Dharma & Nita travel blog

Last full day in Vegas, today was a free day to roam about other Casinos.
First off was Buffet Brunch @ Wicked Spoon in our hotel. Let the kids sleep in, today morning was just me and Nita!

Being fairly early in the morning, the queues were not overly long. Whilst in the queue reading the buffet menu, noticed how they also offered takeout options, which essentially was, you purchased a takeout container and filled it with whatever you could fit in – this would be perfect for Neha and Pooja, who were still sleeping in the room!

Finally seated, the buffet was huge, lots of variety. We ended up staying there for about an hour. Half way through Vik & family also came down to the buffet.
Having had a bit of everything from breakfast to dessert, we were very well stuffed! Now to fill-up the takeaway for the kids, loaded it with their favorite pancakes, pastries and also added some gelato! The takeout also included takeway tea for Neha & Pooja. If only we would have known this earlier, we could have done this on the first few days here.

Back to the room, kids were still sleeping, wake em up, time for their breakfast. Both enjoyed their breakfast. Was so much easier to sort their breakfast in the room rather than getting them up, showering, getting ready and then ushering them down.  

Our first stop for the day was the Venetian, another massive resort.
Mum and Dad stayed here on their last visit to US, and they had been very impressed by it. Stepping into the place it was on a grand scale.

Moments: At the Canal, I was trying to get a pic of kids and Nita in the background on the bridge, soon after the guy next to her in the above pic, try’s to flirt with her, all the while me and Neha are laughing cause Nita was so in shock. The guy also offered twice a handshake and on both occasions Nita just stood there frozen. Was on the third attempt that she finally shook hands, and then quickly came over to where we were. First thing she said to me, “give me my hand sanitiser, I need to wash my hands, ewww!!”

Walked past the Godiva Chocolate Shop, where the ladies were preparing fresh Godiva Chocolates.

Left Venetian around 2pm, headed back, kids were getting tired from walking around. Dropped the girls & Nita at Cosmopolitan, then headed off to Walgreens pharmacy to pickup another prescription of Tamiflu – me and Neha were feeling a bit off, so taking no chances.

Afternoon plan, was to take our VAN and drive to Circus Circus, this was one of my requests, I had stayed there in 1986 when I came with my Parents & Bhavik, lots of memories attached to that!

Loaded the crew in the VAN and drove off. It was good having our own transport, everyone was thankful for limiting the walking, and all got too see the strip while relaxing in our personal LIMO . As we approached the Circus Circus area, Vik and Meeta were showing us where they stayed, during their honeymoon.

Entered the Circus Circus property, not sure where to Park, simply headed to the VALET and left it with them, so simple! Love how all Casinos here have VALET service for all types of cars, even VANS!

Unlike the strip Casinos, this place was so dated. The Casino did not feel quite in place with this decade. On a positive note though, the tables here had the best min bets, unlike the strip where minimum blackjack bets were around $15, here it was $2!!!, pity we were here to entertain kids so another sacrifice!!.
Headed to the upper level where the kids fun park was. Stepping there, all the kids felt the rush of FUN, it was like someone had injected them all with Adrenalin! Time to have fun.

Also got to watch the circus acrobatic show which seemed to be occurring every couple of hours. After lots more playing, it was time to exit, Pooja wanted to have a go on the Unicorn game, she soo wanted the DespicableMe Unicorn. Luck was on her side, she got the Unicorn on her first go. Other bigger kids near her could not believe it, they had been trying a few times unsuccessfully and my little one does it in first go.

Headed out of there, next stop was Caesars Palace, we wanted to eat at “Trevi” the Italian restaurant next to the Roman fountains. At Caesars, parking was again via the VALET, however this time the guys asked us to park at the VIP park zone, the undercover Parking was not high enough for our VAN. Some luck for us, this parking was directly near the entry!

We were lucky tonight, the Italian restaurant “Trevi” next to the fountain had no wait, I guess not many ate before 8pm!

