KatGarcia
Just Keep Swimming.
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2006
Just wanted to share my Mini trip that I surprised my hubby with for his 22nd birthday! It was just me (Kat) & KC (the birthday boy hubby) Any questions about anything just ask...thanks for reading!
The night before we left (we left on the 20th on an 8:30am flight) we didnt sleep. We got to the airport around 630am. Why do people still not understand the security checks? We had everything assessable and were thru in like under a minute the people in front of us werent so swift. Pains in the butts. We had some overpriced Starbucks pastries and a frapachino for breakfast. The flight left on time and while KC was able to pass out instantly I slept a whooping hour (tops) during the whole 5 hour flight. Deltas seats are *** small too, btw. We have vowed not to fly with them again. Thats easier said than done because they are the cheapest airline but Ill pay a bit more so we can both be more comfortable. We got to Vegas at around 1130am(west coast time) and went straight to the hotel. We got pre checked in and checked our luggage so we could go out and about and check back in after 4pm. WE went to Harrahs a few doors down, for lunch. My fav buffet in Vegas has been the Rio but I didnt want to travel off the strip much, and Harrahs was closer. I heard good things about their food too, so we tried it. YUMMY is all I can say! There were like a hundred different food types to choose from. We had sushi and tacos and seafood. We went to The Forum Shops @ Caesars Palace and wandered in there. It is huge now, and was only a fraction of what was there before! We caught the fountain show and video taped it even. We walked around there and headed to the hotel to see about check in. We got into our room around 330. It was great. I got whats called a go room at The Flamingo. I got it because its a modern type room and there is a 42inch plasma TV in every room and I knew KC would love it. He did. We napped for a while (remember I didnt sleep) and got up around 7 and got ready to go out. We took The Deuce bus down to Freemont Street. I knew KC would mark out for all the lights! Boy has Vegas changed! Freemont was dirty and rundown yucky last I was there (ok it was a long time ago but still) and now it looks kinda like a long mall covered with lights. We found $1 margaritas which were actually tasty! We caught one of the light shows and video taped it. We souvenir shopped and had a grand old time. We bought a BIG *** pina colada in a football size/shaped cup. That drink cost us 14 bucks but it lasted 2 nights! We got it at some joint called mermaids that has $1 daiquiris in the day time. We got a deep fried Twinkie (weird but yummy) and a hot dog for 99cents each! I love me a bargain! On the way out we saw a discount souvenir t-shirt joint and ended up buying 2 Las Vegas jerseys for 20 bucks! We took the bus back up to the strip and went up to our room. We were going to order some room service but the late night choices were limited so we went downstairs to the diner type restaurant and ordered some food. It was apparently a weird thing to order for takeout so the waiter hooked us up and brought us the food and 5 min later brought us some boxes to take it upstairs in. We had some appetizer foods, drank some more pina colada and passed out watching the big giant TV!
