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.
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| B.B.Q. Chicken Rustic Pizza |
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| Some chicken |
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| 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!
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| The guide told us to add some filter |
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| 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!
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| Beef Wellington |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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