Honeymoon to the United States - 5 Days 4 Nights in Las Vegas and Grand Canyon

Continued from our previous post - Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in Los Angeles and finally, we have reached the final part to our honeymoon, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon!

Day 12
Expectation:
8:00AM: Drive down to Las Vegas
2:00PM: Visit Las Vegas casinos along the Strip
6:00PM: Visit Hell's Kitchen, Las Vegas

Reality:

Las Vegas is approximately 435km away from Los Angeles. We checked out of our hotel in Los Angeles at around 10am and it took us 5 hours to reach Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, our hotel at Vegas. Our accommodation at Vegas is probably the cheapest among all our stays in the US - we managed to get it at around USD 60 per night, including resort fee. It does not come with free breakfast but at least there was free parking! Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is not located along the Strip, but it was a relatively short drive to the Strip (took approximately only 15-20 mins only).

I thought I had it all planned out for the night - I had made a reservation back in Singapore to have dinner at Hell's Kitchen Vegas, but to my horror, I realized I booked it with the wrong date! I was so devastated about it but KPO managed to make another booking on our last night in the US.

As a result, we decided to explore the casinos/hotels along the Strip and have our dinner there. We realized that the Venetian was one of the few hotels along the Strip that has free parking (including free valet services) and decided to head there. Saw many good reviews on Grand Lux Cafe in Venetian and decided to head there for dinner. Turned out to be a great decision as the food was good and the service was impeccable too! Some of the food pictures below.

B.B.Q. Chicken Rustic Pizza

Some chicken

Deep Dark Fudge Cake

Day 13
Expectation:
8:00AM Drive to Grand Canyon Skywalk & Eagle Point
12:00PM Visit the Grand Canyon Skywalk
3:00PM Drive to Best Western Premier Grand Canyon
8:00PM Visit Yavapai Point for stargazing

Reality:

Grand Canyon seemed quite small on Google Map (or so I thought). I thought we could complete all the must-see attractions in two days but the drive seemed never-ending. We started by driving to the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which is one of the nearest attraction to Vegas (approximately two-hour drive away). It turned out that we could not drive to the Grand Canyon Skywalk at Eagle Point directly. Instead, we were directed to park at an open car park on our way there, and we had to purchase the $79 ticket per pax which entitled us to take the shuttle bus and visit the Skywalk. We felt that it was kind of pricey but decided to continue since we were already there. To enter the Skywalk, we had to wear some fabric on our shoes to prevent scratching the surface. Personally, we both felt that the view was nice, but will I pay $79 for it or recommend it? Probably not. There are cheaper ways to see similar scenery from within the national park where the entrance fee (7 days pass) is just $35 per car.

I realized I miscalculated (and grossly underestimated) the time we need to reach our hotel, which was another 300+km away from the Skywalk. So after we visited the place, we had to hurry up in order to reach the hotel before the sky darkens.

We ultimately arrived at our hotel, Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn at around 7pm. By the time we arrived, it was starting to freeze (below zero degrees!). FYI, the weather at Grand Canyon is like a desert, it can get really hot in the day and crazy cold at night. So remember to pack and dress in layers when you visit.

We chose Best Western because it was very near our next activity - stargazing at Yavapai point, which is located at around 15 mins drive away. We both developed a love for stargazing ever since we visited Lake Tekapo in New Zealand when I was on my graduation trip. We could literally see the milky way at Lake Tekapo and since then, we have been in search for a stargazing spot which can match or surpass Lake Tekapo. Yavapai Point was actually not too bad. We could literally see the sky filled with stars, though we could only see a very faint white spot in the sky which we guessed could be the milky way. We stayed there in the cold for about 30 mins before heading back to the hotel to warm ourselves up and get an early rest.

Day 14
Expectation:
6:00AM Drive to Antelope Canyon Tour
9:00AM Antelope Canyon

We woke up crazy early the next day because we had an Antelope Canyon Tour the next day at 9am and the Tour is approximately 220km (approximately 2.5hrs) away + there is a time difference of an hour which we almost failed to account for! So we had to wake up at 5am to pack and check out our hotel at 6am continue our drive. Fortunately, we made it in time.

We reached a small town where the tour agency was located and they have some lorries to bring the visitors to the actual location which was located about 20 mins drive away. The lorries drove off road into the sandy floor in the Canyon and most of the time I had to keep my eyes closed so that the sand does not enter into my eyes.