Day2-
We got up at around 730am got ready to go try out a breakfast buffet. The shower in the room was great too- you could fit like 3 people in there and the water pressure was actually good! The bathroom even had a TV in the mirror- too funny if you ask me. They kept the remote by the mirror which made no sense to me because if you are going to watch TV while going to the bathroom dont you want the remote near the toilet? LOL. The door to the bathroom was a weird slidy door and it didnt close all the way which was also strange to me. It had the best lounge couch thing too you could lie out and look at the Flamingo Habitat. Very cool. We didnt know where to go for breakfast so we headed towards the Tix4Tonight booth that was near the MGM Grand. We tried to stop at The Paris at their buffet but it was only a brunch and it was 25 bucks each so we moved on. That casino is soo neat tho. The Eiffel Tower is build thru the ceiling in the casino so neat. I got a cup of coffee and a croissant at a bakery and we went in search of food elsewhere. Since it was a Saturday and most places had brunch we went to the tickets booth straightaway. We were like 10th in line when they opened. We got tickets to Zumanity, a Cirque Du Soleil show. You pay for the tickets there and then go to the theater they are for and get your seating arrangement. I dont think it was too much of a discount but it was easy so whatever. KC has wanted to see a Cirque show forever so I was excited to do that for him. We went straight to the NY,NY to get our seating assignments. It took like 5 minutes. We took the crosswalk to the Excalibur and from there a crosswalk to The Luxor. The food there had been recommended to me by several people so we had our brunch there. It was really good! They even had Eggs Benedict and all the food was fresh and yummy. We love our breakfast foods but the lunch items were real good too. Def recommend this place! We went back thru the Excalibur and explored around there and walked across to the MGM Grand side of the street. We bought our 24 Deuce pass fort the bus and headed back to The Flamingo. We decided to try out the pools! Swimming in April-cant beat it! We ended up in the heated pool and swam around for a while. Then I just laid in the sun. I forgot how much I like the dry heat as opposed to the sticky gross heat here. It was nice. We went up to the room and napped a little bit again (apparently u dont sleep in Vegas LOL). We had gotten a buy one get one comp for the buffet at The Monte Carlo so we headed up that way, stopping at The Bellagio to see the fountains. Of course we missed them and didnt get to see them this trip due to the next days rain but its all good. We walked to the Monte Carlo and ate some dinner. It was good, a nice buffet. Nothing spectacular, but good. It hit the spot tho. We went to explore the NY,NY before Zumanity. It was surprisingly like downtown NY. It was amusing. We sat and relaxed and chatted on some benches. We made jokes about how there should be fake litter somewhere because that was the only flaw-it was too clean. LOL. Around 10 they let us in for the show. OK this was THE coolest thing I have ever seen! The whole thing was rude and vulgar (it was an over 18 show) and awesome and thrilling at the same time! There was even a weird wrestling like match thing with 2 guys and it was pretty. It was the neatest thing to see. I def wanna see more of those shows! We got out after midnight and walked to The MGM Grand and walked around a bit there then walked in the direction of our hotel. We got back to the hotel around 2am. We watched TV for a while and I packed up our stuff since we were checking out the next morning. That bed was soooooo comphy! Better than the bed at home so soft!!! KC told me to buy whatever I needed to, to recreate that bed feeling! LOL.
Day3-Our Last Day-
We werent too hungry this morning. Too much buffet ya think?? To me, its cheaper than sitting down at a restaurant and only getting one plate of one kind of food. Whatever we hopped on the bus and headed to the Stratosphere. Thats where I spent most of my time when I lived in Vegas so I had to go at least for a bit. We got hungry by the time we got there so we decided to give their brunch a try. I was kinda scared but it turned out to be perfectly fine and only 15 bucks each. Good enough in the choice department and they had crab legs that were yummy and chicken fried steak and gravy I could have eaten a ton of! We decided not to do the tower because it cost a lot and it was daytime which makes for a less interesting view of the strip. We walked a little up Las Vegas Blvd and stopped in a few gift shops and then caught the bus up the main strip! The Deuce bus was good- 2 bucks for one way or 5 bucks for 24 hours. It was worth it if you planned on taking at least 3 trips and we made sure we did. We got off the bus at Treasure Island and wandered around in there. I like that place a lot- a def possibility for next time for a place to stay. We took pics of the ships outside since we wouldnt see that free show either. Oh well. I had a 2 for 1 coupon for Madame Tussads at the Venetian so we went there next. We were tired so we relaxed outside the hotel and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. You really feel like you are somewhere else when you are there. After a little wandering and figuring we found the wax museum. We have one in NY, in Times Square even, but its like 30 bucks each to get in and I dont want to see it that bad- so having the 2 for 1 coupon was awesome! We had so much fun there! I didnt think Id like it so much! We took tons of funny pics and had a great time. The only thing I didnt do was go into the hall of horror movie thing. There were live actors dressed as Freddie and Jason and Leatherface- wax I can handle