As usual I set my alarm for 3am so I could check in for our Southwest flight from LA to Las Vegas. I managed to get boarding in the A group so was worth it to get to pick a seat instead of just having to take what ever is left!

The rest of the day went pretty much as you'd expect.... Taxi to airport and a really fast check in due to our upgrade we got to go to the short line instead of the economy line that went forever! Immigration and security were also a quick walk through then of course we had 3 hours to wait for boarding. We watched planes takeoff and land, had a cup of tea, ate some food....you know all the things you do when hanging around an airport!

Finally it was time to get this show on the road.... I do love flying Premium economy, by the time the cattle class start to board we were sitting back in our plush seats with our big headphones and glass of bubbly! I had got the upgrade by bidding on the Virgin website and had only paid an extra $500 each which made our seats $1000 Bris to LA.... The economy ones were selling for $1200 so a pretty good deal.

14 hours, not much sleep (none for Rodd, I managed to get a little), a few movies and we were in LA by 6.30 am. Took about an hour to go through immigration, pick up bags, go through customs and get over to the Southwest terminal on the airport connect bus and then about an hour wait before boarding for Vegas. I slept for the entire hour flight but Rodd chatted to a lady sitting next to him..... As Rodd does!!

I had booked the Presidential limo again cos we had such a fun time with Heather and Tim however this time she picked us up and dropped us straight at Mandalay Bay so we barely had time to drink a glass of bubbly! Felt a bit ripped off but hey.... We're in VEGAS!!

Fortunately we were able to check in when we arrived so went straight to our room and slept til 4 pm! The room I had redeemed free from myVegas, a Facebook game I've been playing for a few years, all we had to pay was the $33.60 resort fee! 

So after our sleep we were refreshed and very hungry as we hadn't eaten since breakfast on the plane at around 4.30 am (well Rodd hadn't, I actually had some eggs at the Airport in LA at 7.30 am)! I had a voucher for dinner for two at the Bayside Buffet@'Mandalay Bay, another freebie from myVegas, so we had dinner there. It was ok but not the best buffet I've ever seen.
 
  After that we hopped on the free tram that runs from Mandalay to the Excaliber and walked across the pedestrian bridge into NYNY (New York New York) cos I had redeemed a $50 drink voucher at the Bar at Times Square, yes also from myVegas! This bar was really noisy with a whole lot of woo girls, for those of you that watch "How I met your mother" think of Robyn and Lily and the Woo girls episode, for those of you that don't watch you've all seen them.... You know those girls in every bar that scream Woooooo at the top of their lungs usually whilst raising both arms above their heads! 

 Anyway........ We decided to come back and try again later so we just had a couple drinks and played a few pokies until it became evident it was not our night. I did also have tickets I'd prepaid through Viator for Happy half hour on the new Highroller at the Linq so we headed out of NYNY and up the strip, for some silly reason we walked instead of jumping on the bus, rookie mistake in Vegas (and you'd think we'd know better). Everything here looks so close but really isn't, in no time at all my hips were aching and lungs burning, but not from the walking, well the hips yes the lungs from all the smoke in the casinos, I'd forgotten how awful it is that smoking is still allowed inside here! The ride was great with a fab view of Vegas, it takes about half an hour to go around and the pod has a bar in it, drinks included in the price! 

Next we hopped on the Deuce to get back to NYNY and returned to the bar which by now was full and had duelling pianos going so was loud. Us old foggies nearly weren't going to stay but hey, we had $50 of free drinks so decided it couldn't hurt to have one! Famous last words.... We sat outside at the bar but facing in so we could see the action and got the BEST bartender who took the voucher and proceeded to keep our drinks full all night! I'm not sure if it was because he liked us or because I was playing the video poker machine at the bar. We kept asking him to let us know when the $50 ran out but he kept saying "it's fine, don't worry", needless to say we tipped him well and Rodd also gave him a $1 and $5 Aussie note which he was over the moon about..... Oh and some Vegemite! During the night I popped over a couple times to the pizza joint and had THE best cheese pizza, with lots of chilli flakes.... Don't know if it was actually as good as I thought it was or whether it was just all the red wines it was soaking up but if you'd asked me on the night OMG it was awesome!!

The night went so fast, one minute it was 7.30 and the next 2.30 am! Back on the tram at Excaliber and back to Mandalay Bay to collapse into bed.