Las Vegas

Las Vegas was the first stop on our honeymoon, and what a why to start our special get away. Vegas was a place I was never too eager to visit, because we don’t drink or gamble. And thinking back is very naive, having been there now, there is so much more to do. I would definitely even stop by Las Vegas as part of a family holiday.

Vegas in July, was stinking hot. We’ve never felt heat like it. Every single part of our body felt like a hair dryer was attacking us. We have also never tried to stay out of the sun so much by hopping from shop to shade to hotel. But we couldn’t complain, the sun does make everything better!

However, our first night in Vegas. We got some pretty horrific rain. And apparently Vegas hadn’t received any rain at all for a good eight or nine months. Epic views of it from our hotels giant window. But you wouldn’t have believed it with the ridiculously hot weather we had.

Las Vegas Airport and taxi

Once we arrived at the airport, waited for a bit at security (I always expect this when arriving in America) and collected our bags. It was a pretty smooth process. And the airport was just Vegas, with the Las Vegas sign printed on the floor. Literally stepping into LAS Airport it kick started our holiday.

We head straight outside of the airport and jumped into a cab to our hotel. It took no longer than a 15 minute drive including traffic. Think of how busy Vegas is, and how close the airport is to the strip. It was a super smooth process, one that we didn’t need to plan ahead.

MGM Grand

Being our honeymoon, we thought we would splash out. But I found the deal of a lifetime that meant we were far from splashing out! As we are both keen deal finders, I can’t remember the specifics, but finding a great price on booking.com for the MGM , it was a no brainer. I then gained cashback through topcashback.com, and then having an account on booking.com, as well as already having booked our stays for the rest of our honeymoon, I got money off our stay. SO, we ended up paying are whopping £44 for 2 nights in Vegas!

Once we arrived in our hotel, we upgraded our room, it was immense! But before I get on to our room details. This hotel lobby was unreal, so grand and vast, and shiny.

Our room was a master suite. You walked in to a wardrobe to your left and a kitchenette to your right. Straight ahead was a living space and huge window. Then turning to your right, was a huge king-size bed with a TV and more units for storage, again with a huge window with amazing views to wake up to. The bathroom was the best bit, with a his and hers sink, followed by a decent sized shower and a hot tub bath! Not to forget how spacious the entire suite was. It was a pure dream.

I wish we had longer at our hotel, it was huge and had so much going on inside of it. We could have spent an entire day just exploring our hotel alone. We did watch some football at the bars here, that had slot machines at the tables. The hotel overall, gives off quite a good vibe. Very clean, grand and pretty safe.

Our hotel was in a perfect location, albeit being at one end of the strip. It was close to everything we wanted to visit. And had good public transport right outside of the hotel. We used a bus twice, that was super cheap. It was a pass, valid for time limits, so you get your moneys worth, rather than paying for single trips here and there.

We paid for breakfast at our hotel for one of the mornings, as Rich visited MGM when he was younger and remembered the insane breakfast buffet. He was right, it was insane. So much food to choose from, and a wide variety. My favourite was definitely the funnel cake fries, if you know, you know. Yum!

Hard Rock Cafe

Our first stop was for food at Hard Rock Cafe (obviously). It had been along day already, from an early flight to then arriving into Vegas around midday. A Hard Rock Cafe was definitely on the cards. We pre-booked our meal through Expedia with a Diamond meal plan. We’ve done this a lot now, save you a little money, money that you don’t have to keep aside for food. They always cost between £20 and £30 each, but covers you for a starter, main and desert and a soft drink.

Being in Vegas in July, it was HOT. From walking from our hotel down to Hard Rock, the heat must have taken it out of us already, that we just could not finish our food. Never-the-less, our food was delicious, and a soda-stream Coke was the best thing to have.

And as per usual, the staff were tip-top. Amazing and so welcoming, they even gave us complimentary shots to celebrate the start of our honeymoon.

The restaurant was so big, and felt like it was designed ever so slightly different. We went around midday, so the restaurant wasn’t too busy. But I imagine in the evening, the vibes are sooooo good and booming!

The Rio featuring Penn and Teller (not)

So, as a Christmas present, we got tickets to see Penn and Teller at the Rio, and it was also a meet and greet with them after the show. I mean, how cool is that.

The show was on the same day as our arrival to Vegas, so a pretty cool way to start off our honeymoon. When you look at the Vegas strip, the Rio isn’t on it. It’s a few streets over, where most people would jump in cab. But We like to walk to see everything, so we walked, and it felt like it took forever.

We arrive at the Rio, for the guy at the reception to tell us that the shows have been cancelled due to one of Penn and Teller being ill…I’m sure you could imagine our faces. Pretty fuming.

We then decided to jump back in a cab outside the Rio, back to the strip and explore. So this could have been a really cool story, but sadly not. I apologies.

The Strip

The Las Vegas Strip is like no other. You go to do nothing but jump in and out of hotels – because each hotel is like an attraction in itself – almost like Disney Worlds Epcot! We wandered the strip day and night, at all hours – and it just never rests. Although, getting up bright and early in Vegas, seeing few people about, most going for morning runs, was what we enjoyed most. Super relaxing, that American heat. You can’t beat it.

