I'm back from an exhilarating trip to Sin City... and it was one of the best vacations I've ever been on!
I'd never been to Vegas before, but luckily for me my best friend Lara had, so it was nice to be with someone who knew their way around Sin City.
Although Lara and I were beaming about our trip in the airport, we didn't get off to the best start. And by we, I mean me. We were waiting in a long line up to get through security, when I look to my right and see a man wearing a uniform walking towards me. You'd think because I travel a lot, I would know to keep my mouth shut when someone in a uniform approaches you in an airport, but somehow this time, I forgot...
The man came directly towards me and asked to see my passport. I loudly responded "Are you SERIOUS??" because I couldn't understand why he was singling me out of the entire line. I guess that was the wrong thing to say. Actually, I guess saying anything to him, instead of just handing him my passport, would have been wrong. As soon as I said that, he said "come with me." Lara gave me the look of death and rolled her eyes for my stupidity as I followed the man into a little room.
He asked me to lift my suitcase so he could look inside. I told him that if he wanted to look in it, he'd have to help me lift it because it was too heavy... that didn't go too well. I think he went to the school of no-smiles, because his face was literally made of stone.
And of course, me being me, I'm talking incredibly fast and loud, trying to get him to laugh and break the awkward tension. Nothing. Nada. Zip. I get it, it's his job to be serious- but I couldn't help but talk! It's what I do! So FINALLY after looking through my suitcase (which was packed disastrously, I might add...) he let me close it up and I was allowed to rejoin my friend outside- I did get him to smile when I left though. Maybe he was smiling because I left? Who knows... Lara and I were off to Vegas after that!!
If you've been to Vegas... you'll understand why I'm summing up the place simply like this: WOW. I know, it's not the most intelligent way to put it... but the place IS just that! Just WOW! It's like a whole other world! The lights, the over the top hotels, the people! I've never walked on such crowded streets at night in my life!
Lots of the hotels in Vegas have themes- there's New York New York (complete with a roller coaster on top of the hotel) The Hard Rock Hotel with tons of rock n roll memorobilia, and of course lots more crazy looking hotels. We stayed at Paris, which looked like France was crammed into a hotel. It was pretty cool actually, on our plane there was a guy who was my age who came along with his parents for the trip, they ended up being on the same shuttle as us to get to Paris, and were sitting near us on the flight back, so it was nice to see a semi-familiar face around the hotel. I've made some great friends over the years from vacations. Back to our hotel... there was a lot of frenchness (is that a word?) going on inside there. The restaurant names in the hotel, even in the elevator a woman speaks french to you. Whenever we told people at the hotel we were from Canada, they assumed we spoke French. Unfortunately, I paid no attention in french class, and people were sadly disappointed when I'd yell out "What does that mean??"
We headed over to Treasure Island, a pirate themed hotel, and wanted to see a pirate show that is put on at night. I should mention on the plane on the way to Vegas there was a really attractive guy sitting a row over from us- he was like Hollywood gorgeous. Tanned, wavy brown shoulder length hair, bright blue eyes. He was hard not to notice. So Lara and I walk over to Treasure Island, and who is standing there posing as one of the pirates? The gorgeous guy from our plane! What a small world! We of course made a scene, and the guy recognized us. And yes, I took a picture.. you know... for memories:)
After humming and hawing over a trip to the Price is Right which was being filmed right near our hotel, we took a pass- apparently it costs around 50 bucks to get in, you have to be there early (and with the long and crazy nights there, who can get up early?) and you aren't guaranteed to get in. We learned that when you are waiting to get through, that's when the Price is Right "scouts" kind of look for who is the craziest, and that's how they pick who goes on the show. Oh well, I'm not a Drew Carey fan anyway so who cares!
Most people apologize to their liver after a trip to Vegas. I'm apologizing to my feet- wow, did we ever WALK! We walked all over the Vegas strip, if you've been to Vegas and know it well, you'll understand this. We walked from our hotel, Paris, all the way to the Fashion Show Mall. In FLIP FLOPS. In 40 DEGREES CELSIUS!
So what else did we do when we were there? Well of course I can't tell you ALL of the details... from being proposed to on the Vegas strip to a 6am bedtime most nights, It was a trip I'll never forget, that's for sure. Some of what happened in Vegas ended up on facebook:)