Over the summer, I celebrated my 21st birthday by going to the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas. My cousin and I were born 2 weeks apart, so we decided what better way to celebrate turning 21 than spending a long weekend in Sin City? If you are curious to know what really happens in Vegas, keep reading.
When we got off the plane, it was 7pm Las Vegas time, which is 10pm Philadelphia time, so we were a little jetlagged. However, sleeping was not an option because 7pm is right when everything starts to come to life. We stayed at The Flamingo on the 14th floor with a beautiful view of the Strip. Just about every hotel had a casino attached and everything was open 24/7. My favorite part of our hotel was definitely the pool. The entire are of the pool was 15 acres making it the biggest pool I’ve ever seen.
After drooling over the hotel, we walked along the strip. It was nighttime, so everything was lit up with glittering lights. I would suggest wearing comfortable shoes because even though all of the casinos are in a row on the strip, they are a lot farther apart than I had anticipated. We were so fascinated with all of the sights, we didn’t end up doing much gambling, but I did end up winning $700 on a slot machine. If you go on a budget like we did, I highly recommend signing up for a “players card” which is a free card at every casino that comes with lots of coupons for activities to do around the city.
The next day, we decided to visit The Mob Museum and Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas. The museum was an amazing experience. It was 3 floors and took you through years of the Mob’s history and displayed artifacts like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Wall and showed a holographic video of old trials in the room where the Kefauver Hearings were held. Freemont Street was a lot more relaxed than the Strip. It was full of incredible street performers and even had a zip line flying above the entire street. My favorite part of the trip was definitely going up in the High Roller, which is the highest Ferris wheel in the world. Both of us got two coupons for a free ride when we signed up for player’s cards. It took us 550ft up in pods and we had an incredible view of the city lit up at night.
Everyone should get to experience Las Vegas at least once in their life. It absolutely lived up to all of the expectations I had from watching countless films about it. We tried to do as much as we could in 4 days, but there was still so much we didn’t get to see. I believe we could have stayed there for a month and have done something different every day. Whether you’re a party girl, a bookworm or an adventurer, there is something for everyone in Las Vegas.