An Introvert’s Guide to Vegas

I was supposed to go to Europe this year and then shit happened and we couldn’t. I was pretty sad about it but not long afterwards Angela was like “we’re going on a trip to Vegas”. Angela works in the automotive industry with her family and every year the biggest automotive conference in the world happens in Vegas and this year we were going to get to go.

Let’s just say, I had mixed emotions. On one hand I was so excited because this was going to be my first international flight and I had never been anywhere like Vegas before. I heard the food was great, the hotels were cool to see, and the Cirque shows were amazing. On the other hand, I don’t gamble, I don’t smoke, I barely drink, and I’m a quiet introvert; so Vegas sounded like a bit much to me. However, I was not going to turn down a vacation and couldn’t wait to go so I could write about it. Pictures and collages are thanks to Angela. 

AAPEX AND SEMA

This was a work trip for Angela and there were two aspects to that. AAPEX and SEMA. They are super exclusive and unless you’re in the industry, you can’t get in unless you’re married to someone who is going. We had to supply our marriage certificate and everything. It did make me feel kind of special to have a pass around my neck that said spouse. 

Aapex is suppliers and so John and Angela talked with a lot of people while I hung out with Maria. It was interesting enough but if you’re not in the industry there isn’t much to do. I spent most of my time looking at other peoples’ passes and seeing where they’re from. Except for Antarctica,  (and I saw a penguin car freshener so I’m counting it) there were people from every continent. It was pretty cool. I thought Aapex was pretty big and cool but nothing could have prepared me for SEMA. 

I don’t drive and I know nothing about cars other than “ohhh pretty” but SEMA was pretty fucking cool. It’s absolutely massive and full of every kind of car you can imagine. I don’t think I fully understood the scope of what I was going to before I went. I was like “oh a little car show”. No. It’s massive. There is five halls and we only managed to get to three of them and we were walking around for three hours. Highlight of SEMA: seeing a Delorian in person. Oh other highlight: taking a Tesla tunnel to get from one end of the huge convention centre to where our vehicle was parked. 

There’s also something called SEMAfest where anyone can get in and some big name bands and artists played (Imagine Dragons, anyone?) but we didn’t go to that. Our week was so jam packed already and it was going to be way too many people. However, I bet it was pretty cool, if that’s your sort of thing. 

HOTELS

Where do I even start with the hotels? For starters, before we went Angela recommended I watch a couple YouTube videos on them and I’m so happy I did. YouTubers Safiya and her husband Tyler stayed at every hotel on the Vegas strip and made a video about it. (You can watch part 1 here and part 2 here). That set me up for what I was getting myself into but I don’t think anything could fully prepare me. 

Every hotel has a casino and most of the time you have to walk through it to get anywhere in the hotel. They reek of smoke and my poor asthmatic lungs were not impressed. Between all the smoke and the super dry air from being in the desert, my lips were chapped like crazy (shout out to Lush’s lip butter for saving my life on this trip) and I had countless nose bleeds. 

We went to too many hotels to talk about every single one but if you follow me on Instagram you can see them all in my Vegas highlight reel (minus the couple I forgot to post about, in which case you can go to Angela’s highlight reel). However, I’m going to talk about my standouts. 

Bellagio:

This was hands down my favourite hotel. It’s famous for a reason. The ceiling in the lobby is stunning glasswork by Chihuly, who I was familiar with because we went to the Chihuly gardens in Seattle earlier this year. If that isn’t enough to draw you to the Bellagio, they also have gardens that are themed. Angela mentioned that last time she was there they were fall themed but this time it was fairytale themed and they were absolutely gorgeous. 

Venetian: 

I’ve never been to Europe but being here made me feel like I had. The hotel itself is gorgeous but where the shops are is even more stunning. The ceiling makes it look like it’s daytime with blue skies and fluffy white clouds. There was live music and the costumes were insane. We spent a fair amount of time in that hotel because that’s where AAPEX was and it was quite lovely. 

Paris:

The Paris is actually where we stayed. Again, I’ve never been to Europe but now I feel like I have. It also had a ceiling that looked like daytime however it definitely had white patches that broke the illusion. I think I paid more attention to what was in it because it was the hotel we stayed at but there were so many celebrity restaurants in this one. Obviously it has a mini Eiffel Tower to go with the theme. 

Flamingo:

Okay, admittedly there were so many prettier hotels than this one but the Flamingo had live flamingos which makes it a plus in my book. They also have a bunch of bricks with enscriptiona on them outside the wedding chapel and the YouTubers I mentioned have a brick there and when we found it, it made my whole day. 

Honorable mentions: The Wynn, Caesar’s Palace, The Aria, and the Mirage. 

