Where every Tuesday: I confess

*This is the fifteenth confession sent to my email subscribers. If you’d like the most current confessions sent straight to your inbox in real time, head to my homepage, sign up, and download your free gift.*

Confession: I love, love, love Las Vegas. 

Most people are surprised when I say this because I don’t drink, gamble, like crowds, or even like staying up late.

But I LOVE Vegas.

I love the energy, the food, the different people, the food, how you can walk EVERYWHERE, the shows, the weather, the food, and some of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in.

And for me – what happens in Vegas – always comes home because it’s a great story.

The first time I went to Vegas was in 2010 (?). When I moved here in 2006 the Minnesotans told me “you will have to go somewhere warm in the winter if you want to survive.” To which I responded “I’m from Iowa – I can handle cold and snow.”

But after 4 years, and the LONG terrible winter of 2010 – I decided they were right. It was time to take a vacation. But I also had a few revelations.

• I used to think I wasn’t spontaneous – that I had to have things all planned out and everything had to be in order. So why would I take a spontaneous vacation?
• I had paranoia that if I took a vacation and another trainer taught my class that my clients would like them better (major insecurity!).
• I thought travel was more expensive than I could handle.
• I liked routine a lot – planning a vacation short notice seemed hard.

But when I boarded that plane with my best friend and we left the -20 degree (no joke) temperatures of Minnesota and touched down in bright, shiny Las Vegas (65 degrees) I realized it was going to be awesome!

I was spontaneous and able to go on a vacation and let loose and have fun. We stayed in a cheap hotel, ate on a budget, walked everywhere and the vacation wasn’t a stress on the budget. And forget routine – we were in Las Vegas!! Where there are no clocks, tons of artificial light, and no way to tell what time or day it is.

And when I got back – my clients were even happier to see me and couldn’t wait to hear about my fun trip. Phew! 🙂

I have since been on a vacation every year in the winter – and it sure does help with the sanity. But I have also been back to Vegas 4 more times and will return this November to participate in Worlds Toughest Mudder – a 24 hour event. Pretty cool that the most challenging event in my life so far takes place in a city that holds a cool place in my soul.

Some of my favorite highlights of Vegas include:

• All the shows – Cirque and others
• Flight lining (it’s like zip lining) in the canyons outside of Vegas
• Running a half marathon at night on the strip (twice)
• Walking my first 50,000 step day on my Fit Bit (and running up and down stairs in New York New York before a show to make sure I did it)
• Buying/eating a buffet pass for 24 hours
• Seeing Macklemore perform before the half marathon
• Going to the New Kids on the Block concert
• JUMPING off the Stratosphere (twice!)
• And one of my all time favorites – winning a scavenger hunt between four friends because I took a VIDEO with a street performer. And I’m sorry to say that I just spent the last 40 minutes trying to get it to upload here and no luck. Maybe some day it will appear.
• So, so, so many more.

But if you go to Vegas – and you like getting up early – make sure to play the game “have they been to bed yet or not?”

I want to know – is there a city that taught you a lesson? A place you love to go? Email me here – I love hearing your stories.

Have a great week – plan a spontaneous vacation – even if it’s somewhere close by.

lindsey