When I first thought about starting a travel blog one of the things I was most looking forward to was writing about a few specific destinations – Las Vegas being one of them.

First up you will notice a lot of posts from travelling in the USA. When I was a child my dad would sit me down in his office and have a map of the world on his desk. He d tell me about the different continents, countries and of course America. He d talk about Christoper Columbus crossing the Atlantic and discovering the Americas. That’s when I decided that I d love to travel the world and see it for myself.

Easier said and done because I grew up behind the wall. When I say wall I mean the Berlin Wall.

I was born and raised in what was then called the GDR – East Germany. While we learned the history, geography and lots of useful (and sometimes not so useful facts) from the countries around the world there was one thing we could not do – and that was actually travelling to most of them.

So we were left to dream of all the far flung places that we most likely would never get to see. All that changes suddenly in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell and the borders literally opened up.

Suddenly we could get on trains and planes that would take us over the German borders and into other parts of Europe or even across the pond.

One of the first things I did when the wall come down was ask my parents to send me to a school where I could learn languages so I could one day go and travel the world, meet locals in all corners of the world and experience the different cultures.

One of my first long haul trips took me to Las Vegas. Having seen it on TV many times I expected millions of twinkling lights, the ding-ding-ding of slot machines and all that with Elvis singing ‘Viva Las Vegas’ in the background.

And I was not to be disappointed. My first trip to Las Vegas was in January 2008. The preparation of the trip (it was a business trip to attention multiple conferences) in itself was already a great experience. Looking at all those themed hotels left me truly speechless. Never have I seen or even thought about staying in a castle, a fake Eiffel tower, a ginormous circus tent or a New York Skyline with a roller coaster running through it. We didn’t pick either of those – we stayed in what still is one of my favorite hotels on the strip – the Luxor – a giant pyramid with a huge sphinx sitting in front of it. As far as hotels to stay in goes – this is it!!!.

Walking into the Luxor’s entrance hall is an experience. Never have I seen a hotel lobby that size. I can’t even describe it. It overwhelmed me and even now over 15 years later I still get goosebumps walking into it.

If you are planning a trip to Vegas I would highly recommend staying at the Luxor. Not just because of its vast size (all hotels in Vegas are bigger than anything I had ever seen before) but also for its incredible pool area, the breakfast restaurant or the inclinatiors (not elevators as in the pyramid they run diagonally) that take you up into your huge Egyptian themed rooms.

Aside from the great rooms and the fantastic service the Luxor also offers everything else you need including a fantastic buffet with a lot of choices shoulld you wish to start your day off with a big meal.

In general Vegas is great for buffets and pretty much any hotel offers them.

It’s worth researching the available hotels on the strip as there are many great offers to be found and personally I find that Vegas hotels are often cheaper than you expect (unless you decide to go for NYE which tends to be extremely expensive)

Each hotel is very different in what it offers and there are a lot of things to do in Vegas. I will try and list a few with links in the Things to do section with links etc but in all honesty – if you have never been to Vegas expect the unexpected.

It is bigger than anything you can imagine and oh those incredible hotels.

A personal tip from me as I like walking is a casino crawl – almost like a pub crawl but we usually go from casino to casino, throw a dollar into the slot machine and or have a drink / a meal. This way you get to see a lot of the main hotels by simply walking and not having to take cabs from A to B.

A definite not to miss are the fountains at the Bellagio which are on every night without fail about every 15 mins in the evenings. Another tip for fans of irish folk music or a true Irish pub experience is the 9 Fine Irish Men pub at the New York New York Hotel- they serve a great breakfast there also by the way and have some fab live music on most nights.

There is of course also a Margaritaville in town for those who love all things Jimmy Buffet. It has got great food and some incredible cocktails- after all – its 5 o’clock somewhere… 🙂

One of the most unexpected things I have ever seen in Las Vegas is the nuclear museum. What I didn’t know was that there used to be a nuclear testing side a short distance from Vegas many many years ago. The museum which sits off the strip will give you a real insight into what it has been like back then and probably the most surprising fact that has burned itself into my brain is that they used to hold cocktail parties in the old Vegas to view the atomic tests. What the… right?

There is much more to discover there and I really recommend exploring the city to its fullest. Tick those items off your bucket list and go see the Grand Canyon which is truly magical (especially at sun down) , take a hike in Red Rock Canyon ( driving distance and beautiful scenery if you want to get away from the flashing lights and the constant ding ding dings of the slot machines), see a show – there is so very many of them covering all tastes and most of all enjoy your time to the fullest.