20/09/2013:
After two relaxing days in very hot Palm Springs, it was time to leave our little cocoon of serenity and coziness to make our way to the next destination: Las Vegas. We prepped for a 4hr drive and off we went! Once back on the highway, we found ourselves in the midst of the desert-landscape like the one we drove through when we arrived in Palm Springs. We could not stop being amazed by it! It made me wonder why I lived in Belgium if there are so many other beautiful places in this world. Gazing through the carwindow, daydreaming, I looked at the sky with its wonderful vibrant blue color, with the sun burning on my skin through the glass, I felt pure happiness! I watched the endless road stretching out in front of us and feeling the excitement of new adventures ahead, freedom... Really enjoying the peace and calm while reading a book, when I noticed that the radio was no longer working, we forgot the CDs at home meaning that Michael would have a very boring drive if I wouldn't entertain him. I decided to read pieces of "The Revenge of Prada" to him, as I was reading it anyways! LOL :) It was actually very tiring reading out loud, but I'd do anything for my love, it also gave us another sense of intimacy... During this drive we also made some video's and stopped a few times, so the hours flew by without us even noticing!
It was already 6:30PM when we could see the lights of Sin City appearing in the distance. So surreal to know that this crazy city has been build in the middle of the desert, for one purpose only: entertainment of the people, like one big never-ending party. We finally arrived at the "Welcome to Vegas"-sign, where we also entered the famous Strip with all its hotels and casinos, one more extravagant than the other. It was just unbelievable! We had chosen to first drive to our hotel, which was located Downtown, than freshen-up and go look for a restaurant. So, that's what we did! The hotel was nothing special, but it was cheap and clean. We took a quick shower and went out to experience the crazy nightlife of Las Vegas. As our hotel was located Downtown we had to drive to the Strip and find parking. We were lucky that Sin City has an abundance of parkinglots and many of them were for free! I used the Vegas website to research which ones didn't require any fees. Once we parked our car, we walked towards Planet Hollywood on the hunt for some food. It was already 9PM and we wanted to eat something fast and simple, so we found an Italian restaurant which had some basic meals and looked nice. After our dinner we explored the never sleeping city!
We walked further towards to beginning of the Strip, where the hotels are located which have been there for ages like the Excalibur, Luxor, MGM Grand and so many more! First we entered Excalibur as I stayed there while I was a kid, it was my first vacation in the States with my parents. Happy memories! I never gambled in a casino before or made use of the slotmachines, so I really wanted to play an old-school machine with the handle! But nowadays it is all electronic with just buttons and the handle was just for show... Interesting fact (for smokers only): in the casino area you are allowed to smoke! After losing some money to the machines and having some drinks, we continued to visit other hotels like: New York New York, The Cosmopolitan, Aria, Monte Carlo, Planet Hollywood, etc... At a certain point our feet started aching from all the walking! When we checked the time, we knew why! We've been wandering around for 6 hours, it was already 4AM! You can say that Las Vegas had us that night! Completely exhausted we arrived at our hotel and called it a night. We had a fantastic first taste of Vegas and for the following day we planned to do more sightseeing!
21/09/2013:
The next morning we had a late start and woke up around 11AM! That's the consequence of staying up till early morning! LOL! After taking a shower, we made our way back to the strip and searched some food! My aunt told me that she found a Filipino fast food restaurant called Kapit Bahay when she visited Vegas on her last trip to the States. I really wanted to try it and convinced Michael of going there for lunch. :) We parked at one of the hotels and continued on foot. When we arrived at the restaurant, I was all excited as they had all my favorite Filipino foods!!! Michael took the beef kaldereta and I took squid adobo, it was soooooo delicious!!! Until that moment I only had home cooked Filipino food when visiting my Mom or at family gatherings, it was nice to have another taste for once. After lunch we made our way to the other hotels like the Bellagio, Paris, Bally's, Caesars Palace, the Venetian and Treasure Island... One hotel more fascinating than the other, as they were so wonderfully designed! Those are little cities, no longer normal hotels! It was really amazing to experience the excitement of people who were gambling, having their fun at a poker table, roulette or the machines... Partially fear, partially adrenaline of having all or nothing! You just couldn't get bored of walking through all these hotels, as there were plenty of shops and restaurants to choose from! Whatever your heart desired you could find it there! Entertainment for every age!:)
The previous night we've been offered many deals for nightclubs and that day it was no different, so one of these promoters near Caesars Palace had put our names on the guest list for PURE that night! Before midnight ladies entered for free and also an open bar till then. We were looking forward to a fun night out in the clubs! But first we walked into the Caesars Palace to see what they had there! It was amazing how they painted the ceilings, so realistically done that you could imagine yourself walking outside!
