Travel Update

I thought I’d bring you up to speed on our 2026 and 2027 cruise vacation plans.

 

When we made the decision to buy the RV van, it took out a good-sized chuck of our travel budget.  On top of that, the department withheld overtime payouts for the first half of the year to try and balance the budget (fiscal year, not calendar year).  This means travel will look a little different in that we will need to cruise less.  On one hand, that is fine.  We have been to a lot of places of interest and those still on the bucket list are longer-length cruises with longer travel time.  It feels like those are best left for retirement years where we can be gone for long periods of time without making big impact on our jobs.

 

I now have a long list of places I want to take the RV!  The Hubs and I don’t have days off together so once that falls into place, we will be on the road quite a bit.  While the loss of income this year has been difficult on the heart, it has forced me to take more random days off to spend time with Kenyon and not work so hard at making/saving money. 

 

Travel is important and it is what helps feed my soul while working a job that takes so much out of me each shift.  I am my true and authentic self when I am traveling.

 

With all that said, we have three cruises booked in the upcoming years.  The first is the Baltic in August 2026.

 

When I was researching Iceland cruises I stumbled upon a cruise that really interested me and included so many new countries, 6 of them.  I liked that we could still see Europe but not have to sail out of Southampton or fly in/out of London.  This cruise was perfect in that you start in Helsinki, Finland and end in Copenhagen, Denmark with an over night in Copenhagen.  We might even fly to Dublin for a day before we travel home.

 

My Bestie Phoenix and her fiancé Stacey are getting married on Catalina Island via cruise ship in September 2026.  We have never cruised Royal Caribbean and I am excited for all it has to offer.

 

We’ve been to these ports before so I don’t think we will get off the ship in Ensenada, Mexico.  Instead, I’m looking at this cruise as more about the ship and the celebration!  I also want to spend a few extra days exploring Long Beach, CA.

 

Alaska in September 2027 was not on my radar.  We’ve cruised Alaska three times (you can read about them all here) and figured my next trip would be when Wanda and Michael booked an Alaska cruise.  Instead, the Elks coordinated a group cruise, and boy did she pick a great itinerary and ship.  I am so excited to visit Sikta and return to Skagway again.  I really want to sail on NCL Joy which was icing on the cake! 

 

As excited as I am…they are both so far away!  In the meantime, we have a trip to Oceanside, CA in December with a quick stopover in Oakland, CA to visit my 93-year-old great aunt.  This is our second time in Oceanside, and we are looking forward to visiting the San Diego sights this trip.

 

In January, we will visit Vegas to see Choir of Man and the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere.  I’m also super excited about this trip and it has been several years since we’ve been to Vegas.

 

As I type all of this, I remember that we are about to start evaluation season at work…send HELP!

Las Vegas Vacation Consolation Prize

Out trip to Vegas was a nice consolation prize for cancelled travel.  We enjoyed a few new experiences and a few old experiences and overall had a lot of fun.  The only downside was losing our gambling money.

We arrived very early in the morning, which is not typical as you can’t check into the hotel that early.  We camped out in the buffet at Luxor while we waited for the notification our early check-in was ready.  With so much time available, we boarded the bus and headed to the South Outlet Mall and then stopped at a new restaurant off-strip called Sickie’s Garage Burger & Brews.  We split an appetizer and a burger sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches.  OMG it was a lot, but delicious.

On Friday night, I convinced Kenyon to check out Coyote Ugly Bar.  It made me want to watch the movie which was in Hulu last night.  

While looking through the Vegas magazine in our hotel room, I spotted a local brewery on-strip called Trustworthy Brewing Company.  Since it was really easy to get to, I knew I needed to swing in to try a flight.  We also shared a pretzel with really good sour cream and chive dip.  

After trying out the cocktail flights at Flights Restaurant on our last Vegas vacation, I wanted to try two more flights during this trip.  The margarita flight was too sweet and the old fashioned flight was too strong.  I don't think this will be a regular Vegas stop in the future. 

No visit to Vegas is complete without a stop at the Bellagio Conservatory to see the beautiful flowers.   This theme was Chinese New Year.

Thursday night was a home game for the Vegas Golden Knights.  I packed my jersey and we went to Beer Haus to watch the game.  Although the Knights lost, it was really neat being so close to the arena during game day.  I also missed Beer Haus where I enjoyed a delicious Chicago dog along with 2 for 1 beer as the waitress said they poured a second one and she gave it me for free. 

