BBmomo: My First Vegas Trip – 2014

Reader BBmomo shares her First Vegas Trip from 2014…

Unlike all the other “First Vegas Trip” stories, my first time in Vegas was only two years ago. Ever since the first Hangover movie, I’ve been fascinated with this place but never found the right person to go with. When I met my current travel buddy, the very top destination of our travel list was LAS VEGAS!!!! After a ton of googling, TripAdvisor, VegasChatter, MyVegas, plus any info, deals, and must do’s in Vegas, we decided on three nights at Aria. Trust me I did ALOT of research.

I remember stepping off the plane and thought I had walked into a casino when I saw so many slot machines. We walked out of the airport, and I honestly remember saying “I’M IN VEGAS BABY!” We got to Aria at around 11 am, and we tried to check in anyways and to my surprise, they had a room ready facing the strip. I guess the $20 trick worked. The room was beautiful, but the view was blocked by the VEER Towers– but whatever I can still see the strip.

The first show in Vegas we saw was Crazy Girls. There wasn’t a lot of people, so we were seated very close to the front. I am so glad we saw that show because it was at The Riveria and I got to see it before it closed shortly after. I remember walking around the smoky casino and seeing a lot of people around the $3 blackjack. The casino was so different from the one in Aria. But being it was my very first night there, I wanted to see everything. We bought a beer, and my travel buddy said it’s ok to walk out with it. For the first little bit, I had him hold my beer as I didn’t want to be arrested for drinking on the street but he kept saying it was fine. That night we walked from Riveria to Circus Circus down past the construction, into Treasure Island and past the Mirage, wandered into Caesars (where the Hangover movie was filmed WOO HOO!!!) then the Bellagio. I remember seeing people hurrying out because the fountain show was about to start. The Bellagio fountain was mesmerizing, I have never seen any water fountain show like it.

We also made it to Fremont St, and that was a whole other experience. After lots of walking we sat down at the Whisky Liquor Bar at Binions, and now that’s a must do every time we’re in Vegas.

I remember on the second floor at one of the casinos (The D) they had an old school race track machine (Sigma Derby) and other vintage machines where you actually put in coins.

We went on the SlotZilla “Superman style,” and it was absolutely amazing. We wandered on the second floor of Plaza, and there was a wedding chapel. We were approached by an older gentleman that works there and said they can marry us right away if we wanted to get married. We thought it was hilarious as we were so touristy dressed and there was a sign that said “no refunds, exchange only.” Only in Vegas. We waited for the Fremont Street Experience then had to hurry back to the Strip because we had tickets for Ka.

At the LINQ (it was still the Quad at the time),  I had my BIG win of the trip, $48 from the “fishie” penny slot (I only put in $2). I don’t gamble, so that is a BIG win for me. I have never gambled at a table before so on the last day, I took $20 from my winnings and sat down at Casino Royale’s Black Jack. Lost all $20 but hey my first table gambling was in Vegas!

I think we wandered into every single casino on the strip that first trip. I’m not big on gambling, but the lights, the energy, the people, and the awesome drinks in Vegas keeps me wanting to go back. The day we got home, we started planning for the next. Since that trip, we’ve been back three times, and there is already talks of the 4th. In the meantime, I go on Vegas Bright to get my Vegas fix and dream that I am there.

[Photos: BBmomo, Michael Movestro | Cover: Greg C]

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