Also the Venetian was so amazing, as they made canals outside like in Venice itself, even with gondola rides! So much eye for detail the design crew had when creating these pieces of art! After going in and out of hotels and stopping for some drinks and snacks, we finally wanted to unwind a bit, as again we were walking for hours!!! So we sat down at the outside bar of Treasure Island, Michael ordered our drinks and I wanted him to surprise me... He came back with these 2 huge yard cups filled with frozen margaritas! I wondered how I would ever finish this without passing out! LOL :)
Slowly we started drinking the cocktail and halfway our drink, we walked to the fountain show of the Bellagio! By then I already got a little tipsy, but we had to get back to our hotel to prepare for dinner and our night out! So we stopped drinking and took our car to make our way back. Once in the room, we both were so tired from all the walking and from that alcohol in our blood, that our bed was calling us! So we said to each other that we would just take a nap of 30 minutes and than start making ourselves presentable again... Well, that nap of 30 minutes, became one of 2 hours!!! It was already 8PM and we had to get some dinner! So we took a shower, called a taxi and went to one of the food courts in a hotel near Caesars Palace. This time we just had some fast food, as our original plan was to go to one of these world buffets Vegas is known for, but due to our long nap it was already too late for such a big meal. After dinner we headed to PURE nightclub at Caesars Palace to start our fun night! At the door of the club, we had to show our passports and we only paid Michael's entrance cause mine was free. The club was fancy but not big, it had a VIP area and a nice dance floor. We searched a place next to the dance floor where all the action is and I went to the bar to accept our "free" drinks. I placed my order and when our drinks arrived they told me how much I had to pay. I asked the bartender why I had to pay for them, as there was an open bar until 12AM! He gave me a lame excuse by saying that it was only until 10PM, but it was getting too crowded at the bar so I was forced to pay to get the queue going. I shared my frustrations with the woman next to me and she told me "What's an open bar nowadays here in Vegas?", she had a point... Although I haven't been to an open bar at Vegas before, I knew that nothing comes for free in this world. Back at the dance floor with Michael, we goofed around a bit and had our "Not so free" drinks and left. We walked towards Aria and found someone who promoted a club named Haze, the offer seemed not too bad so we went to the door. Both of us had to pay entrance, but men had to pay more and there we would get 1 free drink each. This club was funkier, it had really cool lights on the wall which flashed on the beat of the music and there were also dancers with sexy outfits! We liked the club already! This time we both went to the bar and really had a free drink and several more! We had a nice spot next to the dance floor, so we danced the night away or at least till my feet were aching and continued dancing on my bare feet! :) We had so much fun at that club and the people were also super friendly! When back in Vegas we surely would go there again! It was already early morning, all exhausted but yet fulfilled we grabbed a cab which brought us safely to our hotel!
22/09/2013:
The next morning we had to checkout at 12PM, so we got up at 11 to make ourselves ready. With very small eyes and still tired from our night out, we packed all our belongings into the car and off we went to find food! This time we went to The Buffet at Treasure Island and had an epic meal time!! It was really delicious! That for sure woke us up immediately! :) After stuffing ourselves, we had a walk around in Treasure Island to help our digestion. When some time passed we took the car and drove to the last hotel we wanted to visit, Luxor, the pyramid shaped building where Criss Angel the illusionist gave his shows. We didn't stay too long as we were tired and we still had to drive to Flagstaff near Grand Canyon, our next destination! We decided to buy food at Kapit Bahay to heat-up in the hotel that evening, so we stopped there first. We bought some kaldereta, munggo(mung beans dish), squid adobo and Halo-Halo! Back at the car, with the food safely stored away and me eating the Halo-Halo, we left this crazy city with all its pleasures and all our sins behind us...
This is the end of Part VI, stay tuned for Part VII when we went to visit the Grand Canyon! If you enjoyed reading this, go on and subscribe to the blog for weekly updates! Until next week!
