Hello! Hello!
After going through my hard disk, Google drive and e-mail a hundred times and making an actual list of all my pending posts, I finally decided to begin with my USA posts. It has been almost a year since I spent two wonderful weeks in America and boy, the memories are etched in my heart ever. Just to refresh your memory a bit, here's a recap of my trip so far. If you know me, you'll know that I love traveling and I try to squeeze in as much as I can in my itinerary and that most of the trip planning happens just a couple of days before the trip. After spending a week in SF, Mountain View and Palo Alto, we had booked our tickets to the Sin City during the week. We had come so far, there was no way were gonna go back without partying in Vegas!
Ideally, one would go to Vegas to blow off some steam. Back in the day, the phrase "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" was used every time someone wanted to do something naughty and not talk about it later. One would imagine Vegas is all about strip clubs, slot machines, weddings that should not have happened and lots of intoxication. That was my thought too. But when I got an opportunity to explore it myself, I was stunned. Vegas is much more than that! The Vegas experience I had did not include any of the cool stuff that is usually shown on TV or in the movies and I had a tonne of fun.
After a couple of lattes and some research on the internet, we figured that there were two quick yet inexpensive ways to fly to Las Vegas, Nevada from where we were put up. The first option was a very predictable one - taking an Uber to SFO and flying from there. That was expensive though. The second was to take an Uber to Oakland and fly from there. We packed our bags and took like 2-3 am flight which was super cheap ($50 or something), but did not include check-in baggage, so we ended up spending some more cash on that. A couple of my friends flew in from Cleveland and we had so much fun that we eventually ended up missing our flights back!
Day 1: Red Rock Canyon
We reached Vegas early in the morning and had booked a really cheap hotel (approx. $100 a night) called Longhorn Casino Hotel. It was a little away from the city, but my friends rented a car at the airport itself. The temperature is like a thousand degrees, so don't forget your summer clothes and sunscreen if you wish to go there. The moment we entered the hotel, we were walked into a massive casino! Yes, the lobby of the hotel was a casino! :D We chilled in the hotel for a bit, showered, got dressed and drove away to glory. We drove to the magnificent Red Rock Canyon, which is a must-visit if you are ever in Vegas. After spending a few hours there, we returned to the city and rushed to the Strip.
Day 1: The Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch that consists of all the famous hotels like The Bellagio and casinos in Vegas. The hotels have interesting themes based on countries like Greece, France, Venice and every hotel is equipped with a casino. After all, it's Vegas, baby! Although we couldn't really stay in any of these super expensive hotels, we spent the day walking around the strip, visiting these hotels, gambling in various casinos (I won $9 :D) and eating Biryani! :D Food was/is always a major problem for me outside India since I am a vegetarian. Surprisingly, every city had Indian restaurants with refreshingly delicious biryani! I belted some vegetable pulao while my mates had some chicken biryani.
Day 1: David Guetta concert at XS
We ended the day by hitting this club called XS for a David Guetta concert. I remember we spent only $25 for the concert tickets. (Yeah, it's way cheaper than India!) I am a big fan of David Guetta and somehow never got the chance to watch him perform live. Although he made an appearance at 3 am, after we were miserably exhausted from all the partying, we managed to enjoy a couple of tracks and crashed immediately after we got to the hotel. Sadly, I don't post videos here. You'll have to wait for my vlog for that!
Day 2: Hoover Dam
On the second day, we had an early start. We quickly freshened up, picked up some coffee and breakfast at Denny's and took off to Arizona. You must be wondering why we did that. Well, we just had to check Grand Canyon off the bucket list! We started driving and stopped at Hoover Dam, the highest concrete dam in the Western Hemisphere situated over 700 feet above the Colorado River. The dam was named after America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover and has a breathtaking view.
Day 2: Grand Canyon
Finally after driving for a couple of hours, we reached our destination - The Grand Canyon. Now there are various ways you can do this. Most hotels have a pamphlet that will let you book conducted tours for hundred odd dollars which also includes pick-up from the hotel. Since we already had a car, we decided to drive all the way and then buy tickets just for the bus tour that took us all the way to the Canyon. There are various ways you can go about it - by air, by road or by water. Our tour started with the exploration of the Hualapai Ranch and ended at the Sky Walk where we could see the Grand Canyon from underneath the glass. The view was beautiful beyond imagination and definitely makes one feel really calm.
Day 3: Fremont Street
On the last day of our trip, we spent some time at Fremont Street. This street is filled with casinos, restaurants and bars. You can also pick up some souvenirs from here. I got a top for myself and some shot glasses to give away. Zip lining across the street seemed to be something that everyone was doing and we also witnessed some live music. Sadly, for us, the street was not as lively as it would have been later in the night. However, we did manage to enjoy ourselves. My friend threw me a mini bachelorette at one of the bars. We spent the day in casinos and drank some yummy fruit based cocktails and took off to LAX that evening. Although we missed out first flight, what I like best about the US is that they accommodate you in the upcoming flight if there are seats for free! So we took the next one after 20 mins and reached LA in peace.
.
I never imagined Las Vegas is more than just partying and drunken weddings in chapels where an Elvis lookalike is the priest. Being this nocturnal gremlin that I am, I like how the city comes to life at night. Not only does this place have plenty of mountains and canyons with breathtaking views, but the commercialized parts of the city has so much color and fun things to offer. It's literally my fave city in the US and if you like some variety, you should definitely plan a trip to Vegas.
