Index

Day 7 - 10.10.16

It was our last full day in Vegas so we were keen to pack is as much as we could before flying to Florida the next day. With that in mind we were up super early this morning as we were meeting our Scoot City tour guide at 7am. Unfortunately I woke up feeling awful, all bunged up with a really sore throat. But never mind, the show must go on or something like that!

So we met our tour guide, Jonathan, outside our hotel and he told us that he had nobody else booked on the tour this morning so it was just us on our own private tour!

It was decided that Ross should probably take the wheel as I don’t actually drive at home, still got the L plates, so we would probably be safer with him in charge of the pedals and I’d be chief photographer. Standard roles then! So Jonathan took him through the controls then we set off to our first destination, the Bellagio! Obviously we walk through there about 4 times a day but we hadn’t looked properly round the conservatory yet so we could do that today.



The scooter was great fun. It was a bit weird being so low down but it was nice to feel a breeze for once! The road wasn’t busy yet so it gave Ross a chance to get used to driving it on the wrong side of the road without the fear!

We followed Jonathan to the top floor of the car park at the Bellagio, we parked up and went in. We spent about 15 minutes wandering around the conservatory and looking at the chocolate fountain and the cakes in the bakery. Jonathan said they usually spend about half an hour there but since it was just us and we’d seen most of it before we could scoot off (geddit? Soz.) early.










Next stop was the famous Las Vegas sign. It was still super quiet so we managed to get some good photos. No Elvis there this morning though. Jonathan also took some pics of us looking uber cool in our scooter. Flyyyyy.



Then we went onto the Hard Rock Hotel/Cafe/Shop, taking in the sights on the way, including a proper Coca Cola truck. Once we got parked up we went across the road and into the shop to get me some more pins. The place was deserted but I grabbed some pins from the stand and went to the till but there was nobody there. We waited a while then Ross went off to find somebody. I just heard a voice say ‘How did you get in?!’ ermmmmm through the front door pal! Apparently they were still closed and the door was supposed to be locked but the cleaner had left it open, oops! They served me anyways and we swiftly left. They locked the doors behind us!



Now Jonathan gave us two options, we could head to the Little White Chapel, then the Pawn Shop then finally the Mob Museum or if we weren’t bothered about the Chapel we could skip it and have more time at the museum. We opted for the latter as the Mob Museum was somewhere we really wanted to see so having more time there would be a bonus.

So it was onto the Pawn Shop. We found the area around the Pawn Shop quite seedy and run down, didn’t quite have the same glamour as the strip. Lots of adult stores and wedding chapels, dodgy.
We’ve watched Pawn Stars for years and love the show so we were looking forward to seeing it although we had been warned that it doesn’t look anything like how it does on the show so we were prepared!

We parked up outside and waited in the small queue outside as they hadn’t opened just yet. Once they opened the doors Jonathan warned us not to buy anything too big and we went inside.
People weren’t wrong when they said it looked a bit different! It was mainly jewellery and Pawn Shop merch. A few of the items we saw on the show were in one of the cabinets but there was nothing very interesting on sale. We bought the usual, magnet, golf balls with Chumlee’s face on and an Old Man silver dollar. I didn’t make a note of how much it cost. Once outside Jonathan took us round the back to the mural Chum had painted and he took our photo with it which was cool.







Then it was time to go to our final stop which was the Mob Museum. We had seen this place on Tanked so we were hoping to see their fish tank, if they still had it! On the drive round Ross nearly got us taken out by a pick up truck, and the best part, he didn’t even notice! Starting to think I should have driven!

We had an hour and 15 mins to look round the museum which was good. We really enjoyed it. If you read every single board it would take you a good 3 hours to get round but obviously we didn’t have the time for that but we still managed to get a lot read and done. I even managed to get Ross in the electric chair! We learned all about the Valentines Day Massacre and the casino money laundering stories, very informative stuff! Guess what though...no fish tank! We didn't see any ATM fish tanks the entire time we were there. Makes me wonder if they only get them for the show and get rid of them shortly after? In the gift shop we bought a magnet and some golf balls (are you bored of me saying that yet?) for $20 and went back outside to meet Jonathan.






