We’re going to Sin City and enticing you to visit Las Vegas for a weekend of fun! Las Vegas is an adult’s playground and can give you a different experience each time you visit depending on where you stay and what you want to get into.

With so many things to do in Las Vegas in terms of entertainment, amazing cuisine, fun nightlife, and even makes a great jumping off point for national parks nearby. We recommend our favorite things to do in Vegas and bring some crazy Vegas stories to you.

We also share free things to do in Las Vegas because this city is expensive so the fun stuff that is also free is a welcome relief from $55 mixed drinks at the pool party.

Everything you need to know for Las Vegas travel:

• Vegas travel tips
• Where to stay in Las Vegas
• Best things to do in Las Vegas
• Best restaurants in Las Vegas
• Free entertainment in Vegas
• Best shows in Vegas
• Funnest nightclubs and pool parties in Vegas

Visit Las Vegas – Episode Transcript

4 (56s):
Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad podcast. This week, we are headed to Las Vegas, Nevada,

3 (1m 2s):
The city. Oh, do I have some stories for you? Vegas is wild

5 (1m 9s):
Las Vegas as a city to be seen and explore. There’s so much to do in Vegas from eating, drinking, seeing, and doing things. You’re going to have just a great time in Vegas. It’s also a good hub for other weekend trips and getaways. So we’re going to share some of those tips and tricks with you later.

2 (1m 26s):
Hmm. Guys, in this episode, we are going to give you our recommendations on where to stay, what restaurants to consider activities to do. So that means shows parties, nightclubs, and yes, we are going to talk about other nightclubs, then just talk us on, oh, you know

3 (1m 41s):
It.

2 (1m 42s):
But of course, it’s going to have a special mention and we’re also going to discuss so much more you’re in for a treat this episode, guys.

4 (1m 49s):
So to start off with, we’re going to give you some general tips that we want to go over with you. And one of them that we want to bring to your attention is related to parking. Now, a lot’s changed in Las Vegas in the last three years, and it used to be freed for valet, self parking, et cetera. Those

3 (2m 7s):
Were the

4 (2m 7s):
Days, those were the days, but a lot of major hotels now are starting to charge to park. So that is one thing you want to be mindful of. Even if you’ve paid for your hotel room, you get there. You’re going to have to pay to park. There are a few places that do not charge for parking still. So we want to go over those with you here. So a lot of the places on the Las Vegas strip, as I said, do charge to park a few of those places that are still free, include circus circus, the Wynn and Encore, treasure island, Venetian and Palazzo and planet Hollywood. But any of the other major hotels, such as

5 (2m 46s):
MGM Caesar’s

4 (2m 49s):
Caesar’s right or Blasio, any of the main ones that are on the strip, they do charge for parking. So the ones that we mentioned earlier, they still, as of now have free parking.

2 (3m 1s):
This is just based on the time of recording. So before you go, make sure you check.

4 (3m 6s):
Absolutely.

5 (3m 7s):
And on top of charging for parking, there are also charging for resort fees. This isn’t new, but because the hotels are hotels plus nightclubs, plus restaurants and places to gamble, they do consider themselves a resort. And for that, they typically have like a resort fee tacked on. So just imagine you’re paying for your hotel, you’re paying for parking. And then you’re also paying this resort fee on top of it all.

3 (3m 30s):
Usually it’s around 30 to 40 sometimes can be more per night.

4 (3m 35s):
And it depends on what hotel you’re staying at. And if you’re very lucky to find a good deal on Expedia or even direct through a specific hotel, sometimes it’s not uncommon on a weekday to find a really, really cheap price and you pay for it. And then the disclaimer, it says that it has a resort fee, which you’ll have to pay when you get there. So we’ve seen cases, heard cases, experienced cases where what you pay for the nightly rate sometimes is cheaper than the resort fee when you get there 50, $60 a night.

3 (4m 4s):
So if you haven’t gathered already Vegas, isn’t cheap. It is a pricey city to be in.

5 (4m 10s):
Yes, it is

3 (4m 11s):
Another thing you should know. The streets are huge. You may be able to look out and see a hotel that looks like it’s close enough and try to walk, but it will take you 30 minutes just to get to the next place you’re trying to go to

2 (4m 22s):
Or even longer.

3 (4m 23s):
Yes. It takes a long time to get by foot to where you’re going.

5 (4m 27s):
Yeah. Because some of the hotels on the strip, even if you can look out to the hotel that’s directly across from you, you might not be able to cross the street right there. You might have to take a bridge. See, you might have to walk down the street to take the pedestrian bridge over or wait for another crosswalk down the street. So just because it’s right across the street or right next to you, the hotels are so big and they take up blocks of space. And because of all the people, it takes a while to get anywhere on foot.

3 (4m 52s):
The good thing about having these big streets that take a long time to get from place to place is that you can bring your drink with you. Drinking on the streets is perfectly legal in Vegas.

4 (5m 1s):
Yes, they do allow open alcohol containers. It’s one of the few places in the United States that do off the top of my head. The only other place I could think of is new Orleans that allows that Miami does as well. There you go. So very few places in the United States do Las Vegas is one of them. So if you’ve never been and go and see everybody boozing it up, walking with beer or big drinks cocktails on the street, don’t be alarmed. Completely legal, completely normal. Yeah.

3 (5m 29s):
Yeah. There’s a CVS right on the strip by the Paris hotel. Great place to stop in and get some drinks for the walk to the next place. You can bring your drink with you. If you get it at the bar, you could walk right out with it. Sometimes they’ll give you a plastic cup to pour it in. Sometimes you just take the glass with you and get on your way.

5 (5m 47s):
Great tips, Kim, of course, you know how to save a dollar,

3 (5m 50s):
Right? Another thing on the topic of having big streets and things taking a long time, it can also take a very long time to get from place place by Uber. Every one of the resorts or hotels will have an Uber line where you go to the same as where you would get in for a taxi. And so that’s a designated pickup place for Uber’s, but it could take you a very long time to get to where you’re going as well,

5 (6m 10s):
Especially at night because Vegas is known for its nightlife. So trying to get around at night can be very cumbersome because everybody is trained to go out. Even if you’re not taking an Uber and you’re driving yourself in the city, Jamal and I have driven through the city many times, if you miss a turn, you might have to go several blocks down to turn around, can be very confusing and it can take you much longer than anticipated. So give yourself some extra time when traveling.

4 (6m 35s):
Yeah. Even when we drive to Las Vegas, cause it’s a very quick drive from San Diego here to Las Vegas, we do it quite often. And the hotels we stay at usually are off of Flamingo. If any of you haven’t been, it’s irrelevant to this point of the story, but getting off the freeway to get to the hotel and going, you know, three stoplights sometimes can easily take 25 minutes. Yes. Twenty-five minutes for three stoplights. That aren’t very far. So if you can avoid taking a car when in Las Vegas, other than just getting into your hotel, if you’re driving there, you definitely should. Yeah.

3 (7m 9s):
That’s a good point. You don’t really need a car once you’re in Vegas

2 (7m 12s):
Because the good news is they have a monorail.

4 (7m 14s):
Yeah. So they have a monorail that runs pretty much the entire length of the Las Vegas strip. Now, for any of you who haven’t been to Vegas before, and don’t know what we’re talking about. When we say the Las Vegas strip Las Vegas Boulevard, the major street of Las Vegas that is referred to as the Las Vegas strip, it has all the major hotels. It has all the major nightclubs, et cetera. And they’re pretty much all aligned on one major road. So the monorail traverses the entire length of the strip. It doesn’t stop at every hotel, but it stops at the main ones. And for $13 you can get an unlimited use day pass.

3 (7m 52s):
That’s a good information. I did not know that

2 (7m 55s):
While you are out and joined shows, nightlife, drinks, et cetera. Another tip is make sure you write down your room number and hotel on a piece of paper and stick it in your back pocket because you never know if you’re going to forget.

4 (8m 7s):
Yeah, you might forget it. After a few drinks and a lot of the hotels just as well have multiple towers. So they have different elevators that you can go up to get to different towers of the hotel. So beyond marking your room number, you might want to mark what tower you’re in within your hotel. That way somebody could help you out if you get lost or don’t remember,

2 (8m 27s):
Or if you pass out, someone can find it in your back pocket and make sure you get home safely.

