Las Vegas. My very first “plan it myself trip.” Through my childhood, obviously I never had to worry about planning trips or spending. When I was about 14, my mom came home and told me she had gone skydiving and understandably (for me), I was jealous. So, my dad, who originally refused to go with my mom, stated he would go with me for my 21st birthday. And I held him to it.

It’s possible he may have thought I would forget. Or I’d hopefully chicken out (doubt this one though considering I was always their one kid begging them to go on every roller coaster). But neither was the case. And at the time, when I told my husband-then boyfriend- my plan, he said he’d do it too. He also may have wrongly assumed I was joking or would chicken out, but he agreed to come too. And since we were February and March birthday babies, that made going during our college Spring Break the perfect time.

Both me and my [boyfriend] were working at the time as measly minimum wage college students so flights and any gambling and food was on us. But my dad did take care of the hotel and Skydiving.

The flights came out to $348.70 for each of us out of Atlanta to Las Vegas. Which was a steal considering prices out of Tallahassee were high for no reason. We drove to my [boyfriend]’s parent’s house the day before and then his dad would drop us off. We met my dad at the airport, and he rented a car for us (price unknown).

We came in early so had too much time before we could check in the hotel but worry not, I had the itinerary. Ahh the beginning of one of my loves. Some people hate itineraries, as you will come to learn if you actually keep reading my blogs, I love them. I love planning. I love imagining a trip, doing research, and then making it happen. My first one, I was proud of. I left spots for “free time.” Spots for travel. It was what I thought at the time, perfect. I’ve come to perfect it even more since then.

I still remember my excitement driving down the Strip, it was exactly what I pictured from the years of CSI opening scenes I’ve watched (that was all I knew about Vegas). We stopped at the sign which obviously had a line, but we were able to get our random stranger to take a picture in exchange for taking theirs. We then drove to the Hoover Dam which we spent time taking more pictures. (It’s really just one of those spots you say Oh cool, let me take a picture. There wasn’t really a hike or tour we did; I just wanted the picture.

Afterwards I went to the state border because I know I’m not the only woman who still remembers the Mandy Moore scene being “in two places at once” and thinking that was the most clever thing ever. My [boyfriend] and dad probably thought I was silly, but they’ve grown to learn that’s who I am.

Finally, it was time to check in to the hotel. The Excalibur. $519.98 may seem like a lot for Excalibur but we were college students and for some reason we chose to spend weekend nights there instead of weekdays during Spring Break. Although my dad was working an actual job and we know how stingy jobs were with PTO (some still are). The Excalibur wasn’t the nicest hotel on the Strip, but also, we were used to living in mold infested cheap dorm rooms and apartments. Plus, it was free. We also had a great view.

This was our first time gambling and really drinking, Really first time vacationing. So I felt lost. My dad would go off and let us do our own thing and at night we really just explored the casinos. I’ve come to find out you are supposed to get free drinks for gambling. We came to Vegas with $500 to burn and by the end, it was burnt. I’d look at the tables and although I knew how to play Blackjack and a little Poker, I was still intimidated to venture to the tables. 10 years later I still am. Remember, I’m also an introvert who prefers solo over talking to people so the slots were safe enough. After an hour, I was usually able to “give away” a full $100. So it was time for food and drinks. I was after all finally 21.
For food, I’m pretty sure we survived off of pizza and street food. Maybe some fast food. Now I like to eat out at the cities I’m visiting but then, I was used to the “buy one, get one free” chicken nuggets at Chick-Fil-A and the Vegas restaurants were out of my comfort zone. We did eat out at a “real restaurant” with my dad once and even though he paid, I still tried to get the cheapest thing on the menu, 3 pieces of cold shrimp off the Appetizer menu for $20.

We spent most of that first exploring the different casinos. I saw the Bellagio fountain show, went through Caesars’ (just because of The Hangover), then we ended the night in MGM Grand for a CSI wannabe experience (definitely a little corny but that was one of my favorite shows) and to see the Chris Brown and Trey Songz concert (this was back when they were still popular, I know this was post-Rihanna fight but cancel culture wasn’t a thing yet).

Day 2 we started the day off with a morning hike at Red Rock Canyon. I enjoy my fair share of hikes as you’ll find out later, but this wasn’t the most memorable. However, it was followed by a skydiving experience so that is understandable.

As you remember, the whole purpose of Vegas was to go skydiving. I dont actually remember the reason we chose Las vegas instead of Miami or Dubai (HA a girl can dream), but that was our whole purpose for the trip and the price came in at $150 total for three. Ultimately, I found that skydiving did not exceed my expectations. While I wasn’t nervous to jump out of a plane by any means, I did not enjoy the uncomfortable free-falling experience. I felt the wind smacking me in the face the entire time, and I kept having the fear of bugs flying in my mouth or hitting a bird.

I’ll also admit that I did hope for some Instagram-worthy photos. Instead my face displayed a fake smile and the pain in my eyes betrayed me. I would recommend skydiving just to “cross off the bucket list” but it’s more of a one and done activity, which in that case I’d recommend having a great view for (cough cough Dubai) versus the Nevada desert.

Afterwards, we showered, ate, and then went to Fremont Street. It did feel like a tacky version of Vegas, but I did get the typical tourist drink.

We spent the rest of our time there exploring the popular casinos and burning $50 here or there at the slot machines.

I did end up returning to the City of Sins as a one day stop after Zion National Park in 2021. Again, we really only had time to walk around, eat and drink. Nothing too memorable that deserves another blog post.

I do plan to return to Las Vegas again with my kids. While I used to find it strange seeing people with kids on the Strip, I’ve grown to learn that if you still want to live your life with your kids, you have to adapt. While I don’t plan on having them in my lap at the slot machines or walking them around at midnight, I do plan on taking turns with my husband after bedtime on sneaking down to the casino for an hour of “How quickly can I burn $50.”