We snooze until mid morning today after our first night in Vegas so by the time we leave to scout out breakfast (or lunch) it’s a scorching 40 degrees here in Paradise. That’s not me calling it that by the way, that’s genuinely the local area name here in Clark County that covers most of the Las Vegas strip and the airport.It is quite novel though when my weather app updates to tell me how hot it is here in the alleged promised land.

We stroll to Paris to grab mimosas and omelettes in ‘Mon Ami Gabi’, and for a moment we could be on the streets of France eating pain and drinking café au lait, were it not for the fountain show currently beating along to Tiësto, serving as a twice hourly reminder that we are in fact here in Vegas.

Meals consumed, we make our next stop The Aria, It has three pools and looks the business for daytime pool jaunting.

I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to pay if you’re not a hotel guest, but we brazenly walk on by when the pool guy asks for our room key, and he doesn’t ask again.

It’s sweltering, so we rotate between swimming, catching some rays, and drinking soda as helicopters fly over us.

Late afternoon we stroll back to New York to shower, change, lament over bank balances, and prepare for our evening.

We grab cocktails and dinner at The Mandarin which has stunning views, and then it’s showtime!

Tonight we are on the third row of Penn and Teller. My baby bro is an avid magic fan (he’s so cool, I know) and the agreement to attend this show was pretty much the sole reason I was able to lure him across the pond.

It’s actually pretty amazing and I have no idea how they do some of their clever tricks (although the bro spots a few things). I particularly enjoy them making a (cow) elephant disappear, and Teller pulling needles on a thread out of his gullet, and Penn swallowing fire.

After the show, we even get to meet the guys and have our picture taken as they happily do the rounds in the foyer; awesome.

We decide to head in up to Freemont Street to end our evening, although it takes forever to get there as there’s a flipped car on the freeway.

We arrive and it’s a little like Blackpool Illuminations, but like, on crack. there’s a zip line across the ceiling, bands on stages and an overhead light show. We arrive just in time for the last one of the night, and wander around taking it in, beers in hand.

We take the deuce bus back down the strip, past bail bonds and wedding chapels, and I see some of the other famous casinos whilst the bro snores away.

Eventually we hit the hay, and I go to sleep contemplating whether ‘magician’ should perhaps be my next big career move.

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