Lifestyle, Travel

Vacationing in Las Vegas

Hello readers! How is everyone? I recently went on a little vacation to Las Vegas and wanted to share my experience. This trip was quite a big deal for me, since the main purpose was to meet my online friend Amber in person. We met through blogging many years ago. What started with mutual blog comments blossomed into regular emails, then Facebook messages and Snapchat conversations. Amber does not blog at the moment, but we’ve always stayed pretty close. After 7 years, we decided that it was beyond time to meet in person! Meeting someone in person after being online friends for so long is a really exciting experience! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tiny bit nervous, but after a little initial awkwardness, we got along just as well in person as online.


My fiance Simon and my bff Steph joined us for the trip. We arrived in Las Vegas one night earlier than Amber, and visited the Grand Canyon on our first day (Amber didn’t want to join us for this). The tour we went on also had a quick stop at the Hoover Dam. I’d  like to go on a more in-depth tour of the Hoover Dam one day. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it, but it was actually super interesting! The Grand Canyon was beautiful, and I really loved the serenity of the desert. I could definitely get used to the lack of humidity! 😉 


Amber took the time to plan out an awesome itinerary for us for the rest of the trip. We visited many of the fabulous hotels on the strip, as well as the Fashion Show mall. We’re both big fans of the reality show Vanderpump Rules, so drinks at the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesar’s Palace were a must. It was one of my favorite stops of the trip! The ambience was great and the cocktails were some of the best I’ve ever tasted. The casinos were fun to experience as well. It came as a bit of a shock to see people smoking inside, since it’s been illegal in Ontario since I was a kid. We went to the Cirque du Soleil’s O show at the Bellagio on Saturday night. I honestly didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. I guess it’s just not my thing. 


During our trip we stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations hotel on the strip. We stayed in a fabulous penthouse suite on the 37th floor. The view was spectacular and the service was excellent. There isn’t a casino at the Hilton, so we had more tranquility and felt safer. The pool at the Hilton was one of the nicest pools I’ve ever swam in!

 The view from our hotel room

 The lovely pool

I kinda have a thing for palm trees!

We went on quite a few Uber rides during the trip, and talking to the Uber drivers was very interesting. Most of them were very chatty and told us tidbits about the city. One driver told us that Vegas is a very transient place: people come for the glamour and the low cost of living, but end up not staying long. Our Grand Canyon tour guide told us that the strip is known as Paradise, Nevada. The real Las Vegas is the rest of the city. Simon did experience a bit of the real city during his visit to the Mob Museum, but the rest of us mainly stayed on the strip (except for one quick visit to Carl’s Jr.!). 

The ceiling in the Venetian is painted to look like you’re always outdoors!

Overall I had a fantastic vacation, and I will definitely go back one day. There is so much to see that it can’t all be done in one trip! I’ll try to get off the strip next time and visit the real city. 

Have you ever been to Las Vegas? Thanks for reading! xo

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