(Trevi Italian restaurant @ Caesars Palace – Food was A+)

Had a great night there, food was amazing, and we shared lots of good laughs, especially with Pooja’s Unicorn, Aaria and Pooja were having a debate with me on where the Unicorn got its CONE from. My theory was, it was a horse who was not sure where its mouth was and tried eating an IceCream cone, which accidently got stuck on its head!! Aaria and Pooja were arguing with me on this point all night!!

Time to head back, Veena Masi & Pravin Masa were also wanting to catch-up tonight, but first to a local petrol station to fill up for the long drive to LA tomorrow morning.

Arrived at Cosmopolitan around 11pm, kids were all sleeping by now, tucked them in bed, I went downstairs to the Casino to catch-up with Masi & Masa. Joined them at the slot machines. Finally I could play a few rounds without kids time pressures, must have been a lucky machine masi picked, my $10 resulted in $40. We ended up spending close to an hour on the machines. Around midnight we finished with the slots, and went up to my room. There our chats continued till 1.30am, about when we said our farewells, was so good to catchup with Masi and Masa. Now it was time to sleep, tomorrow (or today) was going to be a long day with the drive to LA.

Early start today, had to cover Hoover Dam & Grand Canyon and make it back before dark, did not want to be driving at night. We all had agreed to get out by 7am.

Woke up @ 5:30am, got the kids up, ready and quick breakfast. Knocking on the interconnecting room door around 6:30am, Vik was making sure we were up and ready. All good today, we all were down in the lobby by 7am, got the Valet to get our mini-bus, Nita & Meeta was impressed that we were using the valet service, they were thinking “wow it must be a nice big car!!”.

They could not believe their eyes, when the Ford E-350 pulled up, they were like – what the!!!

“ah Khataro ma apne jawana”!!! They could not stop laughing at the size of the VAN/truck and how we were going to drive this big thing! Kids on the other hand were excited to have such a big van with loads of space.

Vik took the drivers seat, I was co-pilot, making sure we were going the correct way and staying on the RIGHT side!

(our rental VAN, early morning start to Hoover Dam)

We were glad to be out on the streets before 7:30am, streets were empty which gave Vik more confidence to drive without the pressure of traffic. Made all the correct turns and were soon on the freeway (US-95) heading to Hoover Dam.

Vik was finding driving this big thing required more concentration than normal, the large surface area was a magnet for crosswinds and causing the VAN to drift sideways, he constantly had to have both hands on the wheel making fine adjustments.
Even with that, it was lots of fun to be travelling in our own space and being able to stop where ever we wanted. Also we now had our own music, something we cannot do without!

First stopover was at McDonalds for a quick breakfast. Coffee again was crap, no surprise there. Back on the freeway, we were seeing some amazing scenery and landscapes.

Getting close to Hoover Dam, we caught our first glimpse of Lake Mead, wow, what a sight. Nita was able to relate to the location, she had been following Varun Dhavan and Shradha Kapoors instagram pics of their upcoming movie shooting – ABCD 2.

(driving to Hoover Dam, view to Lake Mead)

By 8:30am, we had taken the Hoover Dam exit, we were doing great for time.
As we made the final few turns to the dam, we came across the posts for the massive Hoover Dam bridge, spanning the Colorado river. This thing was massive, and pictures simply do not do justice to this amazing structure!

Parked our VAN in the Public car park, Vik did very well to navigate the narrow curved ramps, finally time to get out, all were excited to view the magnificent Hoover Bridge & Dam.

This is an amazing structure and when considering it was built in 1935, it is even more impressive!! So many years back and such a massive structure, US just amazes me! We were all wowed by the sheer scale of this Dam & the Hoover Bridge. This was well worth visiting!.

Time to head back, next stop the Grand Canyon West.

Over the Hoover Bridge, we were now entering the state of Arizona!

The drive on this freeway very scenic and quite enjoyable.

Nita took a couple of short videos of the scenic drive.

Was not until 11:30 am, we arrived at the Grand Canyon West stop that was managed by the Skywalk company (I think). Entering the park required us to leave our VAN behind, purchase a ticket for each person and then board their buses to get to the Canyon and other attractions. Well these guys had the monopoly so nothing we can do to avoid that. The tickets packages were not too bad, they provided three stops and also included lunch for all.