We visited so many hotels that I couldn’t even list them all, but all are unique and impressive in their own way. All we kept saying to each other was “someone has designed and built this”. The hotels are out-of-this-world.

A few hotels totally stood out to us, aside to the amazing MGM Grand as mentioned above. We absolutely fell in love with The Venetian. Having visited Venice before, it was like being back there. It was so Italian, so grand, and so accurate to Italian architecture. Even outside of the hotel are canals that take you through the hotel, and you could go on gondola rides, for real!

Fountains at The Bellagio are phenomenal. And then you also have Caesars Palace that is so vast, that hotel just seems to keep going and going. The day we visited here, was after our ranch day – we were both so delirious, we’ve never felt tiredness like it. So wandering round a pretty large hotel, lets say we did find ourselves getting lost. Mariah Carey was the latest star to have a residency at Caesars Palace. It was interesting to see. Because in the hotel, was a Mariah Carey shop, filled with merchandise from her shows, which I thought was crazy.

Opposite our hotel (MGM) is the New York New York Hotel, we had a browse inside and ended up on the roller coaster that looks super cool…but in reality was sooo rickety. You do get some incredible views though. But probably not worth the head ache it gave us. Proper old school loop-de-loop, that probably needs a bit of WD40.

Another hotel was The Flamingo, it is one of the oldest hotels on the strip that is still going today. It stood out because of the art deco décor, and how traditional the casino it looked. If you imagine a casino, it would look like The Flamingo.

Between going in and out of hotels we visited so many little eateries mainly for drinks like Wahlburgers (we were so hot and dehydrated, that this soda-stream Coke will always be the BEST drink we have ever had!). We shopped in some ABC stores (we love this shop because they are Hawaiian, and it just reminded us of our time in O’ahu) for some tacky souvenirs, and just people watched this ridiculous place. It is a different world.

I mentioned at the start, that we are gamblers. So, we didn’t intend on wasting any of our money, bar for $5, and we won something silly back like $1.25. We can say we have gambled in Vegas now, ahaha!

Pawn Stars Shop

If you have watched the show Pawn Stars over on the History channel, you will know what shop I am on about. Rick Harrison’s Gold and Silver Pawn Shop. We love this show, so couldn’t just walk past the shop.

Part of the show is filmed here. But you can also have a tour if you book in advance, maybe meet the guys on the show too!

Wedding chapel

Close to Pawn Stars, we just happened to bump into thee wedding chapel, Graceland Chapel. The one that loads of stars have got married at like John Bon Jovi. You come here, and Elvis marry you, that would be a great story to tell!

We didn’t go inside. Just admired from the outside and got a little selfie. Have always wanted to see one, because it is definitely something you see a lot of in the films, but seeing it with our own eyes was another tick in the box.

Fremont Street

Everyone was telling us to visit Fremont Street, so we went for a stroll after visiting the Pawn Stars Shop and Wedding chapel. You can hop on a bus to make the journey quicker because it is like the opposite end of the strip. But we walked, so we got to see so much more.

Being on Fremont Street, I instantly knew it wasn’t for me. The only thing I was interested in was the Slotzilla zip line down the street, but once being on the street, If i’m honest I just wanted to leave.

Probably the only person who didn’t enjoy it. But it was just tacky Vegas, it was so rowdy, even in the early to middle of the afternoon. Lots of booze, lots of just madness going on. Carnage really. Might be your cup of tea, but definitely not ours.

Las Vegas Sign

What a lot of people don’t tell you, is that if you want to visit the Las Vegas sign, its a trek away! And in the other direction of the strip. From our hotel, it was a 30 minute walk. And a 30 minute walk in that summer heat was a tough one. But we did get to walk past and view Mandalay Bay hotel.

Huge tip for you, there will always be queues to have your photo taken here. But when you stand directly in front of the sign, you only see the sign and not the amazing sight of the strip behind you. If you stand out of the queue, and stand to the right of the sign, you get a great shot of the sign behind you along with the strip. You also skip the queue! We happened to start a trend by doing this, but it was 100% the better photo opportunity.

Keep your eyes peels for some Elvis impersonators here too! It was the only place we saw one.

Grand Canyon Western Ranch

On our second day in Las Vegas, we visited the Grand Canyon Western Ranch. We had a private pick up and drop off at our hotel, stopped by the Hoover Dam, Horse ride through the Arizonian dessert, Helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, home cooked food at the ranch and a sing song with the most amazing cowboy. You can read all about it here.

Overall

Looking back at our time in Las Vegas. We are both dying to go back again. We had such a lovely time but such a tiring time. To this date, and we now have a baby, never experienced tiredness like that day we got back from the ranch, then went on to exploring more of the strip.

I didn’t realise how big the Vegas strip was. So when you plan your visit, you may want to use a bit more public transport than we did.

When you think of Vegas, you think of gambling and drinking. And we could honestly say that there is so much more to it. That I would happily bring our baby boy, and visit Vegas again as part of a multi-city holiday. It’s a place to visit like no other.