After breakfast, I waited with Robyn until her airport shuttle came and waved her off on her next adventure!

I packed and got ready and headed through the hectic streets of New York and met my beloved Robbie in times square. It would be my last day seeing him! We had starbucks and sat in the sun chatting away until it was time for me to go to Newark.

Driving through Newark, i just wanted to get to my hotel! I would be staying at the Best Western at Newark Airport for 2 nights by myself... bliss.

Needless to say, I was not expecting the room I walked in to.

So there is probably nothing left to report for the rest of today... I simply did nothing! I ordered dominos and that's the only time I left my room haha!

Friday 1st September - Chill day 2

Today, I watched Harry Potter all day and only moved to put my pizza in the microwave I have in my room, and to have breakfast! Haha.

Saturday 2nd September - VEGAS!

So I did not sleep last night, I felt so nervous, excited and sick about flying to Vegas by myself and meet my parents.
I awoke at 5.45 and attempted to eat breakfast through the nerves! At around 7.30am the shuttle bus drove me around to my terminal at the airport and I was checked in at the self service line and was through security by 8.05!! Very impressed, it would be 3 hours later at Manchester airport.

When it was time to finally start boarding the flight, my nerves just kind of seemed to melt away. I mean i've been very lucky to have been on more holidays than I have birthdays, so being on an aircraft is like second nature.
Four and a half hours later, I touched down in Vegas baby!

I checked my parents arrival time and they were touching down as I got my bag. As it was a domestic flight, there was no passport control so I was ready to get straight off. As for my Mum, Dad and Aunty Di, they were delayed getting here and they had to wait and go through customs.

After 2 hours of waiting in a completely dead terminal 3 baggage claim area, I realised that international baggage claims were elsewhere! No sooner had I found the international arrivals, the moment I had been waiting for in over 3 months finally came! My parents and Aunty Di emerged from the doors! I ran to them and of course shed a few tears!

Our hotel was literally luxury, my aunty and I had 2 queen beds all to ourselves! The rooms was huge!

We had a walk around the hotel and the neighbouring hotels when we settled in. They were massive! The heat in Vegas is of course SO HOT! But it's a really dry heat so it's actually not as bad as you expect!

I fell asleep by 8pm, anyone would think I had an excuse to be jetlagged haha! It was only a 3 hour time difference.

Sunday 3rd September

Today we got the Deuce bus to Fremont street. My dad and I really wanted to do the zip line but it was all full until 12am in the morning!

The mob museum was about how Vegas first started with the Mafia etc. It was interesting but we ended up staying there for 3 whole hours haha!

Afterwards, we headed back down Fremont street to the Heartattack grill! It was such a novelty! you can weigh yourself outside, and if you're over 350lbs you eat free!

We were fit with hospital gowns and the waitresses were dressed as nurses! The wine came in massive drips!

Afterwards, we headed back on the deuce bus to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign! Well, we even witnessed a wedding haha!



By the time the Deuce bus had crawled its way back to the Luxor, it was around 12.30am and we just jumped straight into bed!

Monday 4th September

Today we got up and got ourselves ready to go to the Grand Canyon. Our leisurely stroll quickly tuned into a Usain Bolt sprint as my Dad realised on the tickets we were meant to confirm our pick up 24 hours before pick up ... we were now 20 minutes from pick up!

My dad was at the concierge desk trying to contact Papillon Helicopters, meanwhile my Mum and Aunty Diane headed to the entrance they said they would meet us just so we didn't miss the bus!
No sooner had my mum and aunty gone, my dad had gotten through to the company and the concierge told us to wait at the opposite entrance to where they had gone...

Now anyone who has been to Vegas, knows the vast size of the hotels. Well I was running around like a headless chicken trying to find them. When I eventually found them, we had to make a mad dash for the van that was impatiently waiting for us.
Now our hectic morning had ended, we sat back and drove to the helicopter base about 40-45 minutes away.

We were weighed and placed in the helicopter to help balance it out - my dad and I were placed at the front with the pilot, YAS!!!
I don't think I can quite explain the whole experience with any word other than: phenomenal. Pictures do not do it justice! We even landed and had a champagne lunch!

We arrived back at the airport 30 minutes later and headed on our way back to the Luxor.
When we arrived back my Aunty and Mum had drank 1/4 of a bottle of 50% proof smirnoff and my whole bar of galaxy chocolate and maltesers (my only chance for British chocolate in months!!!!!).We then headed straight out to explore the New York New York hotel which was amazing!
Tuesday 5th September

Our only chill out day, ahh. It was lovely to just get up and lay around the pool. Although, it was so hot! Fran and Sian arrived at the hotel and checked in around lunch time, then sunbathed with us. I actually think we probably spent more time in the pool haha.
At around 3pm we had all just had enough sun, it was over 100 farenheit (40+ degrees celcius) and we just wanted to chill out before dinner.

Fran and Sian came to our room for some drinks before we headed to Chilis!
The two of them are just such amazing girls, i'm going to miss them both.
Liv and Liv met with us as soon as they landed! It was so good to see them again.
Wednesday 6th September

Today we used the monorail on our Vegas pass, what a waste of time. You have to walk miles in and out of hotels before you can even find the monorail!m
We sat in literally the oldest most retro McDonalds i've ever seen and had an ice cream before venturing into Circus Circus which was insane! It had it's own mini theme park in there, and we watched some acrobats perform!

We then trekked back to the monorail station and headed to Ceasars palace which was absolutely gorgeous.
I headed to pandora where I bought 3 Vegas charms for my pandora which are really pretty! I cannot wait to get my disney ones!

Afterwards, it took us forever to head back up the strip and finding our way through hotels to get to the monorail!

We decided to eat in the hotel for dinner at a deli at the bottom of our elevators to save us trailing around!

I then got ready to see a show with my friends and it was just full of lovely looking Aussie boys hahah! It was our last night together so why not!

After chatting til the early hours, it was then the best time of the day... bed time.m
Thursday 7th September
Our final day in Vegas! We used the kind of pointless monorail again, just to get us down the strip towards the Bellagio, Venetian and Paris. The strip is so decieving, a hotel that looks a 5 minute walk away is actually a 30 minute walk. So, I suppose it saved our legs a little.

After having a look in the Bellagio, and wandering into the Planet Hollywood hotel (where we expected to find the restaurant), we learned that it was actually in Ceasars Palace? So off we trekked around the whole circumference of Ceasars palace to find Planet Hollywood. We got there eventually and ate a lovely lunch there.

Afterwards, we headed over the road to Paris to go up the Eiffel tower. It seemed certainly safer and warmer than going to the real Paris which I was totally fine with! There were stunning views up there, and it is only half the size of the real tower.

We could even see the Bellagio fountains.

Afterwards, we went to the Venetian to have a look around and finally got to taste the cakes from Carlos Bakery! We even bumped into Justin on the way.

After packing, we had a last trek... I mean walk around the hotel, and we had a light bite at the Backstage Deli in the hotel later on.

Our time in Vegas has sure been a fun packed, tiring, but amazing time. I personally would not come back here, or not for a long time at least,because once you've seen all there is to see nothing else probably changes. It was an amazing place to be reunited with my parents and friends, i'm going to miss the heat! My highlight of Vegas was definitely the Grand Canyon.

Jade xx