Many miles were walked.

A lot of money was lost and we ate at several buffets. We enjoyed the sunshine while w had it as temps were in the 80s followed by in the 50s with 22 mph winds!  I’m looking forward to travel again in a couple weeks.

Cancelled Travel Consolation Prize

We were supposed to be on a cruise ship sailing from Australia to New Zealand.

Thank You COVID for ruining my travel plans.

The biggest bummer of the cancellation, and there are a lot to be bummed about on this trip, is how much of a deal this cruise fare was.  SIGH.  Hopefully we will be able to re-book this cruise at a later time when the state of the world goes back to normal…er…different…er semi-normal…er…semi-different?  Oh hell, I don’t even know anymore!

I realized I never actually updated the blog world (the small amount of readers, although the numbers have grown) that our Australia and New Zealand Cruise was cancelled many months ago.  Okay, I think I did update you all but I didn’t tag it as cruising so I didn’t locate it as quickly…I digress.  This was no surprise and we spent some time looking at alternative cruises.  An idea circulated to vacation with Phoenix, her kids, her boyfriend Stacey, and her parents so instead of booking something else during my pre-planned advanced approval time off work, we cut this time off short and I will be taking a week off work later this month so we can join them in South Padre Islands, TX.  I am looking forward to that vacation as I have only been to Texas once.  We plan to also hit up a few Texas attractions along the way.

Since I had been saving my vacation time-off in anticipation of needing over 80 hours off work for such a large trip across the big ocean, and that it was an advanced approval, which you only get two a year with no date changes, I had time off to “burn” and nowhere to go.  We didn’t want to go too far or spend too much money hence the second trip coming up in a few weeks.  While I was dying to get on a cruise ship again, the last few months left so much uncertainty on if ships will continue to sail, the constant changing protocols, uncertainty if the entertainment staff will be healthy enough to put on a show, and overall just not feeling like it was a gamble I wanted to get my hopes up for.  

We decided on our favorite travel destination, a quick trip that didn’t cost us a dime to book…VEGAS!

I’m even more stoked the mask mandates rolled back since this will be our first trip to Vegas post-COVID-COVID-COVID where we will finally be able to feel “normal” again.  We are also going over the weekend, which we never do.  So many restaurants, bars, and dance clubs are closed mid-week so this was a nice change.  We booked on travel points and hotel room comps.  What was even more awesome is when we booked, a few of the MGM Resorts were waiving the resort fees, giving $50 free play, and giving $100 resort credit that can be used towards food and drinks.  Um…a free trip?!?  Okay, I guess I will take that as a consolation prize.

To add even more incentive, our temperatures took a sudden drop so heading to the land of warmth and sunshine sounds amazing!  Of course, we will only see a quick blip of warm temps and then they come down a bit.  Hey…that is still better than 30 degrees in Idaho.  Although, we have had some unseasonably warm temps.

If you need me, I’ll be soaking up the sunshine and getting that Vitamin D.

Las Vegas Part 2

Don’t forget to hop over and read Las Vegas Part 1 andread about some new-to-us Vegas experiences.  You’ll find it here ß

 

When we visit Vegas in December, the National Finals Rodeo comes to town.  This means we look forward to taking part in Cowboy Christmas at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  What worked even better this trip is our hotel was on the monorail line which dropped off/picked-up at the convention center.  As it got later in the week, the monorail was packed with cowboys and cowgirls!  Our stop at Cowboy Christmas was on Wednesday night after we had a bit to eat at Mas Por Favor and a drink at The Golden Tiki.  We took a Lyft back to our hotel, boarded the monorail, and walked all around the convention center.  It is crazy how much there is to see at Cowboy Christmas.

We went in search of burgers and after a private event at one possible location and a closed restaurant for remodel at another, we found ourselves at Earl of Sandwich pleasantly surprised by the prices and the taste.  I am really excited to have tried them as we have a location in Meridian.  Yeah!  We were exhausted and so tired from all the walking that we headed back to the room for the night.

 

Thursday after going back to Miracle Mile Shops for a cheap breakfast, we made our way to Bellagio to check out the conservatory.  This was the first time in many years that have really changed up the December display.  It was amazing.

