Viva Las Vegas

I got myself up early for my shuttle, allowing plenty of time to get through LAX. Thanks to several purchases made at Disneyland, I had the feeling my carry on of three pieces might be a problem. As it turns out, it was. Dammit. I was freaking out and close to missing my first domestic flight of the trip because I couldn’t find a freakin’ Fed-Ex to post stuff home in Hollywood. Luckily an American Airlines employee pitied me (or saw the freaked out look on my face) and let me through with three carry on items. So I managed to get onto my flight which was disgustingly dirty, rather surprising, as I’ve only ever been on clean planes. As a plus, I actually managed to fall asleep. My late nights in LA had caught up with me. Flying over Nevada on the way to Vegas was fabulous. The landscape of Nevada is vast hilly desert, nothing I had ever seen before. The plane got into Vegas with the pilot informing passengers of the weather conditions – a sunny 106! Yikes, I was slightly scared as I was wearing as much as I could to keep the luggage load down. :)

Getting through departures I was greeted by slot machines in the airport – I’m definitely in Vegas now. Bring it! I bought myself some used decks of cards taken from the casinos in the gift shop, I couldn’t help myself from the start. Luckily I could check myself into the MGM Grand at the airport, how neat is that!? I got all the information for my room and a shuttle hook up on the spot. I knew I didn’t have far to my hotel as you can see the strip from the airport, its literally next door. The Stratosphere casino is the big stand out, as is The Luxor, the pyramid shaped casino on the strip.

I got to MGM Grand and was told my luggage would be in my room in 20 minutes. Whaaat takes so long? Well, MGM Grand is the world’s second biggest resort with 1500 rooms and a huge casino. To get to my room I had to walk through the casino…subtle much? I managed to get lost in the casino just finding my room. Unfortunately my room was only on the 4^th floor in the West Wing with a stunning outlook of the gravel garden and adjacent building. I finally got to my room and it was cool as. Very clean, funky, and has a TV in the bathroom mirror (it doesn’t take much to impress me!) There was also a phone in the toilet which I never could get comfortable to use.

I did a desperate and very improvised wash of my clothes, i.e. I used the bathroom sink and towel rail to hang, and then headed out to find some food. I ended up at Rainforest Café. It’s hard to choose where to eat when MGM Grand alone has about 20 restaurants. Got myself a burger, I’ve lost count of how many I’ve had so far. Foster’s is a popular drink in the casino with people saying to me at the Cafe, ‘what do you mean you don’t drink it!?’ Does anyone in Australia? The barman told me about the exorbitant prices of the casinos compared to outside of the strip. A beer on tap is about $6, a bit rich really. I headed back to my room after late lunch to get myself ready for my trip to the theatre to see the Lance Burton Master Magician show at Monte Carlo. Once at Monte Carlo, I had time to fill in until the show, so I had a go at the slots. I had NO IDEA what I was doing; they are different to the ones back home. I literally just hit buttons. I then pressed the ‘print ticket’ button only to receive a ticket telling me I’d won $30 from my $3. Score! So slots really are dumb luck.

The Lance Burton show was great. Although Lance on the advertisements has had some serious airbrushing done and lost about 15 years compared to Lance in real life, and I think his ‘showgirls’ may have been ‘showboys’ at one time. I had decided to dress up for his show, and all I can say is, big mistake. People don’t dress up at all here. I got a lot of compliments on what I was wearing, only because it wasn’t a t-shirt and shorts. In some cases, socks and sandals even made an appearance on men and women in Vegas.

After the show I walked the strip. It was 10.30pm at night and was SO hot. I was sweltering, no thanks to the dry wind also. The girls visiting in Vegas must all shop at the same store, Tarts-r-Us. Harsh, but so true. I watched the Bellegio Fountains show which was surprisingly great and pulls in the crowds. The Bellegio is really nice, very swanky. I might have thought to stay there if i hadn't settled with the MGM. There is just so much option! I visited a lot of the casinos along the stirp, collected some chips at each one, and then headed back to the hotel for some zzzz’s.

What I learnt about Las Vegas today:

• Want porn? I can get it for you, it’s scattered all over the strip to sell men’s lounges.
• The strip alone must use as much electricity and water as the rest of Nevada put together, it’s insane.
• People really do gamble 24/7 with the higher minimum black jack tables drawing more people. You really gotta go to Vegas with quite a stash.

This is what greeted me when i got out of the plane. Hello Vegas!

I just had to put this picture in as i was rather excited about this. If you look at the mirror you'll see the TV thats in it on the top right. I got to watch Sex and the City while showering. I likey.

The Lion Habitat within the MGM Grand Casino. The symbol of MGM is the lion, so i guess it only seems fitting. It's rare to get a really good view of them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that lion looks suspiciously human?

The Lions Habitat again and finally a lion! It's hard to get a shot with so many people watching them. The same lions have been in the habitat for several years.

The Bellagio Casino Fountains show. It's right in front of the casino and runs every 15 minutes for about 5 minutes and has music playing with it thats blasted out of speakers all around the water. Very popular viewing.

The Pussycat Dolls Casino just outside of the entrance to the Pussycat Doll's Lounge in Caesar's Palace casino. It pulls quite a crowd and funnily enough, most of the blackjack players are men. Shocked.