When we finally reached Antelope Canyon, I was in awe. The Windows Desktop wallpaper was literally right in front of me. It was huge and we were simply amazed at how erosion from flash flood could form such a majestic art piece. For anyone who is visiting Grand Canyon, you have to definitely visit this place!

The guide told us to add some filter

Without filter

The tour ended at around 11am, and we decided to head to the famous Horseshoe Bend which was just a 30 min drive away. The view was absolutely gorgeous as well, more importantly it is free! *screams with joy* We see many crazy people there who actually climbed beyond the fences/barricades to take pictures. Seriously, aren't your lives more important than some Insta-worthy shots?! We took some shots behind the fences, and I think they look beautiful as well!

That pretty much sums up our adventure at the Grand Canyon. A word of advice for anyone who intends to visit this beautiful national park: please leave aside at least 3 full days, unless you are okay with waking up at 5am to drive nonstop like us.

It was another long way back to Vegas - approximately 447km away. Halfway along the journey, we passed by a Walmart Superstore and decided to buy a cheap pizza for dinner there for just $5! Yes, a whole pizza for $5! It was not nice at all though, I guess you get what you pay for...

We were looking forward to the "special" treatment/check-in process but was so disappointed with the experience. We went into the Diamond Lounge and there was only 1 staff who was already serving a disputive customer. We waited for around 10 minutes and there was still no one to attend to us so we went back to the main lobby and proceed to check in immediately. KPO tried to get the resort fee waived by saying that we do not need the facilities and wireless internet access but was unsuccessful.

Day 15
Expectation:
Nothing much, just OTOT (Own Time Own Target)

So thankful that we have decided to be less ambitious on the last day and simply do nothing. We decided to have a hearty breakfast at the nearby The Egg and I after reading many positive online reviews about it.

It was really good, and the service was impeccable as well. Sorry couldn't remember what I ordered as I have procrastinated on this blogpost for so long, but you can easily find food recommendations online. After that, we visited the Las Vegas North Premium Outlets to do our last minute shopping for our family.

We ended the day by visiting the famous Hell's Kitchen which I missed on the first day in Las Vegas. So glad that we managed to secure a booking because by the time we reached around 5pm, we saw a long queue outside the restaurant. The Hell's Kitchen was decorated the exact same way as what was shown on TV - the burning flames outside the restaurant, the blue and red teams, the shouting in the kitchen, etc. Even the menu is the same! There's the beef wellington, the risotto, etc. And most importantly, we both enjoyed the food there. Highly recommend it to anyone visiting Vegas!

Beef Wellington

Lobster Risotto

After dinner, we went to watch the Bellagio Fountain Show and walked around the Vegas Strip.

Once back at Westgate Las Vegas Resort, we decided to splurge whatever leftover money we have in the casino, hoping to recoup some of our expenses. We were so wrong. We ended up spending all of our remaining money (which thankfully isn't a lot left) at the casino.

Day 16
Emotional day as we packed up to catch the flight early in the morning back to Singapore (unearthly hour at 4.30am again!), this time on Economy class instead of First class... The only thing to look forward to is our 8 hours layover at Haneda airport in Tokyo which could allow us to eat some Ichiran Ramen and Japanese dessert at Shiseido Parlour Salon De Cafe in Ginza before heading back to Singapore.

Shiseido Parlour Salon De Cafe. Atas and overprice...

All in all, this is definitely not the usual honeymoon that couples do, and also one of the most exhausting trips for us too. However, I still loved it as we managed to cover many areas and most of what we had planned out to do. Hopefully, this can help other people in their US itinerary planning too!

Till our next adventure!

You might be interested in these blog posts too:
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in Los Angeles
- Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in Silicon Valley and Cambria
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in Yosemite
- Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in San Francisco
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in New York
- Honeymoon to the United States - Total Expenses
- Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - SQ26 Singapore to New York
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - The Private Room

- Singapore Airlines Suites - Book the Cook

- Redeeming KrisFlyer Miles for Singapore Airlines Suites = 38.6% Cashback!