 

We continued to Mandalay Bay to take part in more Cowboy Christmas shopping (we didn’t actually buy anything) we redeemed our free play at Luxor and Excalibur where we had a late lunch at Buca di Beppo.  This is one of our favorite places to visit in Vegas.  Join the email club for great coupons.  I redeemed the free birthday colossus sundae.  The waiter said he would get me a “small one” and boy was this still huge!  And quite delicious.

 

I had reservations at Fights, a restaurant/bar known for their flights of food drink. 

 

You MUST visit and when you do, look at the website ahead of time as the hours vary for which particular type of drink flight is available.  I wanted to try the cocktail flight so we had to visit between 3pm-6pm.  You get a flight of three drinks for $10.  That is a great deal for Vegas.  I tried the mojito and mule flights.  I much preferred the mojito.  It was really hard not to order more so there will be a return visit.

 

Our feet were practically killing us when we arrived back at the hotel so we made it another night in.  Eventually we ordered pizza to-go from one of the restaurants in the hotel food court.

 

Friday we had an afternoon flight out and time left on our monorail passes.  We made our way to Westgate for their buffet.  It was only so-so for the price and a bit underwhelming.  We did a little bit more gambling afterwards, which Kenyon won over $100!  We moved to Sahara, which is the last stop on the northbound monorail line.  They were super struck on mask wearing and after Kenyon had another good win, we loaded back onto the monorail and headed to MGM Grand where we planned to catch a cab to the airport. 

 

And with that…we are back home until our next Vegas Vacation.

Las Vegas Part 1

The only downside during our trip to Vegas was losing my gambling money too soon!  Thankfully, Kenyon was able to win often and even brought home some of his winnings…and he shared with me.

 

We flew in on Tuesday afternoon after re-booking our flights for an earlier arrival time.  There was just so much to do that I needed more time.  I booked a suite at Bally’s on comp/reduced rates so we had a steal of a deal for our strip view room.  Overall, I really liked Bally’s and thought the location was great.

 

We boarded the bus and made our way to the South Outlet Mall.  I had to return some online purchases at the Coach store and I wanted to pop into Lazy Dog for happy hour.  I just love their food.

We also found a Cake Boss cake ATM.  An interesting and delicious concept.

 

I managed to get out of the outlet mall without spending a fortune and we headed back to the hotel.  Since we didn’t sleep much the days prior to our vacation, we called it an early night knowing we still had two full days to go.  On Wednesday, we walked to Denny’s for a late breakfast before spending some time gambling at Mirage (i.e. losing my money).  We had free play available to us at several of the MLife properties as part of the MyVegas game we play.  We walked to Bellagio to redeem our free play and then rode the tram to Park MGM.  I had 3pm reservations at a restaurant I wanted to try for happy hour so we grabbed an Uber and headed to Mas Por Favor.

I can’t remember who told me about Mas Por Favor and their “secret hidden walkway” but I have been excited to visit since March when they were booked solid for reservations all week.  I planned ahead and made sure I secured a reservation during happy hour, which had great looking deals on food/drinks.  Sadly, this experience was really underwhelming.  What we found was a basic storefront with a small hallway to a small room.  The highlight was the décor set up for a special theme, The Nightmare Before Christmas.  The decorations were great.   The food was quite expensive and at first, they were not going to honor happy hour pricing.  One really neat thing was they mixed beet juice with the sour cream and it comes out pink under the lighting.

 

The waitress asked us if we had been to the “famous tiki bar” in the same strip mall.  Since we have not and we paid for an Uber, we hopped over a couple doors and visited The Golden Tiki.  What a fun experience that was.  The décor was really interesting and included naked women and male genitalia for door handles in the women’s restroom.  The drinks were $8 for happy hour and otherwise, I’m not sure I would have paid full price.  Again, a neat experience but a place we won’t visit on a future trip.

 

I’ll be back…

Las Vegas January 2021

Since we had an idea of what “the new Vegas” is like post-COVID after our trip in July, I think that set the stage for what to expect and also allowed us not to feel underwhelmed as we did on our previous trip.  There were still some restaurants/bars that close down mid-week, which was the time we visited.  But overall, Vegas was more open in January 2021 than it was in July 2020.  That makes me hopeful but also still slightly nervous as the crowds are just so slim right now.

