viva las vegas 2026: chapter 1, day 1

LINK: viva las vegas 2026: chapter 1, day 1

I didn’t sleep much the night before (about three hours), mostly because I was finishing up work. I don’t like leaving loose ends and this would be the longest amount of time that I’ve been out since working multiple jobs.

I picked up Linda at 0630 and we headed off to the airport. We ate at one of the restaurants there, we split a breakfast sandwich and tater tots, and talked animately about the upcoming events we were going to.

It wasn’t long till we boarded our plane. The flight was only 40 minutes, but I still had to take Dramamine. Years ago, I made the mistake of not taking it for my motion sickness (short flight from MSP to O’Hare). I was violently vomiting on the plane and in my friend’s car. It was not the vibe. It took me a whole day to recover from that episode. I’ve learned my lesson since then.

I drifted in and out of sleep, letting the Dramamine take its effect, while Linda listened to BTS on her headphones.

Alyssa’s been in Vegas for the past two nights going to the BTS concerts with her dude. She picked us up from the airport and took us to The Orleans, where she’s been staying.

I’m wasn’t trying to be a snob but that hotel had a heavy mildew and musty smell that hit me the second I walked in. By the time I got to her room, my head was already pounding. I’m extremely sensitive to scents because I work in a completely scent-free environment. Patients and staff have severe allergies, so we’re careful not to trigger an anaphylactic shock.

I was quietly dying inside and tried to get the hell outta Dodge with a quickness… without being too obvious. Alyssa was so damn excited about the hotel and what a great deal she got the room for… didn’t wanna kill her vibe, but damn, it smelled like ass.

We helped her bring her luggage to her car after checking out. We had a couple of hours before we could check into MGM Grand so we ended up walking down the strip.

The whole city was full of BTS signs and events. It was really making me excited about seeing them again.

The four of us went to the Coca Cola store to check it out. I’ve never been in there before since I don’t drink soda. It was cool, they had some clothing in Korean and other languages.

We ducked into Walgreens because I wanted to get more sunscreen because the heat was intense and I burn easily.

We were famished and we decided to go to Eataly. I’ve been here a few times now and ordered my usual, the breakfast crêpe with egg, portabello mushrooms, ham, Gruyére cheese, spinach, and tomato. It was hearty and absolutely delicious and very filling.

As soon as we finished, we got a text notifying us that our rooms were ready and we could check in. We made a beeline to the casino to get our rooms.

Linda and I shared a room, while Alyssa and her man shared another room. This was our room.

This was our view on the 23rd floor.
All the famous deejays were in town.

Linda said that she was going to get ready and meet Alyssa to check out the American Music Award red carpet. Not me, I was too tired. I ended up taking an hour long nap before waking up to go to the AMA.

Originally, I was going to wear a dress and put on my heels but the heel caps broke off while I was getting ready. I didn’t want to further damage the shoes as they were expensive so instead, I decided to go casual and wore my New Balance sneakers, a t-shirt and leggings.

On my way to meet up with my friends, who were already in the Garden Arena, I passed by Steve Aoki. Whoah. That’s the closest I’ve ever been to him. I was really starting to get excited at this point.

I finally got to my seat and this was our view.

Queen Latifah was the host.

Hootie & The Blowfish performed.
EJAY and REI AMI won song of the year for Golden from Kpop Demon Hunters.
I was elated to see sombr sing Homewrecker, it’s such a bop.

The iconic Pussy Cat Dolls sang a medley of songs: Buttons, When I Grow Up, Club Song, and Don’t Cha.
Karol G served when she performed Ivonny Bonita.
John Legend was in the house.

The Black Eyed Peas won the Best Throwback Song Award for Rock That Body.
Twenty One Pilots sang Drag Path.
And the main reason why we were there was because of BTS, who made a special appearance.

BTS presenting SZA with the trophy for Best Female R&B Artist. She was completely fan girling over BTS. Same, girl, same.

Then BTS won song of the summer with SWIM.
And they snagged a trophy for the Artist of the Year.

Plus, they won best Male K-pop Artist. No surprise there.

KATESEYE performed Single Up. I love all the Kpop artists coming out in full force representing.
Keith Urban sang Summer Breeze. I didn’t know it was a cover song from Seals & Crofts. I learned something new.

New Kids on the Block performed You Got It (The Right Stuff). I’m a huge Jordan girl. He’s aging like fine wine.
I was proud that KATESEYE won the New Artist, Breakthrough Pop Artist, and Music Video awards.
And y’all know I love me some Teddy Swims. He sang Mr. Know It All, which I had on heavy rotation for a couple of weeks.

Billy Idol was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, rightfully so. He performed a medley: Eyes Without a Face and Dancing With Myself. I didn’t know either of them but Alyssa knew it by heart. She’s a bit older than me and a very proud Gen Xer.

After the AMAs concluded, we went to our rooms to change and then searched for something to eat nearby.

We didn’t want to leave the strip, but we also wanted to sit down somewhere to eat and talk about our night. We ended up at New York-New York and ate at Gonzalez Y Gonzalez. My taco salad was meh, I was disappointed but there weren’t many options nearby and we didn’t want to venture further out.

We sat there till they closed the restaurant. We went back to the casino and I played that damn Genie slot machine with Linda sitting next to me. I typically gamble for a short amount of time at the hotels in order to get comped nights (that’s how I got our room for free at MGM Grand). I started off with $100 and I was down to $45, but somehow I won $60, then lost $11. I cashed out with $89 after an hour. That was enough to secure me more complimentary nights.

When we got back to our room, we talked about her family. It turns out that her husband is also on the spectrum and does not want their son to get tested for Autism. All I could do was tell her the benefits of getting a formal autism diagnosis: legal protection (anti-discrimination), workplace adjustments, academic support, therapy and support from the regional center, having better outcomes when he enters adulthood, savings and tax breaks, and more. She seemed to really take in what I was saying and replied, “I’ll think about it.” I left it at that, since I didn’t truly know her situation at home and I didn’t want to make things uncomfortable either.

Big D sent me a DM. He never forgets. We’ve been friends since our undergrad years at U of M and he still wishes me a happy birthday every year.

I was on my fifth wind and ended up reading everyone’s posts for a couple of hours till I got sleepy.

It’s been a really long day… too long if you ask me.