Japan tour with dragon trip

It’s been a while since we’ve returned from our trip and looking back its hard to pick a favourite. However, Japan stood out as one of the best places we visited and we have imagined all the things we would do if (WHEN) we return!

 

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We only used the dragon trip to visit China last year but now they have a trip which entails travelling Japan! There is so much to do in Japan and we spent so much time thinking about what to do instead of just doing it! Therefore, I’d definitely recommend using a tour group such as dragon trip to visit Japan if you are thinking of going. Even though the trip is only 13 days, it covers so many amazing things and visits all the main areas in Japan. Imagine packing all those amazing experiences in to a typical holiday time frame!

Follow the link to check it out for yourself:

Japan Backpacking Tours

BRB going to hide my bank card before I book this! 🙈

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Miami – Jet lagged out our brains

So, flying through lightning is one of the scariest things ever! The plain bounced around for the duration of our four and a half hour flight to Miami. The seatbelt sign never went off once! I did manage to get some sleep though and funnily enough dreamt I was riding a roller coaster.

We arrived in Miami at 6AM local time (3am Vegas time 😖😴). We were so tired and it was still dark outside. The airport was freezing, I was thankful for my joggies and hoody. We pottered around, retrieved our case and shrieked at the prices of water. We had time to kill as our free shuttle wasn’t until 8am and we didn’t fancy paying $32 for a taxi.

Scott went to a restaurant to buy a coke. The staff were incredibly rude and when he tried to fill the cola, about twenty flies flew out the machine into the cup. BOKE! When he showed the cup to the woman, she just pointed at the other machine. Insane. Miami’s customer service is lacking!

We sat until 8am when our shuttle bus arrived. We were the only ones boarding so it was a quick free trip to our hotel – Catarina hotel and beach club. As we drove over the bridge, flashbacks of our last time here came flooding back. Time has flown.

We arrived at our hotel and checked in. The staff were very friendly and wavered an early check in fee which was music to our ears as check in wasn’t until 3pm, it was currently 8;30am in Miami and 5:30am in our body clocks. We literally passed out as soon as we lay down and woke up at 13:45.

We changed and headed up to the hotel rooftop pool. It was much hotter here than I’d expected. All the weather channels have been reporting record highs temperatures in some areas and high floods in others, insane!

At 4pm, we were starving realising we hadn’t eaten yet. We walked to subway and got some sandwiches, Doritos and cookies. The streets are just like the movies with the white Art Deco build is and neon signs. We brought our food back to the room and enjoyed it in bed.

I managed to fall asleep again which won’t be good for tonight! I hate jet lag! At 9pm we walked to Walgreens and grabbed some crisps and juice. We watched some TV before heading back out at 10:30 for a couple of slices of pizza. We ate these in the room too and watched some more TV. I hope we get a good sleep and wake up early tomorrow to enjoy some Miami time before getting the bus to Orlando.

Las Vegas > Miami

As we didn’t get to sleep late, we woke up quite late. We checked out at 11am and packed the bags into the car. We had a McDonald’s at the hotel – I’m so sick of McDonald’s. But it’s so cheap.

We headed to the level 8 pool and lay for a while. We talked about how fast time has flown. We cannot believe we are going home soon, but also can’t believe all the things we have done. I can’t wait to sit and look back at everything. This year has changed me so much. It has made me realise so much too. I hope we don’t lose this when we return.

We drove to target around 4pm so I could pick up an SD card for my camera. Transferring files every night is just too much hassle.

Then we drove to the south of the strip and parked in New York New York. We hadn’t seen this end of the strip. We walked about New York New York, Excalibur and Luxor. They were all amazing.

We met a tiny teacup chihuahua who was just cutest, friendliest dog! We played with her (halo) for a while before reluctantly saying goodbye.