We took advantage of the light crowds and having a car to take in some Vegas we have not done in a while and/or have not done yet.  One of the first stops was the Welcome To Las Vegas Sign.  We have only visited the sign once as it is on the bus route.  When I spotted practically no crowd/line to get a photo, we planned a stop when we were on the southbound direction of Las Vegas Boulevard.  

The show girls accept tips and there is a man there offering to take photos, which are completely free.  I tipped each of them $5 and was glad they were there for photos.  Don’t freight, the showgirls told me I could take off my mask for the photo.  I promise, there was no harm done to the showgirls during the taking of these photos.

The new experience was a visit to The Neon Sign Museum.  This museum works to restore the old signs of Las Vegas’ past.  Since the location is a little harder to get to via the bus, it was a perfect opportunity since we had Kenyon’s car.  I didn’t think we would be able to go see this attraction since in the weeks prior, they weren’t showing the guided tour, which is what we really wanted.  We checked on tickets early Wednesday morning and saw they had guided tours and the Brilliant extra tour options.  They also had not yet sold any ticket in the 8:30pm time slot which meant we could possibly get our own private guided tour.  

As luck would have it, there was only two other people in our group, a couple of Mexico City that were very nice.  We loved our guide Matt.  He was fantastic.

After our guided tour, we were walked over to the “boneyard” section for the Brilliant laser/light show.  This was ahhhhhh-mazing!  And what was even better is we were the only two people there.

This portion of the tour, which costs extra, is the opportunity to look at Vegas signs that are unable to be restored so they are brought back to life using lasers that also includes a really neat light show with music.  It was fantastic and I highly recommend both the guided tour and the Brilliant light show.  We might need to make this a stop on future trips.  This was one of the attractions that I just could not stop taking photos.  I loved it.

We walked around Fremont Street during the daytime, which didn’t feel any safer than the nighttime.  I tell ya, Fremont Street is starting to feel a bit sketchy lately.  We parked at the new Circa Hotel and Casino which is beautiful.  I found out on our tour at The Neon Sign Museum that the photo I took at the hotel is one of their restored signs. 

They also have restored signs all along Las Vegas Boulevard.  I didn’t even know this.  We were able to see the various signs as we braved the very, very, very light traffic returning to our hotel.

Anyway, Circa is beautiful and it is a paradise for a sports enthusiast with three levels of sports viewing/betting and so many beers on tap.  If it wasn’t in Fremont Street, I might consider staying there on a future trip.  They also have a Swim Stadium.  I had to get a photo with this masked guy outside a sandwich shop and as we were leaving, the gal inside asked if she was able to successfully photo bomb me.  I love it!

We continued towards the Banger Brewery and next door was Heart Attack Grill.  We knew we needed something to tide us over so we shared a burger, fries, and shake.  OMG.  I had heartburn like you would not believe after that.  The food was good and the ambiance was interesting.

The beer at the brewery was just okay.  I was super full from Heart Attack Grill and the beers just takes too “hoppy” for my taste.

We played off free play at various casinos and had a few wins to keep us entertained.  

Having the car meant we could give our feet a break and drive/park at different hotels along The Strip.  We also had resort credit to use for food and some MyKonami and GroupOn deals which meant we didn’t have to spend much on food.  On our stop at Walmart for some water and Coke Zero I also picked up some light beer and drink mixers.  The mini fridges in the room are now empty due to COVID and we had a car/cooler so we didn’t have to worry about drinking all our fluids before boarding a plane.  That also helped cut down on cost.

We rolled out of town with plans to spend the night south of Salt Lake City.  Along the route we stopped at Eureka Hotel and Casino in Mesquite, NV where this couple won $12,000 on a slot machine jackpot.  Oh man was I jealous!  I spotted The Creamery of I15 in Beaver, UT and convinced Kenyon to make the five minute drive into town to get some cheese curds and  ice cream.  It was delicious.

We spent the night in Lehi, UT so we could hit up the Container Store in Salt Lake City before we headed home.  We will be back through SLC in March so I decided not to go to any of the Coach Outlets.  It was a tough decision but since I love my current purse, I didn’t figure I should temp myself.  

We will not be traveling again until March.  It is time to hunker down and focus on my weightless journey.