but not live people. The show was like 5 minutes long so I sat next to a statue of Ben Affleck playing poker and waited for KC. LOL. On our walk back towards the hotel it started to rain. So we ducked into some obscure casino and relaxed for a few. When it quieted down we went to the Mirage. I wanted to see the tigers. We watched a beautiful tiger for like 20 minutes. Then we got some caffeine at a place called The Roasted Bean. We made about a hundred jokes about them roasting our cat (His name is Bale but I often call him Bean) and just relaxed. We were both getting kinda cranky due to tons of walking and not nearly enough sleep but we trudged on! We saw that the Tiger and Dolphin exhibit was 15 bucks each and opted not to do it! We went back to The Flamingo and relaxed outside. It was pretty cold so we walked the gift shops and tried to decide what else to do. We had about 2 hours till we had to pick up the luggage and leave. We decided to walk to Ballys since it was next door. We video taped some and wandered Ballys. KC saw some guy with a video game bag and we discovered some gaming conference. It turned out to be invite only and was only for non video type stuff so it was no big loss. We made our way back to The Flamingo. Believe it or not we hadnt gambled so we decided to waste a little money on the slots. KC lost 10 bucks in like 5 minutes. I dropped down at a penny slot and ended up wining like 15 bucks which KC then proceeded to loose. He is hooked on the slots tho now! One day Ill learn how to properly play casino blackjack and play some at the tables. We then picked up the luggage and got a cab to the airport. Security took a year and a day but we got thru and found a Chilis Too that actually had real food so we got some burgers for dinner and plopped down at our gate. Of course the plane was late. We left an hour late, getting us out of Vegas at about 12:30am! The flight was fine, the seats too small again. Sleep didnt really work for me either but KC was snoring away as soon as he sat down. Can you tell I have insomnia?? We got into JFK around 8am our time and were home by about 10am. Not too bad! We slept most of the day and I slept most of the next day as well, while KC was at work.
Final Thoughts: if you are a couple watch out for the time share people! They tried to suck us in every time we passed and they are nothing if not persistent! If you have time while your there- do one because they give you discount show tickets-its worth your 2 hours just for that! We only had 3 days so I wasnt killing my plans for these people! Use saversguide.com for good discount tickets. Get ticket books from different casinos because they have decent coupons in them! And wear comphy shoes!
The night before we left (we left on the 20th on an 8:30am flight) we didnt sleep. We got to the airport around 630am. Why do people still not understand the security checks? We had everything assessable and were thru in like under a minute the people in front of us werent so swift. Pains in the butts. We had some overpriced Starbucks pastries and a frapachino for breakfast. The flight left on time and while KC was able to pass out instantly I slept a whooping hour (tops) during the whole 5 hour flight. Deltas seats are *** small too, btw. We have vowed not to fly with them again. Thats easier said than done because they are the cheapest airline but Ill pay a bit more so we can both be more comfortable. We got to Vegas at around 1130am(west coast time) and went straight to the hotel. We got pre checked in and checked our luggage so we could go out and about and check back in after 4pm. WE went to Harrahs a few doors down, for lunch. My fav buffet in Vegas has been the Rio but I didnt want to travel off the strip much, and Harrahs was closer. I heard good things about their food too, so we tried it. YUMMY is all I can say! There were like a hundred different food types to choose from. We had sushi and tacos and seafood. We went to The Forum Shops @ Caesars Palace and wandered in there. It is huge now, and was only a fraction of what was there before! We caught the fountain show and video taped it even. We walked around there and headed to the hotel to see about check in. We got into our room around 330. It was great. I got whats called a go room at The Flamingo. I got it because its a modern type room and there is a 42inch plasma TV in every room and I knew KC would love it. He did. We napped for a while (remember I didnt sleep) and got up around 7 and got ready to go out. We took The Deuce bus down to Freemont Street. I knew KC would mark out for all the lights! Boy has Vegas changed! Freemont was dirty and rundown yucky last I was there (ok it was a long time ago but still) and now it looks kinda like a long mall covered with lights. We found $1 margaritas which were actually tasty! We caught one of the light shows and video taped it. We souvenir shopped and had a grand old time. We bought a BIG *** pina colada in a football size/shaped cup. That drink cost us 14 bucks but it lasted 2 nights! We got it at some joint called mermaids that has $1 daiquiris in the day time. We got a deep fried Twinkie (weird but yummy) and a hot dog for 99cents each! I love me a bargain! On the way out we saw a discount souvenir t-shirt joint and ended up buying 2 Las Vegas jerseys for 20 bucks! We took the bus back up to the strip and went up to our room. We were going to order some room service but the late night choices were limited so we went downstairs to the diner type restaurant and ordered some food. It was apparently a weird thing to order for takeout so the waiter hooked us up and brought us the food and 5 min later brought us some boxes to take it upstairs in. We had some appetizer foods, drank some more pina colada and passed out watching the big giant TV!
