When planning our trip, we always knew that we would be spending hubby’s 50th birthday in Vegas. He wanted it to be special, after all, when you get to that age you need to do something special (not that I will know much about that for a few years yet!). So we booked internal flights to and from Vegas and booked ourselves into a lakeside room at the Bellagio.

Every year when I pack for a holiday I mean to be more careful about what I take. I try to take only enough clothes and shoes to wear, but when you are visiting 3 places, doing different things and expecting different weather you have to take a variety – don’t you? I will admit here and now that I took too much stuff with me, and I was not alone; hubby was just as bad. I think this time though I will have learned my lesson, having packed and unpacked on this holiday a total of 5 times. Something also on our internal flight – the low budget airlines in the UK could learn something from Virgin America – flights on time or early, seats comfortable, leg room, great entertainment even for just an hour – who could ask for more?

So we checked into the hotel surprisingly speedily considering some of the reviews on trip advisor, and went up to our room which was spacious and had views over Paris, Planet Holywood and Bally’s to mention 3. We also had the lakeside view we had requested (and paid for) which meant we could watch the fountains every hour or more if we wanted. In the 5 years since my last visit to Vegas some changes were noticable – you can only put notes or cards into the slots these days, things seem more expensive than they were within the hotels, and the only people in the shops seemed to be Chinese people; given the state of the world wide economy I guess they are they only nation with money right now!

The following day was hubby’s birthday – he insisted on celebrating for as long as possible by declaring it was his birthday from midnight UK time and continuing the theme until midnight Vegas time. We were up early for a trip to the Grand Canyon by helicopter, then a noodle lunch in the MGM Grand and a few drinks in their Rouge bar. That night we ate at the top of the world (expensive though nice food and over quick service). All in all I think he had a great day.

Saturday morning was bright and sunny, but shock of shocks it was barely in the 60’s by the time we emerged to find breakfast and to pick up our Bette Midler tickets for that night’s show at Caesar’s Palace. All around us people were dressed (well shivering) in shorts, I guess the shops did good trade that day for jeans and trousers! That set the scene for the rest of the weekend, and I was pretty miffed when I received an email from my dad later that day telling me how warm the weather was at home.

So onto Bette Midler (great show), and a lazy Sunday wandering around the hotels (I particularly liked the Venetian), having a few drinks in the various bars and eating much too much.The hotels seemed busy, though the designer shops were often empty (maybe the current financial situation will make some of them think about the kind of shops they have within them) and the casinos were pretty busy as usual. Building work there continues a pace and lake mead is getting noticably less full (not much rain while vegas needs more water), yet there were ‘timeshare touts’ out trying to persuade you to go to a presentation in exchange for a future holiday, perhaps suggesting that they are struggling to fill the beds right now.

We had a great time in what is essentially disney land for grown ups!