We drove to the airport and returned the car to the National rental company. The guy handed me a receipt and said “you’re good to go” so we headed to the terminal via shuttle bus. Once at the terminal I realised my receipt said “amount due $19” – I have no idea why that is or what it means. I couldn’t be bothered caring, until we started questioning whether I was meant to go to the desk or not. I gave up worrying and assumed they would take what I owed from my card.

We went to chilis in the airport for dinner. We shared quesadillas, enchiladas and fries. It was so much food we both struggled.

All the other flights were delayed due to weather by 2 hours. Not ours though! 😑 we boarded at 10:20pm and off we went. As we took off, a nice big bolt of lightning flashed next to the plane. As we went through thick black clouds, the plane began to shake and bounce around. It did not feel nice.

Las Vegas day 4 – hangover day

Ouch. Hangover day.

We dragged our woosy selfs to McDonald’s at 1pm to try and eat something. Scott swayed in his seat as I ordered our food. As we sat eating scott couldn’t keep his head up and I did too feel a bit rough. We grabbed a take out bag and took everything back to the room. Lying down felt so much better.

We slowly made our way through our McDonald’s whilst watching movie after movie after movie.

For dinner, I forced myself into driving to a nearby Pizza Hut as I refused to pay through the nose for one at our hotel. We drove past some questioningly seedy hotels and bars on our way.
We got a large pizza, sweet chilli chicken bites and a bottle of coke. Rough scott did fling the bottle of coke at a guy twice accidentally. I don’t think he was impressed 😂.

Back at the room we enjoyed our lie down pizza. As it was our last night, we forced ourselves at midnight to go to the top of the tower again so we could go outside. It was closed last time we tried. Even I had jelly legs! The view was amazing though. So flat. You could see for miles, all the lights and down the strip.

Las Vegas day 3 – Happy 4th of July!

Today we went for breakfast at the Aztec inn place again.

The weather was cloudy so we decided to do what you do in Vegas, GAMBLE! We stuck a dollar in a slot machine and with one spin it was game over and I’d lost a dollar. “I DONT UNDERSTAND” I exclaimed. That was an expensive game. If everyone in Vegas did that once the hotels would be rolling in money…….oh wait!? 😔

Instead, we took five dollars each and headed for the ones we did understand. I played roulette and got up to $8 so I cashed out. Scott played and gambled twice and lost it all 😆. I walked around losing and winning with my $8 which was fun enough for me.

Since it was the Fourth of July, many hotels on the strip, including the stratosphere, we’re having firework displays. We decided to walk to the liquor store and we purchased a bottle of vodka and some fruit juice. We got a nice blue guitar cup so that we both had (with the six flags flask) a plastic container to drink on the street with. Cause that’s legal in Vegas by the way.

We filled our flasks and started drinking in the room. We watched the fireworks in the distance from our window. I’d never seen so many going off at the same time. They were tiny as they were all far but as Vegas is so flat you could see them EVERYWHERE! It was so cool.

At 8:45pm we headed downstairs for the fireworks. Everyone was gathered outside. They took so long to start but finally kicked off at 9:30pm.

Once the fireworks were over we headed inside and this time scott persuaded me to play real roulette. It was $10 minimum bet so we cashed in $20 for chips. I was so nervous and couldn’t help but feel this was crazy! I won a few times and then lost it all. Another $20 exchanged to chips and this time I hit a winning streak. Everyone at the table couldn’t believe it! I managed to win $80. If only I’d bet more, eh ?! Haha! We walked away and played the machines with the same ticket I’d been using all day. I cashed this out at $5.

We headed, very drunk, back to the roulette table. Here we met a Swiss couple who were lovely. They joined us at the table. I played roulette and kept winning/losing up and down. Scott was so drunk he threw up on the toilet floor (I did not know his at the time) 😂. He walked around aimlessly losing his cup and finding it again before coming back to the table to tell me about his happenings. He then fell asleep at the table, waking up sporadically to add a comment about people’s winnings. He then announced “IM DONE” And walked off. At this point I only had $10 left and couldn’t walk away! I won a couple then bet big and managed to get my $80 back. We that, I said goodnight to the couple who did try to convince me to go clubbing with them. But all I could think was that scott was so drunk I doubt he’d find his way back to our room and if that’s the case I’ve lost him in Vegas on Fourth of July….

