(Leaving the Airport with my dad photo bombing LOL)
Flying over the desert
When we arrived in LAS we took a shuttle from the airport to the strip, which was only 7$ a person. If you aren't renting a car, the shuttles are super convenient and cheaper than a taxi. You just have to walk out of any odd number door in the baggage claim area and there will be a shuttle service window. The shuttle took us to our hotel right in the center of the strip called the Aria.
(Picture from their website)
We decided to stay in the Aria due to a friends recommendation and we were so glad we did. The hotel has such a modern and classy feel to it, plus the staff and room service clerks were very helpful and friendly. The Aria is pretty close to being in the center of the strip (slightly south closer to the MGM) which was also a huge plus, because we could walk to a lot of the clubs, pools and restaurants we wanted to go to. When you walk in there are huge flowers and trees displayed in umbrellas, which was kind of fun :)
They also have a casino and many different restaurants on the main floor. What I liked a lot about the casino in the Aria was that it felt new and clean. You couldn't smell smoke at all! (Which I can't stand lol)
The best part of the Aria was definietly the rooms though. Each room is completely controlled by an iPad that is in the room. The lights, TV, curtains and music can all be controlled lying in your bed! It was amazing. I wish I took more pictures of the room itself, but you can see it in my boyfriends video which I will link later in this Vegas series.
Because we had gotten to Vegas so early, we decided to explore some of the shops around our hotel. Conveniently across the street was Coca Cola world, MnM world, and Hershy's world.
The Coca Cola bear was out to take photos while we were in the store!
(The weather was SO hot at this point in the day, I decided to wear a woven crop top, with high wasted floral shorts. The cardigan was something I carried around to wear when I was inside AC buildings. All items from Brandy Melville)
We then walked over to MnM world which is connected to Coca Cola world to look at all the different MnMs ever created and see what kind of souvenirs we could bring home.
After shopping around a bit, the heat had died down a bit and we decided to go back to the Aria to freshen up for dinner. My outfit for the first evening looked like this:
We wern't quite sure what we were going to eat, so we started walking down the strip in the opposite direction as the morning. (Towards Caesars instead) On our walk there we went through the different hotels including the Cosmo, Bellagio and Caesars Palace.
We continued through to Caesar's Palace which has A TON of restaurants (mostly upscale) which we decided we were going to choose from. The hotel itself was beautiful but it was way too crowded for my liking. The lines everywhere were huge including check in and taxis plus there seemed to be just mobs of people throughout the whole ground floor. I would not choose to stay here on a trip to Vegas.
The place we chose to eat was called MESA, and it was probably the best meal we had on the strip. I had a chicken dish while my boyfriend had salmon which he said was the best salmon he's ever tasted. The prices were pretty up there, but the food was awesome!
On our walk back and right in front of Caesars is a little place called Serendipity 3. I had heard that their frozen hot chocolate was a must so we decided to get one to go. To be honest I didn't think it was anything that special, it did taste good, like a light version of a chocolate shake, but I wouldn't claim it as a MUST while in Vegas.
After our frozen treat we walked back to the Aria to get ready for the night we had ahead. I re-did my makeup and threw on a tight black dress to hit the club in while my boyfriend changed into a dress shirt. Since it was a Thursday night we made our way over to the MGM Grand where the nightclub Hakkasan is located. Hakkasan is home to the famous headliner Tiesto who we got to see live for the first time. It was a pretty crazy experience. Let me tell you Vegas clubs are like nothing you have ever been to before.
Make-up for the Night
Hakkasan Nightclub: Tiesto's entrance
Although Hakkasan was cool the first night we were in Vegas, the clubs we got to go to later on during the strip I liked a lot better. Hakkasan is too separated for me and there is a very very small dance floor you need to fit on if you want to be able to see the headliner (if you don't have bottle service). There are other rooms/floors to the nightclub but we were there for the headliner and there was no point being in a totally different room than he was.
One thing we learned while in Vegas is that the headliners don't come on till about the last hour and a half of the club hours. We got there fairly early (around midnight) and had to wait till almost 2 for tiesto to actually come on.
By the end of the night, my feet were killing me (it's true what they say! Don't think you can wear heels every second on the strip!) and so I took them off on the way back up to the room. All an all it was a great first day though, because we got to experience many different sides of the city.
