A Vegas Vacation: Things To Do In Las Vegas

For my 25th birthday my husband gave me tickets to see my all-time favorite celebrity, Britney Spears, in her Piece of Me show in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, she was taking a break the month of my birthday, so we chose to plan the trip for early May. I have been dying to see her show since she announced her Vegas residency 2 years ago, so I was incredibly excited to finally get there. Here’s a brief recap of our trip, as well as some of the places we visited, in case you’re ever in the area and looking for something to do!

The week prior to our trip, Britney hurt her ankle on stage and cancelled her shows for the weekend. I figured that she would be better by our show on Wednesday, but on the flight there, I saw on her Instagram that she was cancelling our show that night. I was so disappointed, but there was hope that she would be better by the next show on Friday, the last day we could see her. Lucky for me, she did perform Friday, and her show was so much fun! I think I enjoyed more because I knew every song and I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember. In terms of a Vegas show though, she didn’t actually sing live, nor did she dance that much. Her dancers did an awesome job, and the set changes were great, but I would have liked to see a little more of the real “Britney Spears”, instead of her just moving around on stage a little and lip-syncing. Don’t get me wrong though, I would definitely go again! I would recommend it for everyone like me, but if you weren’t a big fan to begin with, it will probably disappoint.

Since the show was cancelled on Wednesday night, we decided to see “O” Cirque du Soleil at Bellagio and it was amazing. We were captivated the entire 90 minutes by the interesting characters and the ever-changing pool on stage. One minute, people appear to be running on top of water or are knee deep in it, and seconds later someone is on the high dive, a hundred feet up, jumping into that same exact pool. “O” is described as “an aquatic masterpiece of surrealism and theatrical romance” and I couldn’t agree more. Of the three I’ve seen, it is definitely my favorite show in Cirque du Soleil. If you’re ever in Vegas and can’t decide on a show, this is a must see!

It was our second time staying at the Cosmopolitan hotel on the strip,  located right next to Bellagio and across the street from Planet Hollywood. There’s really no need to rent a car if you’re comfortable walking because almost everywhere you need to go you can walk to, unless it’s mid-summer and the weather is blazing hot or raining. Though, Joe did not appreciate walking all the way to the Venetian in dress shoes…while I was in sandals…oops! I would definitely recommend this hotel, it has all the perks of the other hotels on the strip, but it isn’t nearly as crazy as the others. There isn’t a line out the door to check in like there is at Caesars or Bellagio. We only checked out one pool at the hotel, but it was nice and had great service. We ate at their steakhouse, STK, during our last visit and the steak was good, but I wasn’t impressed by the sides. FYI- I am a picky eater and I would live on just cheese and chocolate if it was possible, so take my food reviews however you would like.

Speaking of food, we ate at one of my new favorite breakfast spots, Hash House A Go Go in the LINQ hotel. They have a location in Orlando that we will definitely be visiting! The food was fresh and service was great, even at 9am with the morning crowd. It’s hard finding a delicious breakfast spot nowadays, so I usually stick to places I know I like, but I am so glad we tried this restaurant! I started with fresh squeezed orange juice (the best breakfast drink when it’s truly fresh) and Joe started with the BLT Bloody Mary in a giant glass. I’m not a fan of anything in his drink, but he said it was good. Since we have different tastes in foods, we ordered two separate meals, though the portions are so large that one plate could easily feed 2-3 people. I had a ham and spinach farm scramble with a side of potatoes and a biscuit, all of which tasted fresh and homemade. They served the most delicious homemade strawberry jam with their biscuits! I asked if they sold it in a jar on our way out, but they did not. Joe had the sage fried chicken benedict w/ maple reduction, which was piled on top of 2 eggs, bacon mashed potatoes & biscuits. He loves to eat, but he barely made a visible dent in this plate because there was so much! Again, highly recommended!

We actually got cancelled on twice during this trip, first by Britney Spears on Wednesday, then on Thursday by the kayaking company due to high winds and unsafe kayaking conditions. Though, it’s hard to complain about weather since it’s out of their control. Like Britney, our tour was rescheduled to Friday. We couldn’t have asked for better weather to be out kayaking on the Colorado River. We had an awesome guide, Mike, with Evolution Expeditions. He was very knowledgeable about the area and kayaking. We had 3 other people in our group that had no idea what they were doing, and they kind of slowed down the whole trip. While they slowly moved along though, we had a race, which I expected to win, but Joe smoked me big time. I would definitely recommend this company and we will use them again next time we are looking for an adventure in Vegas! FYI- Don’t forget to pack some water shoes (you will have to walk in shallow water a few times), or you’ll be forced to wear sneakers, or in my case, my Converse.

In the past we have used taxis to get to and from the airport in Vegas, but this time we decided to try a car service since it ends up costing not much more than the taxis. I did some research online and found Bell Limousine to be the best price, it includes private round trip service from the airport, and the driver meets you at the luggage carousel with your name on an iPad (which is always fun) and assists with the luggage. It was easy to locate our driver, and I received an email when he was on his way letting us know his name and ETA. I read some negative reviews about them during my research, but sometimes you just have to know that bad experiences happen and you can’t please everyone, because we had a fantastic experience with Bell. Both drivers (Wayne and Sir Frank) were punctual, polite and helpful.

I guess that wasn’t exactly “brief”, but I’m new to blogging and will work on my lengthiness! I may sound overly positive, but we had a great trip and even with some cancellations, everything went perfectly. Not all of my posts will be positive recommendations I am sure. I would love to hear if anyone else has tried these places or has any other recommendations for next time, so leave a comment below! I hope this article gives you some fun ideas for your next trip to Las Vegas.

xx,

Kirsten

Las Vegas sign photo via: www.lasvegas.com