Whatever happened in Vegas……erm, goes on Facebook! Now its time for it to go on this blog! I can’t say that I’d ever had any desire to go to Vegas but as Ethan suggested it I had little choice but to go along with the idea not that I was exactly complaining. We checked into MGM Grand  on our arrival early evening from Death Valley in California. It was only $40 per night each for our twin room which is admittedly more than I usually pay but not that much. Besides, you don’t go to Vegas with the intention of not spending much money though it is actually possible.

Vegas may be basically just one street (albeit a very long one) but it packs a lot into that area. One doesn’t even need to leave their hotel complex in Vegas given the amount of amenities inside or maybe thats the idea! Anyway, it took us a good 15 minutes just to get from our room to the strip or the hotel pool given the vastness of the hotel. After a fairly uneventful quiet first night (due to my tiredness/jetlag) we began the following morning by the pool with a yard of pina colada which provided a nice souvenir and was consumed as if it was a smoothie. No affect was felt and back in the room I said we should hit the strip right away but Ethan suggested a quick 30 minute power-nap. Over three hours later we both woke up!!

We then went about seeing Vegas as its supposed to be seen and thats all lit up. Places included the Hard Rock Cafe, Riviera, Harley Davidson Cafe, The Bellagio, New York New York, Tropicana, Paris, Imperial Palace, Caesars Palace, The Mirage, Circus Circus and many more.

Ultimately we were both pretty under-prepared for Vegas with our individual efforts before the trip being put in to the Los Angeles filming locations and Magic Mountain respectively. As for Las Vegas filming locations there are a fair few with significant ones including The Bellagio, Riviera and Imperial Palace. The former featured in both ‘Oceans 11’ (2000) and ‘Oceans 13’ (2007) and the latter two were in ‘Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery’ (1997). Imperial Palace was Alotta Fagina’s penthouse and the Riviera’s interiors were used instead of Stardust Resort and Casino which is where Austin and Vanessa stay. That hotel had been knocked down when we were there.

As we walked up and down the strip we were drinking and going in and out of the casino’s and all in all it was quite refreshing to be in a place where there aren’t too many rules regarding alcohol, smoking and so on. Where else can you just wander from casino to casino (via a bar or two) with a can of supermarket beer in your hand and not have any problems with the authorities. The place really takes it out of you though and I’m not just talking about the contents of your wallet! We both tried our hand at blackjack with mixed fortunes but overall we were both quite cautious, especially myself who soon realised I wasn’t gonna win big having not done my research on how to play the game well.

With nothing to do on the final day apart from wait around for our night flight to Texas we thought that it would be an easy relaxing day. It started off that way but soon turned into an all-day drinking session! Already fairly bored of looking around the shops and casino’s on the strip we decided to have an early afternoon bottle of beer which was on special at an Irish bar. A musical comedy duo were just getting ready to perform on-stage when we arrived and we were a little wary of them at first but soon got into it which probably had something to do with one bottle of Miller leading to many more and a few hours later having filled the table with empties we decided to head back to the hotel (via a Star Wars photo opportunity which Ethan had no recollection of the following day!) to get our bags and we even walked to the airport which was over an hour away.