Disclaimer before reading this: you know those people that show you photos of their holidays and you don’t really care? That’s essentially what this post is.
For our honeymoon, we wanted to something big, and the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas had us gripped. So we started our honeymoon in Las Vegas prior to travelling on to Cancun after.
It was quite late when we arrived after a long layover in London, so we just dropped our bags off in our room and briefly explored around our hotel, the LinQ on the Strip, trying White Castle for a late night snack, and admiring the glitz and neon of the nearby Flamingo hotel and Casino.
We had planned to walk as much of the strip as possible the following morning, so left early, going out to the famous “welcome to Las Vegas” sign, walking past iconic casinos on the way. Without going into too much detail about the walk (we used our left foot, then our right foot, and then our left foot again) – I’ll just share photos of the iconic casinos.
With stopping along the way for drinks, snacks etc, we didn’t even notice the time zip by, so we turned back after getting to Trump tower, and decided to get food at Fatburger, and do the north end and the Freemont street area the following day.
I actually preferred the vibe towards the North of the strip, it was a bit more chillaxed in the likes of Circus Circus in comparison to the Bellagio. The Westgate where Elvis famously had his residency was a cool experience too. The north of the strip is also home to an abundance of the Las Vegas wedding chapels.
When we finished looking at the chapels, we tried to find refuge in a nearby bar. We went to the Atomic Tavern where we were initially the only clientele. Our barman gave us tonnes of tips for nearby bars and we ventured towards “brewery row” afterwards, home to a BBQ and 2 craft breweries – and tonnes of games to keep you occupied.
This was the Vegas I wish I had more time to explore, lots of street art, cool vintage shops, nice eateries and bars. At the very top of this area is Fremont Street and downtown Las Vegas. The area was a lot more affordable than the bars on the strip itself.
That night, we had tickets to the Las Vegas Golden Knights vs Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Vegas were the defending NHL champions prior to the game, but ultimately lost the playoffs. The atmosphere during the game was incredible, and as we were up at the top, we were close to the VIP section where UFC fighter Khalil Rountree Jr. was watching the game.
That night, we ended with a meal from In-N-Out Burger (which was utterly divine), and then called it a night, as we had planned on a very productive following day.
We travelled to the Rent-A-Car centre and picked up our wheels for the day. A typical American muscle car. Because when you’re driving for hours to the Grand Canyon, you need to do it in style.
The Grand Canyon itself is breathtaking. It’s surreal how expanse it is as well. We were only at the Western Rim, which was administered by the Hualapai Native American tribe.
We returned to Vegas and watched the shows at the Bellagio and Mirage before calling it a night, as we were due to travel early to Cancun the following day.
With the Tropicana casino scheduled for demolishment to build a baseball stadium, and the Mirage closing in July 2024, it’s a city whose face is constantly changing. It would be interesting to return to see how much more it changes, I had a blast against my expectations, there is so much more to do than gamble.