I grabbed my flask, his flask and all my chips and headed to the room. I knocked the door and felt such relief when he opened the door, albeit standing in his boxers – “IM SO DRUNK” he said before face planting the bed and passing out before I’d even put down our drinks. I had a good chuckle at his state before climbing drunkenly into bed myself and passing out.

Las Vegas day 2 – pool day

We went for breakfast at a small place next to the hotel called the Aztec Inn. It was a casino hotel but small. It had a restaurant here which sold Mexican, Thai and breakfast foods. Nice.. However! The breakfast was only $3.99 for toast, eggs and bacon. I ordered that and scott hoy that bigger breakfast with hash brown and sausage too for $5.99. The food came with plastic cutlery and paper plates, but for the price I couldn’t complain.

We decided to take a chill day and rest at the pool. First we headed up to level 24 adult rooftop pool but it was too busy. So, we headed down to the family pool on level 8. It was t as busy and there were plenty of free beds – not to mention no “two drink minimum” rule. So this was good. Plus they supplied free iced water.

We lay here in the extraordinary heat for three hours with the help of the pool. As we lay we watched people jumping from the stratosphere tower. I really want to do it but Scott’s not keen!

We got showered and changed for dinner. We decided to go to Outback Steakhouse as I got an email through for a free Bloomin Onion. It’s one of my favourite sharing starters! It was quite dad down the strip though so we drove to the Venetian and parked up there.

As we arrived in outback I asked the woman welcoming us if we do indeed get our free onion. She shook her head confused as if I was speaking another language. From behind her, a waiter called over “yeah with the purchase of an entree”. With that, we took a table and we were given menus. As I opened them I realised the prices were much more expensive and there were Less items. I asked our server why and he said it was just a different menu for Vegas. With that we left.

Instead, we walked back to the car but on the way passed by Dennys. Due to it being so good I Palm Springs, we decided to go again. Our server Albert, was very flamboyant and referred to us as his “little family”. “How you doin my little family?” “What can I get for you my little family?” “Would you like any sides with that my little angel?”. Yup. He was very nice haha. When he realised we didn’t have a 20% coupon that they were giving out down the street, he went out I self and brought us back one for 20% off our bill.

I ordered the glazed chicken breasts with broccoli and red skin potatoes. I am sick to death of burgers and need nutrition, even if it is brushed with BBQ sauce. Scott ordered the spicy sriracha burger.

Our order took a while but luckily we were near the window when the mirage fire show started. It consisted of water fountains and fire to tribe music. Very cool.

As our food was so late, Albert offered us a cheesecake on the house an told us to consider it whilst we ate. Once our food was done we swayed Albert to give us a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream instead. Yum! For all his wonderful service we made sure Albert got a good tip.

We walked down the strip to the Bellagio. The streets certainly come alive at night in Vegas. The lights were blinding and there were so many characters and street performers. We saw someone dressed as alan from the hangover with a fake baby, minions, superheroes and a child as michael Jackson.

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At the Bellagio we watched the fountain show. This time it was to the tune of Celine Dions “my heart will go on”.

After the fountains we walked back to the car and drove back to the hotel.

Las Vegas day 1 – exploring the strip

This morning we had a great lie in until 10am. We showered and got ready. Scott slept a bit longer so we lender up leaving around 12.

We walked down the Las Vegas boulevard. The heat was intense. It was 107 today. We stopped at an ATM then headed for food. We found a subway in the Fashion mall. We split a foot long meatball marina with some Doritos. It’s really hard to find normal food here that isn’t super expensive. Ah, Vegas.

We stopped into the Wynn hotel and casino. The lobby was an amazing arrangement of flowers into hot air balloons and carousels. Very impressive.

