I recently took a trip to Vegas to see Janet Jackson in concert for a second time. The first time seeing her was in DC for her Number 1s tour.
This was my first time in Vegas. Shocking right?
All of my friends seem to have been to Vegas twenty times over except me. I actually decided a few years back to stop taking domestic trips and focus more on international trips. I still traveled domestically for work, but for a vacation, not so much.
Nevertheless, flying to Vegas had me excited and I was ready to experience everything that people consistently talked about.
If you’ve never been to Vegas I hope my discoveries aids you in having a great trip. There are many tips I’m about to share that will help.
Las Vegas Transportation
Prior to flying into Las Vegas, I secure shuttle service from the airport to my hotel. Note: The airport is less than 10 minutes from the Vegas strip. The shuttle service was $18 round trip. You can certainly use Uber or Lyft, but I doubt they’d beat $18.
The Vegas airport shuttle service I used was Bell Airport Shuttle. Understand that with any shuttle service, they tend to wait to pick up as many passengers as they can. When you are returning to the airport, they may stop by other hotels after they pick you up. If you are on a tight schedule, you might want to get an Uber or Lyft.
Note, the shuttle service will tell you to schedule your return trip to the airport 3 hours ahead. I did not do this because one, the airport was 10 minutes away. Two, I took a red eye and knew the airport would not be busy. Three, TSA Pre is a blessing.
Las Vegas Hotels
I stayed at Park MGM hotel. Honestly, this was a blessing in disguise. I’ll tell you why in a second. Keep reading.
As you can imagine, people come to Vegas to gamble. What better way to help them spend their money than to have slot machines and roulette tables in their hotel?
The problem with this is that it makes finding the hotel front desk extremely difficult. Finding your room will be a scavenger hunt. Why?
The main attraction is gambling. That means the main floor is filled with various ways to gamble. Since the main floor is gambling headquarters, the elevators to your room will not be close by. Thankfully staying at Park MGM, The front desk was right when I walked in and the elevators not far off.
When I walked into other major hotels, I saw people lugging their bags for long distances just to find the guest elevators. They had to walk through aisles of slot machines, stores and bars to the elevator. Keep in mind, just about every hotel in Vegas is massive with multiple levels. If you don’t like walking, pack light.
How to Navigate?
I’m from Miami and have even served 15 months in the Horn of Africa. I know heat. However, Vegas is just as hot and I will warn you to hydrate and protect your skin.
While traveling from place to place, I found out there are many tunnels that connects one hotel to the next. Not all hotels have a connection, but for the most part, you can get around the Vegas strip without having to spend so much time outside.
When outside look for the overpass walk ways. Most of us are use to a cross walk that gets us from one side of the street to the other. In Vegas, Many crosswalks take you over the street, which helps to reduce traffic. I thought this was a smart idea. Sadly, these overpasses have no cover so you’re closer to the heat LOL.
Vegas is certainly a pedestrian city. You can easily find yourself walking for miles if you desire. With such massive hotels, they take up city blocks. I overheard a women asking her friend if they realized they almost walked 5 miles today. Wear comfortable shoes.
The Attractions
The main reason I went to Vegas was to see Janet Jackson’s Metamorphosis tour at MGM. I enjoyed the concert and seeing Janet still dancing far better than I do. Check out my Instagram Stories for clips. However, there was plenty of time to do so much more.
My second day in Vegas started early with a helicopter tour over Vegas, the Hoover Dam and landing inside The Grand Canyon. You can see the video below. This tour from Sundance Helicopters included pick up and drop off via limousine. It came with champagne and a light snack once we landed in Grand Canyon. I thought the value was spot on.
A few of my friends went zip lining through Vegas. Now I have zip lined in Costa Rica and other places, but never in a city and over people. It’s called SlotZilla Zip Line. Get it? Slots?
A few weeks ago, I attended Cirque du Soleil’s VOLTA show in DC. However, Vegas has a different show called Zumanity. It’s a more adult only driven show that brought out tons of people.
My last day in Vegas was spent at the Luxor hotel for their infamous pool party. We booked a cabana, which was filled with complimentary beverages and snacks. It was the perfect way to party for my last night in town and not be too drained heading back home.
Honestly, you can do so many things in Vegas outside of gambling. Most of them are show related so I encourage you to get tickets in advance.
Vegas is as exciting as my friends have told me. I wouldn’t normally have gone during the summer, but it was fun nonetheless. Did you find these tips helpful?