First stop was the Hualapai Ranch, this was a western town replica and was serving Ribs & Chicken roast for lunch. Getting out of the bus, it was COLD here, was funny to see Pooja wearing a Beanie at midday on a day with clear sky, but it was soo required ! The old town replica was great, with a Bank, Jail, Post Office and the likes. However we really wanted to see the Canyon and there was no sight of that

We decided to have lunch at the Ranch, the Ribs were the best I have had for a very long time. Pooja who normally would not touch it, was getting right into it, she was absolutely loving the Ribs. Nita had the roast chicken, this was good but no where near as good as the Ribs.

On to the buses that drove past every 10 minutes, next stop was the Skywalk. Being the skywalk, I knew the Canyon was there, thinking it was going to be a long drive we all settled in our seats comfortably, however just after a couple of minutes we were seeing an amazing sight, the Canyon right before us! It was wow!!

First one near the ledge was Vik, he wanted to see how deep the Canyon was, but his steps were very small ensuring he had enough grip! At one stage I was holding on to his belt so he could lean a little bit closer to the edge!!

Enough of the selfies, time to do the skywalk, Neha and Pooja stayed back with Meeta & Aaria. Getting on the skywalk, we had to cover our shoes with protective shoe gloves, avoid scratching the glass, also no cameras, phones or backpacks were allowed on the walk, which was a bit of a bummer, we were unable to take our pics, other than using their photographers.

Getting onto the skywalk was initially a bit nerve racking, after a couple of minutes though,  it was actually fun, the view from there was great, and seeing directly down was so cool.

The walk was great, what was frustrating was the inability for the three photographers to get to everyone who wanted their pics taken. It took around 30 minutes before we finally got the attention of one of the photographers, and all we got were a few quick snaps only!! Was very disappointed with that part of the skywalk, afterall, the pics are the memories we would have, they should have had a couple more photographers for these busy periods.

Time to get off the skywalk, caught up with the rest of the crew. Headed out to the bus for the final stop Eagle Point, which was apparently offering a better view of the Canyon.

And it was! Eagle point had an almost 270 degree view of the Canyon.

It was 3pm, time to headback to our VAN, we had done a lot of good sights of the Canyon. Got everyone loaded and headed back to Vegas. We were all a bit tired. Did not take long for most of the passengers to nod off.

Nita took some more short videos of the drive back …

Arriving back at the hotel, handed the car to the Valet, plans for the night were to head to Caesars Palace, Pooja did not want to walk, so I suggested taking the VAN, by this time Vik was already tired of driving all day and was not too keen on that option. He had a better idea, he checked with Valet guys if we could get a LIMO to take us around for an hour – this is something we had discussed lots back in Brisbane but had slipped my mind, am glad Vik remembered. We got the largest Ford Limo on the strip (well that’s what we were told) for an hour. We had 30 minutes to get ourselves freshened up and back at the lobby for the limo pickup at 6:30pm.

Limo was there at 6:30 sharp, and it was a BEAST, very BIG. Kids could not believe it, they were going for an awesome ride.

The limo ride took us around the strip for an hour, but most of the time, we were not looking out at all, just enjoying with the kids, having loads of fun. Limo dropped us off at Caesars Palace.

We headed to the buffet which Veena masi had highly recommended, and had to queue up, approx wait 30 minutes. Got a couple of beers to keep us company, whilst waiting, Ladies headed to the bar, cocktail time and ofcourse selfies

After waiting for 30 minutes, the hostess called us to explain the costs for the buffet, till this point we had no idea about this, turns out this place charges everyone who enters, Pooja and Aaria were not going to eat, and this was equating to a further $130 USD for those 2, the total cost for group was coming at $640 USD! Hmmmm, I was not expecting the cost to be this high !! We promptly exited and headed for other options.  Ended up eating at the Caesars food hall, where the options were vast and all kids were happy. We had hoped for better, however with kids, there are lots of compromises.

