Vegas - Grand Canyon and Strip Sights

I woke up at 8am! To make full use of the day, I made 2 bookings at the concierge. Collectively the 2 items cost a bomb!The first booking was a trip to the Grand Canyon. It was high up on to do list in Vegas - The Grand Canyon! Woo hoo.. Going to one of the 7 wonders of the World via a helicopter!

Thought of being on a heli - Cool! 

Parking Lot for Heli

The price was thrilling as well. Well above 300USD. The idea of taking a heli was more than exciting. Although the spinning of the blades were loud, the heli was stable. The pilot cum narrator was quite pro. The view was spectacular. God’s creation is amazing!

Initial Moments of being in the air

It's very nice!

The grandeur of it all

I also saw Hoover Dam and Lake Mead from above.

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead

Check out the mini shadow

There were also meandering roads leading up to the Canyon. It would have been tiring to travel via coach as it would take more than 12 hours for the entire trip.

Meandering Roads

The pilot parked at the edge of the cliff to stop over for lunch. Probably a test of skills for him as the other pilots simply parked on inland and flat grounds.

Lunch Stop Over

The lunch cum champagne looked nice. But it wasn't anything fantastic.

Kinda low budget?

We were zoomed back to the hotel. And it was a short while before I headed to Venetian Hotel for Phantom. I popped on Deuce, the double-decker bus to travel down the Strip. It was 7 USD for a 24 hour ticket. It is an easy way to hotel hop, especially when the hotels are quite far apart if one were to walk.

The Deuce

Phantom at Venetian was great as it was aired in small theater. I could see the stage, props and actors/actresses more clearly than the one I caught in SG in 05. Found it rather worthwhile. After some research, I realized it was different as David Rockwell to design the $40 million custom build theatre.The unique theatre was designed to create an ongoing sense of anticipation with a layout that literally surrounds the audience in action. How cool is that?!

Had a quick dinner at the food court and toured around the hotel. Venetian Hotel in Vegas looked largely similar with the one in Macau. Indeed classy.

The Interior

More of it!

One of the stores

There was a newly wed couple in the gondola. It was a bliss sight against the setting.

He was actually singing for them

As it was only around 9, I decided to walk down the Strip. The weather was great! Here are some shots of the hotels as I walked down from Venetian.

Venetian

Treasure Island

Mirage

Harrahs

Caesars Palace

Across the street

Bellagio

Planet Hollywood

Eiffel Tower

Stratosphere and Sahara

Besides the above, there are also other hotels that are unique. There's a LION at MGM Grand, Bird Park at Flamingo, Pyramid at Luxor, Aquarium in Caesar's Palace, Garden in Bellagio. For a non gambler like me, there are just so many entertainment options in Vegas!

My favorite hotel is none other than BELLAGIO hotel. It is so grand and classy. The other winning dimension is the giant water fountain ahead of the hotel. Water displays are on every 15 minutes. The display at each interval is 15 minutes and I stayed for a total of three displays!

Went back to hotel on Deuce, I had to walk for a good 10 minutes. As my fingers were almost freezing, I treated myself to hot chocolate from Starbucks. Awesome day! 

Vegas Bound

Greeted with a urgent wakeup call by my bro. Was supposed to be up at 4am but it turned out to be 430. Really could not quite peel my eyes open.

Thankful for my bro who was up in time, He also drove me over. Mum and BZ were nice in accompanying me. It is one less item to worry about with them around. We went for super early breakfast at Terminal 3. After passing through the gantry, it was almost a dash to the gate cos I heard that it was the last call for United 804. Managed to catch the flight in time. Two more to go!

I was thrilled to see the individual entertainment screen on the chair. And I will not be that bored. The choices are def more limited as compared to SQ, but it is still acceptable. And it was great we need not share a big screen among all passengers.

The Narita Airport is chic. There were quite a no of DFS stores selling Jap food, souvenirs etc. Too bad I did not have any YEN with me. And I'm not sure if it is good to buy food to US as well. But I bought Green Tea Kit Kat. Hope to have time to check out the stores on the way back! Lol... I've yet to arrive and I'm thinking about the return journey.

Variety of merchandise

Here is another one!

Just another store?

The airport is strewn with many unique vending machines selling HD ice cream and travel insurance. The latter is cool and definitely convenient!

Awesome machines

Buy travel insurance on the go!

On board the first connection to LAX. It was a little of the let down for the giant screen instead of small individual terminals. Looking forward to reach LAX earlier than the scheduled time and I so need sleep! The journey is more than long and I'm almost up every other 1/2 or 1 hour. Oops.

And the food served was decent…!

Chicken Noodles

Chicken Rice - Jap Style

Plain breakfast

We were almost 40 minutes ahead of time. As it was in the wee hours of the morning in SG, I tried hard to keep awake and be vigilant throughout the custom clearance, baggage checks etc. After 2 long queues, I exited at Terminal 6. This was different from what I have expected. I bumped into another Singaporean (Jodie) and 2 Americans. We asked for the way to Terminal 7 and we got there rather quickly. I had lunch with Jodie who is a seasoned traveler.

The ride to Vegas was brief and we were there in no time. Very thankful that all flights went well. Thanks if you prayed about it.

The airport was characteristic of Vegas with jackpot machines lined up when you enter the airport.

Airport at a glance

I finally got to Vegas.. After an entire day spent among the clouds! Erm... As it was Vegas,the gaming machines were available right after exiting the plane. Took the airport shuttle for 6.5 USD. It was convenient and I got to check out some of the hotels in  Vegas.


I was wheezed to the HGVC with Ritz Shuttle. Along the way, there were many hotels.

Monte Carlo

Bellagio

For HGVC, I like the simple and comfortable set up.

Ultra Comfy Bed

Such convenience

The washroom

The Kitchen

As evening dawns, the Strip was alive! Wanted to check out the place. But I decided to head to bed first. As I was tired, I thought I could sleep for 30 minutes and would head out for dinner. But in the end, it was a good 2 hours! As I was too lazy, I decided to have noodles for dinner! I was glad that I made this choice as I got to know that there were strong winds that same evening I arrived. It was so strong that flights have to be cancelled. As such, I was glad I managed to get decent rest and not risked being caught in the awfully cold weather.