Visiting "Sin City" is a right of passage for many Americans who've just turned 21. It's almost a little cliche. I usually try to do the opposite of what large masses of people are doing. For example, being one of the few Americans who doesn't watch the superbowl. But going to Vegas with two of my best friends after the last of us turned 21 was the best cliche celebration I've ever had.
The journey there was relatively painless. BoyCrazy had never flown before so I usually led the way. We drove to KC (two hours), took a shuttle, took a bus, took a plane and then another, got picked up by BoyCrazy's parents in another car and we were there. It's a funny thing to be on a plane and know that everyone else that sitting around you is about ready to get drunk, gamble a lot, and make poor life choices. It brought about a sort of sinful unity. It also brought about some crazy outfits.
That Thursday night, we were supposed to meet up with MommaJ's family at The Golden Nugget hotel where they had graciously rented a room just for us. As soon as we landed in Nevada, I turned on my phone and received this text message from MJ:
"We have a slight problem call when you can"
I knew they were still supposed to be traveling at this point so it worried us. MJ's flight had been cancelled. There was bad weather in Denver (which BC and I had barely missed and also made our flight 20 minutes longer because we flew around it) and their plane was not making the trip. And the airline told them they wouldn't be able to fly out until Sunday.
MJ's family are very persuasive people. They explained that they would miss their entire weekend and people were already waiting for them in Vegas. And even though they knew they weren't going to make it that night, they still paid for BC and my hotel room by switching the reservation to be under my name. It was a long day but we were incredibly grateful... and tired.
Luckily, they only missed the first night. There was a flight leaving from Kansas City later that night for Phoenix and then connected after five hours of sleeping on the airport floor to Nevada. They arrived at the hotel at about 8 AM- ready to party.
Since BC and I had that first night in Vegas to ourselves, we decided to explore the hotel and Fremont Street. The area is also referred to as downtown or the old strip. It's been renovated to have a giant curved ceiling over the entire block. This way, you're outside but not in the direct heat which was a blessing. Also, they had a killer light show on it. It was a lot like watching a movie screen with a very strange perspective. BC and I also watched a free 80's tribute show. Four women, four men, and three musicians performed short snipets of favorite songs and dances. I absolutely loved it! It had incredible high energy and those performers did it three times a night, within three hours, six days a week. It was very impressive. It also led me to have "video killed the radio star" stuck in my head for the majority of the weekend.
Our first drinks were free via coupons we received from the hotel front desk. As soon as we sat down at the bar, the couple next to us said, "I think we need to see your IDs! hahaha!" (This was a very common theme for the trip) We explained that I had just turned 21 a month ago and this was our first time in Vegas. They started giving us tons of advice and didn't stop until we left the bar.
"Always tip your waitress at the very beginning and she'll keep coming back."
"Don't get your picture taken with the celebrity look alikes that walk around because they really just want your money."
When the advice started to drift away from casino and bar manners, "Only wash your hair every other day." we eventually left and thanked them profusely.
That night we went to bed at 10:30 PM (12:30 in Kansas). And we slept hard through the whole night.
More posts about the following days are coming soon. Check back later!
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