Next was to explore this Resort, loads of shops, café’s all with a very Roman feel to it.

Got out of Caesars Palace and walked back to Cosmopolitan. Were lucky to view the Bellagio fountains on the way back – which we have viewed everyday from our rooms! It was however good with the music. Pooja and Neha were very tired by this time, headed back and we all crashed! What an awesome day .

Day 9, today was a visit to the downtown Vegas and Freemont area. Pooja & Nita still had the flu, however the painkillers were doing the magic and allowing them to move on. Getting Pooja and Neha out of bed was a task in itself. Quick shower and breakfast, then it was time to head out. Took 2 cabs to the Golden Nugget, this is where it all started (I think!!)

Arriving in downtown Vegas, could see the historic side of LV. The Casinos were different from the outside and in. The Golden Nugget, one of the famous ones, I remember it from a pic that I was in from 1986! Stepping inside, I could see the different style of the prior years. They did have a great outdoors area, kids were super impressed with water slide, I reckon this place would have been sooo cheap for accommodation and would have been more fun for the kids, but way way away from the strip! Also they tell us, downtown LV is not very safe at night, so definitely not staying around here with kids.

Stepped out to Fremont, a central mall with lots of shopping and other connecting casinos. Its roof is made up off of giant TV screens, unfortunately they were turned off during the day, we have however seen it in full action in “Ek Mein Aur Ekk Tu”.

There was a Denny’s Diner, time for a light lunch, unfortunately the place was too busy, and required a wait of 1 hour, why does all restaurants in US have these big wait times!!! It is soo frustrating.

We decided to head back to the strip for lunch, I suggested to Vik, the Earl of Sandwich @ Planet Hollywood, was longing for the Chicken Chipotle!

A healthy lunch, then we split up, Vik & family headed towards New York New York, Neha and Pooja were in no mood to do anymore walking, we decided not to pressure them (needed their energy for the evening “O” show). Dropped them both at the hotel, lucky the rooms were made, so hopefully no one will alert security on the abandoned kids!! Also put the Do Not Disturb on the door, just incase . Nita left her mobile with them, now time for us to explore other hotel casinos, first stop New York New York.

Got a Cab there, our legs were tired too. The place was very impressive and soo buzzing, Easter weekend had the entire Vegas strip packed. The interior was so different to Cosmopolitan, this place had more character and seemed more fun. They also had a Hersey’s Store, this was our first stop, lets get chocolates for everyone back home. Ended up getting a few kilos of chocolates!! Nita also picked up a Herseys Coffee Mug, her third Mug so far in this trip, not sure how many more to come!

Stepped back into the Casino and explored Time Square, the place was lined with small cafes, and restaurants, was very cool, I wish I had stayed here, the kids would have no trouble with food! Veena masi had selected the right hotel for her stay!

Next moved out towards MGM Grand.

(panaromic view of New York New York)

Met up with Vik just outside MGM, apparently there isn’t much inside MGM other than a giant Casino. Gave that a miss and all headed back on the strip, making our way towards Cosmopolitan. Had to stop at the Sketchers store, Nita wanted to get her shoes. Once she was sorted, Vik and me headed off to United Van Rentals for the MINI VAN that we had hired for the next 12 days. Needed to get the paper work sorted today as we required the VAN early tomorrow morning for Grand Canyon & Hoover Dam trip.

Arrived at the United Van Rentals office and got it all signed off. Asked Tony (the VAN rep) on the best option for picking it up early tomorrow morning, he suggested something even better, we could take the VAN now! We were nervous, the VAN was not the size we had expected, this thing was BIG!! It was a 15 seater and Tony had removed the last row of seats to allow for our luggage.

Vik decided to take the wheel, I was more than happy to allow that. Plus I was better at navigation and using the GPS. We headed back to the hotel. Driving on the right side of the road was different, and I had to keep reminding Vik when turning on intersections, just incase we drove into oncoming traffic. I think we did very well for our first attempt.
Drove it straight to the VALET @ Cosmopolitan and left it with them, did not want to risk scratching the roof or anything such as that in the small parking spaces!

