Day 127 - Mexico City, Mexico to Las Vegas, USA

After two great days in Mexico City it is time to hit VEGAS BABY!!! Now it may sound strange considering all the amazing places we have been on this trip but heading to Vegas was the most excited we have been going to a new place. Probably due to it being the first place on our trip that we have been to before so know what to expect (and also helped by the sheer luxury of the Wynn waiting for us). 

Goodbye Mexico City - you have been a very pleasant surprise. Great city. 

Now anyone who is thinking of flying Aeromexico to London I would think twice as they clearly have no idea where it actually is. Paris looks a bit off too. 

Upon the approach to Vegas we get a fantastic view of Hoover Dam

First glimpse of the strip as we arrive bursting with excitement. Can't believe this is my seventh time in Vegas. Think I have a problem!

McCarren has cool pictures of old hotels in the airport. I was actually in Vegas with my parents as a child the day they closed the strip and imploded the Dunes hotel in this picture. It was a fantastic show with the finale being this sign being blown up and falling into the remaining pile of the hotel behind it. 

Now I am not sure what has happened to America since I was here last October but suddenly all the border and passport control people (three different people)  have become some of the nicest and friendliest people we have met. They are all fascinated by the long list of countries we have visited listed on the immigration form and we end up having long conversations with them all which leads me onto my meet point. 

It is really refreshing to be back in a country that speaks your own language and you can read all the signs etc. Apart from ten days in Australia and New Zealand we have not been anywhere that speaks English that well for months. As a result I have immediately turned into my Dad, striking up conversations with anyone who will listen. It was quite satisfying telling Nat "say gracias one last time" to the Mexican lady as we left the plane. Turns out I spoke too soon as I left a bag on he plane and had to go back five mins later to pick it up!! 

We also have a great taxi driver on the way to the hotel. We had a 90s British music quiz using a mix CD he had made.

There she blows. 

Absolutely love this place (once you get through the very painful check in queue and process!)

Quick turn around and time to go and meet Pete and Selena in the pool. They are easy to spot - we just looked for the two bright white people! ;-) Really great to see them both. 

After a good few beers in the pool trying to readjust to the price of a beer here we head back to the room for a quick turn around. That evening Pete and Sel headed off to Cirque de Soleil 'O' at the Bellagio whilst me and Nat went to see Michael Jackson One at the Mandalay. We won't mention anything about Selena booking tickets for the 23rd of Feb and not the 23rd of March!

After picking up our tickets we go for a quick one in the Mix Lounge. Such a cool bar. Absolutely love it and it's fantastic views of the strips. Have I mentioned we were excited about being in Vegas???

At 7pm we head to the show and WHAT A SHOW!!! It was hands down the best thing I have EVER seen. It was phenomenal. Out of this world. If they had charged £500 per ticket for this I would have come out saying it was well well worth it. The show is a bit less "circusy" than the other Cirque de Soleil shows we have seen and more about the music and dancing which is perfect as it is so good. The show captured the spirit and magic of Michael Jackson wonderfully and I can't think of a better tribute to him. The music was amazing. They must have played over 30 songs with some great mixes interspersed with him talking. All throughout the classic MJ diamond glove, socks, loafers, hat and the sunglasses floated and ran around the stage (like 'Thing' from the Adams Family) as a symbol of his spirit. The stage also had three giant screens that showed a lot of real footage of him dancing and in concert too. Amazing stuff. 

The show was actually quite emotional at points, particularly when they played "I'll be there" and showed footage of him as a child. There were not many dry eyes in the house. Such a loss and shame that we never got to see his final show. 

The highlights of the show were an amazing hologram of MJ that the dancers danced with, amazing acrobatics on an elastic tight rope, Thriller where they were flying all over the place in their zombie outfits (after arriving on stage from the crowd). Perhaps the best bit for me was when they did Smooth Criminal in the pitch black with 12 dancers wearing the same suits from the video that were all lit up around the edges so you could just see the outline of them. It looked absolutely brilliant. The shadow silhouettes were also pretty impressive. All in all an absolutely awesome show. It would be well worth buying a plane ticket just to come here and see this show. Seriously!!

I only managed to get a few pics before getting told off. 

Heeee heee!!

After the show we head to the MGM to meet up with Pete and Selena again. We walked through the very impressive Luxor and the very pikey Excaliber to get to MGM. 

Important information. If you ever get to a place in your life where your old chap wants to end it all this is the way you need to go. 

Great views of New York, New York. 

We meet up with Pete and Sel in Whisky Downer which is a cool bar in MGM. After a few we head to dinner at Hakassan at the MGM which has just opened here and includes a huge club too. Really slick. 

Yes that is right. Nat has worn heels for the first time in four and a half months and unfortunately for her she has lost all ability to wear them comfortable. Her "comfy" high heels literally destroyed her feet within two hours of having them on. Serious blisters all over. 

We head into the Hakassan club after which was pumping for a Sunday night. Not sure how we even got onto this topic but here is Selena showing how to wear her dress in six different ways. Almost a weeks wear of the same dress right here!

Sexual. 

After the club we decided to head to somewhere else and started a right merry go round, firstly going to Voodoo Lounge (which in itself took about half an hour to find even when we were in the Rio hotel). It was closed when we finally found it. Then we head to the Ghost Bar at the Palm which was also closed (this is about the fourth time I have tried to get in here with no joy!). By this time we are pretty hammered and it was 3am so we decided to call it a night. We had hit Vegas pretty hard for the first night and me and Nat have not been used to this. Another thing we are not used to is the expense. We spent more tonight than we have in the whole of the last week! Worth every penny though. No place like it and great to have met up with the Callas'

PS. I am also enjoying being able to throw toilet paper in the toilet again and not have to touch those disgusting little bins after wipe! Just saying.