Friday 4th October 2024
We woke up at 7am. The first thought in my mind was, “Sam, you’re going to ‘Viva Las Vegas’!
We had already packed our suitcase the night before, which saved a rush and panic in the morning. I felt refreshed from my early night the previous evening. We got ready to leave and I took the last couple of photos of our adventures in Santa Monica. I fully enjoyed the six days I spent there. It is a lovely part of Los Angeles with a beautiful beach, great places to eat and drink, and the people were friendly and welcoming. I highly recommend a visit or stay there if you are ever going to Los Angeles.
We checked out of our hotel at 8.45am. I grabbed a quick coffee to takeaway at the coffee shop next to the hotel. We packed up the car and started our five hour journey to Las Vegas. The sat nav took us through Los Angeles, heading to San Bernardino on Freeway 15, up through the San Gabriel mountains, which were a beautiful sight. We headed onwards to Barstow, California, then through the Nevada Desert, to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Peggy Sue's
Around 2 ½ hours into the journey, we arrived at a 1950’s American diner, called ‘Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner’, just outside Barstow, California, we parked up and headed inside, where we were transported back to a 1950’s dining experience. The décor and atmosphere were completely different to what we experience today and I really liked it! I enjoyed an American bacon cheeseburger with curly fries and coleslaw and enjoyed it with a Sprite, as the weather was a scorching 34 degrees. You wouldn’t have thought it was the start of October! I knew it was only going to get hotter driving through the desert and into Vegas so I am glad we had a decent sized water flask in the car to keep us hydrated. I also recommend having air con in the car, like we did to make sure you stay cool during the long drives. The heat did have an effect on me during the car journey. The hotter it gone, the more fatigued and drained I got. Sam did advise me to try and have half an hour’s nap but I really didn’t want to miss anything of the experience being in the dessert. Instead, I decided to sip water to keep my concentration levels up.
Vegas
We got back in the car at around 12.30pm and it was now a non-stop journey to Las Vegas. There were two hours and 148 miles to get to our destination, but I was feeling nice and refreshed due to the pit stop we took. This helped to manage my fatigue levels and my excitement was building. The experience of driving through the desert was amazing and very different. We even got to experience a small sand tornado happening in the very far distance - I found it fascinating and something you wouldn’t see driving on the M6 motorway going from Scotland to England!
I excitedly travelled past signs, ‘Las Vegas…146 miles…114miles…80 miles...10 miles...then straight ahead…Sin City, Las Vegas! We finally arrived at 2.35pm, where we had to head to the Harry Reid International airport to drop off our Mitsubishi Outlander hire car. It has served us well on our travels. Once the car was sorted, we got an Uber from the airport to the hotel, which took around half an hour.
We reached our hotel on the central strip in Vegas, called Paris Las Vegas! Before the trip, I was briefed by many people about how big the hotels were and they were not wrong! They said, “Sam, you’ll be blown away when you walk in!” I walked through the front doors, looked up and thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s like walking into a themed shopping centre filled with millions of slot machines,’ and I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to have the time of my life!’
Hell's Kitchen
We got settled into the hotel and prepared for our booking at Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen at 6.45pm. It took a good half hour to walk to the restaurant, even though we could see it in the distance, because of how big the hotel was. All of the skyscrapers and buildings are massive there.
I am a massive fan of Gordon Ramsay and I have seen all of the tv programmes he has brought out so as soon as I had booked the Vegas trip, I made sure to book in at Hell’s Kitchen. I had already decided what I wanted to eat before the waiter even gave me a menu; Scallops for starter, beef wellington for main and chocolate fondant for dessert. The waiter said I had made his job ten times easier. The meal didn’t disappoint and everything was spot on. The meat just melted in your mouth. I can still taste it, now. I have seen Kitchen Nightmares so many times, I knew exactly what was on the menu so I was confident that I knew what I wanted. I am not always confident at ordering from a menu in a restaurant. I can sometimes get anxiety that throws me into a 50-50 mindset about something I have never eaten before. My anxiety about ordering food has improved since I started travelling through Europe and the US over the past decade. Travel puts you into a scenario, where you have to try new foods, tastes and textures. When I was a teenager, I would normally only have bland and basic foods. I remember when I first met Sam when he first supported me when I was 16, he said to me, ‘Sam, just try some sauce with the chips, it’s not going to kill you!’ That’s how bad I was and why I am very thankful for travel because I had to step out of my comfort zone even more. I remember Sam commenting that, from the moment we walked into Hell’s Kitchen to the moment we walked out, he could tell it meant everything to me. He said I had a constant smile on my face throughout. It will be an experience I will never forget and I loved it.