We drove back to the Scoot City depot via Freemont Street and the Stratosphere and encountered a roadside loon stood by some traffic lights, screaming at all the cars about the government and God. Sods law that the lights turned red and we were stuck there next to him which freaked us out a bit as we were pretty exposed and we didn’t want him to get in our faces. Jonathan said he encounters a few crazies but he was one of the worst he’s seen in a while!




Back at the depot we parked up, jumped in the mini bus and Jonathan drove us back to the hotel. We chatted to him about the weather (standard small talk!) and he says that most residents find the summer months tough in the heat but hate the winter months as it’s far too cold for them, cant say I blame them!

We arrived back at our hotel at 11:30, we tipped him $25 and waved goodbye. I’d definitely recommend Scoot City to everybody! It’s a great way to tick of some of the sights and landmarks in one morning and it’s probably the most fun way to get it done! Jonathan was a great tour guide, very helpful and informative and an all round cool guy.

Continued...

Since we had skipped breakfast we were pretty starving so it was time to visit Jimmy and waste away in Margville. I was so excited! Margaritaville was our holiday anthem so it was only right we ate there. We waited about 20 mins to be seated and then we ordered drinks. Of course you cant waste away in Margaritaville without a marg in hand so we ordered two berry flavoured ones. Ross isn’t a cocktail guy but I made him get one. For food we ordered chicken strips to start and two cheeseburgers. While we waited for the food a guy came round asking to take our photo. We dismissed him initially but then he said it was free we agreed. So this guy starts pulling a load of props out of his bag and starts dressing us up! I’d had like, one sip of my drink so was all for it (shhhhh don’t judge they were strong as hell!) but Ross’ face was hilarious. The last props we got were a pair of pink fluffy flamingos that we had to make kiss. This is the result. So much fun!




Unfortunately Ross absolutely hated his cocktail! Oops! Since returning home I’ve made him a classic margarita and he’s a fan of mine so we’ll stick to original ones in the future! Thankfully our waitress was a babe and she took his away, knocked it off the bill and got him a manly boring beer instead. I reassured him that all his man cards remained intact so he was happy!


Food was lush. The chicken strips were to die for! I didn’t get pics of the burgers cause I was wasted by the time they came but y’all know what burgers look like so it’s cool. I really was quite drunk! Combo of lots of tequila, me being a total lightweight and an empty stomach meant it went right to my head. When in Vegas!

We paid the $83 bill including tip and headed out into the heat which, by the way, made my drunken-ness ten times worse. Good job Ross is quite sturdy so I just clung onto him and we were good to go! Now we hadn’t actually been in Paris hotel yet and Ross hadn’t gambled in like 24 hours so we went in and found a blackjack table. In my tipsy state Ross managed to persuade me to have a go and I actually had a blast! Our dealer, James, was an actual babe, I heart him so much! He was an older man, maybe late 60’s and he’d been doing this for a while. He was very chatty and helpful with lots of tips for me and he was hilarious. The rest of the table were really nice too so it was loads of fun. We played for ages. We started off with $40 each, Ross spent up but I ended up with $150! Not bad for a beginner.

I decided to quit while I was rich and we went back to the hotel to get packed. The cases were full of frickin’ golf balls! He’s not played once since we got back either.

Once the cases were full we ordered an Uber to get to the Stratosphere for some final night fun. Ross really wanted to do the sky jump thing but didn’t fancy the price tag so instead we got tickets for the Big Shot and the viewing area which came to $50. On the way to the escalator they stop you and get you to pose for loads of pics in front of a green screen, like pretending to be eaten by a shark and stuff. No idea why! We didn’t buy them!