5 (8m 30s):
Speaking of hotels, let’s talk about where to stay.

3 (8m 33s):
My favorite hotel in Vegas is the Cromwell. Have any of you guys stayed there?

5 (8m 37s):
I have not.

4 (8m 38s):
I have not stayed at the Cromwell, but it is at the corner of Flamingo, just like I was talking about earlier. So I see it all the time. No, what it is. Okay.

3 (8m 46s):
It’s a centrally located hotel. It’s about in the middle of the strip. So it’s in a great location and it’s a beautiful hotel. It’s so sexy. Like everything’s black and Royal purple and tufted and velvet and just amazing. The service is so good there, it’s definitely a smaller boutique hotel. Still has casinos. It has, the Dre is pool party. It has the Drai’s after hours nightclub, which I’ll get into later. But I love staying there. It’s a little bit on the higher priced end. So it’s not what you estimate for a room, probably like 300 a night.

4 (9m 18s):
That’s a very high priced. I know they’ve done a lot of work to remodel. It. It’s very boutique and chic like you’re talking about, but what’s so funny for me. And I know you like that spot. I’ve been going to Vegas since I’ve been a kid with Zayna, you know, with our parents, I’ve seen what that used to be. They’d just retrofitted it. And I’m not saying that they haven’t made it nice, but just knowing what it used to be. And it’s not even a new building. I can’t see paying them.

3 (9m 40s):
Oh my gosh, it’s so nice. And the service is really good. When we checked in our bell guy, brought us up to our room. He showed us all the little perks and amenities that the room had. And one of them was that when you’re in the shower, the shower door comes out to the bedroom. When you’re in the shower. If you turn the lights off in the room, your silhouette comes in through the shower and it’s just like super sexy, sexy. Yeah.

4 (10m 3s):
Really chic stuff

8 (10m 5s):
In there.

2 (10m 6s):
So if we’re saying that, you know, around $300 is more on the higher end, what are we talking about for a normal stay in one of the big hotels,

4 (10m 14s):
Normal stay for one of the big hotels. If you’re lucky on a weekend would be finding $110 a night and that’s

3 (10m 20s):
Super

4 (10m 21s):
Cheap and that’s cheap. And that’s, if you’re lucky and that doesn’t even include the resort fates on week days, you can definitely find some of the bigger resorts on the strip in the 70, $80 range during weekdays. But if you are trying to save a buck, you’d be better off staying at one of the non-big named hotels off of the Las Vegas strip,

3 (10m 43s):
But no one wants to stay off the strip.

4 (10m 44s):
That’s very true, but I will say this in terms of a big hotel at a reasonable price, Brittany and I like to, and often stay at the Rio. It is on Flamingo. It is off the strip, but it is very close to the action. And the good thing about the Rio is they do have free parking, still it’s cheaper and all of their rooms are suites.

3 (11m 4s):
That’s nice. I stayed there once before we had so much room

4 (11m 7s):
And I like it a lot. And usually you can get lucky and find, you know, 80 to 120, which again, still pretty expensive, but for Las Vegas prices for a good hotel, not great good hotel. That’s good.

2 (11m 21s):
And Jamal mentions Flamingo several times and he’s referring to the street because if you’re just Googling Las Vegas, you will see that there is a Flamingo hotel. And in all times that Jamal has mentioned Flamingo. He’s talking about the,

4 (11m 33s):
Yes, thank you for pointing that out. And that’s a good thing to point out too, because Flamingo is another hotel that I

3 (11m 39s):
Like to stay

4 (11m 39s):
Out. It’s a good hotel. And for being on the strip, not as expensive as other ones. And I really like it a lot just as well. Okay.

3 (11m 46s):
I went there most recently for labor day weekend. We stayed there. They are also renovating all of their rooms. So they’re a lot nicer. They have Flamingo decorations, they have entertainment there and it is a legit resort that deserves a resort fee, I guess, unlike some of these other ones

5 (12m 2s):
And not only does it have Flamingo decorations, they actually have a Flamingo exhibit.

3 (12m 6s):
Yes. Entertainment.

5 (12m 7s):
That’s a good tip to know. And it’s free if you want to go visit.

4 (12m 10s):
Yeah. They have a little botanical gardens of sort where they have the flamingos. And just a little bit of Las Vegas history here for you. Flamingo is one of the first resorts ever created out in the Las Vegas

2 (12m 21s):
Desert. I did not know that. So it

4 (12m 23s):
Started it all Right. Bugsy, Siegel,

3 (12m 25s):
Bugsy, Siegel.

4 (12m 27s):
Yeah. He started it all. And you may remember that name Bugsy Siegel, because we talked about him in episode 22. When we went to hot Springs, national park, he used to be a mob fig gear in the area there. And he resettled out in Las Vegas and started Flamingo.

3 (12m 42s):
The other thing about the Flamingo is their pool is decent. It’s not like a wild pool party and I don’t think it even costs to get in, even if you’re not a guest and it’s big, it’s fun, but it could be family friendly. It’s not like some of these wild pool parties that we’ll get into in a minute, but I approve of it. It’s a good Sunday pool

5 (12m 60s):
Sunday, chill, relaxed by the pool pool

3 (13m 2s):
Party and drink and listen to music, but not get too crazy.

2 (13m 5s):
And another hotel to stay at. Not highly recommended per se, but it’s still a good hotel is the Excalibur. So if you want to fulfill a childhood dream and stay there, I did that as an adult and it was so exciting, but Brittany actually went there when she was a child.

4 (13m 19s):
Well, just a little preface for anyone who hasn’t been there. The exterior of the Excalibur looks like a giant fantasy castle. So I remember being there as a kid before they had the extravagant resorts that they have now. And that was like the creme de LA creme of your child. You see this castle, they had arcade games and all that stuff. And Brittany stayed there once when she was a child. And currently now still moderately priced for a hotel on the Las Vegas strip.

5 (13m 45s):
I think I stayed there when I was 10. I was on a family trip with my mom and my brother and my mom’s Filipino friends. And it was like my childhood dream come true. I remember they had an arcade area. My mom doesn’t often spoil us, but she gave us like a ton of money for the arcade and my brother and I won a ton of stuffed animals that we took home. And then on top of that, we booked the tournament of Kings dinner, which is in Excalibur. And if you haven’t heard of tournament of the Kings, it’s where these nights have these jousting competitions on horses while you have a dinner. And the dinner is like Cornish hen with potatoes and corn and they don’t give you silverware. So you eat it with your hands.

5 (14m 26s):
Like

4 (14m 27s):
Really keep it medieval, like

5 (14m 28s):
Medieval times. Yeah.

2 (14m 30s):
I would just love to go to something that

3 (14m 32s):
Sound kind of fun. This is only for kids.

5 (14m 35s):
No. Like my mom went and she took, it’s like a whole family event.

4 (14m 38s):
They’ve had that since I’ve been a child and it’s still there. So it’s proved the test of time for Las Vegas as a show. It’s still there. I haven’t been there yet for all the times. I’ve been to Las Vegas, but we never went as children. And now that I’m an adult, it still really fun. But when we go, Brittany and I like to eat at other restaurants more high-end cause that’s one of the places we like to go to spoil ourselves when it comes to food is Las Vegas because it’s such a great culinary city. And I feel like that’s a perfect segue for our next topic, which is the restaurants and where to eat and our recommendations in Las Vegas.

5 (15m 12s):
So just keep in mind if Kim recommends anything, probably don’t take her recommendation in the section because Kim is always drunk when she’s in Vegas. So she probably, she probably won’t know what’s really good to eat.

4 (15m 25s):
And she has one good recommendation, which we’ve eaten at with her. So when she talks about that one, definitely do trust her on it.

3 (15m 33s):
And you know, I can’t say anything because Brittany’s right. I hardly ever even eat when I’m in Vegas. I drink a lot.

4 (15m 40s):
You’re fueled by the booze. That’s all, that’s all the energy you need. Huh? Yep. I respect it.

