
My first time in Vegas was with work. And despite being in Vegas for 6 days, I only saw small glimpses outside of the walls of the hotel conference rooms. Yet the small glimpses outside of the hotel was enough to see and feel Vegas. Sure, I didn’t have the bachelorette experience with gambling, drinking and clubbing or the splurge on multiple shows and dinners, but I still got the Vegas experience.
Just being in the city gives you the vibe of the quirky, outrageous and exotic side of Vegas. I couldn’t walk to Walgreens without passing Transformer and Miss Kitty get ups, Michael Jackson and the crew of The Hangover impersonators, and pirate ship performances with pole dancing sirens. Anything goes in this town.
Just being in the city gives you the vibe of the quirky, outrageous and exotic side of Vegas. I couldn’t walk to Walgreens without passing Transformer and Miss Kitty get ups, Michael Jackson and the crew of The Hangover impersonators, and pirate ship performances with pole dancing sirens. Anything goes in this town.

On my second to last night in Vegas, my work day ended early and I was able to emerge onto the famous Las Vegas strip. I strolled down taking in the overwhelming, ADD-inducing surroundings. I found that on the strip, the hotels are just as much of a tourist attraction and a must see sight as museums would be in other cities. I started with The Venetian, walking along the Grand Canal and peering into its high end shops. From there I wandered over to the high-end Wynn with its Alice in Wonderland mirrored sceneries. Walking back to Caesars Palace where I was staying, I stopped just in time to catch one of Treasure Island’s free outside pirate performances. Dancing sirens sang and climbed along the ropes as another pirate sailed in to help his captured mate. Fun, but a bit boring, and unless you get there with ample time, hard to see the performance with the crowds. Moving along the strip, The Mirage hotel has its own outdoor volcano show, also free but filled with people packing the sidewalks to see.
In Vegas, the shows are spectacular and many of them don’t travel, making them a sole reason to travel to this destination. I was determined to catch at least one performance, no matter how tired that would make me the next day. But I couldn’t decide which one to see. That’s the problem – too many good shows, not enough time…definitely not enough money.
I ended up choosing the new show to the block, Absinthe, performed in a small circus-like tent at Caesars. The Huffington Post declared it the show to see, “If you see one show in your entire life, make it Absinthe!” And rightly so! Possibly one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, Absinthe is a full 90 minutes of provocative, perverted, raunchy, hilarious, and spectacular performance. Burlesque meets Cirque du Soleil meets Sasha Cohen. A show I would see over and over again.
In Vegas, the shows are spectacular and many of them don’t travel, making them a sole reason to travel to this destination. I was determined to catch at least one performance, no matter how tired that would make me the next day. But I couldn’t decide which one to see. That’s the problem – too many good shows, not enough time…definitely not enough money.
I ended up choosing the new show to the block, Absinthe, performed in a small circus-like tent at Caesars. The Huffington Post declared it the show to see, “If you see one show in your entire life, make it Absinthe!” And rightly so! Possibly one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, Absinthe is a full 90 minutes of provocative, perverted, raunchy, hilarious, and spectacular performance. Burlesque meets Cirque du Soleil meets Sasha Cohen. A show I would see over and over again.

On my last night in the city, work was over, and the staff were gifted with some staff outings. We began the night with gaming lessons compliments of Caesars Palace. Learning to play roulette and craps, we gambled sans money against each other, competing instead for Caesars prizes. My first time gambling and I quickly realized why I don’t ever gamble at all. Not only do I not have any strategy or casino-smarts, I also don’t have any luck.
Moving on from there we dined at Todd English's Olives at the Bellagio at tables on the outside terrace overlooking the fountains, which went off every 15 minutes to a different set of music. Better than the fountain show were the views of the strip slowly lighting up as it got darker, and the three course meal at Olives which provided for excellent, but expensive Mediterranean food.
Our last staff activity for the night was a private open air bus tour. Driving up the strip to Mandalay Bay and back down it into Old Vegas seeing Chapel Row and all the old casinos and hotels that provided the back drop for the 60s and 70s. The bus tour was a surprisingly fun, educational activity that provided background and a history of Vegas, the strip, and the secret life of this infamous city.
The next morning at 4:30am, as I waited for my transportation to the airport, I noticed the city was still alive and happening, unchanged from what it looked like at 11pm when I retired for the night. And that was Vegas – a playground for adults who come to be stimulated by the environment, pumped with adrenaline all night long, and for a moment forgot about reality. You can love it, you can hate it, but you can’t help for a moment being caught up what this one of kind place offers.
Moving on from there we dined at Todd English's Olives at the Bellagio at tables on the outside terrace overlooking the fountains, which went off every 15 minutes to a different set of music. Better than the fountain show were the views of the strip slowly lighting up as it got darker, and the three course meal at Olives which provided for excellent, but expensive Mediterranean food.
Our last staff activity for the night was a private open air bus tour. Driving up the strip to Mandalay Bay and back down it into Old Vegas seeing Chapel Row and all the old casinos and hotels that provided the back drop for the 60s and 70s. The bus tour was a surprisingly fun, educational activity that provided background and a history of Vegas, the strip, and the secret life of this infamous city.
The next morning at 4:30am, as I waited for my transportation to the airport, I noticed the city was still alive and happening, unchanged from what it looked like at 11pm when I retired for the night. And that was Vegas – a playground for adults who come to be stimulated by the environment, pumped with adrenaline all night long, and for a moment forgot about reality. You can love it, you can hate it, but you can’t help for a moment being caught up what this one of kind place offers.