And so to Sin City for 3 days of indulgence and inappropriate amounts of spending. Just to continue the theme of great accommodation, we were pleasantly surprised to hear we had been upgraded to a suite in our first hotel, Bally’s. Although a little tired with decor reminiscent of the 80s or early 90s, the room we were given’s size made up for any such misgivings - no joke, it must have had a square footage to rival our own house back in Nottingham. We had a bar, 2 living areas, a dining table, a sunken bath, his and her’s bathroom areas and a humungous double bed all placed in two separate spacious rooms. The view over the ‘Eiffel Tower’ wasn’t half bad either.
So much space, so little time!
Being that we were in Vegas we thought it best to not fall in the trap of spending too much time in our room, and so ventured out that evening (still with the family in tow) to paint the town red. We started off sipping cocktails, before moving on to a bit of ‘cheap and cheerful’ casino nearby for Karaoke. Having practised the routine in Cusco, I opted for a repeat performance of ‘These boots are made for walking’, while Katie took to the stage for a rendition of ‘I love rock and roll’. Lots of fun was had by all and we spent time sipping on 2 dollar daiquiris and soaking up the unique atmosphere. After having been in the Californian ‘bubble’ for the past few weeks, it seemed as though Vegas was the perfect stage for introducing us to a more representative view of America. There was a real mix of people from all the different states enjoying the evening entertainment and I felt I was getting more of an insight into the diversity of this huge country, something that I was keen to get my head around. People were, once again, hugely friendly and we met some real characters that evening, including a women who was telling me all about her belief in aliens (!). I tried to get her to do Nirvana with me on karaoke but she unfortunately had to leave (or so she said!).
After our singing jaunt, we headed off to the Encore nightclub for a spot of drinking and dancing. As one of the premier nightspots in Vegas, clubbing here came at a cost and we all winced at the prices as we pay for our drinks. Nonetheless, the club, that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the film ‘Save the Last Dance’, provided a fun night of dancing and another insight into another face of the Vegas scene.
Party time:
The next day we headed to the more upmarket casino, The Bellagio, which came in at $300 a night, a ridiculous amount to spend on a backpacker’s budget. We soon realised that the price tag was justifiable as we ambled into the beautifully decadent foyer and looked on the swanky bars, multiple indoor gardens and the quaint butterfly house. The Bellagio is also famed for its incredible fountains, that we were lucky enough to look out on from our room. To make matters even better, we discovered that we had been upgraded AGAIN to a twin suite on the exclusive 29th floor, only accessible by the private lifts. If we thought we had lucked out at Bally’s, we felt as though we were living in a dream when we entered our Bellagio room.
My favourite part of The Bellagio - the flower-filled foyer:
And our fabulous suite, with the perfect Vegas view:
Aside from gawping at our amazing room, the 2nd day in Vegas was also spent enjoying the Bellagio's famous all-you-can-eat buffet (never seen so many different cuisines under one roof), discovering the other hotel/ casinos on the strip (visiting Venice, Paris and ancient Rome along the way) and finishing it all off with a trip to see The Lion King stage show. Now, we all know that the Disney film was a bit of a tearjerker (especially during Musafa's death), but would you have guessed that the show had me and my sister's waterworks going from the opening bars of 'Circle of Life'? It must have been something to do with all the amazing animal puppets jumping around, or the stirring vocals from the lady playing Rafiki.... whatever it was, something managed to get us started! We soon cheered up, though, and continued to enjoy this spectacle of a show.
The 3rd day was initially a rather sad one as we would have to say goodbye to my family. We had been traveling together for getting on for 3 weeks now and now was the time to bid farewell for another 2 months before our arrival back home. After a few more tears shed (I still blame The Lion King) Ash and I prepared to move to the slightly less upmarket hotel, 'Circus Circus', where we were to stay for the 3rd night.
Having been used to the grandiose of The Bellagio, we decided to escape 'Circus Circus' for the evening and head to 'Winn', apparently the most expensive casino on the block. Here we enjoyed a gorgeous Japanese meal and continued our new found obsession with slot machines, figuring that if we played for 1 cent each time we could sit and drink for free for hours on end! We actually managed to do quite well on the slots on the 3rd day and think we completed our session up on money (probably a first for Vegas!). The thrill of starting with a dollar and coming out with 40 was brilliant and we could see how these things could get addictive. However, being the sensible people we are we managed to pull ourselves away before we could lose our earnings (or save them to go towards our poker game that evening).
Upon returning to Circus Circus, Ash and I finally plucked up the courage to get involved in a game of poker, something that we had been really apprehensive about doing. I was scared that everyone would be really good and that there would be bullyish and aggressive play, but it turned out that the players were friendly, just wanting to have a good time, like ourselves. Ash and I committed ourselves to the minimum $60 buy-in, eventually doubling our money before checking out. I think we both won a couple of hands - one of mine being particularly sweet, beating 2 guys with royal pairs with my triple 4s. I was 'all-in' at this point so was glad to be able to continue playing.
After our successful night of poker, we retired to our less than glamorous hotel room (not worthy of a photo!) and prepared to our next venture to Austin, Texas, where we would pick up our first hire car and 'hit the road'.
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