Jenni goes stateside: Sin city

Well, it's been a whole 13 days since I got back from the US but I'm finally getting around to writing my Las Vegas blog post! Which begins on the Thursday, when we flew out of New Orleans, stopped at LAX for a bit of breakfast (as the hangover from the night before was settling in) and then arrived in fabulous Las Vegas! We were once again impressed by The Internet Traveller when we checked into our hotel, The Bellagio. For any long-term readers with extremely good memories, you may note that I've been to Vegas before (back in 2014 with my family when I was 18) and we stayed at Circus Circus (which was a bit crap) and walked round the Bellagio and thought it was amazing. This time we were staying there and were not disappointed! Our room was gorgeous, the lobby was filled with flowers and they have about 6 different pools!

After unpacking the second half of our clothes for the trip, we ventured out in search of food and fell straight in love with the Vegas strip. We were definitely in the ideal location; being smack bang in the middle means it's easily walkable to either end. Although, we actually didn't walk very far at all for our first outing; just across the road to an amazing Mexican restaurant where we had enchiladas and taquitos (obviously shared because the portions are ridiculous) plus a glass of sangria. The zero sleep since the night out in New Orleans, paired with 2 bumpy flights, had left me feeling very worse for wear so we headed back to the hotel for a nap to recharge for our first night out in Vegas!

Thankfully, I found my second wind when I woke up and got ready in printed skirt, white milkmaid top and black lace up sandals. When we had gone wandering earlier, we'd also bumped into a promoter who had sorted our night out for us; which we were grateful for because otherwise we'd have no clue where to go. Straight away, we noticed that Vegas were playing things better (for us) than Ibiza do (the place we could liken it most to). In Ibiza, everyone gets charged to go into the clubs, everyone gets charged €20-€30 for a drink and they're not too interested in offering deals or incentives to get you in. In Vegas, it's all about the ladies. We kept feeling like we were being treated like royalty, because the promoters offer the girls the world (free entry, free VIP, free drinks), on the basis that getting the girls in will get the (money-splashing) men in. It's a strategy that certainly did us well, as we got into Tao (he nightclub in the Venetian) on the guestlist for free, into VIP and with a 2 hour open bar (girls only). Even though we turned up a bit late (as we do to everything), we still managed to make the most of the free drinks because they were barely in our hands by the time we'd finished them and were waiting for the next one. And the nightclub itself was really good too with music that was a bit of us. We also had our first celebrity spot as the incredibly famous Brody Jenner was there!

By some miracle, we weren't hungover the next day, which was just as well because the same promoter from the night before had also sorted us out at Marquee day club! I love pool parties and whenever I go to Ibiza, Ocean Beach is always my favourite part and Plaza Beach was my favourite in Marbella too. Of course, Las Vegas do it bigger and better as their day club is a rooftop one! We were again sorted out with free drinks, plus free food and a daybed to relax (and sweat to death) in the 40 degree heat. We literally had the best day partying (in the pool and out of it) and only paid for 1 or 2 drinks each so we were pretty much winning at life. Pool parties are always a tricky one to dress for because obviously you want to look good but you also have tanning/heat/water in mind. I'd bought this green snake print swimsuit new for my holiday from boohoo, and paired it with white denim skirt, black belted bum bag and silver accessories/makeup.

We stayed at Marquee until the bitter end (about 6ish) and then headed off to eat before getting ready for the night. It's pretty hard to find nibble-y food in Vegas (because everything is super size) but we ended up at a lovely tapas place and shared a few dishes as the sun went down. Then it was back to all systems go, as we needed to be at the MGM Grand for 9. We definitely wanted to do atleast one show while we were in Vegas and following a recommendation from my boss Mason, we booked David Copperfield! The show and its tricks were really amazing; he made cars and spaceships appear seemingly out of thin air (although there was a whole alien sketch that kind of lost us all a bit). It's pretty expensive but it was a good show! And it was in a great location for us to then go and explore that end of the strip; we visited New York New York and then played giant jenga in a bar that reminded me of Das Kino back home. For the nights antics, I wore my blazer-style leopard print playsuit, gucci belt and gold leaf hair clip.

