Las Vegas Here We Went!

Finally, my hubby and I spent six days in Las Vegas by ourselves! No one to hurry us anywhere, no one to tell us where to go, what not to eat and what to do!  It was heavenly!

But, I guess I should start with our journey to get there.  It is always such a hassle to get to the airport, check-in, go through security, get in line to get your seat on the airplane, deplane, find your luggage, run to the terminal, get a rental.

And speaking of rentals, I must admit we thought renting a car in Las Vegas was a real rip-off.  You make the reservations for the car, they quote you a great price, but when you get there, they surprise with the obligatory insurance which cost an additional $240 – more than the rental!  No, it’s not optional!

We stayed at the  Grandview Resort in Las Vegas; six miles away from the Strip.  Not to worry, there was a new casino adjacent to it where we could enjoy a meal in one of the different restaurants if we wanted to eat out, or create an epicurean delight in our own private kitchen.  Are you kidding me?  Who cooks on vacation?!

We were able to get in at the last minute by exchanging one of our time shares through RCI.  My hubby warned me not to say yes to any invitation to see presentations since we already own two time shares that we’re trying to get rid of, but I misunderstood what the clerk said and I said yes, oops!!

The clerk gave us a choice of a breakfast or lunch buffet, so I wasn’t about to get up early and we chose the lunch buffet.

After we left, my husband reminded me that I shouldn’t have said yes and after he explained what had happened I told him when they call to remind us, I’ll tell them we changed our minds and do not want to go to any presentations.

Sure enough, the night before the free lunch buffet, the reminder call came and I said to the person, “We changed our minds, we don’t want to go to the presentation or the buffet because we already have two time shares.”  He responds, “Oh, you don’t have to sit through a presentation, all we want is for you to see the model and give us an opinion – that’s all.”

We met the sales person who had a very nice personality, we talked about our family, where we’ve been on vacation – fishing, of course!

Then the time came to go see the model – it was exactly the same as the one we were staying in – lovely!

Then she said, “I know you don’t want to buy, but I’m just going to explain the point system that RCI is now using.”  Oh, yeah?  Three hours later and after pushing the sales papers back and forth, we were set free.  They didn’t even thank us, just said, “You can go get your gift card downstairs in Corporate.”  So we get there with our voucher and the lady gives it one more shot!  She asked what was the lowest offer we received and she added, “I offer you half of that!”  NO!! for Pete’s sake!  “OK, here’s your gift card.”

And with our $100 gift card in hand, we went shopping at the Outlet stores, yay!!  Yay, for me, but my hubby was still fuming.

OK, OK, never again, I promise!!

After that unpleasant experience, we spent the next few days at different casions where my husband played and won some money.  A couple of days we just stayed in and did nothing but snack and relax.

I couldn’t get WiFi in our room, so I was not able to post any updates of our stay, and hubby didn’t want to stop for me to take pictures on my phone, so I managed to take a few  drive-bys.

Back home we had talked about going to see some shows while we were making our reservations, but didn’t get a chance to do it.  But, while we were at the Mandalay Bay, we checked on Cirque Du Soleil – Michael Jackson ONE and there were sits available.

As we expected, it was fabulous!  All the acrobatics and the dancing was so great I have to share the trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWPXAyPu5KA

Two days later, we bought tickets to see Celine Dion at Caesar’s Palace.  We were so excited to get tickets because we had tried before and couldn’t get them or she was on vacation.

It was her first night back, so she was full of energy.  She sang all her hits and in between the back up singers sang some other songs to keep us entertained while she changed beautiful gowns.  It was very touching to see and hear her Paris tribute in French.  I didn’t take my phone because they said no recordings or photos, but no one listened.  My hubby and I couldn’t believe how brazen people were in recording the concert – we looked down and there were many, many smart phones shining in the darkness!

The Colosseum was packed and the energy high!  Here’s someone’s recording of the opening song on YouTube.  Enjoy!

And here’s a link to the Titanic Theme

Last words for our stay in Las Vegas – best time we ever had!

Thanks for sticking around and reading my Vegas experience!

I’ll be back next time with an update on my projects from Life Book 2015.