5 (15m 44s):
So Jamal and I can probably cover this section pretty well. Our favorite restaurant in Las Vegas is Gordon Ramsay steak house. And I love their beef Wellington, which is Gordon Ramsey’s signature dish. Why don’t you describe that for us, Jamal?

4 (15m 59s):
Yeah. So every time we go to Las Vegas, Brittany gets the beef Wellington. I love it, but I, myself am a big fan of just their classic ribeye. I’ve never had a ribeye steak come out better than at Gordon Ramsey. And I’m not just saying this because he’s a celebrity chef and on TV. And I like his shows legitimately. Good, good steak.

3 (16m 17s):
You guys see him? There was,

4 (16m 18s):
Yeah, we had a celebrity site in Las Vegas. Ramsey was there yelling at my steak before it came out of the window. Wait, you didn’t tell him no, no, I’m getting to it. Thank you very much. So to answer Brittany’s question, the beef Wellington is a Tenderloin and a Tenderloin is the long cut of Philemon Yon, which is the really, really tender piece of the beef. And it is wrapped in a puff, pastry and baked. But before it gets put in that puff bay street, they also wrap the Tenderloin in what’s called a duck cell, which is an emotion of ground-up mushrooms, shallots, and other seasonings to where it gets really, really dry.

4 (16m 58s):
And you can basically like cake it around it. And then that duck cell is wrapped with . So it’s all wrapped in a beautiful little Philemon Yon ball and then put in a puff, pastry and baked and it comes out with the delicious sauce. So, so good. That

6 (17m 13s):
Sounds phenomenal.

5 (17m 14s):
It is phenomenal. It’s my favorite dish there.

4 (17m 16s):
And I will say this Kim, I know you’re not a mushroom person. If I didn’t say that, I swear on my life, you would never know the real mushrooms in it. You can’t taste it it’s then it’s just more a thing that they use to wrap the prosciutto. Like you wouldn’t even know.

5 (17m 30s):
So typically when we’re there, we get the beef Wellington and Jamal gets the ribeye, but we always finish off the meal with his signature dessert, which is sticky toffee pudding served with brown butter ice cream.

4 (17m 43s):
What is that? It’s pure deliciousness. Like you’re deliciousness. Even if you don’t want to go to eat a steak, you should go and just try that dessert one time. So good.

5 (17m 54s):
And on top of that, it comes with a caramel sauce that use lather over the entire thing.

4 (17m 59s):
The caramel sauce alone should sell. Zayna she’s all about caramel. She would love it. What

3 (18m 3s):
Kind of sides come with the steaks?

4 (18m 5s):
So in that steakhouse, it is all a cart. So it’s only the steak when you order it. So if you want your sides, you have to order them. It’s an additional charge. He has his mashed potatoes, baked potato, asparagus, brussel sprouts, Mac, and cheese, whatever it is that you want, you could pretty much order on the side as one of his sides, but Brittany and I usually get either the mash or the baked potato. And we always do get a vegetable rotate in between the Brussels or asparagus.

3 (18m 31s):
How’s the

5 (18m 31s):
Mac we have not had.

4 (18m 33s):
We have not had as much.

3 (18m 34s):
Next time we go to Vegas, we should go here.

4 (18m 36s):
We definitely should. It’s really good. But

2 (18m 38s):
The sides

5 (18m 39s):
Probably about $13 for each side.

2 (18m 41s):
Oh, that’s not what I was thinking. 20 or 30. No,

4 (18m 43s):
That’s for the side, about $13 for the Wellington itself or a steak you’re looking at, you know, $75,

5 (18m 50s):
65 to $75.

2 (18m 52s):
Typical.

4 (18m 53s):
So it’s definitely a little bit of a splurge, but in terms of this restaurant being in the Paris hotel on the Las Vegas strip by a celebrity chef, it is expensive, but more reasonably priced than a lot of other fancy places that I’ve seen in Las Vegas.

5 (19m 8s):
So as I mentioned before, Jamal and I always go to Gordon Ramsay steak. So the last time we were in Vegas, we went there and said, well, we should also try a new restaurant. So we went to a new restaurant called Scarpetta Scarpetta is inside cosmopolitan. And I wanted to go there specifically to try the duck and fagua ravioli.

3 (19m 27s):
How was it?

4 (19m 28s):
Delicious de licious. I am a big fan of wog raw. And if anybody doesn’t know what flaw Gras is, it is duck liver, but it is extra fattened duck liver. And it’s just unbelievably delicious. So good and have that in the ravioli, in the sauce. And really haven’t in an Italian type setting because flog, Roz, traditionally French. So just to take that type of cuisine and put it into an Italian fusion was really, really good. And I’ll tell you what really, really big fan of the Italian food at Scarpetta even just looking at the menu of what they had on the other stuff, Brittany, and I’ve only eaten there once, but we’re definitely going to be going back to try it because we saw a lot of things that looked really, really good.

4 (20m 9s):
And it is about to be our new favorite place in Las Vegas. I know Zayna has a place that she really likes. So why don’t you tell us all about that Cena?

2 (20m 17s):
I wouldn’t say this is necessarily my favorite, but you know, we used to stay at the Rio when we were younger with our parents and we would always go to the carnival world buffet. And so buffets in general, you know, like, I mean, I guess you could go wrong, but at this place you cannot go wrong with the carnival world buffet.

4 (20m 35s):
Yeah. The world buffet, as Dana said, we’ve eaten at a lot of times as kids, as an adult, I haven’t really gone back lately, but I will say this, the carnival world buffet was consistently ranked for like five to seven years straight as the best buffet in Las Vegas. It is still one of the best. I don’t know if it is still the best, but definitely up there rank says, must try if you’re going to be doing some buffets, but in terms of buffets, my current recommendation and this one would be a splurge. And again, nothing in Vegas is usually going to be cheap, but Caesar’s palace has a buffet called the Bacchanal and the Bach and all buffet. It’s really crowded. It’s about $80 a person, which is pricey. But the reason why it’s pricey is they use everything at the highest quality.

4 (21m 19s):
So when you go to a buffet and there’s shrimp, it’s usually small little ones here. They have giant prawns, they have Alaskan king crab. They will boil it for you. If you want it though, they’ll shell it for you. All of their beef is prime beef. So they have . They have, yeah. So when are we

5 (21m 36s):
Going here?

4 (21m 37s):
It’s really, really expensive. And I just want to throw

3 (21m 40s):
Drinks.

2 (21m 41s):
That’s my

4 (21m 41s):
Question. Well, it doesn’t come with alcohol. It doesn’t come with alcoholic drinks. None of the buffets do they come with free drinks, but again, non alcoholic drinks, unless you do the Sunday morning brunch.

2 (21m 50s):
I think I did the Sunday morning brunch at Paris. I don’t know if the champagne was included or not, but we tipped our waitress nicely at the beginning. And then she just kept bringing bottles of champagne to us.

3 (22m 0s):
I just recently went to the buffet at the Flamingo and I think it was around 30 and then 15 for unlimited mimosas and bloody Marys. I mean, the food was okay, but it was good

4 (22m 13s):
Deal. You were there for another reason.

3 (22m 14s):
Yeah. And, and that’s one thing to be said about Vegas in general is there’s tons of buffets and some of them have really good deals. You can Google it and find out recommendations for what’s the best right now, but definitely hit up a buffet in Vegas.

5 (22m 26s):
Yeah. You haven’t experienced Vegas if you haven’t gone to a Buffalo.

3 (22m 30s):
You know the downside though, is that most hotels in Vegas do not give you a free breakfast buffet. That’s true. They really should.

4 (22m 37s):
I will say this though. If you stay at the Westgate hotel, which used to be the Hilton on the north side of the strip, Brittany and I had stayed there one time and we had to wake up early because we were driving somewhere using Vegas as a hub and their breakfast buffet didn’t open early enough for us to make it because we had to hit the road. So we missed it. So the Westgate hotel does have a free breakfast buffet included.

3 (22m 60s):
Good tip. Yeah, stay there. Next time. We

4 (23m 2s):
Should.

