Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas was a bit of a last minute decision on our trip down the coast of California. In fact, it’s not even in California, but we figured that being just 4-5 hours away was a good enough reason to try and get there for a few days to see what all the fuss was about..!

We set off from Santa Barbara at around 10am, getting to Vegas just after 3.30pm. It’s kind of the craziest thing: you’ve driven through all this desert, all this nothing, then all of a sudden you’re in some huge, lit up strip of buildings! We stayed in the Excalibur hotel (yes, that is correct, I lived in a castle..), which is pretty much at one end of the strip (others, like Paris, the Venetian, etc. are a little further down). It took a little while to check in, but once we’d sorted ourselves out, we decided to have a little look and see what the strip had to offer.

I suppose the main thing to do during the days in Vegas is to either go in and out of hotels, or to shop. Evenings are a little more obvious, I suppose! The hotels though – oh my goodness, they’re attractions in themselves! While we were there (just a day and a half actually spent in Vegas), we visited New York, Paris, The Venetian, Bellagio, Caesar’s Palace and a couple of shopping malls. I think my personal favorites were Bellagio and The Venetian (honestly, it was unbelievably similar to Venice, Italy which you can read about here..). Oh, I also saw 3 people get married – that was super exciting! Shopping wise, Vegas has a lot to offer – I was careful though! We spent a good half a day just mooching around one shopping mall.. Also, I was super careful about the whole gambling thing. I think I allowed myself about $5 per night (we were there for two), and I actually won it all back, plus another $20 (not a lot, but I’ll take it!!). It was actually a little scary to walk downstairs in the morning and see the same people sat there from the night before..

I think Vegas is one of those places that you could easily spend a few weeks, though – there’s just so much to see! I can also imagine that saving up your money for during the day (and night, I suppose) is pretty useful. However, I’m so so glad that we decided to just go! I’m looking forward to trying to get back there at some point over the next few years!