Las Vegas – 12th September

I had a little bit of housekeeping work to do on Sunday 12th September as one of my customers was leaving the UK today for New York to start a special cruise and stay holiday. It was also the same day that Martin Garrix was DJing at Tao Beach in Las Vegas from 11am. I’d asked Captain Caveman if he could perhaps get us on the guest list but, as we hadn’t planned it in advance, it was too late. It didn’t matter, as I don’t think we would have got there for 11am anyway and I didn’t relish the intense afternoon heat that much.
Instead, we headed out on foot to have lunch for our first meal of the day. We hadn’t planned it but we found a really nice diner which was clean, cool and had great service. The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company had a very extensive seafood menu and I was finally getting to eat some pork! I was just going to stick with tap water but when the others ordered alcohol I thought, why not – I had a day off today so a Coronarita (a margarita with a Corona beer in) for $17 (£12.64) seemed like a great choice because you got to keep the blue shaker it came in. Louisa had a Watermelon Coronarita and Briony a Sangria. Kitti, our server, was extremely attentive and efficient. Briony ordered a Clam Chowder soup and a Shrimpers Heaven (a basket of different battered seafood bites), Louisa and I both had pork ribs with shrimp.
Here’s what we had with the prices in dollars;
1 Sangria 8.50
2 Coronitas 34.00
1 Clam Chowder cup 7.99
1 Shrimpers Heaven 28.99
2 Ribs & Shrimp 73.98
1 cheesecake 11.99
Tax 13.86
Tip 36.00
Total spent $215.31 (£159.58)

The food was good and I enjoyed it but I couldn’t manage a dessert. The girls shared a strawberry cheesecake for afters and then we took a few photos before heading out on to the sunny Las Vegas strip. I was still having issues with understanding the tipping system as the total bill came to $165.45 but there was additional $13.86 tax on top plus a 22% tip! I didn’t understand why we were paying the tax on top even when Briony explained it and I felt like it was big companies ripping people off.
As I didn’t have any actual dollars I paid £106.52 on card and Louisa gave me some cash for hers – it was like an episode of the fast show but I worked out my meal and tip, with tax, had cost me the equivalent of £65.52. I’d enjoyed it but I wouldn’t say it was worth that price and, of course, I had blown the budget for today already. We got a new shaker to take home as a souvenir and I thought it would come in handy for a gift for Captain Caveman for when he gets his new flat.

We went to the Coca Cola shop next, where the girls had been shopping yesterday. It was absolutely rammed packed and I was fascinated at the amount of stuff they sold, which people were lapping up. I’m not a shopper myself so I was a bit overwhelmed with the whole thing. We went to get water and were heading to an ABC store but I lost the girls who had gone to Target. I bought a bottle of water for £2.67 and waited for my friends to reappear. We went back to the hotel and got ready for our night out.

Purple Reign was on at the V Theater in the Miracle Mile area. We’d paid $55 (£41) each for the ticket and arrived early to collect them. The whole area is inside but has a roof designed to look like the sky which feels like you’re in The Truman show, I found it unnerving and a bit confusing – maybe it was just the menopause. Once inside, we couldn’t find a bar so just sat without drinks and an usher moved us in to ‘better’ seats which we didn’t like so we moved back.
The show was good but started late and could’ve lasted longer for the price. We had an entertaining night and the music was good.

Afterwards, we went to PF Chang’s for dinner. I wasn’t massively hungry so, while the others had the 3 course $39.99 special I just ordered a couple of starters and a pot of tea – it was 11pm so I didn’t want to have a bad stomach during the night. The steamed gyoza and edamame were really good, the green tea great, and my meal came to £31 ($42) in total – it made better sense to order the bigger special but I hate wasting things and knew I wouldn’t eat it all! When it came to dessert, which was included for my fellow diners, they had to take it back to the hotel as they were full. I didn’t pay for any taxis tonight, which helped with my quickly disappearing budget and I was really starting to feel awkward that I didn’t have the means to spend like the others could. It was coming up for 12 years since I was in a full time, decently paid job where I used to be quick to get the rounds in. Now I was nowhere near in the same league as Louisa and Briony who didn’t need to consider the price like I did. I was officially now the tight-arsed friend that people started to pity or dislike – and it didn’t feel good!
We were in bed by midnight and that was the weekend over. Jamie had booked the karaoke in for tomorrow night so I planned to get up early and get work done, as well as checking my customers had arrived in Toronto at 7.15am. I didn’t set an alarm as I didn’t want to disturb Briony and Louisa when they are on holiday but I knew I would wake up for a pee anyway.

Gratitude List
1. A nice lunch with Briony and Louisa at Bubba Gump
2. Seeing a show with the girls
3. Edamame beans – a favourite of mine.

Photo Credit – some photos by Louisa.