Our West Coast Adventure - May 2017 - Day 5: New York New York, pool time and Margaritaville

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Index can be found here

Monday 15th May 2017

Steps: 25,473
Miles: 10.5

After what can only be described as a very jam-packed first few days on the West Coast we decided the night before to not set an alarm for this morning and instead allow ourselves to wake up naturally… although regardless I was still wide awake at 8:15am ready and raring to go!

After getting ready we had a quick FaceTime with Paul’s Mum Joan and then my sister Sarah… we were very excited to show them our swanky hotel room! And of course the amazing view (which looked just as beautiful in the morning sunshine!)

By 10:30am we were heading out of the room with a plan of making our way down to New York New York to get some breakfast at Il Fornaio. We had stayed at NYNY when we were here back in 2010 and had many a breakfast there so it seemed only right to go back for nostalgia sake!

We made our way out to the strip by walking through Aria which is directly opposite Vdara. Once making it to the front of the hotel Paul couldn’t resist a little perch on this rather fetching bird chair!

It was such a beautiful morning, bright and sunny but not too warm… the perfect conditions to be walking down the strip! Coming out from Aria and getting down to the strip we turned right to head down to the south end where NYNY is located.

On approaching NYNY we were both really surprised how much the whole area had changed since we were last there with lots of new bars and restaurants now there (Paul had actually been back in Vegas just two years previous on a stag do but did very little exploring of the strip… it seems all their activity was at night time and then the days were spent recovering around the pool!). It did still have a lovely familiar feel about it regardless of the changes though and brought back so many lovely memories of our last visit (which was actually the first holiday aboard we ever had together… oh how time has flown since then!)

We made our way round to the main front entrance as we wanted to walk in exactly as we had on our very first arrival day when we had got a minibus from the airport. I remember the feeling of experiencing a Vegas hotel/casino for the very first time as if it was yesterday and it was lovely to re-enact now we were back there all these years later.

Making our way through the casino we found ourselves at Il Fornaio and were happy to find we could be seated straight away and were lead to a table in the ‘outside’ terrace area.

I was happy to see the breakfast menu hadn’t changed much since our last visit, they did the most amazing potatoes so they were an absolute must-have! Paul went for fried eggs with Applewood smoked bacon and a Coke and I had scrambled eggs and an orange juice. We were also brought some gorgeous toasted bread and jams too. An all-round perfect first breakfast in Vegas!

With food successfully demolished and the bill settled we had a wander upstairs to the arcade to see if they still had the basketball game that we had come to love when last there. We were most happy to see it was still there (well it may have been a newer version in reality!). As none of the machines took cash we loaded up 50 credits onto a card which cost $5. This got us 4 games on the basketball machine and then Paul used up the last remaining credits on an American football game… ever the sportsman!

Before leaving NYNY we headed into Hershey’s Chocolate World, another new addition since our last visit. Very much a similar experience to visiting an M&M World really! It always amazes me how much merchandise they can make from a candy brand! (And how people seem to go so mad for it, I think I am missing something!)

We didn’t feel the need to purchase anything, although I was very tempted by this Twizzler candle (being the Twizzler fanatic that I am!)

On making it back outside into the glorious sunshine Paul decided that he was in need of a refreshment of the alcoholic kind so we made a stop at Nine Fine Irishmen (which is right outside NYNY) where he grabbed a Coors Light ($7)… I wasn’t jealous at all!

Beer in hand we continued to mosey along the side of NYNY, stopping on the ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ for some photos.

We also had a stroll down to look at T-Mobile Arena which sits just behind NYNY, another new addition to us. I couldn’t resist a snap of this fancy lady…

We continued to make our way back up the strip and on the way decided to head back to the hotel to have some chill time around the pool. The weather was beautifully sunny but not the crazy hot temperatures that I was expecting so it seemed like the perfect idea to go for a swim!

