Hi Everyone!
I have spent months reading through all the amazing trip reports on the Dibb, they have given me so many ideas for my previous/ upcoming trips that is has inspired me to write my own, with just under 7 weeks before we go I thought now would be the perfect time to start my pre trippy.
Index
The Cast -
Me: Kimberly, 21 - I am a keen traveller, I've been to the states around 15 times with visits to Miami, Orlando, Vegas and California. I am also going to Florida with my family in October this year.
The other cast member is one of my closest friends:
Amy: also 21 - Amy has never been to the states, she has travelled within Europe and has also been to Egypt. She is also not a member of the Dibb
therefore this trip report will be based around my notes and possibly including some of her pictures.
When we're going -
10 nights, from the 31st May to 10th June
Orginially we had been planning to go to Cancun this year, we wanted somewhere with sun and lots of cocktails
however when I returned from my trip to Vegas in December, we both decided we wanted to go to the states, we were looking at New York, Miami, LA and Vegas, but we were drawn more to Vegas.
Who we booked with -
We ended up booking a package holiday, we knew it would have been cheaper to do a DIY holiday however, neither of us had the money to pay for the flights up front and we weren't 100% if we wanted to hire a car, so a fly drive wasn't considered.
We had been keeping an eye out on both BA and Virgin websites, it was around Christmas/ New Year so they both had a number of sales on, we still couldn't decide on dates, we didn't want to travel in school holidays as we knew the price would increase, we didn't want to go to late in the year and also didn't want to go to early so eventually we decided on May/June.
We chose a holiday with British Airways, the same holiday was £300 per person more expensive with Virgin so to us it was a no brainer. We secured the holiday with a £300 deposit, £150 each.
Flights -
31st May 2016, 16:40 - Heathrow (London) - 19:20 - McCarran International (NV) (Las Vegas)
Hotel -
After visiting Vegas, I would have loved to stay at the Venetian, but we couldn't justify the price of this hotel, we had been looking at the MGM Grand & Mandalay Bay as these were more in our price range. Amy then said as this was her first time visiting the states she would prefer staying at a hotel that she has heard of, of course most people have watched "
The Hangover" and since watching that she had been desperate to go to Caesars Palace.
We had set our budget to around £1100 for flights and hotel, Caesars Palace was slightly over this price, but we both agreed we were happy with this.
Our final price was £1250 each, for the flights and 10 nights in a
Palace Tower Deluxe room. This was for the Room only, however the Cyber Sale included $10 F&B credit per person per night. We have also factored in the cost of the resort fees and will use a credit card to pay for this when we are over there.
Normally I like to get to the airport the night before and stay at a hotel, as I feel it kick starts the holiday, but as we have a later flight we figured this would be a waste of money. We live in Reading, which is about a 30 minute drive from Heathrow, so we have decided to have lunch and a few pre flight cocktails at the airport instead
My parents have offered to give us a lift to the airport, to help us save money on parking and also it is their 36th wedding anniversary the day we leave and there is a restaurant called the Pheasant which is a short drive from the airport they love it in here and have figured they can make an evening off it and have a meal there.
Thank you for reading so far, I will be updating with our plans over the next couple of weeks, we have a lot of things we want to do/ see including some chilled afternoons round by the pool sun bathing. There are a couple of things we are waiting to book, which hopefully will be done next week.
Plans so far -
Places we want see
Restaurants
Things we want to do
Shows