We started our holiday, flying out of Gatwick aboard a Virgin 747-400 which with its inboard entertainment and excellent service made the long journey pass very easily. We arrived in Las Vegas to a glorious sunny day, collected our 15 seater minibus and headed off to the "Flamingo Hotel" our base for the week. We chose this hotel as it was central to all of the sights on the Strip and that as expected with the temperatures fluctuating between 85 and 92 degrees all week, we were able to keep our walking outside down to a minimum. We also knew that the Flamingo had lots of history and professes to have the best swimming pool on the strip.
During the week we experienced many of the attractions - we visited the famous 'Welcome' sign at the end of Las Vegas Boulevard, ventured into many of the hotels that have their own spectacular walkways such as Caesars Palace, Luxor, Bellagio, Monte Carlo, Planet Hollywood, Venetian and several more and we ate out at many different restaurants. Whilst in the Venetian it was hard to remember that we were not in Venice as everyone took a ride on one of the gondolas with the gondolier operatically singing to us all.
With the Las Vegas Strip being 4 miles long we used our minibus to get to some of the attractions that otherwise would have been difficult to see during the week. We also took a day trip out to visit one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World - the Grand Canyon. Having the minibus meant that we were able to travel in our own time and take breaks as we required. It is less than 3 hours from Las Vegas and we did take the opportunity to stop at some very scenic points along the way. The Canyon really is an amazing sight and is one that none of us will ever forget. Another day we took a half day drive to see The Hoover Dam, just 45 minutes away from Vegas. We all wondered at this magnificent structure that was built between 1931 and 1936.
In the evenings we enjoyed all the lights and spectacles of the Strip....the dancing fountains outside the Bellagio, the overhead lights in Freemont street and of course the street entertainers. We even found time to go to 3 shows during the week.... a Legends in Concert show where we all met Michael Jackson, Elvis and Lady Gaga amongst others, the Cirque du Soleil show ‘Viva Elvis’! with dance, acrobatics and live music, a fantastic tribute to the great man and Vegas The Show.
By the end of the week we had fitted in as many activities as was possible and yet we still had many more adventures that we could have done. But as everyone on the trip said that they would love to come back it does mean that perhaps we could get to do these things another time.
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