VEGAS BABY!

Well, we hear that, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." So this should be a short blog.

We arrived, three days later, we left.

The End.

For those of you who can keep a secret, here's what actually happened...we're sorry, it's a bit long...

Firstly, it's a five hour drive from San Diego into the desert town of Las Vegas and you drive through so much nothingness that when you finally come across 'sin city' it's somewhat of a relief, but we couldn't help but wonder why you'd build a town there!

Well, someone did and it's big, brash, busy and beautiful! Las Vegas Boulevard, better known as 'the strip' is lined with hotel after hotel. These are no ordinary hotels either, we've spent nearly ten months travelling the world, seeing the sights in over ten countries and spent a good deal of money along the way. All wasted! We should've just gone to Vegas...just along the strip you can visit ancient Egypt or Rome, Paris, Venice, New York and Monte Carlo! There's a colosseum, a statue of liberty, a pyramid complete with sphinx and an eiffel tower to name but a few of the incredible extravagances that adorn the various hotels.

What makes these all the more incredible is that you could easily visit Vegas and miss them.

We'd heard that Vegas has been hit pretty hard by the recession and so to encourage people to visit, many of the hotels are offering 'once-in-a-lifetime deals'. We'd taken this opportunity to book ourselves into the 5-star Mandalay Bay Hotel paying for two nights and getting a third free plus two show tickets. So, on arrival we made use of the valet parking on offer - and felt very swish thank you very much - and checked in. From this point we could have easily not seen daylight for the remainder of our stay. Besides thousands of rooms, our hotel bragged a large number of restaurants, shops, swimming pools, an aquarium, a theatre and of course, a casino! Not only this, but without leaving the building you could walk through indoor streets lined with various shops into neighbouring hotels with equal bragging rights.

After arriving, we spent the remainder of our afternoon exploring our hotel and with our first foray into the insane world of Nevada gaming we promptly lost $20 betting on red on a roulette table, plus a few bucks here and there on the slots.

For our first evening's entertainment was the show that was included with our hotel room, The Lion King! It was absolutely fantastic, evidently adapted slightly for Vegas, but still a great show and we left so pleased with the night's performance that we decided we'd definitely get tickets for another Vegas show.

We decided to spend the following day exploring the strip's many hotels and casinos, so we headed out through to the Luxor and out into the desert sun. We passed the MGM Grand, Excalibur, New York New York plus some lesser known hotels before arriving at the Bellagio - with the fountains, from Ocean's Eleven. You can easily spend day after day in Vegas and not gamble anywhere because there's so much to see. But, we had to have a go! We opted for blackjack, mostly because it's by far the easiest to understand and even then it takes an education. We left the table $5 up which we donated to a number of local slot machines.

After the Bellagio, was Caesar's Palace, then The Mirage. We crossed the road and entered The Venetian which contains a replica of St Mark's Square complete with a canal that runs through the hotel with optional gondola rides! The ceiling's painted to look like the sky too, so there's never bad weather in Las Vegas' Venice.

It really is an incredible town...it should be gaudy and awful, it really should, with all the neon lights, the culture of all day drinking and gambling and the seedy peepshows on offer everywhere. Cooper says it's 'flashy and trashy'...but it's fabulous and glamorous. Someone described it to us as DisneyLand for adults and that is exactly what it is, there's so much to do, you can make a holiday in Vegas exactly what you want it to be, whether it's to gamble and drink, or watch some of the finest theatre productions in the world, lay by a pool, or simply sightsee.

After a day looking around we were enthralled and engaged by the place. Excitingly, we'd managed to find a half-price ticket office and bought tickets for a show that seemed as 'Vegas' as it gets, 'The Rat Pack is Back'!

Showing at the Plaza in 'downtown' or more aptly known as 'old town' we got across to what can only be described as classic Las Vegas for a night of crooning and ssshhwing. The show was superb, I'd go so far to say better than The Lion King, the performers were all made up to look like the originals Frank, Sammy, Dean and Joey plus the banter between them and the house band seemed genuine and it was fun to be a part of it for a night. As a bonus we won $4 on the slots while we were waiting for the start of the show! We're definitely getting the hang of this gambling lark now!

Delighted once more by Vegas entertainment, we decided we'd go for another show the following night. This time, we thought we'd look a little more into the Vegas' legendary burlesque/cabaret style show. 'Crazy Horse Paris' is based on the Moulin Rouge and it sounded good to us, so that's what we went for the following night.

Before that though, there was still more of 'the strip' to explore. We headed over to the MGM Grand, where, we were astounded to discover, there is a Lion enclosure! See? There really is everything in Vegas!

We also stepped over the road to New York New York, a fabulous building that mimics the high-rise skyline of New York all in one giant structure! Plus there's a rollercoaster on the roof and a statue of liberty at the entrance!

These hotels are so vast that time passes very quickly, and there's never any natural light on the casino floor - apparently it encourages gamblers to continue spending their money that way - so before we knew where we were or what time it was, it was time to hop over to the Crazy Horse theatre.

It was a bit odd. The girls were all very nice, and the dancing was all very good, but the show was just odd! It wasn't sexy, it wasn't particularly entertaining, it was just scantily clad girls wandering around on stage miming to french sounding songs. That said, interspersed between various 'dances' were a couple of side performances to break up the cabaret. One of which was 'Scott Bros' who were excellent! Their modern dance was really good fun and despite the best leggy efforts of the girls, I genuinely believe that the audience found the two guys far more entertaining than the the rest of the evening. We both did!

We left somewhat puzzled by the previous hour and a half's entertainment, and we were little disappointed that our last night in Vegas hadn't been quite up-to-standard. But at least we'd given it a go we thought and we'll know to opt for something different next time!

It was a real shame to leave Las Vegas this morning, I feel like we only touched the surface of the town. There are so many shows, so many hotels, so many casinos and games, plus plenty of side attractions to keep you occupied. We could easily have spent another week or so there, but no doubt we'd have left bankrupt from our new found love of blackjack!

After a hearty breakfast - it's hard to find any other kind in America - we had the car driven round to the front of the hotel by the valet, who I smoothly slipped a fiver tip to in a handshake, and we were off, Grand Canyon bound!