Vegas Baby!

It finally came! Time for me to take my annual trip to Las Vegas!!! But this year was a little different...

The Backstory: Valentine's Day was February 14th, my six month anniversary with the love of my life, Jamaal, was February 16th and my sweetie's birthday was February 20th, not to mention it's been a hell of a winter. What a better way to celebrate all of these milestones than a trip to Sin City!!

The Catch: I had been to Vegas 2 times before with friends but Jamaal had never been. Anyone who knows him knows that he is one of the most calm, gentle, caring people that you'll ever meet. (But make no mistake, he is still very bad ass!) I wanted the trip to be special so I asked him to take his birthday off from work and planned it as a total surprise to him until 9 pm Thursday night, only 6 hours before we needed to be at the airport!!!!

The Surprise: The surprise went off without a hitch and it was such a relief to be excited outwardly after keeping it a secret for a month!!

The Trip: The Good, The Bad and the Amazing

The Flight
To get decent flight times and be somewhat fiscally responsible, I booked our flights on Southwest (which I had never flown on) - bad mistake. Unorganized, crowded and overbooked on the way and on the way back. You get what you pay for I guess. What is with the weird "groupings" and "positions"? Just assign seats!!! The only saving grace was the flight attendants on the way there who were very engaging, funny and attentive. They acknowledged first time flyers with humorous gift bags and the obvious bachelor parties who started the party way early. Unless it's an emergency, I am pretty sure, we won't be flying Southwest anymore.

The Hotel
In a word: PHENOMENAL. We stayed at the Westin Casuarina, slightly off the strip and one of the only hotel/casinos in Vegas that is smoke-free. The staff there is more than hospitable - opening doors for you in and out of the hotel and anticipating all of your needs whether it's unlimited bottled water to save yourself from dehydration or taxi service that is readily available Lincoln Town Cars and Navigators to take you where you need to go.

The hotel room was a oasis as we were surrounded by white, soft greens and spas - very zen. The Hibiscus Spa located inside the hotel was out of this world, definitely a hidden gem. More bottled water, Starbucks Coffee and Tazo Tea and more towels than we knew what to do with. This is the view from our hotel (picture taken at dawn because we never went to sleep that night!)

Included in our hotel reservation was access to the sauna and steam room, robes, slippers, more bottled water, juice and 3 different varieties of trail mix to enjoy in their "Relaxation Rooms." The Relaxation Room (RR) consisted of soft lighting with chaises and couches for you to relax and enjoy the plethora of magazines or snuggle up with one of their chenille throws or just sit back in think about nothing. There was some light socializing and if the staff needed to speak with you in the RR, they whispered so as not to disturb you or the other guests. When I get a house, I want a Relaxation Room!!!!!!!!

The Food
Vegas isn't Vegas without the food!

We had lunch at the Oyster Bar at Penazzi located inside Harrah's Casino in honor of Jamaal's birthday. A die hard fan of seafood, specifically oysters, he was amazed at how fresh and abundant they were. The very nice chef, Rick T. from Brooklyn, was incredibly personable as he explained that they get their oysters from Washington State. I had their take on "Fish and Chips", whitefish that was battered, covered in potato chips and fried (unbelievable!) and we shared the crab cakes which fell apart on top of the salad because the crab meat was so huge!

If you're on the West Coast, no matter where you are, you have to go to Fatburger or In and Out Burger. I usually save my In and Out trips for L.A. so we opted for Fatburger. Fresh, delicious, well worth the $10, good people watching, too.

A horrible mistake on our part because it was close was the breakfast buffet inside Imperial Palace - uninspiring, fresh out of the can, school lunch-type items. Not good. :( Especially because there are really amazing buffets in Vegas like the one in Treasure Island now known as T.I.

Redemption came with All You Can Eat Sushi at Ah-Sin inside Paris Las Vegas. You choose your first 3 rolls and they bring you 2 thereafter until you are done. If you're into to sushi, you know 3 rolls will run you about $24 so it's a deal from the start.

The Drinks
Disclaimer: Jamaal and I are both of age to purchase and consume alcohol and did so responsibly. :)

Worst picture ever!! Best drinks in the world- 4 words: 99 Cents Margarita Bar. We saw this sign and figured, "Those have to be the most watered down margaritas in the world." So when we went inside Bill's Casino and Gambling and saw the subtle droves of people heading for the bar, we thought, "99 cents, it couldn't hurt." While we were in line, we met a nice gentleman who informed us that we should get the "double." Good thinking considering we anticipated minimal alcohol in each drink. What we didn't know was that (1) the "regular" 99 cents margarita was stronger than the $8 margaritas we had been buying all day and (2) the "double" was no more than a scoop of frozen margarita mix that served as a base and they filled the rest of the cup with straight tequila - all for $2. Best thing ever!!

A Strip favorite is always Coyote Ugly in New York (you purchase your cup that comes filled with the frozen drink of your choice and if you keep the cup and bring it back, you only pay for a refill, extra shots only $2). After bringing my cup from Chicago, we had to go there and waited in line for about 20 minutes but it's totally worth it. Good flavor, good price.

The Casinos

We're not huge gamblers, we toyed with some Blackjack and Roulette in the Pleasure Pit at PH (Planet Hollywood) and some slots here and there. Home to "The Lions", I always make a stop at the MGM Grand. One of my favorite Vegas bars, Centrifuge, is there as well and is good for a decent drink if you just need a place to relax.

The Bellagio was amazing in its all grandeur. The fountains are always a highlight. The indoor garden was Asian themed and gorgeous as usual with animal scenes made totally of flowers. The Bellagio is totally lavish and always makes me want to go to Europe.

In my opinion, one of the best hotels on the strip, The Wynn is unparallelled with those waterfalls. I could sit there all day. The hotel and casino and its restaurant choices are just lavish!! Sometimes tiring, as usual, Vegas was amazing and although it is somewhat surreal, it is nice to have a true escape. See you next year, Vegas! (or maybe even later this year!)

You can check out the rest of our Vegas photos on my Facebook page!