In the lift up to the top there was a load of couples on holiday together all celebrating different anniversaries, the longest being 40 years. They were all so cute. They congratulated us and we congratulated them and we parted ways when we got to the top. We wandered round the indoor viewing area at the incredible views and we also watched some dude do the sky jump. No ta mate! Looked terrifying! Ross was itching to do it. Hes a total daredevil though! He abseiled down the Olympic orbital tower thing last year cause hes insaaaaane!





Feeling adventurous as I could be, we headed up to the top for the Big Shot. It was fair breezy up there. The ride was amazing, and absolutely horrendous! The first shoot up thinking if we go off the top you’d get an awfully long time to think about your life on the way down. Morbid! It was so much fun though, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.



I would not do any of the other rides though! At any themepark there really isn’t anything I wont ride but those were just a bit much! The roller coaster style car going out over the edge and free rolling down! Noooope. I wouldn’t have enough trust in it to stop! God no, I was more than happy to swerve that one. I choose life!

Once we’d taken some more pics we went aaaall the way back down again to head back to central strip. There was no wifi for Uber and we couldn’t spot any taxis so we decided to walk it. Mistake! Oh my lord on a stick it was a long way! And it was redders, and it was terrifying. That end of the strip is a dump and I’m not kidding, someone actually asked if we wanted to buy any coke. No thank you scary drug dealer man! We spotted a large family of all ages including kids so tagged on to the back of the group. Safety in numbers and all that!

I was so pleased when we got to the Venetian alive. I’d never walk that road again that’s for sure, not even in daylight.
We were hungry again now so we tried Carlo’s restaurant first but that was really busy so we went to the Grand Lux instead and we were seated straight away. Ross ordered the chicken parmo which is one of my fave things ever (I mustn’t be a true northerner though cause I have it with marinara sauce at home, not béchamel) but I knew I’d never manage a portion in America so I ordered the tomato pasta.

It was ruddy freezing in here, the aircon was ridiculous! I used my napkin as a teeny tiny blanket to try and keep the top of my legs warm at least, spoiler alert...it didn’t work!
Ross enjoyed his parmo, obviously, it’s a parmo. But my pasta was a really dry on top like it had been sat under a heat lamp for a while! The underneath was nice but nothing amazing.




We paid the $60 including tip and headed for the exit, trying to find a giftshop on the way out for a magnet but didn’t manage to find one.
We decided to choose a casino for one final flutter. I voted to go back to Paris as we had so much fun in there earlier, Ross agreed.
Again, I was feeling brave and wanted to play blackjack again so we found a $10 table and sat down. I know we will have ordered drinks cause they are free (depending on your definition of free!) but I didn’t write down what. Ross probably had a beer, I probably had a cocktail.
We had $50 each and managed to double our money before calling it quits at 11pm. We did get chatting to a lovely older couple at the table were from Florida. They were visiting their son who lives in Vegas and they asked us to say hello to Mickey for them.

I decided to keep a chip as a souvenir but didn’t know if it was allowed so I was on edge from the moment I put it into my bag till we got out the door. I just didn’t want to go to casino prison!
Safely out the door without being arrested by French police it was decided to watch the fountains one last time. And we witnessed a wedding! Just on the street in front of the fountains. Don’t know if it was legit and legal but it was cool none the less.


The fountains danced to Singing in the Rain and Uptown Funk then it was time to wave goodbye to my favourite thing about Vegas! When we were walking up the path to the Bellagio front doors the fountains put on an extra 10 second mini show, its like they were waving back at us. Naaaaawww.



Once inside the Bellagio we heard the plinky plonky sound of the piano. And who was playing it? None other than our Silver Fox. He was back! He must have known it was our last night. Byyyyeee Silver Fox man!

Back in our room we went straight to bed ready for another long travel day tomorrow.

Final Vegas wing count - 37! Not bad! But he still had two weeks left to build up the numbers.

great last full day x