A Very VEGAS New Year

“So what will we do for New Years Eve?” was the question floating around as December was coming to an end. Last year I was celebrating in my favourite place in the whole world, the Margaret River region of Western Australia, with my nearest and dearest. It was a celebratory moment of finishing university, coming back home, and preparing for the next step. Well, now I have taken the next step what else was there left for me to do but PARTY?! New York was originally on the cards, but when Vegas came onto the table (excuse the pun) we immediately thought: Road Trip! So Diogenes and his two housemates Tiago and Mario and one of my housemates Summer packed up and travelled east to the state of Nevada; aka the land of legal prostitution and gambling and regrets.

We left prior to sunset on New Years Eve for the sweet 7 hour drive to a little random city in the middle of the desert, Las Vegas. The drive went really quickly as we covered all those taboo conversation topics like sex, religion and politics, played celebrity heads, I-spy, and all those other road trip favourites. We passed the snowy Sierra Nevadas which were glorious in their appeal on our way there, and the desert landscape was stunning surreal. Just like in the movies. We got lost on our way into Vegas, but somehow managed to take a short-cut. We arrived at our hotel The Sahara (yes, the cheapest last minute pick on Expedia – at least it was on The Strip!) to be greeted with an hour-long line out the door for check-in and an overwhelming amount of coin slots, cigarette smoke and flashing lights and sounds. The hotel, despite its aged facilities conveniently had a shop (filled with 80s/90s fashion – no thanks) where I scored myself a much-needed purse which happened to be the only not-completely-hideous item in the whole store. Actually, I really like it. We celebrated in our room, laughing, drinking, and enjoying each other’s company until mid-evening when we hopped on the monorail and head down to the oh-so-glorious Bellagio. On the way, we all managed to get lost and somehow all manage to all find each other in a bathroom line in a completely random hotel called the Flamingo. We never asked how or why, and then ventured down to the Bellagio to watch the water fountains and fireworks at the countdown. Much love was in the air and we had an amazing, grateful, blessed, freezing start to the New Year. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, it was -2C. We spent the rest of the night playing at the Bellagio and ended up with a late night Subway feast (the only place we ate the entire time).

The Grand Canyon was on the original agenda but, given the traffic and snow and our later than expected stumble out of bed, we decided to just enjoy our day in Vegas and see the sites. We started down at the opposite end of the Strip and slowly perused various hotels and shops. Some highlights being the New York, New York Rollercoaster; possibly the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced, Hard Rock Café and just the general nonsense that is Vegas.

As night fell we wound up at a Hotel called The Venetian. We fell in love. The Venetian had rivers flowing throughout with Italian-trained men giving Gondala rides and singing beautiful Italian throughout. But wait! Here comes my favourite part. The Sky! The Venetian had this incredible sky that when you walked you felt like the clouds were moving. Despite the darkness and freezing weather outside, every moment in this hotel felt like you were enjoying a glorious summer moment, just before dusk, in Venice. The boys watched a band and played some games in the Casino and the girls induldged at the ‘Oxygen Bar’. In hindsight, paying for oxygen doesn’t make any sense, however we did receive a massage, some herbal teas, electrotherapy and my blood did feel a little more oxygenated (great for a hangover!).

Then came the highlight of my trip! A surprise call from Australia from my Dad. “Where are you right now?”, “I’m at the Venetian”, “Oh, the Blue Man Group is playing at the Venetian, there is a 10pm show, I really want you to see them, they’re amazing. I want to buy you some tickets”… THANKS DAD! The shows in Vegas are almost the sole reason it’s worth going to Vegas and unfortunately we were on a budget that didn’t quite have room for the $150 a pop it costs to see a show. So when my Dad bought Diogenes and I surprise tickets to see one of the better shows in Vegas I was blown away. It was awesome! I have tried describing it to so many people but there just aren’t words to do it justice hence I've embedded a YouTube video for you to see for yourself. Nevertheless, in summary, it was a mind-blowing, interactive rock show with three blue men who always eat cereal.

After the show Diogenes and I went on a date by ourselves and ate gelato by the rivers in the Venetian. We finally arrived home (after a quick detour to Subway) in the early hours of the morning in preparation for our big drive home. There was a traffic jam for 300miles (not kilometers, miles!) and then there was snow, heavy rain and ice all over the road, so our journey took… well, lest just say a really long time. The boys did not go to sleep before starting work in the morning and after a weekend in Vegas, I can only imagine how hard they struggled. On the plus side, I got to see falling snow for the first time in my life. Happy New Year!