Since we toured a great deal of distance on foot the previous day, we were exhausted and woke up late. We checked out, left luggages at the reception and took an airport shuttle bus from our hotel, to pick up our rental Nissan around 10 am.
Our first stop (after getting some drinks and bread from a mart) was the renowned "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. Did you know that it is a self-sustaining neon sign with its own solar panel?
A prefect example of the golden age of neon signs
It would be hard to take a photo with front camera if you want the whole group with this neon signboard yea. Plus, not all of us travel with a tripod. So, there was a lady and a man who helped you to take photos, for a small tip! Many people lined up to get their photos taken by these people so we figured they wouldn't run away with our phones. I mean why would they want to jeopardise their steady source of income.
Can you see people queuing for their turn to take photos with the memorable signboard? There was a small car parking, near this attraction. Some people were discouraged by the number of tourists that they took photos, while driving past in their cars.
Next, we continued onto the Little White Wedding Chapel. We had no plan to get married in Vegas but curiosity got the best of us. Established in 1951, the chapel had married about 800,000 couples, including
Bruce Willis and Demi Moore in 1987
Micheal Jordan and Juanita Vanoy in 1989
Eva Longoria and Tyler Christoper in 2002
Britney Spears and Jason Alexander in 2004
Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon in 2007.
This chapel served as a one-stop location for all the couples. We saw gown and tuxedo shops, hair & make up store, photo studio, bridal car rental, all in one place!
We then skipped Neon Museum due to time constraint and headed straight to Fremont Street Experience. If you are interested in visiting the museum, try to book tickets in advance as only guided tours are available. Visitors are strongly encouraged to wear covered shoes as there are broken glasses and iron. The first tour starts at 8:00 am and the last tour departs at 9:00 pm.
Address: Neon Museum
770 Las Vegas Blvd. North, Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Entrance Fees: USD $18 (day tour), USD $25 (night tour)
Fremont Street is the second most popular street in Las Vegas after the Strip. There is a public car park, near the entrance of the Fremont Street. Dating back to 1905, this street is as old as the city itself. It was featured in Elvis Presley's film - Viva Las Vegas, James Bond film - Diamonds Are Forever, among many others. If you manage to find photos of Fremont Street from a few decades ago, you would find it has retained its old world charm, with vintage (read: outdated in certain cases) hotels and casinos. Having visited the Strip for 2 nights continuously, we were astounded by the contrast in vibe and atmosphere that Fremont Street provided.
Even during the day time, there were many street performers out and about. Be careful of your belongings during these street shows though. We were fascinated by a street magician but soon afterwards, our tummies started growling quite loudly, so we headed to Golden Nugget hotel's Grotto Italian Restaurant.
The serving size was huge so we shared one appetiser (meatballs) and one main (pasta). The wait staff was so friendly, she even brought an extra plate for us, of course, there was tip left for such welcoming service staff. Food was delectable and there was even lunch promotion going on, our lunch bill including tax and tip was only about USD $20!
After lunch, we drove a short distance to the Las Vegas North Premium Outlets for a retail therapy. As it was my first outlet shopping, with 1 more in Palm Springs and another 1 in New York coming up, we didn't buy everything we liked. Oh boy, we regretted it very much as things are cheapest in Las Vegas!!!!! So, if you are in the area, SHOP!
Address: Las Vegas North Premium Outlets
875 S Grand Central Pkwy, Las Vegas, Nevada 89106
Opening Hours: Daily (9:00 am - 9:00 pm)
Oops? :D
Around 6pm, we left for our hotel to pick up luggages and headed back to airport. There was Panda Express along the way so we got takeaway dinner before returning the car. We spent about half an hour at the airport repacking our bags with our purchases as well as having orange chicken and beef broccoli dinner. Mister introduced his favourite dishes to me and I was hooked too!
Who is ready to party?
That's our first time taking Virgin America and needless to say, we were impressed with the planes, flight attendants, safety demonstration video as well as F&B ordering system.
We departed at 20:35 and landed in LAX at 21:45. FlyAway Express Coach is the most convenient and hassle-free way to get inside the LA city. A ride from LAX airport to Union Station takes about 45 min and it costs USD $8 per person. Payment can be made with debit or credit card only, upon exiting the bus at the Union Station.
It was almost midnight by the time we were done with payment. Although our hotel was located just a short distance away (approximately 1.4 miles by car), we flagged a cab as it was pretty late and we didn't feel like getting lost in an unfamiliar area with our luggages. Luckily, there was a cab, right opposite where our bus stopped. Unfortunately, that was such an expensive 10-min trip as the metered fare came up to USD $10. With the lack of smaller notes, we ended up paying USD $15, which made the guy really happy. He was surprised to receive 50% of the fare as tip actually.
A grand lobby pleasantly dazzled us but that was it. During the heat wave in LA, can you imagine our shock and disappointment to find out that the rooms were without air-conditioning? Arghhhhh
We chose a downtown location for convenience as we would be using public transport to get around. However, to be safe in notorious downtown LA, we picked a hotel that was located near the police station and boy, what a mistake it was. We drifted in and out of sleep as we were lulled by sirens wailing non-stop. Z...z.....z.......z............
Adios!
xoxo
Miss N
No comments:
Post a Comment