Wanderlust Traveler: March 2012

We spent four days in Las Vegas at the end of January 2012.

Sightseeing:
Lias Vegas is filled with limitless options of things to see and do. Many people whom have never been to the city associate it with gambling and are unable to see anything of value for non gamblers. While one can obviously partake in that activity at nearly every hotel, I have visited Las Vegas four times over the last ten years and have never gambled. I believe the city offers activities and sights for people of all interests. Just within the strip itself are multiple shopping malls, world class dining, art museums, dozens of live entertainment shows, amazing nightlife, luxurious spas, lavish pools, and even a golf course! Outdoor lovers will find a plethora of activities to participate in outside the strip including fishing, boating, hiking, and even horseback riding. I do recommend that any first time visitor walk their way through as many of the glitzy hotels and casinos as possible but keep in mind that unless you are visiting for a week it will be nearly impossible to see all the major sights.

On our trip, we managed to walk through MGM Grand, Palazzo, Venetian, Wynn, Encore, Bellagio, Cosmopolitan, and Aria. Below are photos from our visit.

MGM Grand:
We walked around MGM Grand just before and immediately following our dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. As a result, we actually didn't spend too much time walking through the hotel but did get the chance to admire its beautiful lobby, which was decked out for the Chinese New Year.

MGM Grand

Bellagio:

We probably visited the Bellagio more often than any other hotel on the strip because we ate at three of its restaurants. The Bellagio, inspired by an Italian village overlooking Lake Como, is well-known for its fountain display and lakefront facade as well as the Dale Chihuly blown-glass display in its registration lobby and the beautiful Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

Bellagio

Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens at night.

We spent four days in Las Vegas at the end of January 2012.

Hotel:
As I knew that our trip to Las Vegas would probably be an expensive one due to the dining I wanted to participate in, we agreed that we had to find a good deal for our airfare and hotel to help bring down the cost of the trip. Luckily, I was able to snag us an amazing deal on a package through Alaska Airlines. I purchased both our round-trip tickets from Seattle and three nights at a Petite Suite at Treasure Island for only $724. Had we not upgraded to the suite, our package price would have been about $100 less. However, we felt that spending an extra $100 was worth the extra cost.

We requested a strip view room but were given a partial strip view room, however, that minor letdown was made up by the fact that we were given one of the corner suites, which was significantly larger and much more spacious than the typical suite. Treasure Island has remodeled all of their guest rooms within the last few years, changing the former tropical decor for a more modern and updated look. Our room had his and her bathrooms, one of which had a walk-in shower and the other which had a large jacuzzi tub. Although the package obviously didn't break down the costs for the airfare versus the hotel, I will assume that our airfare would have run $200-$250 per ticket. That means that we paid somewhere between $224-$324 for all three nights in the suite; quite an amazing deal!

View from the entrance to the hotel room. We had a bathroom to the right and left.

Suite at Treasure Island.

Bathroom #1 inside our suite at Treasure Island.

Bathroom #2 inside our suite at Treasure Island.

Nightlife:
We went out two of the three nights we spent in Las Vegas. I let Shyawn plan this part of the trip and he had a few clubs in mind for our visit including XS (Encore), Tryst (Wynn), Tao (Venetian), Pure (Caesars Palace), and Vanity (Hard Rock Hotel & Casino). Due to the normally exorbitant fees to gain entrance to clubs in Vegas, we decided to visit no more than one each night. Note: all of the photos of the clubs we visited were taken using our point and shoot so please excuse the quality.

XS:
This massive club is located within the Wynn Encore. The admission lines to XS are normally quite long but because we arrived right as it opened (10 PM) the line wasn't too bad. Additionally, we were pulled out of the line after a few minutes and let inside early, which was very nice. The club contains over 40,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. Since our visit occurred during the winter, the outdoor area was unfortunately closed. The design of the club was inspired by the curves of the human body. Although I found the interior of the club to be extravagant and very nice, I didn't quite understand how in the heck it cost over 100 million dollars to build. All of the drinks we ordered here were good and very strong, but be prepared to spend at least $15 a drink; this place is far from cheap.

Us at XS.

XS Nightclub

Outdoor area at XS Nightclub.

XS Nightclub

Vanity:
Our last night in Las Vegas happened to be Sunday which is a common day for many clubs to be closed, however, Shyawn had read that Vanity at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino was the locals favorite choice for Sunday nights. Additionally, our visit just happened to coincide with the club's two year anniversary party so we figured that club would be hopping. Fortunately, our assumptions were correct; the beautiful club was packed that night. Also, because of the anniversary party there was no cover charge for either one of us! Once at the bar, we learned that Belvedere Vodka was sponsoring the anniversary event so all vodka drinks were completely FREE until midnight. We only had to pay for Shyawn's coat check, so it was quite a cheap night for us!

Us at Vanity.

Vanity Nightclub

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Las Vegas (Sightseeing and Shows)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Las Vegas (Hotel and Nightlife)