Next we visited the Venetian. It was exciting to see this as we had visited the one in Macau. It was quite similar but I don’t think we could navigate our way around this one! It was huge! They had canals outside with gondola rides which take you through the hotel. The hotels have had unbelievable amounts of money spent on them. Ridiculous!

We passed by treasure island and the mirage which had spectacular waterfalls.

Next we stopped in to see Caesars palace. It was huge, we were so tired we had no energy to see it all but the lobby was impressive and just like the movies!

We visited the Bellagio. As we left the fountain show started. It was VERY impressive and the noise alone was just wow! Definitely the best fountain show I’ve ever seen! Would love to see it at night.

We knew there were some more hotels at the end of the strip but we had already walked over 3 miles (so had 3 mile walk back), it was so hot and it was half past four. We decided to call it a day as my leg bones were aching (a weird thing that’s started happening when we walk lots).

On the walk back, we stopped into Walgreens to grab water. Then, we stopped into see circus circus (also for the air con). The adventure dome was so cool and had lots of fair rides including two big roller coasters! We didn’t go on any but I wished we had!

I started to feel ill with the heat so we stopped into cvs just for a rest, then continued our journey back. We passed so many homeless people, it was hard to ignore. Some of the signs they had made were quite funny though. One mans said “my girlfriend is locked in the toilet, I need money to get her out”

As we arrived at the stratosphere we saw someone doing the sky jump from the top. It looks so good! I keep contemplating doing it. After our visit to the top though scott has ruled himself out haha.

Back in the room, Scott and I had a bit of a disagreement over smoking. I decided to leave and went to the roof top pool. I bought a vodka cranberry and sunbathed here. The music was really good and the sun was still hot at this time (6-7pm). It was very relaxing. At 7:30pm I headed back to the room for a shower.

Scott and I decided to venture for dinner. We didn’t get far as we ended up in Roxy’s diner in the hotel. I had a chicken and avocado ciabatta with coleslaw. However, they brought me fries by accident so I got them AND coleslaw :). Scott had a shredded chicken Philly cheese steak with fries. The food was good but the diner had the waitresses singing loudly every five minutes which was a bit off putting.

We paid our bill as I convinced scott not to pay $7 for a dessert and to get something from mods. We walked up and got two fudge sundaes with cookies. We took them back to the room and ate them in bed. I was too full and could hardly eat mine, but scott had no issues finishing mine too! 😂

Desert hot springs > Las Vegas!

Today we got organised to leave Palm Springs to drive to Las Vegas. Arielle had offered that we stay longer but we had to return the car to the rental place. I tried to call to extend the car rental but as we paid in cash they wouldn’t let us and I’d have to go into the office, strange!

We left at 12 and started driving. The views in California still wow me every time we drive. Once on the long highway to Vegas, se stopped at a rest stop. It turned out to be a stop on Route 66!! It was cool and McDonald’s was made of old train carriages. We grabbed some food before heading back to the car.

We arrived at Las Vegas Mccarran airport at 5:15pm. We extended our rental until Monday. This was good as we could drive to our hotel.

The Vegas strip was just how I imagined. Huge hotels, lights and billboards.

We arrived at the stratosphere and parked up. We walked through the hotel which was huge! We walked through the casino past various restaurants and stores. We checked in and headed up to the room. We had a view of mountains and a huge bed.

We went for a walk around the hotel. This took a while due to the size! We headed to the top of the tower. They had closed the outdoor observation deck as lightning had started. A couple of guys gave us their ride passes as they had to leave and the rides were closed. We viewed the city from the indoor lounge which was a 360 glazed room on the 107th floor. The lightening was amazing and you could see the bolts firing in the distance. I couldn’t imagine the rides reopening tonight so we headed for dinner instead.

Everything in the hotel was a bit expensive but we were tired, hungry and wanted to get to bed. We got a HUGE 16″ pizza which was $17.

I couldn’t finish my half! We watched TV and some more lightning before heading to bed.