viva las vegas 2025 chapter 1, day 1

LINK: viva las vegas 2025 chapter 1, day 1

Later this year, I’ll be going back to Vegas so I guess that’ll be chapter 2.

Currently listening to: Back to Your Heart – Backstreet Boys

It’s not that I can’t live without you
It’s just that I don’t even want to try
Every night I dream about you
Ever since the day we said goodbye
If I wasn’t such a fool
Right now I’d be holding you
There’s nothin’ that I wouldn’t do
Baby if I only knew

I worked a half day at my main job, then swapped out Friday for Saturday at my second one. For my third gig, I gave notice that I wouldn’t be available for the weekend and would resume on Monday. My PR side project is put on pause. For how long, I’m not sure but I felt like at that moment, it was a good time to do so since she was looking for other people to promote her business as well.

I’ll do just about anything to avoid flying out of LAX. That place is pure chaos, Between the parking nightmare, shuttle delays, and general headache, it drains me before I’ve even stepped foot on a plane. Instead, I drove to the Long Beach Airport. It’s smaller and easier to navigate. There isn’t a Centurion lounge, but you know what? I’m completely okay with that.

I like getting to airports early, like two hours early, even for domestic flights. I learned my lesson when I almost missed a flight with Five Star. She’s the type who cuts it close, rolling in just before boarding. I can’t do that… I won’t do that at least not on purpose.

The only downside of Long Beach is the food situation. Not a lot of healthy options. By the time I arrived, I was starving, so I settled on loaded nachos. At least they were gluten-free, LOL.

While waiting to board, I was reading blogs on WP. Then I got the dreaded flight delay notification. I quickly texted Five Star since I was the last of our group to arrive; the rest either don’t work or work remotely, so their schedules are a bit looser than mine.

By the time we lined up to board, the airline announced that the flight was full and they’d be checking bags for free for groups B and C, I was in group A. Thank goodness. Ever since that time my luggage got lost in the Motherland, forcing me to wear my grandma’s dresses for a week, I’ve had baggage trust issues.

Flying Southwest feels a bit like the Hunger Games. Group A gets first pick but after that, all bets are off on what seats you get. I grabbed a window seat, popped a Dramamine, and knocked out until landing.

When I woke up about 40 minutes later, the pilot was singing, “Viva Las Vegas” as we descended into Harry Reid Airport. That’s when it hit me that this trip was going to be fun. I only had 24 hours in Vegas, the main reason was to see Backstreet Boys at the Sphere and hang out with Five Star.

The rideshare pick-up area was busy with people, and Uber had surging prices in full effect. They were offering discounts for ride shares with strangers, which was half the price, so of course I chose that. I wasn’t about to pay $40+ dollars to literally go five miles. When the driver, Felix (aww Felix from Stray Kids), picked me up, it turned out that he didn’t have any other passengers, so I scored a solo ride at a discount.

I texted Five Star when I arrived at the Palms. I’d never been there before, but she had a comped room for two nights, and the place looked nice, definitely a four star hotel. She introduced me to her three friends, and I immediately sensed that one was a little extra spicy. I made a mental note to stay on her good side.

We were all starving, I couldn’t eat much of the nachos because it was feeling too heavy in my stomach, so we went downstairs to get pizza. I grabbed a veggie slice and it was delicious. Then we Uber’d it to the Sphere.

I have to say, the Sphere lives up to the hype. I was skeptical, but once I walked in, I was impressed. My seat was in section 103, the first level, which was perfect. The others had pit tickets, which are standing room only, but I knew myself well enough to go ahead and buy a seat. After working late nights and juggling deadlines, my legs would not have survived standing for more hours.

The concert was supposed to start at 2000, but of course it didn’t begin until about 2045. That’s how American concerts are usually, they never start on time. Kpop concerts on the other hand are usually on time. The Gen X ladies next to me were grumbling about how late it was. Five Star and her friends were already tired after a few drinks. I skipped drinking alcohol because I still had Dramamine in my system and didn’t want to overload my liver. I knew the visuals at the Sphere would make me queasy, which is why I took another tablet of Drammy. Flashback to grade school when I went to the planetarium without being medicated was a huge mistake. I had to go home after 15 minutes of being inside the dome.

Apparently, the dress code is all-white so I had to find my outfit from Costco. I don’t normally wear white because I know I won’t be able to keep it clean. My hair, was not behaving. I have naturally wavy hair and sometimes after straightening it stays straight and other times it doesn’t. It was making my wolf cut look more shaggy, but it was too late to fix it.

Since I was solo one with a seat, I thought I would see if I could get Five Star a seat near me. I went on Stubhub to see how much last minute seats would cost. Umm immediately no. The dark purple was the area where I was sitting and I definitely didn’t pay anywhere close to that amount. Fuck that. She was going to have to stand there and make the best of it.

Once the show started, I was lost in the music. It was banger after banger. Everyone was singing at the top of their lungs, and the energy of the place had a chokehold on me. It was hilarious when they referred to themselves as daddies and zaddies. I wanted to livestream on IG but they changed the rules. You now need at least 1,000 followers. How annoying.

Afterward, the plan was to hit Nomikai, a speakeasy sushi spot, but everyone else was too tired. I was a little disappointed, but I’ll save it for the next time I’m in Vegas.

Instead, we gambled at the Palms, I didn’t know what I was doing with digital poker but her friend said we could get free drinks if we pulled up to the bar and played on the machines. I stuck to orange juice, while the others ordered more cocktails.

Later, the group split. The Palms couldn’t provide a rollaway bed since five people in the room was considered a fire hazard, so Five Star managed to score a comped room at the Luxor. The Palms was completely booked thanks to the Backstreet Boys and the Raiders vs 49ers preseason game.

Checking in at the Luxor took nearly an hour since comped rooms can’t be processed online. It was a free room aside from the resort fee, which we split. Luxor is… vintage. The carpets need replacing, the smell is very distinct, and Five Star warned me to be on the look out for bed bugs. What?? Luckily, our room was clear and we had our own bed.

By then, it was half past 0100 and I still had energy to spare. I must have been on my seventh wind. The lights, the buzz of the casino, it made me chatty and hyper. Which surprised me because I am usually not like this. I thought for sure Five Star would want to gamble more but she was exhausted. So I basically talked her ear off until she fell asleep. When she finally did, I wound down reading blogs until I passed out myself.