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)

Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in Los Angeles

Continued from our previous post - Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in Silicon Valley and Cambria

Day 10
Expectation:
9:00AM - Check out Four Points by Sheraton Anaheim
9:30AM - DISNEYLAND checked
10:00PM - Check in Redac Gateway Hotel in Torrance

Reality:

We woke up early to cook Maggie in the hotel as there was no free breakfast at Four Points :( It certainly did not help when there is no hot water boiler in the hotel room. We had to make a trip to the restaurant at the hotel to ask for hot water.

After we are done with breakfast, we make our way to Disneyland! There are two theme parks at Anaheim - Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park. Due to time (and money) limitation (we only had 1 full day), I don't think it is possible to visit both theme parks and hence was forced to only pick one out of the two. After much extensive research, it seems that Disneyland is more family-oriented (read: less scary rides) while Disney California Adventure Park has more exciting rides. I don't really dare to take roller coaster rides and all, hence the choice is obvious.

One important thing to take note - selfie stick is NOT allowed in the park! KPO had a selfie stick for the GoPro in his bag and was flagged out during the security check before entering the park. He had to make a decision to throw it away on the spot or return to the hotel to keep it. Being a KPO, he would never let them throw away his stuff that easily. Guess what? He went out of the park and threw it into the bushes near a random bus stop instead of returning to the hotel in order not to waste too much time. Fortunately, we were still able to retrieve it back at the end of the day!

Of all the days, we chose to visit Disneyland on Black Friday (#faint). So you can pretty much imagine the crowd there. Almost all the must-visit rides have queues that are >60min long. Luckily we did some research prior to that and managed to make use of Fast Pass to visit most, if not all, of the popular rides.

Some of our recommended rides include:
- Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage - this is a new and relatively interesting ride conducted underwater.
- Indiana Jones Adventure
- Space Mountain
- Haunted Mansion
- Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
- It's a small world - this is basically the same in every Disneyland; not exactly super fun, but at least the ride is long, so it makes the queue more 'worthwhile'

Left - Me, Right - KPO

- Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters - this is a ride where we get to shoot like a video game and I scored higher than KPO!

- Mickey and the Magical Map - this is a theatre show (above).
- Fantasmic - highly recommend this! We first saw this in Tokyo DisneySea. Love the water and fire effects. Everyone should not miss this.
- Fireworks

Aside, the Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room is one of the highly raved attraction, but it is really quite boring in our opinion. I even fell asleep in the room mid-way.

After a long and tiring day, we still have to drag our tired feet to our next accommodation Redac Gateway Hotel in Torrance. This is around 1-hour drive away from Disneyland and it is a business hotel mainly for Japanese. Hence, most of the signs and brochures come with Japanese translation and they also have Japanese toilet bowl in the hotel room (the kind with many buttons).

I am glad that KPO and I managed to visit so many Disneyland over our past ten years together. This includes Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea, Paris Disneyland and now Disneyland in Anaheim. Where's next?

Day 11
Expectation:
09:00AM - Hotel breakfast - skipped
10:00AM - Warner Bro's studio - checked
12:00PM - The Original Farmers Market - checked
1:00PM - Hike up Hollywood sign - skipped, we are too tired
4:00PM - Griffith Observatory - checked
6:00PM - Dinner - checked

Reality:

I was super excited to have hotel breakfast again because we were eating instant noodles the day before. Hotel breakfast is provided for in Redac hotel, per the website stated in Hotels.com. However, we weren't given breakfast option when we checked in. KPO called in to complain and it seems that we were not qualified for breakfast because we booked using some promo code. What!!! In return, they gave us $100 credit to be offset in our next booking, so I guess it wasn't so bad after all.

Couldn't remember what we had for breakfast in the end. Probably the leftover butter cake from the past few days. After breakfast, we headed down to Warner Bro's Studio Tour at Hollywood. The studio tour allowed us to visit the behind-the-scenes where many TV shows and movies were created.

This includes visiting the exhibit for Harry Potter, DC Universe as well as the Batmobile collections where we get to see all the Batman vehicles! I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this tour.

Enjoying our avocado toast like any other millennials

After the tour, we visited The Original Farmers' Market and The Grove (they are located side by side) for lunch and we had the best donut we have ever eaten in our entire lives! If you think Krispy Kreme's glazed donut is good, you should try the glazed donut at Bob's Coffee & Doughnuts at The Original Farmers' Market. The donut is so soft that you have to hold it with care and it simply melts in your mouth. Anyway, The Original Farmers' Market feels like Pasarbella in Singapore. You will be spoilt with a large variety of food choices there.