We went straight up to our room to change into our swimmers and by 2pm were heading back down to the pool. On entering the pool area we had to show our room keys to prove we were guests at the hotel and then I had to have a quick bag check as you aren’t allowed to bring any food or drink into the pool area (the exception being bottled water). We went to pick up some towels from the counter and were welcomed by a very lovely girl who offered to take our towels and find some bed for us… clearly novices here as it meant we of course had to tip for the service! All future pool visits we just grabbed the towels ourselves, I am all for the swanky experience but I am more than happy to lay my own towel on a sun bed!

It was so lovely and sunny but also extremely windy! We had to make sure our flip-flops were tucked under my bag as they kept blowing away! It was such a treat to sit back and finally relax though, not something we are used to doing on our holidays so was quite the novelty! The pool area at the Vdara is so chilled and relaxed too, the perfect environment for us as we certainly weren’t there to party or go crazy!

By 3:30pm we were starting to get rather peckish so we headed over to the pool bar and ordered ourselves some grilled chicken nachos. I had a Coke and Paul got talked into a having a sangria cocktail by the barman… who knew he liked sangria! (I did have a cheeky little sip, it was blooming delicious!). We charged these back to the room knowing $30 of the bill would be covered with the free credit we had, making it a lovely cheap eat!

We were back in the room by 4pm and decided to use the rest of the time this afternoon doing one of our most favourite activities… shopping! After a quick change we were back out at 4:30pm after having to only wait less than 5 minutes for the car to be returned at valet and off we headed to the north outlets, arriving there at 5pm.

Now we visited these outlets on our last trip and had great success… it seemed the shopping gods were not looking down on us today as we came away with absolutely nothing! This is seriously a most irregular occurrence for us as we love to shop and always seem to come away with countless bags whenever we hit any outlets or malls in the US! Ah well, not to worry we still have the south outlets to visit so hopefully they will be more of a success! Empty handed we left at 7pm.

On getting back to the hotel we decided to use the self-park car park at Aria. The Vdara only offers valet but guests are able to use the Aria car park for self-parking which is a bit cheaper at $15 per night (better than paying $25 per night for valet for the next 4 nights!). It was a simple process, after parking the car and getting back to the Vdara we stopped by reception and they gave us new room key cards that were activated for the car park so we could now come and go as we pleased and then the cost of parking would be charged to our room to be settled when we check out.

On getting back up to the room we got ourselves showered and ready and headed back out at 9:15pm. To get to the strip we took the route through the Bellagio, just as beautiful as I remembered it!

The colourful ceiling in reception wowed me all over again too!

On making it onto the strip we turned left out of the Bellagio and made our way down to The Linq to have a look at the area where the High Roller is situated (the big wheel in Vegas). This was all new since our last visit so it was great to check out what was on offer down there.

There were various restaurant options but being the ever-indecisive couple that we are we couldn’t quite settle on somewhere to eat. Time was ticking away and we were both getting very hungry so at 10:20pm we finally decided on Margaritaville which is situated back on the strip.

Despite this being Vegas, apparently a place that never sleeps it was surprisingly quiet at this time of night… although I guess it was only Monday! It worked for us though as it meant we were shown straight to a table. As we approached a table situated in the middle of the restaurant Paul spotted the empty booths at the side that are decked out like a boat and asked if we could have one of those instead… they were all too happy to oblige! A great result, told you we love a booth!

On having a browse of the menu Paul went for a cheddar bacon burger and a beer and I had the rather healthy looking chicken kabobs with a lemonade. All really good!

After the settling up the bill we made our way out, stopping for a quick snap on this deckchair (we like a novelty chair almost as much as novelty glass it seems!)

On heading back down to the strip we made a stop in the huge CVS to pick up a few bits. My emery boards had got ruined in the hair serum explosion yesterday so they need replacing and I also picked up some hand cream and some very essential Twizzlers, M&Ms and Starburst. All coming to $15 (much more pricey than a good old Walmart!)

We were back in our room by 12:15am where we sat on the sofa and watched TV for a bit… well I didn’t really watch TV, I sat and did some Dibbing whilst eating the whole box of M&MS… totally living the dream! We finally made into bed at 1am.