Love,
Hand On The Hip
After going through my hard disk, Google drive and e-mail a hundred times and making an actual list of all my pending posts, I finally decided to begin with my USA posts. It has been almost a year since I spent two wonderful weeks in America and boy, the memories are etched in my heart ever. Just to refresh your memory a bit, here's a recap of my trip so far. If you know me, you'll know that I love traveling and I try to squeeze in as much as I can in my itinerary and that most of the trip planning happens just a couple of days before the trip. After spending a week in SF, Mountain View and Palo Alto, we had booked our tickets to the Sin City during the week. We had come so far, there was no way were gonna go back without partying in Vegas!
Ideally, one would go to Vegas to blow off some steam. Back in the day, the phrase "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" was used every time someone wanted to do something naughty and not talk about it later. One would imagine Vegas is all about strip clubs, slot machines, weddings that should not have happened and lots of intoxication. That was my thought too. But when I got an opportunity to explore it myself, I was stunned. Vegas is much more than that! The Vegas experience I had did not include any of the cool stuff that is usually shown on TV or in the movies and I had a tonne of fun.
After a couple of lattes and some research on the internet, we figured that there were two quick yet inexpensive ways to fly to Las Vegas, Nevada from where we were put up. The first option was a very predictable one - taking an Uber to SFO and flying from there. That was expensive though. The second was to take an Uber to Oakland and fly from there. We packed our bags and took like 2-3 am flight which was super cheap ($50 or something), but did not include check-in baggage, so we ended up spending some more cash on that. A couple of my friends flew in from Cleveland and we had so much fun that we eventually ended up missing our flights back!
Day 1: Red Rock Canyon
We reached Vegas early in the morning and had booked a really cheap hotel (approx. $100 a night) called Longhorn Casino Hotel. It was a little away from the city, but my friends rented a car at the airport itself. The temperature is like a thousand degrees, so don't forget your summer clothes and sunscreen if you wish to go there. The moment we entered the hotel, we were walked into a massive casino! Yes, the lobby of the hotel was a casino! :D We chilled in the hotel for a bit, showered, got dressed and drove away to glory. We drove to the magnificent Red Rock Canyon, which is a must-visit if you are ever in Vegas. After spending a few hours there, we returned to the city and rushed to the Strip.
Day 1: The Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch that consists of all the famous hotels like The Bellagio and casinos in Vegas. The hotels have interesting themes based on countries like Greece, France, Venice and every hotel is equipped with a casino. After all, it's Vegas, baby! Although we couldn't really stay in any of these super expensive hotels, we spent the day walking around the strip, visiting these hotels, gambling in various casinos (I won $9 :D) and eating Biryani! :D Food was/is always a major problem for me outside India since I am a vegetarian. Surprisingly, every city had Indian restaurants with refreshingly delicious biryani! I belted some vegetable pulao while my mates had some chicken biryani.
Day 1: David Guetta concert at XS
We ended the day by hitting this club called XS for a David Guetta concert. I remember we spent only $25 for the concert tickets. (Yeah, it's way cheaper than India!) I am a big fan of David Guetta and somehow never got the chance to watch him perform live. Although he made an appearance at 3 am, after we were miserably exhausted from all the partying, we managed to enjoy a couple of tracks and crashed immediately after we got to the hotel. Sadly, I don't post videos here. You'll have to wait for my vlog for that!
Day 2: Hoover Dam
On the second day, we had an early start. We quickly freshened up, picked up some coffee and breakfast at Denny's and took off to Arizona. You must be wondering why we did that. Well, we just had to check Grand Canyon off the bucket list! We started driving and stopped at Hoover Dam, the highest concrete dam in the Western Hemisphere situated over 700 feet above the Colorado River. The dam was named after America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover and has a breathtaking view.
Finally after driving for a couple of hours, we reached our destination - The Grand Canyon. Now there are various ways you can do this. Most hotels have a pamphlet that will let you book conducted tours for hundred odd dollars which also includes pick-up from the hotel. Since we already had a car, we decided to drive all the way and then buy tickets just for the bus tour that took us all the way to the Canyon. There are various ways you can go about it - by air, by road or by water. Our tour started with the exploration of the Hualapai Ranch and ended at the Sky Walk where we could see the Grand Canyon from underneath the glass. The view was beautiful beyond imagination and definitely makes one feel really calm.
Day 3: Fremont Street
On the last day of our trip, we spent some time at Fremont Street. This street is filled with casinos, restaurants and bars. You can also pick up some souvenirs from here. I got a top for myself and some shot glasses to give away. Zip lining across the street seemed to be something that everyone was doing and we also witnessed some live music. Sadly, for us, the street was not as lively as it would have been later in the night. However, we did manage to enjoy ourselves. My friend threw me a mini bachelorette at one of the bars. We spent the day in casinos and drank some yummy fruit based cocktails and took off to LAX that evening. Although we missed out first flight, what I like best about the US is that they accommodate you in the upcoming flight if there are seats for free! So we took the next one after 20 mins and reached LA in peace.
. I never imagined Las Vegas is more than just partying and drunken weddings in chapels where an Elvis lookalike is the priest. Being this nocturnal gremlin that I am, I like how the city comes to life at night. Not only does this place have plenty of mountains and canyons with breathtaking views, but the commercialized parts of the city has so much color and fun things to offer. It's literally my fave city in the US and if you like some variety, you should definitely plan a trip to Vegas.
Love,
Hand On The Hip
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