Driving towards the Hollywood sign

The view from outside Griffith Observatory

The view from the roof of the Griffith Observatory

We were too tired to stick to our itinerary to hike up Hollywood after lunch. Instead, we decided to drive straight up to Griffith Observatory, since we can see the same Hollywood sign there. Signs of aging! It was a massive jam up the Griffith Observatory but at least it's free parking there (yay). We visited the Observatory after taking some mandatory photos with the Hollywood sign. The Observatory is basically a place which explains about astronomy. It is educational and most importantly, free of charge~

As we still have some time before dinner, we decided to visit a nearby Walmart Supercentre. The Walmart is huge indeed and it seems to sell everything ranging from food to clothes to electronics to drugs/medicine to cosmetics. I don't think the prices are super cheap there, but at least they are reasonable and you can definitely find a variety of brands there. We then visited the nearby In-And-Out burger which our friend recommended us and also ordered a milkshake for comparison with Shake Shack. I preferred the burger at Shake Shack, but the milkshake at both places are comparable!

That sums up our adventure in Los Angeles. It is pretty sad that we only had 2 full days to travel around Los Angeles as it is a massive place and I am sure we can discover more interesting places if we had more time. Stay tuned to our next post as we travel down from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon.

You might be interested in these blog posts too:
- Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in Silicon Valley and Cambria
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in Yosemite
- Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in San Francisco
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in New York
- Honeymoon to the United States - Total Expenses
- Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - SQ26 Singapore to New York
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - The Private Room

- Singapore Airlines Suites - Book the Cook

- Redeeming KrisFlyer Miles for Singapore Airlines Suites = 38.6% Cashback!

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)

Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in Silicon Valley and Cambria

Continued from our previous post - Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in Yosemite

In my previous post, I mentioned that we were travelling from Yosemite down to Silicon Valley. We managed to get a suite at Corporate Inn Sunnyvale at SG$170+, inclusive of breakfast! Standing at 39 sq meters, this was by far the largest and most luxurious accommodation we stayed in the US. It comes with a living room, bedroom, huge bathroom, and even a makeup corner.

By the time we checked in to our accommodation, it was already dark. We decided to visit the nearby Westfield Valley Fair to look for dinner and do some shopping. It was quite an upscale shopping mall with brands such as A&F, American Eagle Outfitters, Banana Republic, Balenciaga etc. We didn't buy anything there in the end (we still prefer outlet shopping).

Day 8
9:00AM - Free buffet breakfast at hotel :) checked
10:00AM - Googleplex checked
12:00PM - One Infinity Loop checked
1:00PM - Lunch at San Pedro Square Market skipped
3:00PM - Big Sur checked
4:00PM - Moonstone Landing checked
5:00PM - Dinner nearby checked

Reality:

We started the day with a simple breakfast at the hotel before heading off to our next destination. Since KPO is in the IT industry, we obviously need to visit the famous Googleplex and One Infinite Loop at Silicon Valley!

Googleplex is located not too far away from our hotel with an area size of 190,000 square meters! The compound doesn't feel like a company. Instead, it felt more like a campus, with relatively short buildings and have lots of facilities inside, such as cafeteria, souvenir shop and even beach volleyball! There were many security guards in the compound, so it was easy to ask for directions to the souvenir shop. We bought quite a number of items in the shop, including tee shirts for our family and a sling bag.

Once we are done with our shopping, we headed to One Infinite Loop, which is pretty much next door to Googleplex, to shop for Apple merchandise. However, we didn't buy anything from there because Apple products are always sold at a premium, even at its headquarters.

As we were very much behind schedule after our massive shopping at Google, we decided to skip lunch at San Pedro Square Market as we still had a long drive to Big Sur. Instead, we packed some Campbell soup which I cooked in our apartment and bought some butter cake to eat along the way in the car.

One of the random stop before it starts fogging...

Our next accommodation is at Moonstone Landing, which is approximately 300km or 3 hours drive away. We would pass by Big Sur along the way and was expecting to see some really gorgeous scenic coastal view. However, we were dismayed when it started pouring heavily. The road leading to Big Sur started fogging up and we could only drive slowly to ensure safety, not to mention that we could not see the sea which is just a few meters away from the road. It was quite a pity that we weren't able to witness the coastal scenery which many people raved about due to the weather and our tight schedule.