After the long day of travelling and the meal at Hell’s Kitchen, my fatigue was surprisingly fine. I think it must have been the adrenaline of being in Las Vegas that kept me going. I wasn’t ready to call it a night, so we had a walk to the Las Vegas sign. By that time, it was pitch black and seeing Las Vegas all lit up was a beautiful sight. It was a long walk from Hell’s kitchen and took us about 1 hour 30 minutes to get there. It was worth it and I thought to myself, ‘Sam you’ve finally made it. The lad has made it to Las Vegas!!’ We took some photos and then headed back to the hotel. It was a long day so we headed to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel at 11.15pm, ready for an early morning and a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon the following day.
Grand Canyon
Today, we got up at 7.30am and grabbed breakfast from a coffee shop inside the hotel. A minibus was due to arrive to pick us up outside our hotel at 10am, which would take us to the terminal next to the airport where the helicopters are kept. I have previously done a helicopter flight in Barcelona in 2013, so I wasn’t anxious about doing it again. If you’ve never been in a helicopter before, I really recommend that you have a go! The only difference between a helicopter and a plane is the take off and landing, as a helicopter hovers. The turns can also feel a bit strange at first, but you soon get used to it. You’ll have an experience pilot and a safety briefing before you fly.
When we arrived, we had to be weighed to ensure we did not exceed the maximum allowed weight, for safety reasons. We got the green light! We were with a group of 6 people, including a couple from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a couple from New Zealand. It is truly amazing the people that you meet from all around the globe when you travel.
At 11am, it was time to fly to the Grand Canyon. Safety checks were completed, seat belts on and off we went! It was a lovely 45 minute flight to get to the Grand Canyon and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Wow! It was spectacular. From the size of the canyon, the rock formation to change in colour of the rock. Everything was just mind blowing. While flying over the Colorado River, we had the Indiana Jones theme tune playing in our headset and it felt like we were in a country and western film…’Yee Ha’! We landed on the west side entrance. It is so big, it has more than one entrance. We sat on benches and the pilot brought out a bottle of champagne to enjoy a glass or two. We had a wander around and you could hear a pin drop. The scenery was absolutely sensational. I was constantly pinching myself, thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m here.’
Unfortunately, I have to disappoint everyone – I can’t tell you the feeling or sensation that you will get when you’re in the Grand Canyon. It is one of those places where photos and videos just don’t do it justice. You have to go for yourself to experience the feeling and sensation that it gives you being there. I can only words I can use to describe it are ‘mind blowing’ and ‘phenomenal’. At around 12.30pm, we set off back to Las Vegas. It is another experience I will never forget.
Ice Hockey
At around 2pm, as we were heading back to the hotel, we saw a sign at the T-Mobile Arena, stating that Ice Hockey was on there at 7pm. I have always wanted to experience an NHL game (the National Hockey League). Las Vegas were playing San Jose Sharks. I instantly went online on my phone and booked two tickets. It was a spontaneous activity and not one that I had planned beforehand. We headed back to the hotel and headed for the outdoor pool to relax for an hour or two. At around 5pm, we got ready to head out for the evening.
We had a quick snack at the hotel as we weren’t particularly hungry. At 6pm, an Uber arrived at the hotel to take us to the game. Once inside, we got a drink for the game, sat down and soaked up the incredible atmosphere in the stadium. Americans take their sports very seriously and they create a belting atmosphere, such as chanting, singing and going nuts when their team scores. It automatically makes an experience of a lifetime. Unfortunately, the score was Las Vegas 5 – 6 San Jose. I got chatting to some Las Vegas Knights fans on the way out of the arena. I asked them how many games there are in an NHL season. When one of them told me 82, I was gobsmacked. The group of 4 laughed and told me the NHL season is a long one! I immediately thought, ‘I can’t imagine that in the Premier League, they would all look like zombies from Call of Duty.
