Vegas - The 'So much to do, so little time' edition - In Conclusion

The previous four parts of this blog was an attempt to highlight things to do, see, eat and shop for a first timer. As you’ve probably gathered, there’s a lot. If you’ve read some of my older blogs you can see our itineraries and what we tried to fit in each trip. As a reminder, here is our itinerary for Trip 1;

For the first trip I’d definitely recommend doing the research, YouTube vlogs and reviews, forums, blogs and you can even go old school and use a book. Have it clear in your mind what you want to do and try to arrange the day in a logical flow from place to place so you make the most of the time you’ve got. Also make sure you make time to rest or you’ll burnout pretty quick – that casino that looks about 5 minutes away will probably take at least half an hour to walk there and as it’s usually very hot you’ll probably burst into flames before you arrive at your destination especially if you’re a pale skinned Brit like myself – so remember kids – always wear sun cream – and sunglasses (if you’re like me take more than one pair as I have a tendency to lose them, one pair lasted just one day).

Everyone thinks of the Strip and its casinos when talking about Vegas but you’ll really be missing out if you don’t add a trip to Downtown Vegas in your itinerary. You could hire a car to get around but I know very little about the details around car rental and parking charges as we either Uber/Lyft, Deuce (the bus service) or walk. We have considered car rental for places like Rachel and Area 51 but Coronavirus has delayed those plans so I’ve not researched any further. Maybe one day we will hire a car and drive around looking for more hidden gems.

One thing I don’t even think I mentioned was the shows you can see when there, like with everything there is a lot to choose from but as residencies change and coronavirus has drastically affected shows then it’s hard to go into too much detail about good and bad shows. Considering we’ve only seen Evil Dead The Musical and Nathan Burton Comedy Magic at Miracle Mile, Mike Hammer at Four Queens and Penn&Teller at Rio I can only say these four shows were great and well worth the money. We had got the tickets in advance but there are sometimes deals on at the casinos especially if you are staying at the casino where the show is or you can look for the Tix4Tonite booths and try and grab a last minute bargain there. Sometimes the myVegas app also has deals on things like the various Cirque de Soleil shows.

A thing I’ve steered clear from is nightclubs and pool parties. A lot of the casinos have great pools, the one at Circa looks amazing so I recommend you doing a bit of Googling if you’re interested in the pool parties and nightclubs but I’m afraid I know nothing about this aspect of Vegas.

Has this series of blogs helped or has it made it even more confusing?

I think if you accept it’s going to be difficult to fit everything in one week and to just have fun and not stress out then you’ll be fine, no doubt you’ll get the Vegas bug and return again anyway. We’ve been five times now, with Vegas ever changing (there’s now Circa, Resorts World and Virgin Casino to experience) and there are still so many things to see and do we’ll never get bored. We now take a far more relaxed approach to the holiday and I really like venturing off the beaten track and come across some wonderful surprises like the one time we came upon a charity fair for cat welfare, we had no idea it was going on, we were just randomly walking around Downtown Vegas by the Arts District and there it was. There’s First Friday that I’ve mentioned before, held at the Arts District on the first Friday of every month , it’s a great place to walk around and marvel at the things people have created and there’s really nice food trucks there too.

Whatever you decide to do during your stay you’ll most probably enjoy it; there is literally something there for everyone whatever your interests may be. I’ve constantly gone on how I never thought I’d like Vegas and how wrong I was. Obviously things in the world are changing and things will be different now and it does concern me to a point but it doesn’t put me off wanting to go back. Vegas will adapt and so will I because deep down you’ll never take the Vegas out of Vegas.

I know the last part of that sentence doesn’t really make sense but I wanted to end on something memorable and profound.