5 (23m 3s):
Another good place to eat at is the voodoo lounge at the Rio. And you get dinner and a view because if you go outside, it’s at the very top of the Rio. So you get views of the city. So if you’re up at the top on the patio, it’s a great lookout point. What I remember getting there was a ribeye covered with blue cheese.

3 (23m 21s):
That’s my favorite way to eat.

4 (23m 23s):
It was really, really good. And Brittany and I haven’t eaten there for a while, but like she said, really good steak. Is it going to be the best in terms of what else Vegas has to offer in terms of quality? I will say no, but in terms of what you get for the price and with the beautiful view that it comes with, it’s definitely a good place that somebody should try. When in Las Vegas,

5 (23m 46s):
The last restaurant we’re going to really talk about is the Juul Robichon restaurant. He has two, we’re talking about his signature restaurant. This is a three Michelin star restaurant, and this is the most Jamal and I have ever spent on a meal. We went here specifically for our one year wedding anniversary. We were in Las Vegas and we decided to do the 15 course meal that he offers there.

2 (24m 8s):
Wow.

3 (24m 9s):
Tell us about those potatoes.

4 (24m 10s):
Oh my goodness. So just a little background before we get into the food, like Brittany said, this restaurant is a three Michelin star. And if any chef gets one Michelin star, they are probably going to be excited for the rest of their life. They’re going to be critically acclaimed well-known Juul. Robichon over all of his restaurants that he has worldwide has over 30 Michelin stars. So he has the most Michelin stars of any chef in the world he has since passed. But yes, getting back to what you were saying, Kim, about his potatoes, his mashed potatoes are the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. I don’t know how to describe it. You would think, oh, you know, mashed potatoes. There are a lot of ways that could go wrong. But for the most part, mashed potatoes is always a hit.

4 (24m 52s):
Everyone loves them. These were incredibly special. So buttery, so smooth. So delicate, delicious,

5 (24m 60s):
Delicious.

2 (25m 0s):
Yeah. That’s what you model your mashed potatoes after.

4 (25m 3s):
This is what I modeled my mashed potatoes after. It’s not as good, but I will say it is close.

2 (25m 8s):
You guys, Jamal is super proud of his mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. He will ask you, do you love the potatoes? Do you love the potatoes? How are the mashed potatoes?

4 (25m 16s):
And if you think mine are good, try Joel. Rubicon’s like 10 times better. And I think mine are probably the best home cook, mashed potatoes you’ll ever have in your life. And that’s just me tooting my own horn.

3 (25m 26s):
So you guys got those potatoes in the 15 course meal, but didn’t you say that you can get them without having to do that meal?

4 (25m 34s):
Yeah. So he has a second restaurant right next door to his signature. One, both of them are in MGM, in Las Vegas. And again, he has his signature one, which is his tasting course menu restaurant, which we did. And then he has a secondary restaurant, which is the non tasting course. And you could get them over there. It is substantially less expensive. It’s not as Hotty, toddy and more relaxed dining experience than the high-end one we did. But his food was just so, so good. All of the courses that we had and he really elevated it to where food was art, you know, even one of the desserts came out and it looked like it was in a bowl and it was a whole scene

5 (26m 14s):
Terrarium. Yeah.

2 (26m 16s):
So question for you. How long does it take to go through a 15 course meal and how can you eat 15 courses? I’m thinking like salad and then there’s like your main entree and then your dessert. So I mean like what is 15 courses?

5 (26m 28s):
So it probably took us about three hours to get through the dinner. So a lot that amount of time. And although it is 15 courses, it’s like 15 tastings. But before you get to the tastings, they bring out a bread and cheese cart. That’s not part of the tasting menu.

4 (26m 45s):
Absolutely delicious bread and cheese cart. Absolutely delicious.

5 (26m 49s):
But you know, you get your salad and then let’s say, for example, the next course is seafood. They bring out three different tastings of the fish. And so each one of those counts as a taste.

4 (26m 59s):
Yeah. So maybe one course is a scallop than the other one is maybe swordfish. And they’re obviously all on separate plates, but a lot of times in between, you know, like pretty sad, they’ll start with seafood and then maybe they’ll go on to land. So it’ll be like a chicken or a beef for a lamb. And then eventually in the middle, they’ll have some sort of pallet cleanser, sorbet bay that they bring out and things of that nature. And then the last few are obviously desserts, but they’re not full blown plates at best. You’re getting, you know, three bites off of everything.

5 (27m 28s):
Yeah. So the last four plates we had or dessert, so first they bring out a trio of desserts and it was three different desserts each on their own plate. And we’re like, oh my God, this dessert is so good. And then on top of that, they bring out what looks like a terrarium looking dessert, where the soil is made out of chocolate. And there’s a chocolate butterfly and marshmallow fluff that looked like clouds. It’s a scene. And it’s art that you feel bad about eating almost. I sure

2 (27m 56s):
Hope you have a picture of

5 (27m 57s):
That.

4 (27m 57s):
You know, I took a photo of every single course that we had, and this was right before our Mexico city trip in which my phone got stolen from me before I backed stuff up to the cloud. So I’ve lost all of those, but I know Brittany took them. So I’m hoping she still has them, but all my photo evidence of this experience, Well, my phone backs up to, I just never set it up for backup. I know, I know. I, I learned my mistake after that everything has been backed up since my phone was stolen.

2 (28m 26s):
So what does a 15 course meal cost you?

4 (28m 28s):
Ooh, well, Brittany and I spent a little over $500 per person on this meal,

5 (28m 35s):
But I’m not even done describing the meal. So after that dessert, they brought Jamal and I an anniversary cake, a slice of cake,

2 (28m 44s):
Because didn’t you say your sister called ahead of time to let them know.

5 (28m 47s):
Yeah. So my sister knew we were going there. She actually called ahead before we went and she bought us a bottle of wine that was served at our table, right. When we got there. Thank you, Jeanette for that anniversary gift. And then on top of that, they have a dessert cart. So you thought we were done with dessert. So we did like the three small tastings of the dessert. Then we did the terrarium dessert. Then we did the cake and now they bring out a dessert cart. I’m like

4 (29m 13s):
It. So it had those 15 courses, but everything that she’s talking about, the dessert cart, the bread and cheese, those don’t count as part of the courses. And I think with the bread and cheese, those potatoes were kind of on the side as you know, little supplements to add to your meals. So it was absolutely delicious and I don’t feel bad about spending that type of money because it is expensive. And I’m not going to sit here and say, somebody’s not listening, thinking what an idiot spending like $500 on a meal. But I look at meals to be experiences. And you hear us in the podcast talk all the time. All of us love to have a drink every now and then it enhances our vacation. And even though Vegas is a drinking city, interestingly enough, when Brittany and I go to Vegas, we’re not the drinkers there.

4 (29m 56s):
I know we like to see shows. We like to have meals. And that’s where we choose to spend our money on in Vegas. Cause I feel like you could drink anywhere else. And in my opinion, and no discredit to you, Kim, cause I know you love to party in Vegas. I’d just rather spend my money on something else because to party in Vegas is very expensive. So another experience like food or shows is my go-to

3 (30m 16s):
Shoe. You could spend $500 on alcohol easily.

4 (30m 19s):
That’s what I’m saying.

2 (30m 20s):
And also, you know, devil’s advocate, I think partying in Vegas is an experience in and of itself. Yeah. Especially if you’re not as close to Vegas as us being in San Diego are or if it’s someone’s first time.

4 (30m 32s):
No, absolutely.

5 (30m 34s):
But overall there are so many places to eat in Vegas. We’re not going to cover them all. We just wanted to give you some highlights of things that we have tried in our experience.

4 (30m 42s):
But I do want Kim to say her recommendation because you called her out on don’t trust it. And she hasn’t mentioned it and we go there and we like it. So what are you talking?

3 (30m 50s):
Well, this one’s actually in downtown Vegas and it’s called lay Tai and we’ve eaten there a couple of times. Really, really good Thai food. You know, I love Thai food whenever I travel. If you’re in downtown Las Vegas and you want a good restaurant, that’s what I would recommend.