That brings us to the end of our first full day in Vegas… much more chilled out and less jam-packed which was much needed as I am sure you will agree! Tomorrow sees us indulging in some more pool time, having a much more successful shopping trip and having a delicious dinner in front of the Trevi fountain!

Day 6 can be found here

[vics18]

A little perch in a birdy chair! Love it
I've never really fancied going to Las Vegas but you're doing a good job changing my mind! Your hotel looks so nice and relaxed too - just my cup of tea!
Bleurgh I HATE Hershey chocolate - although can get on board with the Twizzlers, yum!
Sad empty handed shopping trip
Hope you're more successful later!

[clochette]

Glad to see you've slowed down a bit! How far are the outlets from the Strip? We won't have a car but thought we might uber there as I like to do a bit of shopping.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

[i love jack]

Sounds great, bit of relaxing and a bit of shopping shame you were empty handed though

[NatsyNoo]

Perfect Vegas day

[dozy]

fantastic report. makes me want to go back

[Lovesholidays]

Have been reading all your reports so far, make great reading. Looks like you both had a fab time, we love Vegas, planning on going back next year your hotel looks fab. Can't wait to read the rest

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Originally Posted by vics18

A little perch in a birdy chair! Love it
I've never really fancied going to Las Vegas but you're doing a good job changing my mind! Your hotel looks so nice and relaxed too - just my cup of tea!
Bleurgh I HATE Hershey chocolate - although can get on board with the Twizzlers, yum!
Sad empty handed shopping trip
Hope you're more successful later!

See more...

Haha it wasn't until I read back over this that I noticed the pun... completely unintentional!

Oh I would recommend Vegas to anyone, it really has to be seen to be believed!

Hershey's choclate is the worst, it's the one thing that the US can't seem to do better than us!

Originally Posted by clochette

Glad to see you've slowed down a bit! How far are the outlets from the Strip? We won't have a car but thought we might uber there as I like to do a bit of shopping.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

See more...

Finally a slower paced day... hurray!

The outlets aren't far at all and definitely reachable in an Uber. There are ones at both the north and the south of the strip so depending on where you say one may be closer than the other (although I would recommend going to both as in my opinion you can never do enough shopping! )

Originally Posted by i love jack

Sounds great, bit of relaxing and a bit of shopping shame you were empty handed though

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A very disappointing shopping trip, but I can assure you it definitely picks up from our next attempt!

Originally Posted by NatsyNoo

Perfect Vegas day

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Shopping, relaxing and good food... the ultimate perfect day!

Originally Posted by dozy

fantastic report. makes me want to go back

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Just writing this all up makes me want to go back already... there is something very special about Vegas it has to be said!

Originally Posted by Lovesholidays

Have been reading all your reports so far, make great reading. Looks like you both had a fab time, we love Vegas, planning on going back next year your hotel looks fab. Can't wait to read the rest

See more...

Thank you so much for reading, it's great to know you are enjoying it!

So exciting you have a trip in the planning... if you haven't decided on a hotel yet I definitely recommend the Vdara!

[Redrach1903]

Lovely relaxed day!

Is that onions on the side of both of your breakfasts? Weird lol!

Can't believe YOU left shopping empty handed! Wonders never cease! Hehe!

Love all the bright lights and colours of the strip and the hotels! Looks really spectacular!

Looking forward to the next day xxx

[abiknox]

Lovely relaxing day which Im sure you were in great need of!

I love the new outdoor area of NYNY, so lovely to wonder around.

I am shocked you came away form the outlets with nothing! I don't think that has ever happened to us.

Great looking meal in Margaritaville again, we got caught out there on our 2015 trip as we went in after 10pm and it was only a really limited menu available, was that the case for you? It would have been okay if it was just me and Aaron but we had the MIL with us who is a fussy mare and there was nothing suitable for her! Like you said, I just expected places to be open late in Vegas & serving their full menu.

Looking forward to reading more, nachos looked amazing!