Las Vegas

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We woke up and excitedly had breakfast and packed the van. Today we are driving to everyone’s most awaited place, Las Vegas. As soon as we got there we headed to the retail outlet so we could all buy some nice clothes for our big night out tonight. We had no idea what was in store for us tonight, Jon had organised everything, all we had to do was give him $130 each and dress up. However since Ben was extremely short of money at this stage he wasn’t coming. The group spilt up to do some serious shopping around the retail outlet. Dave, Jon and I all needed a suit and we searched and searched this place for a decent fitting and good looking suit. Eventually Dave and Jon found a great store and both bought one, but this store didn’t have the right size for me and I was beginning to get desperate. We headed back to the first store we went into and I finally found one that was maybe slightly too big but it would have to do.

This store also had a massive collection of multicoloured shirts to choose from, we each were looking for our preferred colour when we thought about choosing some eye turning coloured shirts. After a lot of discussion and changing our minds, eventually Jon went with yellow, Dave went with Red and I went with purple. Next was shoes, both Dave and Jon had some they could wear as long as they were cleaned, I bought some new flashy black shoes to go with my suit. We were done, we headed to the food court to get some food while we waited for the others to arrive. Some of the other group sat with us and wanted to see what we bought but it was a secret until tonight. The other trek group wasn’t doing the whole surprise dress up night like we were, they all knew what we were doing and weren’t allowed to tell us. Eventually the rest of our group arrived with hand full of shopping bags we headed back to the van and to the hotel.

We drove to the Alexis Park hotel which was a budget hotel located quite a walk from the strip. But a few of us had booked room elsewhere because we thought if we were doing Vegas, we were going to do Vegas in style. Dave, Sara, Hannah and I booked two suites in the MGM Grand hotel ‘The Signature’. We got dropped off at Alexis Park and took a short taxi ride down to our five star luxury hotel. We checked in and were taken up to our suite. It was amazing, the room was huge and absolutely stunning. We were so happy that we came to stay here rather than a cheap budget hotel. The bathroom was huge, there was even a television, a small flat screen tv in there. Hannah and I shared one room while Dave and Sara shared the room directly next to ours. We hung around the hotel for the afternoon and got ready for a fantastic night out. While we were getting ready we heard a knock on the door, Dave had bought us an expensive bottle of champagne to celebrate, so we cracked it open and joined them in their room for drinks. We took some group photos of us all dressed up then headed out to meet the rest of the group at our first stop, we still had no idea what we were doing tonight.

We took a taxi down to a place called ‘Peppermill Café’ we were afraid we were going to be late but arrived before anyone else. So we waited in the bar, ordered some drinks and sat in and area with a small fountain and fire ring surrounded in seats, each with their own television facing you (It sounds strange but it’s incredibly hard to describe). The whole restaurant was coloured purple, including the lights, so me and my purple shirt fit in brilliantly. Eventually the rest of the group arrived, we sat at our table and ordered some drinks and food. Jon had a very strange choice in places to eat and this one didn’t surprise us, the food was pretty average, a lot of us didn’t finish our meals. We were very rushed for time so quickly paid the bill and jumped into taxi’s which were waiting for us. Jon told the taxi driver where we were going but not to tell us anything. Here we are in a taxi driving around Las Vegas and we had no idea where it was taking us. It was a long drive through the city before we finally arrived at the Las Vegas airport.

We had no idea what we were doing at the Las Vegas airport until we saw helicopters arriving and departing from the runway. We went inside where they took our weight and separated us into helicopters. We waited in the lounge drinking free champagne and taking a few group photos until we were finally called up for our flight. I was in the last group who were called and were riding with Tina, Marcia, and Hannah. We boarded a bus which took us to the helicopter waiting for us, I was given the front seat, sitting next to the driver. We jumped in and buckled our seat beats, Tina had more trouble than the rest of us and delayed our flight by 5 minutes. But eventually we were off, we flew straight down the strip which was all lit up brightly in the night. The view was breathtaking, something I will never forget, I also filmed the entire thing on my camera because just as we got in the helicopter, Dave told me that photos are too hard to get, film it instead. We flew right down to the end of the strip then came back, it was an awesome experience, just amazing and we all had no idea. It was only a short ride, we landed back at the airport and the bus took us back to the waiting are where we had a couple more free champagnes.

As we left the airport we headed outside to see this amazing hummer limousine waiting for us. We couldn’t believe it, this was incredible, we all jumped in to find that it was full of alcohol. Plenty of bottles of champagne and spirits with lots of soft drink and snacks included as well. We drove around Vegas and first stopped at the old strip which was sheltered by the longest projection screen in the world. We stood drinking and taking photos when all of a sudden the lights in the street went out and a show was about to begin. The screen lit up as we watched cars zoom past cities and National Parks we now recognised, it was an amazing show. As it finished we headed back to the hummer limo for more drinks and continued on elsewhere. We went photo crazy, by this time we were all pretty smashed but there was plenty of alcohol that needed to be drunk.

After a short drive we arrived at the famous welcome to Las Vegas sign, we all got out of the limo to take photos. The driver took a few group photos for us with the famous sign behind us then a few of the girls went to the bathroom across the road. Min began to cross the road but she wasn’t looking and a car screeched to a halt, she was lucky not to have been hit, our driver was furious. Eventually they made it across the road and back into the limo, we were off again to our next destination. We then pulled up in front of the Bellagio casino and got out of the limo, this was our last ride in the limo, we thanked the driver and walked down to watch the famous water fountains. We arrived just in time to watch the incredible water fountain show in front of the Bellagio. It was a fantastic display and an awesome sight with the bright lights of the strip in the background. We all took plenty of photos as the show came to an end. As we headed off into the casino, Elaine was looking very ill, she had drank so much already and she needed to go back to the hotel so Brock escorted her back safety.

We all went into the Bellagio casino and headed straight for the tables to have a go at a game of blackjack. Some of the girls went to get some food since we didn’t really eat much for dinner. Dave and I sat at a blackjack table taking advantaged of the unlimited free drinks available to people playing on the tables. We were eventually joined by the other trek group who had also spent most of the night in a hummer limo. After an up and down game of blackjack we all ended up having a win. A few of us decided to head back to our separate hotels while Dave and a couple of others from the other group were staying out a bit longer. We shared a taxi back to our hotels because they both on the same road, ours was much closer to the strip. Hannah and I arrived back in our room somewhere between 2-3AM and went straight to sleep.

Day 59:
Zion - Las Vegas
190 MILES TRAVELLED // 11220 TOTAL
MGM Grand - The Signature

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Photos

Las Vegas
Watching the Belagio fountains at night

Las Vegas
Group dinner in Vegas

Las Vegas
The show down the old strip about to begin

Las Vegas
The group in a Hummer Limo

Las Vegas
Amazing show projected on screens above the street

Las Vegas
Group in front of the famous Las Vegas sign

Las Vegas
Arriving at the Belagio, saying goodbye to our Hummer Limo

Las Vegas
Watching the Belagio fountain show

Las Vegas
Fountain show in front of the smaller replica Eiffel Tower