2 (31m 3s):
And we gave that restaurant a shout out on our Bryce canyon episode. So now that you’ve spent all that money on food and drinks, let’s take you to the places that are free, free.

3 (31m 15s):
He, Vegas has a lot of Free entertainment, which is really nice.

5 (31m 19s):
Yeah. I love free things.

4 (31m 20s):
One of the places that Brittany and I love to go each time we’re in Las Vegas. And I know you ladies too, is the Bellagio hotel. And the reason for it is twofold. The Bellagio has dancing water fountains outside of the front because the Bellagio is supposed to be set on lake Como in Italy. And they have these beautiful fountains that every 15, 20 minutes, they will have shows where the water fountains are synchronized to the music. And when it’s nighttime, they have lights is not like neon colored lights, just white lights, but nonetheless such an enhancing experience and definitely a nice, beautiful, free thing to do in Las Vegas.

2 (31m 58s):
And you’ve probably seen this already at the end of scene of ocean’s 11

3 (32m 2s):
It’s in many movies, it’s an iconic staple of Vegas and it’s right on the strip. You can see it from your car. If you’re driving by to have

5 (32m 9s):
You guys been to the seasonal garden inside of the Bellagio.

2 (32m 12s):
Absolutely. It’s a must see.

5 (32m 14s):
Yeah. Every season they change their garden and they make structures out of flowers. So big themed flower landscapes are inside the garden. Jamal, what are some of the things we’ve seen there?

4 (32m 26s):
Oh my gosh. On our last trip, they were paying homage to India and they had tigers that were made out of flowers. So they had, yeah. And then

5 (32m 37s):
Elephants,

4 (32m 38s):
It was just amazing. That’s some of the stuff we’ve seen and you know, during spring they’ll change it up every year for Chinese new year they’ll have dragons and pagodas and all types of things. So depending on the time of year, not necessarily just the four seasons of big things are coming up, they definitely do that. Yes, absolutely. So always go in. It’s always going to be new, even come Christmas time, like Kim saying, they’re not going to recycle the same thing that they did last year. It’s always going to be different.

2 (33m 7s):
So you can watch the fountains outside. You can see the garden inside. And then when you enter into the hotel, they have the most beautiful blown glass ceiling. And I feel like you can’t really even describe it. It’s art. The ceiling is art.

4 (33m 23s):
Yeah. It’s a whole bunch of glass blown flowers coming out of the ceiling and that’s just in the lobby. And that leads you right into the conservatory atrium area that we have been talking about that has the seasonal flower gardens.

3 (33m 36s):
Have any of you ever stayed at the Bellagio? I

4 (33m 38s):
Have not. No, but

5 (33m 39s):
I want to,

2 (33m 40s):
I’ve eaten at the restaurant though that overlooks the lake and the dancing waterfalls. They do have a restaurant and a bar. They’re nice. I can’t give you too much information because I had been drinking.

4 (33m 51s):
So you don’t really recall which one it was. You just remember that you were on the lakefront,

2 (33m 56s):
Huh? Pretty much. They have plenty of restaurants there that overlook it.

4 (33m 59s):
Brilliant. I’ve eaten one there just as well. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Another one again, we mentioned this earlier, when we’re talking about the hotels, seeing the flamingos at the Flamingo and another good free thing to see in Vegas is the circus performances at circus circus hotel. They do have an amusement park there that is under a big glass dome that unfortunately is not free, but the circus acts themselves are. So they have trapeze artists and other circus performances that happen under their big top. And definitely good more particularly if you’re going with children, that’s a good family environment, free show to see

3 (34m 37s):
There’s also the Caesars Emporium shops. There’s tons of designer shops that you can go into window shop. Obviously, if you buy something it’s not free, but there’s a lot of good shopping or even just, you know, passing the time in that shop area.

2 (34m 50s):
Yeah. So for the Emporium shops, I believe it’s three stories and it goes deep into the hotel and it’ll have pretty much every brand name, Gucci product high-end brand name that you’re thinking about.

3 (35m 2s):
And then obviously another free thing to do in Vegas is just to walk around in every single hotel there’s stuff to look at. Like the cosmopolitan has the big, high heel shoes that you could go take pictures with or there’s art everywhere. There’s such good people watching on those strip on the streets of Vegas. There’ll be people in costumes who will charge you to take a picture with them. But just walking around and taking in Vegas is one of the things to do there that’s quite entertaining. Yeah.

5 (35m 28s):
Yes it is. So we’ve told you about all of the free things that you can do in Vegas, but we’re going to talk now about the things to see that do cost money.

3 (35m 35s):
And there’s plenty of that.

4 (35m 36s):
Always plenty of that in Vegas. So the free ones are rare commodities, but some of the activities that involve spending money include the aquarium at Mandalay bay. I’ve done this once and it’s a beautiful walkthrough aquarium, really like it. I can’t say it’s anything like the Monterey bay aquarium up in Northern California, which is world famous, but for Las Vegas and what it is, the aquarium at Mandalay bay is really, really nice.

2 (36m 1s):
Another really, really good one to do that does cost money is the high roller. And this one is on the strip and it’s pretty much Las Vegas, his version of the London eye Ferris wheel.

3 (36m 13s):
I really want to do it. This

2 (36m 14s):
One’s a fellow

3 (36m 15s):
Go with me.

4 (36m 16s):
Kevin done the high roller yet. No,

3 (36m 18s):
And there’s the bar in there. But every time I say, and I say it to you guys often, and Brittany always like, they squish you in like sardines.

5 (36m 25s):
So they do, there is not a bar in every single car. So they do shove you in like sardines.

2 (36m 31s):
It’s totally going to say that before Kim said, Brittany always says they shove you in like sardines.

5 (36m 35s):
I do. And so when you’re going

3 (36m 38s):
Over a bar though,

5 (36m 40s):
It’s not an open bar unless you pay extra for it. So there’s not a bar in the car if you’re just going to go. So I don’t want that to be a misconception to our listeners, clarifying that you have to pay extra. If you want the cart that does include the bar and the drinks. And it only takes you around once. And that really only includes just everyone loading in

3 (37m 1s):
30 minutes, right?

5 (37m 2s):
Yeah. It’s about 30 minute ride. And if you aren’t in first and you don’t get a view of the window, people are aggressive and they are wanting the window spots for the views. It’s very hard to get window viewing if you aren’t the first in.

4 (37m 16s):
Yeah. And they charge more depending on if you do it at night because Las Vegas lit up at night is beautiful. So they charge a premium for that. And it’s definitely less expensive if you do it during the day. Now, usually when we go to Las Vegas, it’s always going to be during the weekends. So it’s a lot more crowded. If you go during the weekdays, you may have a different experience with it being crowded. But to what you’re saying, cam about the open bar, I’ve read online. So as Britney was saying only very few cars have the open bar. Clearly you’re going to have to pay more for it, but they only allow you to get one drink at a time and make you do a rotation of everybody. So I’ve heard by the time you actually even get done with it because of how many people are in it. You really don’t get that whole open bar experience because they make you go back in line and have everybody at least have their first drink before you get your second one.

3 (38m 2s):
That’s too bad. I know

2 (38m 4s):
That being said, we’re not saying don’t do it. Certainly, you know, make your own decisions. I’m glad that I did it. Would I do it again? Probably not, but I certainly think it’s worth doing,

4 (38m 13s):
Obviously we can’t talk about Las Vegas unless we mentioned gambling. So clearly this is the biggest number one pay to do, pay to play thing in Las Vegas, quite literally. And the one thing we just want to let everybody know is you do get free drinks while you play. Yeah,

3 (38m 29s):
You

4 (38m 29s):
Do free drinks. And I just want to throw out a quick little hack here. Squad tip squad, tip squad on how to get free drinks, really without major risk of losing your money while you’re gambling. If you go play roulette, it gives you the option for even money to bet on black or red. If you bet on both clearly, you’re going to lose on one, but what you lose on, you’re going to win the payout on the other. Now on a roulette wheel, there is either one green or two greens, but I’m not saying it won’t hit it very rarely does it happen because there’s more reds and more blacks. So as long as you avoid hitting one of those two greens, you can make even money and you can get free drinks the whole time until the stewardess comes around and takes care of you.