Back in the hotel room, it was time to freshen up and head out to meet Veena masi, Pravin Masa and Meeta’s cousin Sanjana and her husband Dharmesh (same name!!). We were meeting them at Bellagio, we were booked for the “O” show there @ 7:30, so did not want to risk travel delays and asked all the family to meet us there. Was a nice coincidence that Veena masi was also in Vegas at the same time, the last time I saw her was in Sydney in 2001.
Veena masi is also related to Meeta’s cousin Sanjana, this was a good way to get us all together at the one place.

Meeta was already at the Polio Café with her cousin, we headed there and joined in. Soon after Masi and Masa arrived, was so good to see them, Neha & Pooja took an instant liking to Masi! I had told them that she was dadi’s sister, they were expecting someone just like dadi but were surprised to see the sister more modern. Neha continued hugging masi, I was surprised with her fondness towards masi, maybe she was missing dadi and was finding the same love with masi!

Had coffees and good long chats, coffee was as usual full of milk, not sure why the largest economy cannot get its coffee right!
Soon it was time for our show. Said our farewells and off to the O show. Neha & Pooja were super excited for this.

The Bellagio theatre was big and very nicely décor’d. It was on a grand scale. Show started and I could hear the laughter from Aaria and Neha. These two were enjoying the shows comedians. The acrobatic stunts were very good, the highlight was the ever changing stage setting, with huge moving backdrops, the stage floor changing from hard surface to a giant pool, it was very very different show to what we have experienced previously. We booked for this show nearly 2 months back and at that time most of the seats were already booked.

Show ended around 9 pm, massive crowd spilling out, we had to stop by at the O show store. Pooja always wanted to get any memorabilia, or was it, she just wanted to buy something.

(O show store)

Being around 9:30, had to find a place to eat so why not @ Bellagio, found a good chinese place, but again the wait was super long and kids were not too keen.

Decided to head out to Planet Hollywood and try Gordon Ramsays Burgr joint.

First though, time for more photos on the way out of Bellagio.

Got to Planet Hollywood, same problem here, the queue was 1.5 hour wait with no option for bookings, you had to stand! Why!!! This was @ 10pm, by this time Pooja and Aaria were very very tired and sleepy.

(Gordon Ramsay Burgr restaurant @ Planet Hollywood, too much wait time, will leave this for next trip)

Meeta suggested PF Changs that was in the same casino, this was supposed to be a fusion Chinese restaurant. Wait here was around 30 minutes, we decided to do that – time was already 10:30. Pooja was already sleeping on the floor of the restaurant lobby, she was soo tired.

Finally got seated, food was amazing, this place does very nice fusion chinese!

(at PF Changs, Planet Hollywood, unfortunately no pics of food, we were all too hungry and could not be bothered with taking pics, the food was the best)

Would highly recommend PF Changs!

Back to the hotel, everyone was super tired, next day was a early start for Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon and also the start of our Self Drive experience! Other than me and Vik, no one had seen the TRUCK we were going to be driving around in, cannot wait to see their reaction .

Not a good start today, Nita & Pooja both had flu symptoms with a temperature. Got them organised and headed out to the GP appointment at CVS (lucky I had made the appointment last night!). Left Neha in the hotel, and headed out with Pooja and Nita to our 9:30 appointment. Arrived @ CVS and was seen promptly by the GP, both were diagnosed with flu and required Tamiflu medication. Unlike back home where the government subsidies medication, US is very expensive with this, the tablets costs $152 for each person, speaking with the pharmacist, apparently even locals pay that price who do not have private insurance, and with insurance the subsidy is only around $20! What was impressive was the CVS store offering basic GP services and providing prescription medication on the strip!

