Tag: las vegas

Day 9 – A visit to Town Square

Posted on by Libby Withnall

Woke up after sunrise again and we had a lazy relaxed morning. I’m still stuffy in the nose and Kevin was mainly tired and stuffy. Overall he was feeling much better today. Kevin had some overnight oats that I’d bought for myself, while I had the last of the pita breads with some vegan cream cheese and greens for breakfast. I edited Document your Life and wrote up a blog post. Kevin napped.

Around 1.30pm we headed out in an uber to Town Square. We got dropped at Sweet Bubbles – oh the smell when you walk into that store. It’s just delicious. We had a look around and bought some things (including a few things for Christy). 

We then went over to guest services to collect a $20 gift card (for spending over $100) and $10 card (for using uber to get there). I love this shopping centre. It’s lovely and relaxing and decorated beautifully for Christmas. We only ever saw it lit up at night on our first visit here but I still remember how lovely it was.

We looked at going to the Marlin Bar (at Tommy Bahamas for lunch) but decided on Rakaan Ramen (which I already knew had vegan options. Kevin ordered a Crispy Chicken Bowl, while I got the Garnet Vegan Ramen. We both really enjoyed our meals. Best of all we used our $20 pay for our lunch. It turned out we didn’t pay a tip so Kevin left the $10 card as the tip.

I then had a quick look in Torrid for some things that Athena wanted, before we went into Bath & Body Work. It was busy in there as the 3 wick candles were on sale. We just bought some hand sanitisers and some gifts for the kids stockings.

I had a super quick wander through Ulta but couldn’t find what I wanted and didn’t want to ask. We’d had enough shopping after just the few shops. I few that we used to visit are no longer here. So we order another Uber for the ride back to the Wyndham. It’s been such a strange visit to Vegas and I’m kinda sad that we’re leaving as I’m finally feeling ready to visit and do our planned outings. Oh well, next time…

Back in our room it was time to start packing. We haven’t bought a lot but I still had to be strategic to fit everything in, without going into the spare suitcase yet.

When I was done it was time for a cup of tea and to watch some YouTube. We probably won’t get much watched now as we move into the busier part of the holiday. Spare time will be spent blogging, reading and being immersed in the holidays (well that’s the plan). Watching YouTube, or any TV in fact, on holidays is something we’ve only started doing in the last few years.

Around 6pm I went to have a shower and wash my hair, so I didn’t have to do that early in the morning. Dinner tonight was General Tso’s Tofu & rice from the freezer. Another yummy meal. We then watched a bit more YouTube before attending to some more packing. All that is left now is a few last minute things.

We went to be early as Kevin planned to go to sleep early since we had to be up at 4am. I wasn’t too worried as that’s a pretty normal wake up time for me anyway. Of course, Kevin couldn’t sleep. I read for a bit while I enjoyed a cup of tea and went to sleep around 9.30pm.

Day 9 – A little peak at the Venetian

Posted on by Libby Withnall

I was up before the sun again today. Feel like I’ve just got a head cold now.

While writing up yesterdays blog post I got to enjoy a very nice sunrise, even though it was just 2C outside !!! Glad I didn’t have to head outside too early!

There was no need to rush as we only planned to be out for a few hours – depending on how we were feeling. We even ate breakfast at the table today – first time all week. Kevin had the acai bowl I’d bought to have, while I really enjoyed the Amy’s tofu scramble (will definitely be having this again while we’re at Disney).

Shortly after 9.30am we headed downstairs and got an uber over to the Venetian (where Kevin’s conference was being (mainly) held). For the first time we had an uber driver who requested our bags we stowed in the boot. I thought this was very odd until we discovered he was a African American male. I suspected it was because of potential violence from passengers so asked him, and yep, it’s for his personal safety. Which is just so sad that someone has to consider this because of the colour of their skin. And the prevalence of guns in the country. As an Australian it’s very odd (and somewhat scary) to realize that some of the people around you would be carrying guns that you can not see.

It was nice to step back into the Venetian – it was the place we stayed when Kevin started coming to the AWS conference back in 2017. I’d also forgotten that the newer/better casinos have good ventilation and you can’t smell the cigarette smoke like we could at the Rio.

We headed to the AWS registration area so Kevin could register, even though he wasn’t attending any events, so he could pick up his swag. I felt bad for him because he’d been really looking forward to the conference and being here surrounded by people attending must have reminded him what he missed out on.

We then had a little wander around, stopping to take some photographs.

We briefly stopped into Sketchers and Tommy Bahamas but Kevin started to not feel so great so we gave up on shopping, and headed out onto the strip for a quick drop in to Walgreens.

It was really quiet out – Vegas must still be missing the international tourists. We walked around to the back of Harrah’s, where the nearest uber pick up was. Loved the little dog toilet area they have.

It took our Uber some time to find the right spot but eventually we were on our way to Target. We had a lovely driver and she was telling us how she was taking her 7 year old on a surprise trip to Disneyland for Christmas – all paid for with her Uber driving income.