Day2-
We got up at around 730am got ready to go try out a breakfast buffet. The shower in the room was great too- you could fit like 3 people in there and the water pressure was actually good! The bathroom even had a TV in the mirror- too funny if you ask me. They kept the remote by the mirror which made no sense to me because if you are going to watch TV while going to the bathroom dont you want the remote near the toilet? LOL. The door to the bathroom was a weird slidy door and it didnt close all the way which was also strange to me. It had the best lounge couch thing too you could lie out and look at the Flamingo Habitat. Very cool. We didnt know where to go for breakfast so we headed towards the Tix4Tonight booth that was near the MGM Grand. We tried to stop at The Paris at their buffet but it was only a brunch and it was 25 bucks each so we moved on. That casino is soo neat tho. The Eiffel Tower is build thru the ceiling in the casino so neat. I got a cup of coffee and a croissant at a bakery and we went in search of food elsewhere. Since it was a Saturday and most places had brunch we went to the tickets booth straightaway. We were like 10th in line when they opened. We got tickets to Zumanity, a Cirque Du Soleil show. You pay for the tickets there and then go to the theater they are for and get your seating arrangement. I dont think it was too much of a discount but it was easy so whatever. KC has wanted to see a Cirque show forever so I was excited to do that for him. We went straight to the NY,NY to get our seating assignments. It took like 5 minutes. We took the crosswalk to the Excalibur and from there a crosswalk to The Luxor. The food there had been recommended to me by several people so we had our brunch there. It was really good! They even had Eggs Benedict and all the food was fresh and yummy. We love our breakfast foods but the lunch items were real good too. Def recommend this place! We went back thru the Excalibur and explored around there and walked across to the MGM Grand side of the street. We bought our 24 Deuce pass fort the bus and headed back to The Flamingo. We decided to try out the pools! Swimming in April-cant beat it! We ended up in the heated pool and swam around for a while. Then I just laid in the sun. I forgot how much I like the dry heat as opposed to the sticky gross heat here. It was nice. We went up to the room and napped a little bit again (apparently u dont sleep in Vegas LOL). We had gotten a buy one get one comp for the buffet at The Monte Carlo so we headed up that way, stopping at The Bellagio to see the fountains. Of course we missed them and didnt get to see them this trip due to the next days rain but its all good. We walked to the Monte Carlo and ate some dinner. It was good, a nice buffet. Nothing spectacular, but good. It hit the spot tho. We went to explore the NY,NY before Zumanity. It was surprisingly like downtown NY. It was amusing. We sat and relaxed and chatted on some benches. We made jokes about how there should be fake litter somewhere because that was the only flaw-it was too clean. LOL. Around 10 they let us in for the show. OK this was THE coolest thing I have ever seen! The whole thing was rude and vulgar (it was an over 18 show) and awesome and thrilling at the same time! There was even a weird wrestling like match thing with 2 guys and it was pretty. It was the neatest thing to see. I def wanna see more of those shows! We got out after midnight and walked to The MGM Grand and walked around a bit there then walked in the direction of our hotel. We got back to the hotel around 2am. We watched TV for a while and I packed up our stuff since we were checking out the next morning. That bed was soooooo comphy! Better than the bed at home so soft!!! KC told me to buy whatever I needed to, to recreate that bed feeling! LOL.