Back at the hotel, Pooja was in no mood to go out again and wanted to rest, too tired from the walk to and from the GP. Vik and family had already headed out to the North outlet shopping. Me, Nita and Neha decided to hang around near the hotel and have a light lunch. Remembered Nickesh recommending a very good sandwich place @ Planet Hollywood, being directly opposite our hotel, we headed there, had no idea what the name of the sandwich place was! Entered the Miracle Mile arcade @ Planet Hollywood, and noticed a busy Sandwich place close by, “Earl of Sandwich” its slogan “Worlds greatest hot sandwich” big claim, maybe this was the place Nickesh had recommended?

Queued up and ordered the Chicken Chipotle and Avocado BLT sandwiches. Wait was only a few minutes.

The sandwiches did live up to the slogan, these would have to be the best sandwiches we had tasted to date! The Chicken Chipotle was our favourite! Neha who is normally not fond of sandwiches was also enjoying the Chipotle sandwich.

Post our quick lunch, I headed to McDonalds to get Nuggets and Chips for Pooja, Nita and Neha decided to hang around and do the Miracle Mile shopping! Heading back to the room with McDonalds, I received a call from the Hotel security informing me that Pooja was alone in the room! Informed them I was on the way with McDonalds for her. I got into the room soon after, Pooja had no idea what was happening. Asked her did anyone come by, it was the maids who make up the room, maybe they had raised the alarm of a child being left in the room! Couple of minutes later, I get a knock on the door, standing outside was a security guard, he was very surprised to see me in the room. Told him I was the father and had stepped out to get lunch for Pooja. He double checked with hotel security downstairs and got the all clear. Would have been interesting if I had not been there ! Wonder what there next step would have been?

Pooja soon finished her lunch, rang Nita and told her to meet me in the lobby, next stop for us was the North Premium Outlet mall, and Pooja was also coming with us this time, not having any more security issues! Got a taxi there, ride was only around 10 minutes.

This place was similar to Harbour Town @ Gold Coast, an open air mall.

Lots of good branded outlets, everyone ended up getting lots of shopping done. Before we knew it, the time was 6pm! Time to head back to the hotel.

Vik & family were already at the hotel when we arrived, time for a quick freshen up and head out for dinner.

Headed into Planet Hollywood to check the dinner offerings there. Of interest to us was SPICE Market Buffet, offering a variety of cuisines.

Vik and I ordered the unlimited drinks package, why not!

Food was good, I started off with cold seafood, surprisingly Pooja took a liking to cold shrimps, we both went through a few plates of that. Next was a bit of italian, American roast, Chinese and of course, loads of dessert. Kids also had a great time with dessert, they even had Candy floss – something for everyone! By the end, we all had over indulged a fair bit! Now to burn it off, time for more walking on the strip.

Headed to the next Casino, Paris. Kids were surprisingly in good spirits, maybe it was the desserts, well they were still smiling for the camera!

The Paris casino décor was very much like actual Paris with a great big Eifel tower in the centre.

Upon entering the casino, Pooja & Neha made an interesting remark, they had seen bikini models dancing on high tables between the gaming tables and had not liked that too much. They complained to me how inappropriate the place was and I should not be seeing all that! 😉

Quickly ushered them on to the Eifel tower, that would be more appropriate for the kids I guess! Vik and I got the tickets for the tower, wait was only around 15 minutes, not too bad.

Had not realised how tall this duplicate tower was until I was in the lift going up. It is a scary feeling being so close to the edge and so high up. It was very windy and cold up there, but the view was worth it.

Pooja and Nita soon left the top and headed down, it was too cold for them. I stayed with Neha and Vik & family for a few more minutes and soon the cold windy weather had won against us, we all were on our way down. Reached down and located Nita, Pooja was soo tired by this stage, she was sitting in the lobby against the wall almost nodding off. We quickly bought our photos the Photographer had taken and headed back to our hotel. Time to call it a night.

Nita and Pooja did well to cover off all this today in not the best health, did not give up!

Early start today, bags all packed up, kids ready and breakfast fed, shuttle arrived at 8:40am, all loaded in, farewell San Francisco & Fisherman’s Wharf, we had a great time here, now bring on Vegas.