We had planned to stop in at Starbucks for a drink and rest but there wasn’t one at this Target. It was also super quiet – not used to shopping in Target when it’s so quiet. We were definitely at one the locals shop at. Unfortunately Kevin started to feel very unwell again while we were here so we had to cut our visit a bit short. Not sure if it was still the effects of Covid or something else (he has a few undiagosed issues). We got checked out and waited outside for our uber. Kevin felt a good bit better after sitting outside in the fresh air for a bit.

We spent the afternoon back in our apartment. For lunch Kevin cooked us the Gardein Mandarin Chick’n, which is one of our fav meals.

We watched some youtube, did some reading, had a nice relaxing bath, and later watched Falling for Christmas. Not the best movie but it was okay. Kevin wasn’t feeling like dinner so I put together a little plate of nachos using corn chips, the vegan queso, and some diced tomato and greens.

We are both feeling a little frustrated at such a slow recovery. I’m mainly dealing with blocked, runny nose, which Kevin is still getting bad headaches and some body pains, along with a stuffy nose and sore throat. We both also got tired very quickly yesterday. It’s not looking too good for Universal but we had planned on a SLOW holiday anyway – we’ll just have to go even slower :-).

Day 8 – We’ve had enough of Covid

Posted on by Libby Withnall

Not a lot to write about today as we yet again, stayed in. Though I’m now past my recommended quarantine time, Kevin wasn’t feeling too great and was very tired.

We started the day doing a covid test. Since I’m feeling pretty much back to “normal” I thought I would test negative but that wasn’t the case.

I did get up and dressed again as I am so sick of lying in bed (& also sitting on the couch).

Later in the afternoon Kevin & I watched some YouTube

before watching, which pretty good.

Hopefully tomorrow (for our second last day in Vegas) we’ll be able to venture out and see some of the sights. Then I’ve basically decided that it’s Holiday Take 2 on Saturday when we fly to Orlando.

As we were heading to bed I got to facetime with Christy and the pups. Christy was about to start packing as it’s almost time for her to fly over and join us.

Day 7 – An evening out in New York……no, Vegas

Posted on by Libby Withnall

Today I didn’t wake up until 8am – which is unheard of for me – but I guess our sleep has been all over the place. Thankfully today was just a normal fibo. morning and I felt much more like my normal self.

The morning was spent working on yesterdays blog post and catching up on emails, etc. Kevin was still pretty under the weather and slept much of the morning. Christy facetimed with me just after 12pm – it’s always nice to see to pups and have a catch up with Christy.

Finally Kevin was awake so I was able to have my shower and get dressed. I even put on makeup today as we’re supposed to be going out tonight.

Lunch today with a microwaved sweet potato with some vegan queso sauce. It was decent, though not too pretty.

We watched a little youtube while having lunch and then Kevin went to have another sleep, while I actually did some tidying up – first time I’ve really felt motivated to do that. I also finished unpacking.

Around 4pm we had another instacart delivery – this time from Natural Grocers. This came in a big cardboard box instead of plastic bags, which was much better. Hopefully this will keep us going until we can get to some shops ourselves.

Shortly before 6pm we got ready for our night out. My “isolation” ends tomorrow, and Kevin’s the day after but with over AU$400 spent on tickets to see Mad Apple, we were not going to miss out. But we would just go to the show (not out for dinner as planned) and would wear our masks. Before leaving Kevin took this rather arty photo of my outfit.

We caught an uber around to New York New York and headed straight round to the theatre.

I thought it was great they had a bar set up as part of the set before the show, to create that New York vibe. I got some water and Kevin grabbed a water and coke, before making our way to our seats.

The show was different but really good – it was like little tastes of New York including some more traditional cirque acts with a magic act, comedian, dancing. I feel they did a good job with this show (much better than Run, which we saw on our last visit). It definitely wasn’t like a traditional cirque du soleil show. But I did still see acts I’d not seen before.

After the show we made our way out onto the street and had a short walk along the strip (just 5mins) to get to a CVS (pharmacy).

We pick up some supplies – Kevin was mainly wanting a throat spray and some tylenol (panadol). We marvelled that you could buy 1,000 capsules of tylenol, yet in Australia there is talk making panadol available only by prescription and I believe the biggest amount of any pain med you can buy over the counter is 48.

Trying to find an uber pick spot proved difficult, without having to walk miles through one of the hotels. We ended up crossing over the road, making a quick stop at an ABC store where Kevin picked up a wrap for his dinner, and finally spotted people getting out a cab, so grabbed that instead.

It was nice getting to drive along the strip at night and see some of the hotels. I don’t remember the Eiffel Tower being coloured red, white and blue before.

I just love staying here at the Wyndham Desert Blue. You get dropped off and pick up right outside the entrance, no crowds, no smoke or noise to deal with. A quick trip up the lift and you are in your room. It was 9.30pm by now so I was definitely ready for dinner. I had one of my Amy’s meals, which though doesn’t look best, sure did taste good. This was one I always loved the vegetarian version of, so was excited to see there is now a plant based one.

We watched some YouTube and then Kevin had a bath while I headed to bed to read.