3 (39m 12s):
Good tip. I love the free drinks in Vegas and just make sure to tip your waitress just a dollar or a chip or so. And she’ll keep coming back for.

4 (39m 20s):
Yeah, even though it’s free, definitely always at these, tip them at a minimum, a dollar

2 (39m 24s):
You guys, when I’m in the casino, I hit up the peanut coladas. I fucking love a good peanut butter.

4 (39m 30s):
I know you do. I love the peanut coladas too. What

3 (39m 33s):
Else is there to do? That costs money in Vegas?

5 (39m 36s):
Like I mentioned before, the tournament of Kings is always a good thing to do. If you’re traveling with a family, this might be a good option for a family event and it’s dinner and a show.

4 (39m 47s):
Yeah. And as I mentioned earlier, when we were talking about circus circus and the free things to do, as I said, they do have an amusement park there that is under a glass dome, a charge money for an unlimited ride pass. That’s something you can do with the family. As well as the stratosphere hotel, they do have a tall tower that has rides at the top and you can pay to do those. And at New York, New York hotel, they have a rollercoaster called the Manhattan express. And that is another pay to do activity on the strip.

2 (40m 18s):
The really cool thing about that rollercoaster is it goes all around the hotel and it’s outdoors.

4 (40m 24s):
Yes. I’ve written that before. It’s definitely a fun one, a little jerky, but definitely a fun one to do.

2 (40m 30s):
Yeah. So then if you’re headed over to the Paris hotel, they do have an Eiffel tower viewing deck.

4 (40m 36s):
It is a exact one-third replica of the real Eiffel tower.

2 (40m 40s):
So you can pay $19, go to the top, tell people you’ve been to the Eiffel tower and just hope no one knows the difference.

4 (40m 46s):
Technically you’re not lying. Yeah.

2 (40m 47s):
You really don’t what to say.

4 (40m 49s):
You went to the one in Paris, France.

3 (40m 51s):
There’s also the boats at the Venetian,

4 (40m 54s):
The gondolas.

3 (40m 55s):
Yes. The gondolas. You can do a little Venice gondola ride

5 (40m 58s):
Because we missed our opportunity when we were in Venice.

4 (41m 1s):
Yeah. Well, those are just some of the highlights of the pay to do activities in Las Vegas. But if you notice, we didn’t talk about shows because they are their own separate category. And as we mentioned, Brittany and I love to go to shows when we are in Las Vegas. Do you go to any shows when you’re in

3 (41m 17s):
Vegas? I’ve never been to a show in Vegas. Wow.

4 (41m 19s):
You’re really missing out. You’re really missing out. What about

3 (41m 22s):
Every year? I say, I’m going to do it. And I don’t.

4 (41m 25s):
What about use? I know

2 (41m 26s):
I’ve seen carrot top perform, but that was quite some time ago. So I don’t really remember too much about that, but I have seen carrot top. I’ve seen Celine Dion. I don’t know if it’s once or twice, but I mean like fucking Celine Dion. She’s amazing. And I did see Brittany Spears. She no longer has a residency, but I did see her performance that

3 (41m 43s):
I’m so jealous of that. But you know what? Our

2 (41m 45s):
Seats were pretty far and

3 (41m 47s):
Expensive. They were expensive tickets.

2 (41m 49s):
They’re pretty pricey tickets. And I think the thing about Brittany Spears is I love Brittany. I was like the biggest Brittany fan back in the day, but it’s a performance. It’s not a concert.

3 (41m 60s):
I would really love to go see like Chris angel or David Blaine magic.

4 (42m 4s):
I would love to see those type of magicians in Las Vegas. I haven’t Brittany and I have seen Penn and teller, which they are magicians, but they’re not traditional magicians like Chris Blaine or David Copperfield, for example. So I would love to see those shows. And again, each hotel is going to have a main attraction show. So there’s so many to go over. But Brittany and I love to go to the Cirque de Solei style shows. And we’ve pretty much been to all of them. Some of our favorites include Zarkana and Mystere now, oh, that’s the name of the show? Oh, Appalachia is the signature Cirque de Solei show in Las Vegas. And it is going to be the most expensive that the

3 (42m 45s):
Sexual

4 (42m 45s):
One knows humanity at New York. New York is a sexual one

5 (42m 49s):
Is very sexual. What I remember about that show real quick, Jamal, before you get back to oh, was at the end of the show, they were pulling people up from the audience to get on stage. And this lady was doing really sexual things with the people performing the acts because they were doing it to her. And it was like very, very sexual.

4 (43m 8s):
Okay. But it was a good show, but getting back to, oh, this is the one that everyone says you have to see. It’s the best. It’s the most expensive. And Brittany and I had been putting it off to sea for a long time, for whatever reason, I think it was just, we didn’t really want to pay that money. At that point. You see other Cirque de Soleil shows The cheap seats, probably $130 a ticket. Yeah. So pretty expensive. And we saw it and I don’t know what all the fuss was about. The cheaper Cirque de Solei shows like Sakana and Mystere, I think were a lot better, but the Wynn hotel has a show called the rev, which is like a Cirque de Solei, just not under the name. And that is 10 times better than O and it’s cheaper.

4 (43m 49s):
And I would recommend that to anybody Sila rev at the Wynn and Las Vegas

5 (43m 54s):
And Loretta translates to the dream. And it has a lot of thrilling acrobatic stunts that involve the water and the pool in the theater.

4 (44m 3s):
Yeah. And it’s such a small intimate show. The whole theater is everybody in a round circle and the stage is in the middle and the stage sinks into the water, rises into it and just has a lot of acrobatic shows to it. So really good. But if those types of acrobatics aren’t necessarily your thing, and you’re more into music, they have a lot of shows featuring musical artists, such as the Beatles. So they have a show called love at the Mirage, which is all Beatles themed oriented. So there’s always going to be something for you to do in Las Vegas.

5 (44m 35s):
Acrobatic shows are so amazing. It’s amazing what the human body can do and what things these performers can do.

3 (44m 42s):
There’s one other show I’d love to see. That’s not acrobatic. Well, I mean, I guess it could be, and that is the magic Mike show.

4 (44m 48s):
Love

3 (44m 49s):
To go to that one.

4 (44m 50s):
Oh, they ha they have to, they have one at Rio, which is a Chippendales. And then I think at Excalibur, they have a thunder down under, is that the one that you’re referring to? Oh, they have an actual magic mic. Okay. They got the license.

3 (45m 2s):
I barely knew it’s a cup. I think it’s a couple of years old now.

4 (45m 6s):
Do you know where it’s at? I do not. Okay. Magic Mike for Kim coming up next and Las Vegas. All right. Well, we’ve talked a lot about what we like to do. Why don’t you tell us about your Las Vegas

3 (45m 18s):
Fun stuff?

4 (45m 19s):
The fun stuff.

3 (45m 20s):
Okay. So yes, Vegas is known for its nightlife and it has plenty of nightclubs. But my favorite thing about Vegas is the pool parties. There are so many good pool parties. It’s basically the nightclubs scene set in the heat of the day in a pool. It’s amazing. You can see so many cool big name DJs there. I mean, between pool parties and nightclubs, I’ve seen the Chainsmokers. Galanta’s Steve Aoki.

4 (45m 46s):
Have you seen Pauly? D I

3 (45m 48s):
Saw Pauly D and San Diego.

4 (45m 49s):
Okay. Okay. I thought you had seen Pauly D and you didn’t mention them on that list. So, but I didn’t remember that it was in San Diego,

3 (45m 56s):
Not Vegas, but love him. So yeah, you can just have a weekend of EDM music if that’s what you’re into, which I love. So yes, I’ve been talk as on legitimately for the nightclub. Very fun. It’s like three stories. Huge, amazing. The other thing about Vegas, which you probably already know, but in case you don’t, you can drink 24 7, the bars do not close. So the clubs will be open till five in the morning, for example. But anyway, back to pool parties, Encore beach club with the win super, super fun. Mark Key, a cosmopolitan is a pool party and a nightclub. Same spot, really fun. The most recent one that I went to on my last trip or labor day weekend was chaos at the palms, which is off the strip, but it was so big, so much fun.