Arrived at the Airport in good time, checked-in without issues, then headed in to departures. Security was very strict, shoes, belts all had to be removed, the queue was very long and it was a slow process going through. Finally made it to the other side, off to the gates, stopped by a Café for a coffee and quick breakfast croissant. Whilst we were having a light snack, kids were busy on their i-devices!!!

(kids with their i-devices, where is real communication!!)

Had to go through the typical Southwest boarding process, we were in group C, therefore had the last pick of seats. By the time we entered the aircraft, most of the rows of empty seats were gone, we were however lucky to find double seats at the rear. Flight took off on time @ 11:15am, arrived in Las Vegas @ 12:45 pm.

Getting off the aircraft, first thing we notice next to the gates were the rows of slot machines, me and Vik had to get on to that first, let us open our gambling account from the word go. Only used $1 in the slots and ended up with $5. Kids were getting impatient, collected my BIG winnings and headed down to baggage claim.

Vegas airport baggage claim is in another terminal connected by monorail, had to use that to arrive at the baggage claim hall where more slot machines awaited us.

Oh Dear!!!

Lining up to collect our bags, I realised my carryone luggage was missing, this had my passports, cash and our booking documentation!! This was the scariest feeling I have ever had on any trip, could not believe I had forgotten the bag at the slot machine near the gate we arrived at! I also could not simply go back, we were now out of the quarantine zone, required me to go back through departures security screening. Headed to the Southwest counter where the guys assisted me with a temp pass to get through security. Ran across to departures, security took a while and for some reason the guys thought I was the ideal candidate for a full security check, all this while, I am super nervous about my bag going missing! Finally through, then onto the monorail to the gates another anxious couple of minutes wait, what a relief when I saw my carryon still there where I had been playing slots about 10 minutes back! All my belongings were intact, lucky no one had picked it up, this was my super lucky day. Back the baggage claim, Nita and Meeta were in tears, everyone had been super nervous and now happy that the bag was found, it would have been a disaster if this one had gone missing – an important lesson learned. Those documents are going to be very close to me from now on.

After all that drama, time to get our shuttle to the hotel, I had booked a private shuttle to our hotel, turns out the word PRIVATE is just for kicks, the shuttle company had us waiting with other shuttle passengers that were to be serviced by mini buses. I would recommend anyone coming to Vegas, to not book a shuttle beforehand and simply organise one at the airport, there are loads and a quick couple of minutes survey would indicate which ones were providing the best service.
Shuttle finally came around, reached our hotel “the Cosmopolitan” around 2:30pm. This was a nice place. Got our interconnecting rooms on the 30th floor. Into the rooms, quick freshening up, time to hit the road.

(at the Cosmopolitan)

Outside the hotel, we realised how central this was, it was between the Bellagio, New York New York and Planet Hollywood. Quick hop across the walkway to McDonalds – kids were sorted! And it was COLD outside, I was expecting summer, but the breeze was COLD, more long sleeve and jackets to be worn.

The first stop of the day, M&M and COKE worlds.

M&M world was great, had a chance to pack lots of different M&M’s, saw a 4D M&M movie. Pooja was enjoying this place with all the M&M goodies, she helped me pack up the different M&M colours from the massive towers.

Next stop COKE world, loads of Coke memorabilia. We tried the 16 coke flavours from across the globe, was interesting but not trying that again – Pooja was adamant we do that, her teacher had told her this was a good experience!

Next stop was Javiers Mexican restaurant at the Aria resort. This one was recommended as fine Mexican dining. Pooja was feeling off and did not have anything. The ambience was very nice, however the food was just average, nothing to rave about except for the price, too $$$ for average food.

Out of Aria, it was nightfall and the Vegas lights were in full swing, Neha and Pooja were loving the multicoloured neon lights everywhere. They were however having mixed thoughts about the place being “inappropriate”, with bikini ladies doing table dancing at casinos and people handing our girl cards to everyone! Well that is Vegas and it really is not a place for kids.

Got back to the hotel, kids were exhausted from walking, Pooja was still feeling flu’ish and having a slight temperature, the Nurofen was not working, tomorrow we needed to go see a doctor, I needed her well for Disney.