Hello Everyone

So after a VERY cold morning putting frozen tents away we were all happy to get into a nice warm van (the only time we have been happy to be in that van i think) We had about 6 hours until we were in vegas to catch up on some sleep and get warm.

We stopped off for some breakfast and a warm drink before heading into Nevada. Just outside Vegas we stopped in a Thrift store to pick up some weird and wackey outfits for our party bus trip the next night. There were some very strange clothes in this store and I think the Guys had a lot of fun trying on some of the suits that were on offer! Ben bought a lovely velvet brown and cream tracksuit! And I mabnaged to get my hands on a lovely purple and multi-coloured jacket with shoulder pads!! After our little shopping trip we headed down the hill where the vegas strip came into view!

We stayed in a hotel just off the main strip and ben and i had our own room. It was nice to get in and shower and do washing after some time camping. However we were not in for long as we had tickets to go and see Blink 182 at the red roof casino. The venue was an outside stage and we were in the standing area (also know as the mosh pit!) The first band on was 'My chemical romance' who ben knew better than i did but i still had fun jumping around. Then Blink 182 came on, there was a lot of screaming singing and people jumping and pushing into everyone. Luckily we were on the edge of the moshing so we avoided any serious pushes. The concert was amazing, somthing Ben and I will always remember.

Leaving the casino we went to the taxi rank, as there was a few of us we needed 2 taxi's and soon realised that it would be cheaper for us to get a limo! ONLY in vegas is it cheaper to get a limo than a cab!! So we got our limo to drop us off at the New York! New York! casino on the stip, where we played on some of the fruit mauchines before deciding we needed some sleep and headed back to our nice room with a BED! Think it was about 3 seconds before we fell asleep!

The next day we had a lie in until about 10am - the pillows and mattress where just too good to move from. Ben an I decided to walk to the strip as it was a nice day. We walked up the left side of the stip first stopping in the Paris casino - obviously this one was my favourite as it had my name on it, but at the same time it was beautiful! There was so much to see and do, even a little french street that ran round the back of the casino where you could eat and shop! It is unbelievable how muc is in each place as well as the casino itself! Think i need to come back and stay here, next up MGM, hard rock and planey hollywood again all out of this world huge and we didnt win millions in any of them. We had a go on some more fruit machines but no Millions to be won :( so we went and got lunch, we stopped at this little hotdog place called 'pinks' and the hotdogs where amazing!!!! I had a vegas strip with had pretty much everything on it! Nikki v's food! And Ben's wasnt small either! They were gone in about 5 min! very yummy!

After our lunch stop we headed back down the other side of the strip. Here we went into New york new york, where we went on the rollercoaster :) then onto monte carlo. We stopped outside the Bellagio to watch the fountains during the day, they were amazing and you become mesmorized by them as they are perfectly in time with the music. We were gonig in the casino later on that eve so we headed strasight to caesars palace, this casino was amazing the attention to detail and the size of it was overwelming, much like all of vegas, there was a collesium and statues everywhere, you have to see it to believe it with this place! I think Ben was in his eliment as most of the day we walked around with his mouth open in pure shock and joy.

That evening we went back and got all dressed up ready for our party bus. The group were all in their lovely outfits that we got from the thrift store and we had a pizza party in one of the rooms! I must say we did look like a pretty special bunch of people at this point! At 9pm out party bus arrived - a huge bus with two dancing poles and plenty of ice and cups for drink along with disco lights and room for dancing! The bus took us to the vegas sign where we got a few odd looks regarding out outfits. We then boogies out way to Fremont Street which has the worlds largest LCD screen (the roof of the street is the screen) It started playing time warp.. and that was it.. we all started dancing around and people where taking pictures of us and videoing as we much of looked very strange in our outfits all 14 of us!

The Bus then drover around a bit more and dropped us outside the Bellagio, we stayed there and watched the night time fountain show - EVEN better than the daytime one!!! Being on of the best know casino's i think ben was the most excited about seeing this one, and i dont think he was disappointed. It was HUGE! The atmosphere was amazing everyone so awake and excited! We played a little roulett - again did not win millions (sorry) then moved around taking it all in. I dont think you could ever see all this place in one night it was just amazing!

The rest of the group wanted to stay there for a while, so Ben and I headed down the road to the Venetian - This is the casino that has the river running through it and you can go on the gondola's, however we arrived to late to do that. It didnt matter to much as the casino/hotel itself was beautiful, again the attention to detail was amazing. Nearly all the place themed casino's have sky painted ceilings which really does make you forget what time of day it is! You get so caught up in the bright lights and amazing atmosphere of this place you can easily waste a whole day in one place!

That in mind it was now the early hours of the morning so Ben and I got a taxi back to our hotel and again fell asleep instantly! This is somewhere where we both want to come back to maybe stay on the strip next time.

From Vegas with love but not millions

Nikki and Ben xx