Day3-Our Last Day-
We werent too hungry this morning. Too much buffet ya think?? To me, its cheaper than sitting down at a restaurant and only getting one plate of one kind of food. Whatever we hopped on the bus and headed to the Stratosphere. Thats where I spent most of my time when I lived in Vegas so I had to go at least for a bit. We got hungry by the time we got there so we decided to give their brunch a try. I was kinda scared but it turned out to be perfectly fine and only 15 bucks each. Good enough in the choice department and they had crab legs that were yummy and chicken fried steak and gravy I could have eaten a ton of! We decided not to do the tower because it cost a lot and it was daytime which makes for a less interesting view of the strip. We walked a little up Las Vegas Blvd and stopped in a few gift shops and then caught the bus up the main strip! The Deuce bus was good- 2 bucks for one way or 5 bucks for 24 hours. It was worth it if you planned on taking at least 3 trips and we made sure we did. We got off the bus at Treasure Island and wandered around in there. I like that place a lot- a def possibility for next time for a place to stay. We took pics of the ships outside since we wouldnt see that free show either. Oh well. I had a 2 for 1 coupon for Madame Tussads at the Venetian so we went there next. We were tired so we relaxed outside the hotel and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. You really feel like you are somewhere else when you are there. After a little wandering and figuring we found the wax museum. We have one in NY, in Times Square even, but its like 30 bucks each to get in and I dont want to see it that bad- so having the 2 for 1 coupon was awesome! We had so much fun there! I didnt think Id like it so much! We took tons of funny pics and had a great time. The only thing I didnt do was go into the hall of horror movie thing. There were live actors dressed as Freddie and Jason and Leatherface- wax I can handle but not live people. The show was like 5 minutes long so I sat next to a statue of Ben Affleck playing poker and waited for KC. LOL. On our walk back towards the hotel it started to rain. So we ducked into some obscure casino and relaxed for a few. When it quieted down we went to the Mirage. I wanted to see the tigers. We watched a beautiful tiger for like 20 minutes. Then we got some caffeine at a place called The Roasted Bean. We made about a hundred jokes about them roasting our cat (His name is Bale but I often call him Bean) and just relaxed. We were both getting kinda cranky due to tons of walking and not nearly enough sleep but we trudged on! We saw that the Tiger and Dolphin exhibit was 15 bucks each and opted not to do it! We went back to The Flamingo and relaxed outside. It was pretty cold so we walked the gift shops and tried to decide what else to do. We had about 2 hours till we had to pick up the luggage and leave. We decided to walk to Ballys since it was next door. We video taped some and wandered Ballys. KC saw some guy with a video game bag and we discovered some gaming conference. It turned out to be invite only and was only for non video type stuff so it was no big loss. We made our way back to The Flamingo. Believe it or not we hadnt gambled so we decided to waste a little money on the slots. KC lost 10 bucks in like 5 minutes. I dropped down at a penny slot and ended up wining like 15 bucks which KC then proceeded to loose. He is hooked on the slots tho now! One day Ill learn how to properly play casino blackjack and play some at the tables. We then picked up the luggage and got a cab to the airport. Security took a year and a day but we got thru and found a Chilis Too that actually had real food so we got some burgers for dinner and plopped down at our gate. Of course the plane was late. We left an hour late, getting us out of Vegas at about 12:30am! The flight was fine, the seats too small again. Sleep didnt really work for me either but KC was snoring away as soon as he sat down. Can you tell I have insomnia?? We got into JFK around 8am our time and were home by about 10am. Not too bad! We slept most of the day and I slept most of the next day as well, while KC was at work.
Final Thoughts: if you are a couple watch out for the time share people! They tried to suck us in every time we passed and they are nothing if not persistent! If you have time while your there- do one because they give you discount show tickets-its worth your 2 hours just for that! We only had 3 days so I wasnt killing my plans for these people! Use saversguide.com for good discount tickets. Get ticket books from different casinos because they have decent coupons in them! And wear comphy shoes!
