Las Vegas & New York

Hello Readers!

After Patrick and I talking about wanting to go to America for months Last year we booked our trip with American Holidays, it was a really spur of the moment thing. We were just in the shop checking out prices and where to go when we saw the perfect one for us, Las Vegas and New York. So as we had the whole year to save and look forward to our trip we just had to wait, but the time flew in and next thing we knew we were on our way.

Our first stop was Las Vegas and I think I really underestimated how gigantic everything was there, we stayed in the Excalibur hotel and casino which I think was a perfect location on the strip to get to everything. one of the best things about Vegas is that everything is on one road so there was no getting lost in millions of streets. There's also a bus that runs all day, I think the latest it runs too is 12am and for a but ticket that lasts 24 hours, it's only 8 dollars.

There's also a bus called the sdx which will bring you to the north and south premium outlets, and if you're going to Vegas I would definitely pay a visit to these shopping centers as its all higher end products for a fraction of the price. We also got this bus to Freemont Street so we could do the zip line experience which I highly recommend doing! It was one of the most thrilling experiences I've ever had, I honestly couldn't stop smiling the whole way down. If you are going to try this definitely do the laying down version it's a bit more money but worth it, you are higher up and on it for longer compared to the sitting version. We also did it at night time to see Freemont Street all light up and experience the nightlife while we were up that way, but you can save some money if you do it before 6pm.

There is also the fashion show mall which is on the strip after Caesars Palace it has a wide variety of stores such as forever 21, bath & body works, Sephora and Pink just to name a few. This place is huge too so if you want to go here id have a nosey on their website and see what stores you'd want to go to and figure out where they are on the map, save's you walking in circles like we were. If you want to see a really fancy shopping centre you should go to the Forum Shops at Caesars, it has beautiful fountains and statues scattered all around the building. Although we didn't buy anything in here we did enjoy looking at all the designer stores such as Christian Louboutin, Gucci, and Versace.

One of the main things we were looking forward to was the food and just try some new things. The first morning in Vegas Patrick wanted to try ihop so we google mapped it and it said it was only 10 minutes away, this was the biggest lie if ever I read one. We were walking for an hour and a half although it was a nice way to see everything on the strip, my legs were dead by the time we actually got to ihop. I can honestly say that the pancakes were so worth it!

Another good spot for a burger was in-n-out, me being the fussy eater that I am got a plain hamburger but Patrick got one with their sauce on and a fries that was covered in the sauce and he said it was extremely good. The only downside was the fries weren't the best, they weren't fluffy the way a good chip should be. Other than that the burger made up for the fries being a letdown.

On to New York as you'd probably imagine everything was super tall, on our first night we got to the city about 9pm so we put our stuff into our room then went for a little walk around.  We were staying about 5 minutes walk from times square so we had a walk around then we decided that we'd get something to eat and head back to the hotel to get some rest for the next day, would only be our luck to find a dominos 5 streets away from our hotel. It was one hella expensive pizza it came to 50 dollars I was in shock, firstly because they didn't have wedges and then because of the price. Although it was ridiculously priced we did get a really nice cheesy bread which stole the show for me as the pizza wasn't the best, it just tasted so different Patrick did eat all of it which isn't a surprise!

The next day we spent shopping and getting the hang of the subway, which turned out a lot easier than I thought. We also visited ground zero which was extremely beautiful yet emotional, the fountains are a beautiful tribute to the people who passed away.  The whole area is so moving and seeing the white roses placed in some of the names to represent the victims birthdays is a very heartwarming sight.

On our last day, we did more touristy things we went to the top of the empire state building and talk about an amazing view. Despite it being January surprisingly it wasn't that cold at the top and it wasn't too busy so we could enjoy the visit a bit more as it wasn't overcrowded.  Then we went to the natural history museum, you know that one from the movie (Night at the museum) and it was the biggest museum I've ever been in, thank goodness I had a map but you can also download an app that shows you exactly where everything is turn by turn. We got to see some of the main characters from the movie which was pretty cool. I would definitely recommend paying it a visit as it has something for everyone and is really kid friendly, the only thing I would say is if your planning on spending a good amount of time looking at exhibits and exhibitions, BRING SNACKS. The food court is quite pricey, so if you want to save yourself a bit of money or if you have a few kids going with you bringing your own snacks and juice will definitely help.

Overall our trip was so fab there was a lot of traveling and Patrick had to listen to me complain about my legs and feet being sore from all the walking but it was so worth it. I'm so glad I got to travel to these amazing places with my best friend and next time we will bring our little munchkin along.

Thanks for Reading,

Megan x