I’m convinced there are a handful of moments, in every person’s life, that leave an indelible impression. What these moments are, exactly, depend entirely on the person, as is the impact they make. Personally, I’ve experienced more than my fair share and seeing BTS live is most definitely one of them!
Having recently returned from a 4-day stay in Las Vegas that was nothing short of a dream come true, I can say with absolute certainty that this trip will live on in my memory as one of the best moments of my life.
It all started about a month ago, when a very wonderful friend of mine messaged me out of the blue, asking if I had tickets to see BTS. When I wailed over the fact that I wasn’t able to get them, she surprised me with the most unimaginable news ever: she had an extra ticket for Vegas and it was mine, as long as I could get there. When I tell you I have never booked a flight so fast in my life, I mean it! With a flight booked, a room secure, and a ticket waiting for me, there was nothing left to do but pray I could find a ticket for Thursday night somewhere that wouldn’t cost me my spleen and wait. And wait. And wait.
Lucky for me, the month of May is full of end-of-the-school-year insanity. Couple that with a speaking engagement at a product safety & stewardship conference in Kansas City (Yes, my real job is just thrilling, can’t you tell?), a trip to the Pokémon Fossil Museum Exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago, a harrowing 10 minutes as I scrambled to purchase a Thursday night ticket before they all sold out again, and a couple of last-minute BTS-inspired crafts to wear during my trip, and time flew by quickly enough. Before I knew it, it was time to pack up my bedazzled handicrafts and head to Nevada. To say I was excited would be the understatement of the century.
Running on three hours of sleep and zero caffeine, I landed in Vegas at 07:30 on Tuesday morning, which, if I’m being honest, is an experience in and of itself. Most of the city is asleep, which is funny, coming from a place where most people are at work by then, but also very convenient when you want to hit up Cafe Lola for their special BTS drink. (No lines!) Naturally, after reuniting with my dear friend and fellow OG ARMY (after spending more than a decade apart), that’s exactly what we did.
From there, it was off to the hotel to drop off my luggage before setting out on a day filled with BTS-centered fun. No stranger to Vegas, my friend knew all the best places to visit, both as a first-time visitor and as ARMY. We rode the BTS monorail, wandered through The Venetian and visited the Grand Canal Shoppes (including a stop by Bauman Rare Books which was freaking incredible! If you’re a book nerd like me, you need to add this to your list of must-see sites in Vegas!), and grabbed donuts and coffee at Donutique, a ridiculous little patisserie that sells some of the most insane donuts I have ever seen in my life!
From the Venetian, we wandered our way over to The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, making a stop at the ARIRANG pop-up store, because even though we couldn’t get in (*sob sob*) we were still able to grab our stamp for the “BTS THE CITY ARIRANG” Stamp Rally. Continuing our adventure through the Shops, I nearly lost my shit when I found Hobi’s adorable pink LV shoes in the wild. I don’t know why I got so excited over these shoes, other than I love shoes and I never thought I’d get to see these little gems in real life, much less touch them, but I did! As our adventure continued, we stumbled upon the ARIH pop-up, which meant we had to stop by for a quick visit. I absolutely detest taking photos of myself but I was willing to set aside my loathing if it meant getting a chance to win a cute keychain! I didn’t end up winning the one I wanted, but I did go home with a little click-y keyboard fidget that my neuro-spicy children absolutely love, so I’m calling it a win.
The adventures continued outside of Caesars Palace, with a quick stop and photo-op at the “Welcome to Borahaegas” inflatable and then it was off to the Bellagio! When I tell you that casino is next level gorgeous, I mean it! The Mother’s Day display they had set up was quite literally mind-blowing. An over-the-top display of flowers and birds, faberge eggs, and a pink pony carousel, it was almost too much to take in at once!
We wrapped up our adventures on the Strip with a trip to the Arte Museum to experience the wonder that was the Arirang Exhibition. Trying to find the words to describe this immersive experience isn’t easy. The exhibit starts with this infinite waterfall that both boggles the mind and confuses the senses. From there, you wander into a room of roses that immediately brings Dorothy’s field of poppies to mind. The room itself smells incredible, which was not something I was expecting, but very much enjoyed! Each room in the exhibit had something incredible to offer. From interactive flowers that bloomed and sparkled when you touched them, to boldly colored animals wandering (or in the case of the Arirang whale, floating) their way around the room, to a giant wall of water that transitioned from massive tidal wave into the Arirang symbol, the entire exhibit was a treat for the senses. The highlight of the exhibit had to be the Arirang Garden and the immersive 15-minute mini-concert that included “No. 29,” “Body to Body,” “Swim,” “2.0,” and “Into the Sun.” With visuals playing on every wall, our trip through the Garden was so much fun. Everywhere you looked, there was something new to see and it was all incredible! Of course, we had to include a stop by the Arirang Café to enjoy a sweet little pick-me-up and even that was an experience, with the Arirang logo being projected onto our drinks at a table that was an interactive experience, in and of itself. It was honestly so wild!
Finishing our time on the Strip with the Arte Museum exhibit was honestly perfect but our adventures in Vegas were far from over. Having been told by other Vegas veterans of a pizza place around Fremont Street, my friend and I decided to head that way for dinner. While the pizza was fine, it was experiencing the utterly insane energy of Fremont Street that really made an impression! With zip lines whizzing overhead and a giant dancing gorilla to greet us, I had no idea what we’d just walked into! But that was only the beginning! Have you ever been bedecked with Mardi Gras beads by a gorgeous, half-naked Chippendale dancer? Because I have and let me tell you, standing in front of that much beauty (the man had the most gorgeous eyes!) and muscle (OMG, how was he even real?), while he fishes out purple beads because they’ll match your hair, then calls you baby as he puts them around your neck is an EXPERIENCE! I don’t think I breathed the entire time I was standing there, trying to figure out where to look because his eyes were too pretty and his chest was too bare and I didn’t want to be rude and stare so I just froze while my heart stopped and my brain melted. How I managed to walk away from that experience, I’ll never know. But I don’t think I started breathing again until that pair of gorgeous men were well behind us. Oh the things you experience in Vegas! With my brain struggling to understand how one can go from a strong, intelligent, independent woman to blathering idiot at the sight of muscles and a little male attention, we decided it was time to go.
Of course, one can’t come to Vegas and not visit the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign; but especially not when they turn it red in honor of one of your favorite bands! It was neat to see such an iconic piece of Vegas landscape in person but honestly, the sign is a whole lot smaller than they make it look on TV and in movies! Still, it was a fun little side-quest and something my friend had never done, in her 30+ years of coming to Vegas, so it was definitely worth it!
Seeing the entirety of Vegas go all-out for BTS was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. Everywhere you looked, there were “BTS THE CITY ARIRANG LAS VEGAS” signs: casino marquees, the Sphere, billboards on the strip, stand-up signs on the street, the Las Vegas sign itself… Naturally, I took pictures of every single BTS sign I could possibly find and when I tell you there were a lot, I am NOT joking! When BTS says they’re taking over a city, they TAKE. IT. OVER. Everything was covered in red for BTS and being there, in the middle of it all, experiencing something I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams, made my little ARMY heart so freaking happy!
To say I ended my first day in Vegas on a high would be an understatement. Little did I know this was only the beginning!