A Quick Two Days in Las Vegas – Bad Idea.

Yes yes yes, it might seem obvious to everyone that going to Las Vegas with two toddlers is not the best idea, but in the spirit of „better oops than what if“ we did it anyways…

I have always been a big fan of the band No Doubt and of its lead singer Gwen Stefani (serious girl crush and style envy included). So when I found out that she had a show in Las Vegas it was a no brainer that I had to to go there. After all, we were now „rather close“ to Las Vegas and all… So we thought of ways to go there without the kids (maybe friends or family wanted to come to Montreal and look after the kids while we go to Las Vegas?) Turns out this plan was not realistic, so in the end we decided to start our summer vacation with a weekend in Las Vegas and then decide there where we would spend the week (stand-by travel asks for flexibility and last-minute decisions).
It really sounded like a good idea at the time. 

To keep it short, the trip was a disaster. I hated everything about being in this city. It is a hellhole and to me the city is the epitome of American hypocrisy. In this place you can gamble, drink and smoke all at the same time and INSIDE a Hotel. This is all only allowed so poor addicted gamblers (who probably haven’t seen daylight for weeks) would not leave their place and snap out of their sad state. In order to cover the disgusting smell of smoke, sweat and alcohol they pump vast quantities of the sweetest most cheap smelling perfume into the air which mixes into a gross undefinable stench. And this very particular smell basically covers the whole strip. So my advice before entering city limits: take a deep breath and then breathe no more!

Gwen, however, made it all worth our while. She was fantastic and we had a super fun night at her show.

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So, as far as my recommendations go I’d say DO NOT GO THERE!
If you are just as big of a smart-ass as we are and decide to go anyway, here’s some more or less decent things to do:

stay:

We had to stay in the Hotel where Gwen’s Show was. I do not recommend it. We have had Lunch and dinner at Aria Hotel and had to say that this looked like the nicest place on the strip.

getting around:

We took taxis from and to the airport and also once going to another hotel off the strip for swimming (which I cannot recommend here – it was not nice but served our purpose at the time). For the rest we walked up and down the strip.

restaurants:

We had Dim Sum at Restaurant Lemongrass in Aria Hotel. This was very delicious and ok to go with children. It looks fancier than it actually was. 

We also once had dinner at Restaurant Herringbone at Aria Hotel (al Fresco dining) if you, like me, despise the way too cold air-conditioning everywhere.

We had a more or less decent breakfast at Bouchon Bakery in the Venitian. If you go early enough in the morning it is cool enough to sit outside.

what to do, where to go:

Make sure to get a Hotel with a decent pool where there is no DJ and huge groups of drunk people jamming the water. Also, make sure to go somewhere where they provide decent sun protection as in Umbrellas etc. You want to go to the pool with the kids and remember, you will be sitting in the middle of the desert. Still, many hotels do not provide protection or charge ridiculous amounts for it!

If you go during the week you can go to other hotelpools. Thy usually charge something for it, though. On the weekends the pools are mostly reserved for their own guests.

Aquarium at Mandalay Bay Hotel. We are aquarium lovers, watching fish is always a good idea. This aquarium is nicely built and keeps you busy for up to two hours. From there you can take the skytrain through Luxor to get back to the center of the strip. 

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We walked through Venitian but it was too early for a gondola ride, which for sure would be a nice thing to do with kids.

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