3 (46m 38s):
Saw marshmallow there. It was such a good time. Tons of fun people. One last thing to know about pool parties in Vegas, like a nightclub. You wear heels by the pool. You dress cute. Like you’re not wearing like a one-piece and your plastic flip-flops to the pool, like move

5 (46m 52s):
To

3 (46m 52s):
The pool. No, they do have lockers. So you can store some of your stuff. I’ve seen them as cheap as 10 bucks, or as much as 70 bucks to rent a locker. So dollars from the locker. Yeah. It’s kind of crazy. So research it first. They’re super strict about what you can bring in. They’ll take your gum even like, they’re really crazy, but they’re really, really fun. I don’t even like to go to Vegas. If the pool parties aren’t open because that’s the funnest thing to do there. There’s so much fun.

4 (47m 15s):
Sound like a pool party snob over here. I don’t like to go to Vegas unless I could go to a pool party.

3 (47m 20s):
I don’t, that’s the best thing about it. And another thing on the topic of nightclubs, I want to mention one nightclub in general. So generally speaking, all the night clubs are going to be fun. Actually have two tips for you here in this section, this one’s going to save you a lot of money.

4 (47m 32s):
Squad tip coming up,

3 (47m 33s):
Squad tip no cover nightclubs.com, no cover nightclubs, Las vegas.com. Both of these websites you can go to and choose from their list of day pool parties and nightclubs. Put your name on the list and say the number of women and men that you’re with. And you’ll be put on the guest list for free.

5 (47m 49s):
What a great tip.

3 (47m 50s):
There are some weekends like labor day weekend, where if you don’t do it a few weeks in advance, they might be sold out. But typically you can also find these types of promoters on the streets who will help get you in for free. But sometimes the nightclubs were pool parties. We’ll even hook up the girls with open bar for certain amount of hours.

5 (48m 7s):
Wow.

3 (48m 8s):
Yes, that’s a good tip. I just have one other nightclubs specifically that I want to call out. And this is the driest after hours nightclub. This one opens at three in the morning, and this is where everyone goes to continue. The party. Most nightclubs will start to clear out around four or five ish and the musical end. That’s just when Dre says kicking off. So you can go over there, get on the guest list, get in the party does not stop until 10 in the morning. I’m

5 (48m 33s):
Going to have to go there. First thing in the morning when I wake up

3 (48m 35s):
My last trip to Vegas, we didn’t get into Vegas until one in the morning and we did something and then we went straight to us at 4:00 AM. And it was crazy in there.

4 (48m 45s):
Is that Cromwell like you were talking about earlier?

3 (48m 47s):
Yes, that was actually the second time I’ve been there. The first time I went there was on new year’s day, 2018. We went with my two girlfriends and we’d been up all night. I think we went there at seven in the morning and they sat down while I went to the bar to get a drink and was talking to some people. And then I’m talking to the sky and my two girlfriends run over to me. And they’re like, here you are. And then right behind them is a security guard saying, how did you girls get in here again? Cause apparently they’d already been kicked out once for sleeping in the nightclub. It was seven in the morning. So

4 (49m 21s):
Party Hardy. When in

3 (49m 22s):
Vegas I have lots to say about pool parties and nightclubs. So if anyone has any questions on that topic, DME comment me on Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast. And I got you back

4 (49m 33s):
Very nice. So we’ve talked a little bit about things to do on the strip. Now, Las Vegas has what’s called a downtown Las Vegas area and this was the original Los Vegas before the big commercialization took over. And these are a lot of the older hotels and this is where you’ll find a lot more bargains in terms of cheaper dining, cheaper shows, cheaper hotels, et cetera. And they have something very famous. They’re called the Fremont street experience because downtown Las Vegas has main street is Fremont street. And what is the Fremont street experience?

3 (50m 9s):
Oh, weird place.

4 (50m 11s):
Weird in a good way though, right? Yeah.

3 (50m 12s):
A lot of people watching. So it’s the street and it’s covered with a video screen on the roof. That’s the ceiling is like this video screen and then you’ll see people zip through it. There’s bars, restaurants, I think the golden nuggets right there. So it’s just a long pathway, sits downtown strip pretty much. And you’ll definitely just want to like stare at the ceiling and people

5 (50m 34s):
downtown Las Vegas has also where Lee Ty is the restaurant we mentioned earlier. It’s where Kim likes to eat. And it’s where we’ve been together as the squad as well.

4 (50m 43s):
Yeah. And the Fremont street experience like Kim was saying, they covered the street with the whole led screen and they do a show every so often on that screen. So that goes back to one of our things free things to do in Las Vegas is to go see the show on the led screen that they have on Fremont street.

3 (51m 2s):
One other honorable mention for downtown Las Vegas is a place called gold spike. It’s a really big venue. It has indoor, you know, stage DJ dancing, kind of a thing. They have plenty of tables games, but then outside, they have a huge area with picnic tables. They have a gigantic size beer pong game set up. They have four square. They have all these different like games and activities and tons of people, music stage. They even had like a big hippie bus you can go into and hang out in with lights all in it. It’s a really big, fun venue. Also much more affordable than some of the similar places that you would have on the

5 (51m 37s):
So Las Vegas is a great city to visit. There’s so much to do in C there, but Las Vegas can also be used as a travel hub. So where are some of the places you can travel to from Las Vegas?

4 (51m 49s):
Well, number one would be Hoover dam and Hoover dam is a very famous dam that was built during the great depression. It’s not too far from Las Vegas, maybe a 45 minute drive. It’s very, very famous well-known and it straddles the line between Arizona and Nevada. And it is the dam damning the Colorado river. And that’s actually where Las Vegas gets all of its electricity from is the power plant capabilities.

2 (52m 14s):
Yeah. When you’re on the strip, you’ll see a lot of brochures for tours to go out there. And then another place being the grand canyon because the grand canyon is also very close to Las Vegas.

3 (52m 25s):
We also have the valley of fire state park, which is only about an hour away. And we mentioned that in episode eight, when we talked about our American Southwest road trip.

5 (52m 33s):
Yeah. We actually used Vegas as a hub when we did our American Southwest road trip episode eight and we included antelope canyon, grand canyon and valley of fire state park altogether in one trip. Also Jamal and I have used Vegas as a hub to go to Zion national park in previous episodes. I have mentioned Zion national park is my favorite national

3 (52m 56s):
One, me too.

5 (52m 57s):
And I love it. It is so beautiful. It’s beautiful in winter. It’s beautiful in summer. I just love this park all around.

4 (53m 4s):
Yeah. Zion is three, three and a half hours from Las Vegas. Not a very quick drive, but definitely quick. If you want to go out and see nature, do some hiking and Zion is in the state of Utah. And also going back to episode 33, where we were talking about Bryce canyon, national park. We used Las Vegas as our hub. That was about a four, four and a half hour drive to Bryce. And we used Las Vegas as our hub for that. So a little bit of long driving, but you know, if you have the will in you three to four hours is really not a lot of time to be behind the wheel to go do those things.

5 (53m 38s):
And the Las Vegas airport is the closest airport to some of these national parks. If you’re going to go to them. One last thing I want to say about using Vegas as a hub, even if you use it as a place to stay in the city, and you’ve done all of the nightlife and you’ve gotten your fill of the city, you could head out to red rock canyon, which is right outside of Las Vegas, maybe a 30 minute drive. And it is a beautiful place to hike and just get your nature fill in. After being in the city,

4 (54m 6s):
They have some giant desert tortoises out at red rocks canyon, by the way, just as well, seeing them wants to See you. Didn’t once saw the big giant tortoise wants. Yes, absolutely. Really cool out there and really, really close.

5 (54m 18s):
So now it’s time for Kim’s favorite part of this episode

9 (54m 22s):
John’s of the week. Woo.

4 (54m 25s):
You know, as we’ve been going on with questions of the week, Kim, I feel like your singing voice is getting better and better as we go along.

3 (54m 32s):
I could have a singing career, I guess

4 (54m 35s):
You’re just getting more excited with each episode or what, but the passion is okay.