It was now 10pm and we got hungry. Walking back in the direction of the hotel, we came across Hard Rock Café and I enjoyed some chicken and fajitas with a few beers. At the end of that night, my fatigue levels dropped so we headed back to the hotel to call it a night.
Cirque Du Soleil
On Sunday morning, we decided to have a lie in as we had a free morning and afternoon. The only thing we had booked for that day was the Cirque du Soleil show at the Bellagio hotel at 7pm. I was quite relieved that we did not have much on that day so that I could get my energy levels back and enjoy my evening. At 3pm, we decided to head up to the room to get ready for the evening. I wanted to try Gordon Ramsay’s burger restaurant, which is in Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas hotel. We didn’t make a reservation and agreed to just walk there and chance it. The chance paid off and luckily, they were accepting ‘walk ins’. They sat us down straight away and there wasn’t a queue. What I love about America is that the waiters and waitresses ask how you would like your burgers cooked. I went for a medium rare burger with parmesan fries and a few dips on the side. It was the nicest burger I have ever tasted and it went down an absolute blast.
After the meal, we arrived at 5.30pm, ready for the doors to open at Cirque du Soleil, which started at 7pm. For the next three hours I was in for the show of my life. It was absolutely sensational. Thrilling, exhilarating and mind blowing are the only words I can use. They did things I never thought possible for a human being to do. The choreography as 10/10 – out of this world!
Cirque du Soleil is a theatrical show comprising of circus acts, acrobatics, trapeze artists, dance and slapstick comedy. It is a fast paced spectacle of human talent and imagination.
David Copperfield
Today, we had another lie in as it was another free morning and afternoon. It was also another show night as we had pre booked to see an illusionist called David Copperfield at the MGM Grand Hotel. Due to being able to have a lie in a q quiet day really helped my to process all of the past few days and have a bit of a break mentally. I took it easy and completely chilled by the pool on a sun lounger with a few cocktails. It was a scorching 38 degrees - which is the hottest I have ever experienced. I thought that the humidity in Florida in 2019 was bad, but it was another level in Las Vegas. I made sure to drink soft drinks between the alcohol to keep me fully hydrated and also keep up my concentration levels.
Since we had a light lunch by the pool, we weren’t particularly hungry before the show, so we got ready and headed to the MGM Grand Hotel at 6pm. The doors were open so we headed straight and found our seat at the front of the stage. I just knew we were in for another show that would take my breath away.
The show itself was absolutely incredible. The things we saw David Copperfield do seemed impossible. Blink and he vanished, then blink again and he was at the other side of the room! Blink for a third time and ‘ker-ching’ a car appeared on stage and you could even smell the petrol. There were spaceships over our heads at one point. I kept telling myself, ‘Sam, it’s an illusion’ but my eyes told my brain, ‘No Sam, that’s real!’ Right at the end, he even brought out a dinosaur in a massive cage – the one from Night at the Museum – which roared at us! I walked out of the theatre not able to believe what I had just seen. Another experience of a lifetime. By 8.30pm, we were hungry so headed for some nachos to share, with BBQ ribs and fries.
It was our final night in Vegas and there was one thing I just needed to do…get a photo with two showgirls on the strip! I thought to myself, ‘It’s your 30th year, you’re a single lad, not bad looking, go on son!’ I saw two girls that caught my eye (‘oh, hello!’) and I asked for a photo. It was in an excellent location, opposite the Eiffel Tower model, all lit up. The final thing I wanted to do was to go up the Eiffel Tower, all lit up and see the bright lights of Las Vegas. We booked tickets online on my phone and by 11pm, we were on the elevator, going up 480 feet. What a view! What a sight, from every angle of Las Vegas all lit up, it was truly magical. We were extremely lucky to view the Bellagio fountains show at the top of the tower – another moment of magic.
We went to bed at 11.45pm as we were up early to catch a flight to the final destination – San Francisco!
