hotel not before stopping at Treasure Island for some cocktails. I love a happy hour and you gotta indulge when you’re on holiday and especially after clocking up over 15,000 steps in a day.
The Chippendales show was at the Rio, so we went back to our suite, chilled out for a bit before getting ready. If I can remember correctly, we ordered some Chinese via UberEats which was annoyingly late leaving us mere minutes to get to the show. Nothing says good night out more than shovelling rice in your mouth and trying to put on lipstick.
I definitely needed a drink before watching the Chippendales so I bought a few beers before heading into the show. It was full of groups celebrating birthdays and hen-dos and there was me and my friend here to see what the fuss was about. All I can say is after witnessing it – I hadn’t felt that kind of happiness in ages and I’m now following the whole cast on Instagram. They are incredibly talented and clearly dedicated to what they do, so if you’re ever in town and stuck between Thunder from Down Under and Chippendales, I’d go with the later.
Although, Magic Mike is set to come to Vegas this year, so it’s only right I visit again, compare them all and update you all…
And if you’re judging me, I don’t care because…
Yes, I purchased this.
You can read the rest of my LA/Vegas adventures here:
Char xo
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