3 (54m 38s):
Passion is here. Okay. So our first question comes from Chris H from Dallas, Texas, Hey, Chris. He says, how much time do you need in Vegas? I feel like two days and get me the fuck out.

4 (54m 51s):
Well, it depends on what you’re going to be doing. If you’re going to be doing what Kim likes to do, which is the pool parties and have a good time. I totally agree with that sentiment two days, even without that necessarily for Brittany and I, not being the big drinkers when in Vegas, those meals add up hotel costs add up. So I also agree with that, but if I’m saying this as somebody who lives close to Las Vegas has easy access to it. If you are coming from far away from the east coast of the United States or out of country, I would say maybe four days is all you need in Las Vegas, unless you were trying to do full blown day trips to Zion national park. Like we talked about or grand canyon, which is closed.

4 (55m 32s):
Then maybe you want five, but four or five. But if you live close enough, definitely don’t need more than two. I don’t think

5 (55m 37s):
All of us now live about five hours away. Drive time an hour and a half if we fly.

3 (55m 42s):
Oh, even less than that. Yeah. So, so close, so

5 (55m 45s):
Clothes and there’s something different to do every single time that you go to Vegas. So even though you’ll see the main things, if you go back a few years later, there’s going to be so many more things to see and do. So I would say anywhere from two to four days, depending on how much you want to spend and how much you want to see. Yeah.

3 (56m 1s):
That’s something I wanted to say about Vegas too, is the nightclubs. Even if it’s the same nightclub, new DJs or same hotel, new restaurants, new activities, there’s always something new to do. So you can go back to Vegas and see a completely different experience. There. I say two days, even if I wasn’t doing the whole crazy partying thing, nocturnal life, I would still say two-ish days because in the summer it’s really, really hot in the winter. It can be very cold. It’s not like a super comfortable temperature most of the year. And it takes a long time to get to places everything’s expensive. It’s just kind of exhausting being there. There’s so much sensory overload.

5 (56m 42s):
Yes, there is.

3 (56m 43s):
It’s like times square on crack

10 (56m 45s):
And

5 (56m 45s):
That’s a good way to describe

4 (56m 46s):
It.

3 (56m 47s):
I do love times square, but only so much

4 (56m 50s):
Crap.

3 (56m 51s):
No.

4 (56m 53s):
All right. So max D from Salem, Massachusetts asks, what is your most memorable Las Vegas story? You

5 (57m 1s):
Want to start this off here?

4 (57m 2s):
I see a look on your face. Like you got a good one, Kim. Okay.

3 (57m 5s):
I do have a good one. I have a lot. Most of them are not podcast appropriate, but I will say one,

5 (57m 12s):
You might be able to Diane Kim at lush, D’s on her Instagram and she might share some of these other outrageous stories. She had

3 (57m 19s):
Vegas trip has some outrageous stories, but on my most recent trip, we left on a Friday after work. And so we didn’t get into Vegas until about one, but we didn’t have a hotel room booked. You were going to be staying that night with my friend’s friend who used to be, or is a stripper. Not totally sure, but she has a lot of stripper friends. Her boyfriend was actually a stripper. And so we get there at 1:00 AM arrive to her house in residential, Las Vegas, about 30 minutes later, like we get ready really fast, put on dresses. About 30 minutes later, a party bus shows up to pick us up and take us to the male strip club where she purchased a bottle and bought us all lap dances. And I’ve never been to a male strip club before this day. And she was just very insistent that we would be going.

3 (58m 1s):
So we went and the lap dance, like I totally get where that song I fell in love with a stripper comes from because after that lap, Janet,

10 (58m 12s):
You don’t love.

3 (58m 13s):
So here’s okay. Super hot buff guy.

10 (58m 18s):
He

3 (58m 18s):
Comes over to our table. Mind you it’s three girls and our friend, Jesse, who’s a guy at the male strip clubs. So the guys come over to all of us girls. So there’s three guys giving us three girls lap dances. This guy, I don’t know where he got a belt from, but all of a sudden there’s a belt.

10 (58m 37s):
And

3 (58m 37s):
He puts it around my neck and bends me over and like, humping,

5 (58m 42s):
I love it.

3 (58m 44s):
I was like, oh, whoa. Oh my God. Okay.

2 (58m 47s):
Was he broey looking

3 (58m 50s):
A little bit. Yeah, but he was really hot, Really hot, really buff. And after that, I was like, I am in love and then

5 (58m 57s):
Could have gone to one of the many chapels on lists and gotten married. Well,

3 (59m 2s):
We didn’t do that, but we did go to the Drai’s after hours club. Right after that

2 (59m 6s):
With the strippers. Good for you, Kim,

4 (59m 9s):
It sounds like you did Vegas

3 (59m 11s):
4:00 AM to that party. So yeah. Great story.

4 (59m 14s):
I don’t know if I could even talk that. So my Las Vegas story, I don’t know because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. So the same.

3 (59m 21s):
So I can’t tell a lot of my stories. Yeah.

5 (59m 24s):
I don’t think anyone else can top Kim. We’re just going to let her answer this question. Solo.

2 (59m 28s):
I, you know what Kim, I thought I had a story, but then I heard yours and I’m like, nevermind.

3 (59m 33s):
I don’t want to hear it. Come on. Tell me your crazy Vegas stories.

2 (59m 36s):
I don’t know how crazy it is, but I just remember driving to Vegas with an ex well boyfriend at the time, but with an ex boyfriend and my girlfriend and her sister, and I think someone else was already there. So we drove out there and then we pretty much partied all night, but you guys will like this story because I know that you guys weren’t fans of the guy. So at one point we were super drunk and we had a really huge bath in our bathroom. And we were sitting across from each other and I was trying to move my legs from one side of the tub, to the other. So he was trying to help me lift my leg, but I was too drunk. And so it accidentally fell and I kicked him.

5 (1h 0m 12s):
He deserved it

2 (1h 0m 13s):
Hard. And then so fucking pissed, dude. But I just couldn’t, I couldn’t get my leg around him.

4 (1h 0m 21s):
You guys make it seem tame because my craziest Las Vegas experience is spending $550 for one person on a meal.

2 (1h 0m 28s):
Pretty sure I spent that on alcohol because after we got out of the bathtub, we decided to continue partying. So we went out to the strip and then we waited until circus circus opened up and then we rode the rollercoaster. And then I think we finally came back at around 10 o’clock in the morning, but it was a timeshare. So we had the timeshare presentation. So we took about an hour nap. And then we went to the timeshare presentation. But

5 (1h 0m 52s):
The most memorable thing that I’ve seen in Vegas is Kim making out with a guy with a neck tattoo.

3 (1h 0m 57s):
Oh God, you’ll never let me live that down. Any last parting comments about Las Vegas?

5 (1h 1m 4s):
One last little tidbit I want to add in is we mentioned the high roller earlier in this episode as the Ferris wheel in Las Vegas. And it is actually the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. Oh

3 (1h 1m 15s):
Yeah. I want to go on it even more.

5 (1h 1m 17s):
Right. So I just wanted to add that little tidbit in

4 (1h 1m 19s):
Las Vegas is a fun city. Just don’t get out of control, like the hangover movie and don’t get arrested. Have a good time.

3 (1h 1m 27s):
Thank you guys for tuning into this week’s episode. Keep the adventures going with us by following us on Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast tag is in all of your adventures and please send us those questions of the week.

2 (1h 1m 38s):
And if you found the information in this episode to be useful, or you thought we were just playing funny, please share it with a friend that would enjoy it too.

4 (1h 1m 46s):
Please subscribe, rate, and review our podcasts and tune in every Travel Tuesday for new episodes.

5 (1h 1m 51s):
Stay tuned for next week’s episode, we’re going to be doing something a little different. We’re going to be discussing how to workout and stay active and fit while traveling.

3 (1h 1m 59s):
Cool. Can’t wait.

2 (1h 2m 1s):
It’s fitness. Doesn’t take no vacation. No,

4 (1h 2m 3s):
It does not.

3 (1h 2m 4s):
Bye everybody. Bye