FOOD 

Other than Cirque shows, the real reason I came to Vegas was to eat. Food was ridiculously expensive but it was also ridiculously good. 

My favourite restaurant we went to was Vanderpump a Paris in our hotel. I know essentially nothing about Lisa Vanderpump other than she was on Real Housewives (I don’t even know which one, okay) and that she has her own show called Vanderpump Rules. However, that didn’t stop me from enjoying her cocktail bar. The cocktails were like $24usd but they were so worth it. Angela and I  went there by ourselves on our splurge night and it was amazing. We each had two cocktails, we shared a meat platter, a main (which were admittedly pretty small), and we got dessert to go. Honestly, it was probably one of my favourite things we did in Vegas. The service was amazing, the drinks were unique, and the atmosphere was incredible. I’m so happy we went on the Wednesday night because we actually got a table right away. Every night after that there were huge lineups outside so we went with good timing. 

Before a Cirque show we went to Otoro Robata Grill & Sushi in the Mirage and it was amazing. They had one of the best miso soups I have ever had. We also had Chilean Sea Bass (IYKYK) which made my nerdy little heart sing. I went with Angela and Maria and we got a bunch of things to share which was lovely. We also had a matcha bees knees cocktail, which was incredible, and I will be trying to recreate it at home. 

On our last night John, Maria, and I (Angela was sick) went to Din Tai Fung in the Aria. We ate so much food and it was all insanely good. You could see them make the dumplings which was pretty cool. The stand out for me was the pear lychee martini. 

Honorable mentions are Gen Korean Barbecue House in the Miracle Mile shops and Cornish Pasty Co in Boulder City. 

CIRQUE DU SOLIEL

Let’s be honest, the real reason I went to Vegas was to see Cirque shows. We saw two and both were incredible. I can’t pick a favourite because they were just so different. 

First we saw O which is partially underwater. I want whatever makeup setting spray they use because they were diving into water and came out again and their makeup was still flawless. Cirque usually gives me so much anxiety because I fear for their safety, but  I don’t know if I feared less or more for them this time because it was in water. Less, because at least they have something to fall into, but also more cause so much can go wrong underwater. I can never follow the story in Cirque shows so I can’t really tell you what it was about, but it was well worth it. The costumes and makeup were amazing. It was a spectacle because standing Vegas shows have the ability to have more production value than the touring shows I’ve seen in Vancouver. 

We also saw The Beatles Love. Obviously, the music was incredible. The costumes were also great. Out of the four Cirque shows I have seen, it was the least “cirque-y”. It was more like a musical. They still had acrobatics and some death defying moments, but I definitely didn’t fear for their lives as much as other shows. It was a pretty amazing show though and I may or may not have cried during “Hey Jude”.

HOOVER DAM AND BOULDER CITY 

After being in Vegas for so long and smelling cigarette smoke constantly, we needed a little trip out of Vegas so we went to the Hoover Dam. It was pretty cool. We did a tour and a little educational talk, which was neat. We also walked out on the bridge and got to stand in both Nevada and Arizona at the same time. 

After the dam, Angela and I made our own way back and stopped in Boulder City for lunch. It was a cute little down with not much other than antique stores, but it was a nice getaway. 

WHAT WE COULDN’T DO 

Now it seems like we did a lot, but there was a lot more we had planned that we just weren’t able to do because life doesn’t always go to plan and shit happens. 

The biggest one is we had tickets to see Dita Las Vegas (Dita Von Teese’s Vegas residency) but we didn’t account for all the Formula 1 construction we didn’t fully comprehend the scope of before the trip, and couldn’t make it on time. We were both pretty sad about it, but at least we had seen her before when she came to Vancouver. 

We also had tickets to the Sphere show, Postcard From Earth. It was a nature movie on the sphere, which is bigger than IMAX. Our showing was 4:30 and that night our Cirque show was at 7 so we should have had enough time, but we were told by someone who had gone that it starts an hour later, so we made the decision to skip the Sphere show so we wouldn’t miss our Cirque show, and my father in law got a few other people to take our tickets. 

We also intended to go to Fremont street, which is old Vegas but we ended up being overstimulated by everything else going on and then we just didn’t have time. We also meant to go up the fake Eiffel Tower at our hotel. We had also planned to go to more hotels and see the aquarium at the Mandalay Bay hotel but there's always next time.

TIPS AND TRICKS

Just a couple things I learnt was:

• Bring a good lip balm because it’s dry

• Invest in a good hand lotion for the same reason

• Take an hour in your hotel to watch something if you’re feeling overwhelmed by Vegas 

• Comfy shoes, you will be walking a lot if you’re seeing hotels

• Prepare yourself for the fact that you probably won’t be able to see everything you want to 

All in all Vegas is a lot, but I’m glad I went. A week was both too much and not enough time.