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Published: April 8th 2021
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I'm back at it, after a long time.
Curaçao is going through another lockdown, so I decided to take advantage of the time I have and to continue writing.
This time I went to the USA again, it was my 6th visit to the country. This time with J&S Tours, the same travel agency from Curaçao I went to New York and Niagara Falls with back in October 2017. It was December 2018 when I went as a coordinator with a group of 10 travellers from Curaçao to Sin City. It was my second time in Las Vegas, first time being December 2010. If it wasn't for J&S Tours, I don't think I would have been there for a second time now. Do not get me wrong: it is a nice place and definitely worth visiting if you ever have the chance. It's just not my type of destination. If I ever happen to be in the area in the future, then I wouldn't mind to visit again. But I wouldn't travel especially to visit Las Vegas again.
Las Vegas has around 2 million inhabitants and was founded in 1905. The city is located in the southern
part of Nevada state, in the Mojave Desert. The city relies on the Colorado River for its water supply, in which the well-known Hoover Dam was built. Precipitation is obviously very scarce in Las Vegas at about 100mm per year on average (compared to Curaçao's 600mm). In the winter it can get pretty cold (under 0°C) while maximum temperatures of 47°C in the summer are not uncommon. The city grew fast since the 1930's after gambling was legalized and the Hoover Dam was built, and today it's a world famous destination where it's allowed to basically do everything God prohibited. Therefore the name "Sin City" and expressions such as "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas".
We left Curaçao and made two stops (Miami, Florida and Dallas, Texas) before reaching Las Vegas' Mc Carran International Airport. Once outside the terminal, a nice limousine was waiting for us with champagne onboard. Wow, what a treat! The limo took us to our hotel, which was the Excalibur Hotel located on the southern part of the Vegas Strip. The "Las Vegas Strip" is the name of the 6km long stretch of the South Las Vegas Boulevard where you find most of the
lit up hotels and casinos. A stroll along The Strip is a must and it's allowed to walk through all of the hotels. Each hotel could be consider an attraction on its own! Some hotels boost a replica of well-known sites around the world, such as the Eiffel Tower, the channels of Venice and the the city of New York. The dancing fountains of Bellaggio Hotel are beautiful and it's free show to watch. During the Christmas period, the inside of the hotel was beautifully decorated which was also worth taking a look at. Another one on the list of free shows is the Volcano Show at Mirage Hotel. Keep in mind that everything on The Strip is more expensive than elsewhere in Las Vegas, just walking one or two blocks to the right or left away from The Strip and you'll find everything cheaper, especially food.
The city is obviously a real entertainment city full of bars, clubs, shows, strip clubs and concerts. At the Excalibur Hotel we went to a show called "Tournament of the Kings" which was OK and we also had a simple dinner during the show. I thoroughly enjoyed the concerts of Celine Dion
at the Caesars Palace Hotel and Boyz II Men at The Mirage Hotel. I wasn't scheduled to go, but due to circumstances within the group I was able to go to both concerts. It was an amazing experience with the cheering crowd, lighting effect on the stage and so on. Maroon 5 was also in Vegas, but unfortunately I could not make it to that one. A part of the group wanted to experience a strip club and I was asked to join and they would pay for me, so why not? It was an relatively big place with two floors. On the lower level, the bigger area, you had the female dancers and on the top floor the male dancers. It's not my thing, yet it was an interesting experience. Besides, a strip club belongs to the Vegas experience, doesn't it?
Shopping, which is one of the main activities most Curaçaoans love undertaking when visiting the USA, couldn't be left out of the schedule with the group. Especially for this activity we went to the Las Vegas North Premium Outlets, where everybody went their own ways yet they all knew how to get back to the hotel afterwards so
I didn't have to worry. If there was anything, they could have always called me since I had a US mobile number. I also took advantage to shop quite a bit, but I was done relatively fast since I'm not a fan of shopping malls.
Stratosphere Hotel I would definitely recommend, where you can get all the way to the top of the tower. Here they have fun rides you can board, which are not recommended for those who are afraid of heights. On one cold evening I went with a part of the group to Magical Forest, located outside of the city, where you could walk through a beautifully decorated park and you'd be completely surrounded by Christmas lights. For New Year's Eve we went to Fremont Street, where they do the yearly "countdown". It is located in the city centre of Las Vegas, north of The Strip. Fremont Street is completely covered by a roof and has several shops, bars and restaurants. At NYE the whole street is closed down and they charge an entry fee. There is a stage with live performances and the roof boosts a lighting show and a zipline! It was a cold
and busy, yet fun evening together.
I went together with one gentleman from the group to the barbershop once and we also met a friend of his, who is a Curaçaoan living in Las Vegas. He invited us to his home and we went for dinner. It was great to meet a fellow countryman in living with his family in the city.
Did I gamble? Yes, a little bit at Excalibur Hotel where I stayed. I particularly loved this roulette machine hahaha, luckily I did win a bit! At the hotel there is a restaurant called "Dick's Last Resort" where I had dinner once. Then I learned that it's a small restaurant chain across the USA. it is a very particular restaurant, where they make most clients wear a paper hat and write funny things on them. A few of them I typed in my phone to remember:
"I'm so old I fart dust. Dr. Phil makes me moist. I'm the reason my mom went on birth control. Ask about my group rates. I masturbate to Ellen. I practiced kissing on my neighbors dog. My legs spread faster than melted butter". Everyday I would walk past the
restaurant to read what those sitting near the windows were wearing and to have a laugh. I can imagine it's not everybody's sense of humor but I found it very funny and the staff acts purposely obnoxious and rude hahaha.
Las Vegas is a nice and interesting city I'd recommend to visit at least once. I'd say that 4 to 5 days there is more than enough as I started to get bored after 5 days hahaha. Unless you have a lot of money to spend and you really like strip clubs, gambling and nightlife etc., then you'll love it and would want to stay longer. Its surroundings have more to offer and I'd 100% recommend the Grand Canyon. I went in 2010 but I could not be bothered to go this time due to the cold and the long day driving there and back. Located in Arizona state, at the Grand Canyon you can clearly see the effects of the water erosion in the landscape which has been going on for millions of years, forming very deep canyons and a unique landscape. You might think you're on another planet, that's how surreal it looks.
With this blog entry I'm done with all trips from 2018, as soon as possible I'll start with 2019. Thanks for reading! :-)
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Ake Och Emma
Ake Dahllof and Emma Holmbro
I actually love Las Vegas
Surprisingly, I actually love Las Vegas. We were there in 2014 and I wouldn't mind going there again. Actually, I am very proud of the photo I took of the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas"-sign. I had like 2 seconds to get my camera up to get the picture. Not only did I capture the sign almost perfectly, I also managed to get an Elvis impersonator in the photo. /Ake