Silent Hill? lol

By the time we reached our accommodation, it was already dark. We quickly surveyed the hotel before looking for dinner places. The hotel room is huge. We even had a big dining table in the room and a fireplace. The room is generally clean, the staff was friendly and it costs around SG$230+.

After we checked in, I googled for food recommendations and the Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill was one of the top-rated restaurants. We decided to check it out for some comfort food.

Grilled Porter House Pork Chop

Moonstone's Best Catch

It was quite pricey and we paid around USD 80 for two mains and a glass of cocktail, but I think the food was generally good. However, as I drank the cocktail a tad too quickly, I was feeling dizzy even before we left the restaurant and ended up vomiting in the hotel when we got back. What an uneventful day.

Day 9
8:00AM - Free breakfast at hotel :) checked
9:00AM - Elephant Seal Viewing Point checked
1:30PM - San Luis Obispo (for toilet break) skipped
3:00PM - Santa Barbara checked
5:00PM - Four Points by Sheraton Anaheim checked

Reality:

This is one of our furthest drive yet - we were expecting to cover 424km or around 4 hours drive from Moonstone Landing to our next hotel at Anaheim as we have planned to visit Disneyland the next day. Hence, just like any other day, we woke up early to brace ourselves for another long day ahead.

Look at all the elephant seals!

After we consumed the free hotel breakfast, we visited the Elephant Seal Viewing Point, which is approximately 20km away. The Elephant Seal Viewing Point is a place where tourists/visitors can see lots of the wild elephant seals basking in the sun. It is definitely worth the visit, especially between Dec-Mar as you may have a chance to catch sight of the pups of the season as that is their birthing season.

After that, we continued on our journey to Santa Barbara. We decided to skip San Luis Obispo because there was no time for that. Santa Barbara is around 2.5 hours away from where we were and it was just nice for lunch when we reached. To our horror, we realized that today was Thanksgiving day and it was quite a big occasion for the people in the US. Many shops were closed (similar to our Chinese New Year) and we had a hard time looking for food. We decided to try out Mony's Mexican Food based on Google's recommendation again and were so relieved that it was open. We saw a long queue forming outside the restaurant when we reached, probably due to the limited choices today too. Anyway, we packed the food and drove to a nearby seaside to enjoy.

The food did not disappoint. The chips were crispy and it comes with a variety of sauces to dip into. However, the portion was crazy and we barely finished half of our share! Seriously, any couple who intends to visit the US should consider ordering 1 portion to share because the portion is humongous! It is such a waste to throw food away.

We did not stay at Santa Barbara for long, but I kind of like the vibe there. It feels pretty chill there and looks like a great place for sea activities like surfing. We drove another 200km or another 2 hours from Santa Barbara to reach Four Points by Sheraton Anaheim.

We chose this place to stay over because:
1) Disney hotels are just too expensive; Four Points is located pretty near Disneyland (around 1 km away) and the price is much more affordable (KPO got it at around SG$200+ per night).
2) Even the parking at Four Points is (slightly) more affordable than parking at Disneyland. (USD 16 per day at Four Points vs USD 20 per day at Disneyland) Since the hotel is located near Disneyland, we could park our car and walk there. We were hoping that we could get free parking because KPO is a Gold Elite SPG member. Unfortunately, he was rejected. Oh, wells.

After we checked in, we thought it was still early hence we decided to check out at the nearby Citadel Outlets mall to have an experience of the Black Friday crowd and hopefully, we were able to scoop some good deals. It proved to be a correct decision as many of the branded stores (Coach, Kate Spade, Michael Kors) were on 70% discounts. Long queues already started forming outside the stores when we reached and we only managed to enter some stores. However, the place was orderly (we imagined witnessing some stampede before we reached lol).

That pretty much sums up our hectic schedule from Silicon Valley and Big Sur. Stay tuned to the next post on Los Angeles.

You might be interested in these blog posts too:
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in Yosemite
- Honeymoon to the United States - 2 Days 2 Nights in San Francisco
- Honeymoon to the United States - 3 Days 2 Nights in New York
- Honeymoon to the United States - Total Expenses
- Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - SQ26 Singapore to New York
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - The Private Room

- Singapore Airlines Suites - Book the Cook

- Redeeming KrisFlyer Miles for Singapore Airlines Suites = 38.6% Cashback!

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)