Good Morning xx
Well it has been a hot minute since I have done a blog post so I have decided to do one about my recent trip to Las Vegas. If you have followed me for a while you will know that I travel to Las Vegas every year (sometimes twice) because it is currently my favourite place in the world... It's amazing!!
We arrived to Dublin Airport at about 6:30am on Sunday 17th of September. We parked (as always) in the quick park car park about 5 minutes from the airport and got the shuttle to Terminal 2. The Terminal wasn't very busy at that time so we flew through security and headed down to the U.S. pre clearance. We flew with American Airlines directly into Charlotte so we had to go through customs in Dublin but we decided to book the new lounge 51st and Green for a bit of peace and quiet before our flight. The Lounge was lovely and they had quite a nice selection of food and a range of coffee, tea, water and juices available.
51st And Green
Entrance to the Lounge
Welcome Area
Juices and cheese
Pancake maker
Scones, Muffins, cakes and breads.
Flying Outfit
We booked the lounge online before we arrived so we didn't have to worry about paying when we got there. It was €35 per person for a maximum of 3 hours and that included all of your food, drinks (it did say barista coffee and cocktails but we didn't see a menu for alcoholic drinks) charging stations, shower facilities, Wi-Fi and Televisions. We were in the lounge for nearly 2 hours and it was nice. Was it worth the €70?? I'm not sure, I might give it another go the next time we fly and make up my mind then as I was a bit wary with where everything was and what I could have. It was nice and quiet and the views were beautiful but I would like to go again to really make my mind up about it. We flew with American and the flight was really nice. The food was nice (not as nice as Virgin) but it was edible. I had pasta ravioli and my husband had Teriyaki chicken.
Gorgeous views
Pasta ravioli with crackers, bread roll, salad, cheese and a mini apple crumble
Chocolate Ice Cream was served mid flight
I brought my own Lenny And Larry's protein cookie for a snack
About an hour before we landed we were given a pastry with tomato and cheese and a bun with jam and coconut
The flight was about 7 1/2 hours but you had your own entertainment system so you can watch movies, TV shows, sports, cartoons and play games so the flight never seems too long. We landed in Charlotte and and had a 3 hour layover so we found our gate and decided to go for some lunch. We found a place called Big Daddy's Burger Bar, I highly recommend it. Our flight started to board and we got into the "queue".... By queue I mean the free for all that it was for everyone to squash onto the plane even though the airline was clearly boarding by zone, some people just disregarded the system altogether but we made it on in one piece. It was a full flight so we ended up sitting beside a girl who quite obviously got bored about 10 minutes into the 4 1/2 hour flight and proceeded to wriggle, move and get up and down for the remainder of the flight. Anyway we made it to Vegas, collected our bags and picked up our car (The car is gorgeous, it was a Nissan Rogue and I would definitely hire one again)
We stayed in Hooters again this time because its great value, they have lovely rooms, free parking and the resort fees are reasonable. When we got to the hotel it was about 7pm so we checked in and brought our bags to the room. We were too tired to do anything so we just went to the hotel restaurant for dinner and then went to bed, travelling for 24 hours takes it toll but its definitely worth it.
Hooters is located just off the strip but directly across the street from the MGM. It's about a 3 minute walk across the road into the MGM where they have a monorail stop so its really convenient and easy to navigate the strip. Hooters have removed all of the coffee makers from the rooms as they have opened a new coffee shop downstairs beside the pool (its a bit expensive and the coffee is just OK) so I was a bit disappointed about that but it wasn't the end of the world.
The first few days were spent shopping and enjoying ourselves because on Thursday morning we went on a road trip to Santa Clara (It was a 9 hour drive but it was lovely) We packed plenty of water, energy drinks and snacks for the road and we left Vegas at about 6:30am, after a quick stop in Starbucks for a PSL and a pumpkin spice and cream cheese muffin that was absolutely divine x
The views on the drive from Vegas to Santa Clara are amazing, its a long drive but totally worth it. We stopped a few times on the way to stretch our legs and grab a sandwich and we arrived in Santa Clara at about 3:30. We stayed in the Avatar hotel, it was beautiful and it was an ideal location. We had a bit of a hiccup at reception because we tried to use our bank cards but the bank blocked them so we couldn't check in but we got it sorted and managed to get to our room.
If any of you are interested in going to Santa Clara to see an American football game in Levi's Stadium I would definitely recommend this hotel, it is only a 10 minute walk from the stadium, the parking is free and there is an I-HOP right next door for breakfast.
The drive home was just as lovely as the drive down. It took a bit longer because we had a few more stops but we got back to Vegas at about 10pm. We stopped in the desert to take a picture of the sunset, Vegas is truly beautiful especially at night.
The rest of the week was spent shopping, relaxing, eating and drinking. It was a very relaxed holiday and I spent most of the time wearing gym gear and a baseball hat so I don't have very many photos of outfits or makeup.
Our flight home was lovely, we arrived to Las Vegas airport at about 7am and checked our bags, we brought an spare bag for the bits that we bought and it was about €80 to check an additional bag which isn't too bad. The flight from Vegas to Charlotte was fine and quicker than on the way over. We had about an hour and a half layover until our flight to Dublin so we grabbed some lunch, a subway sandwich for the plane and a Jamba Juice and headed to our gate. The flight home was lovely but the food wasn't great, I had some kind of watery pasta dish that wasn't the best and I'm not sure what the snack was because I didn't get one so I ate my Sandwich. We landed in Dublin airport at about 7am and the rest is history.
We are currently planning our holiday for April, I'm thinking exotic Island, all inclusive, sunshine and cocktails x
Have an amazing week x
Love
Kim xoxo
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