Welp, it's time for our yearly family vacation and we had decided on...none other than LAS VEGAS BABY! We went several years ago for Christmas and had such a good time that we decided to try it again. After all, the last time we went the hubby had said "We should come here every year for Christmas" because it was just so pretty during this time of year. (Not that I have any other experience with Vegas to compare what it's like without it being the holiday...but either way, we knew we liked it at this time of the year at least).

So, you all know me, I went into extreme planning mode. The only difference this time would be that we had decided to extend our vacation past New Years Eve and this was only because the flights were cheaper to come home at that time. The second difference would be we would have "Karl" along with us too and he had never been to Vegas before so we knew we had to show him a good time.

I utilize Google Earth Maps for everything I do. I mean you must be proficient in distances of the must "to-do" things around the area right? I can get a little extreme, but what would my family do without this obsessive planning disorder I have right? They would aimlessly wander around not knowing where to go. Although everyone knows my husband is my GPS system while we vacation, he has to know where to GPS to right?

Ok, so back to Google Earth. I researched the hotels, the food places, the sites, the shows and came up with this....

Yep, all color coded as well. Although this may look like a cluster flark, it made sense to me. I would save a copy to my drive and be able to access it on my phone and zoom in at any given time. Oh, and don't forget the spread sheets I created to...just to make sure I didn't miss anything. 😁

Of course I had a printed version of this...just for back up:

We have recently gotten involved in a community with others that "learn to travel for free" by utilizing points and programs and so on...and let me say that it has paid off. We normally fly with Southwest in the past and had many many free flights. This time, we would be flying free with Spirit. Go us!

Booking a hotel (which was free as well) came down to what Sakari wanted this time around. The last time we stayed at the Luxor and had an amazing experience (and room). However, it is almost at the end of the strip and quite a haul from the "happening things" on the strip. Sakari was really impressed with the New York New York hotel last time we were here with the layout inside that made it look like you were walking the streets of New York and this would be her request this time around. I was in agreeance with this decision because I liked the way it looked too. Although it is still not in the middle of the strip, it was at least closer to things. I booked our room and hoped for the best. We knew it would be much smaller than the one at the Luxor (it was like a regular hotel room WITHOUT the living room we had at the Luxor) but can you really complain if it's free?

We had a late flight on Sunday (8:36pm) and I was happy that we would have plenty of time to shove any "almost missed" items into our luggage and go over last minute details prior to leaving for the airport. Originally we had decided that we would try to utilize only 2 suitcases total between the 4 of us. The day of, we decided it just wasn't going to happen. Sakari packed like she was going on a month vacation and needed 2 outfits for each day...just in case. Now remember, we are not doing our normal Caribbean vacation, which includes packing snorkeling/scuba equipment, bathing suits and so on....but yet we still did not have enough room. Sigh! I told everyone to just pack comfortable warm clothes like sweat pants and shirts and they would be able to wear them twice while we were there. We weren't going to be doing anything we would get dirty with, no sand involved, so pack light! We still had to purchase another suitcase for everything to fit. Thanks Sakari. 😂

While waiting to leave the house, I get a notice that our plane was delayed only to be told we were "back on time as scheduled" later in the day. I'm a very punctual person so we were leaving the house at the right time no matter if there were delays or not. I wasn't taking any chances. We also wanted to stop and eat before arriving at the airport because we knew it was going to be a long flight and we would be arriving late and would be tired.

Off to the airport we went. I always take a picture of us standing at the shuttle stop but I couldn't locate it this time. So, on the shuttle will have to do.

They always have a beautiful tree at the airport

Once we arrived we were informed that our flight was delayed again to 8:51pm. Then another delay came saying 9:06pm but that gave us plenty of time to get drinks and snacks for the plane (since you have to pay for them on Spirit...unlike Southwest where it's free).

FINALLY it was time to leave. I always have to take that "good luck" picture of Sakari touching the plane for the first time and today would be no exception.

Ok, we were ready to hit the runway and officially start our vacation experience.

Goodbye Ohio....see you in 10 days....we officially pulled off at 9:21pm

It was an uneventful cramped flight that had me wishing I was on Southwest again. I swear those seats on Spirit are to small, so close to the seat in front of you and uncomfortable. But it was a 4 1/2 hour flight and we would just have to cope with it. I didn't bid on the big front seats this time around. I was now wishing that I did. But, I wanted this to remain a "free flight" and I fought off the urge to push that button.

We arrived in Vegas (at 10:17pm) and was never so glad to see the strip again as we were landing. The bright Luxor's light is easy to spot and so was the sphere...although I didn't manage to get very good pictures of either.

Remember there's a time change involved, so it was only around 10:30pm when we arrived.

We gathered our luggage and summoned a taxi. We would find that an Uber was actually more expensive that just grabbing a Taxi (which happened to be a truck and could fit us all in along with our oversized luggage). The last time we came I had done research on the cheapest way to get to the strip and that involved going to the bus stop and riding the bus. Then transferring on a certain street, then continuing to your hotel. It was a mess...especially with luggage. There was a bit of walking involved (and my leg wasn't in the shape it is in now either) and a lot of confusion that time. I decided NOT to try this again.

Here are the rates from the airport to the strip if anyone is interested.

Here is what it would cost us for the taxi, no confusion involved, no hauling luggage from bus stop to bus stop and arriving in around about 15 minutes or so. Yep, this is definitely the way to go.

Once at the hotel, we would find that things have changed a bit from the last time we were there. They had kiosk to check into the hotel and I would find that it would immediately put me on the struggle bus and took multiple attempts to get it to work. It was having issues scanning our passports, time out, and anything it could throw at me. After multiple attempts of throwing my hands up, it finally worked and it said our room would be assigned shortly. Within 10 minutes I received a text telling me to go to yet another kiosk to obtain our room keys. Yeah, more kiosk fun. But at least it was fun picking out the various card options they had...and I picked one with the New York hotel on it, one with the roller coaster on it and another odd ball. Then we were off to find the elevator.

Now, not only is Vegas extra larger than life itself, but so are the hotels. We had to find the correct elevator for our particular room. As you look at the hotel from outside, you can see why they need different elevators for different sections of the hotel.

Once the elevator was located and we pushed the floor we were going to, you would have to scan your key card for it to come. Then it would tell you which elevator to wait at and light up.

We would discover that your keycard will ONLY allow you to go to the floor you are assigned to. The elevator reminded me of some of the new cruise ship elevators. There's no buttons to push inside, the elevator just....goes....to your floor. Easy Peasy!

Our room wasn't far from the elevator, which made it nice and we were on the top floor of our particular area (floor 30) so we had a nice view of the strip. We were in our room by 11:30pm. It was a standard hotel-looking room and honestly I completely forgot to get pictures of it. For some reason I took pictures of the bathroom and not the room. Oops

Here's a few pictures of the hotel's first floor that makes it so nice and feeling like you are in a little town by itself.

We managed to unpack and claim our little "space" (and I do mean little...this room was not designed for 4 people to stay for 10 days at a time in) and then it was shower time and we were all in bed by midnight. Zzzzzz