We had a full day of sightseeing the next day so I wore an outfit that wouldn't give me any tan lines; black bandeau, red frill shorts and red leopard print scarf, worn as a headband (to stop my scalp from getting burnt). First stop on the agenda was Caesar's palace (which was not actually as impressive as I expected), then we walked down the strip to the Venetian, which is my favourite hotel on the strip. We wandered round the artificial canals before finding a cute spot for lunch and cocktails (although little Katie was not thrilled with her super strong martini).

Then we embarked on the longest walk ever (way longer than it looked) to the Strat. Walking through the desert in the main heat of the day is not typically advised and I can definitely see why; we were all practically seeing black spots by the time we made it to our destination! But it was certainly worth it when we did, as we did the rides on top of the hotel tower, which has amazing views and ticked the adrenaline box for the holiday.

We weren't stupid enough (or time rich enough) to walk the length of the strip back again, so we got a taxi to the other end to see the Las Vegas sign. The instagram generation has certainly changed things in the last 5 years; when I last went to the sign, everyone just fought to take their photos at the same time (with other people inevitably in the background). Whereas now, everyone forms an orderly queue to get that perfect pic!

After a busy day, it was so nice to go back to our hotel and relax by one of the many pools! When we did have to pay for them, the drinks in vegas were pretty expensive but when you've been walking all day in 40 degree heat, $20 for a frozen cocktail is more than worth it.

By this point it was Saturday night so it was our biggest night out! I wore my black lace bodysuit with nude slinky skirt (I wore the green version on our first night New Orleans) and lots of seriously sparkly accessories. After predrinks in the room, we finally tried our hand in the casino and didn't do too badly! Okay, so we weren't exactly playing texas hold em at the high rollers table; we were playing black jack. But I won $80 so I'm not knocking it! Plus you get free cocktails while you play in any of the Vegas casinos, so it's worth it to keep playing as long as you can drink the drinks faster than you can lose your chips. And I'd certainly drank fast enough because we were all pretty drunk by the time we headed out for the Nicky Romero event at Omnia (the biggest club in North America or something like that). The club was really cool and had an outdoor roof terrace, and the music was amazing too! The night finished weirdly early though because it literally closed at 3 - not like Ibiza at all. In fairness though, we were drunk enough so probably didn't need it to last much longer. Plus it was an amazing night!

We were feeling worse for wear the next day (especially me, since I'd accidentally fallen asleep in my makeup, lashes, contact lenses and even all my jewellery). So it's a good job we had planned a pool day! After finally dragging ourselves out of the room around lunch time, we spent a few hours soaking up the sun (and got through a few more frozen cocktails) before going off in search of lunch/dinner. We were getting pretty good at working out how much to order and normally, a few appetisers between us was more than enough. This time, we went with a bit of a random-but-tasty medley of Korean, Canadian and Italian food!

Despite staying there the whole time, we hadn't actually watched the Bellagio fountains yet! So we bought some yard long frozen cocktails that we'd seen everyone with (which ended up being horribly sugary and really difficult to drink) and watched the fountains at the prettiest time; as the sun set.

  

For our last night, we thought we'd go and see where it all started; Old Vegas! We ended up with the perfect taxi driver to take us too as we was basically like a tour guide. He told us all about how Vegas started, which bits of the strip are famous for which bits and all the history of it; it was really interesting! Interesting is also the word I'd use for Old Vegas (interestingly). A little further from the glamorous of the strip, Old Vegas is a bit more rough and ready. The casinos are filled with card dealers who double up as exotic dancers, there are topless nuns in the street and random gigs as you walk down Fremont Street. I mean, I'm glad we went but it's not somewhere you'd need to go more than once! On the plus side though, the drinks were cheaper! For our last night in Vegas, I went for a lady-in-red look; palm print skirt, red bralet and white heels.

After a late night trip to an all-American diner (although Katie said it wasn't, based on the fact it didn't have red booths), we had another night of almost zero sleep before getting up and heading to the airport. Then after only a 2 and a half hour flight, a 5 hour wait, a 7 hour flight, a 2 hour wait and a 4 hour coach ride, we were home! Although the travelling was pretty brutal (especially when you add the 8 hour time difference), it was SO worth it for what an amazing time we had! I genuinely couldn't have wished for a better time and even though New Orleans and Las Vegas aren't often paired on twin centre holidays, they definitely should be. We just had such different experiences in each and managed to pack so much in - we certainly never got bored! It's been the bestest holiday ever and definitely a successful first trip stateside as an independent grownup. If I can offer you one piece of advice then it would be to look on The Internet Traveller for your next holiday!