Vegas New Year's Eve '23/'24 at OMNIA Nightclub with Steve Aoki inside Caesars Palace, thanks to a generous friend!!

I started out at Chickie's & Pete's Las Vegas inside SAHARA Las Vegas (with free parking!) for a vegan Beyond burger from their vegan menu.

Then I took the Las Vegas Monorail (the new Sphere sure is big when you're right next to it!) to start the Las Vegas Club Crawl with a 1 hour open bar at Carlos'n Charlie's Las Vegas inside Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. Actually it was outside Flamingo, on a big patio. Luckily I found a seat close to a gas patio heater!

After that, our group walked over to American Beer & Cocktails in the LINQ Promenade for drink specials, but I was still working on my free drink.

Next we walked across the Strip to Caesars Palace and got in line for Omnia Nightclub. It was a long line but it moved quickly. Once inside, I got another drink to take care of the rest of the night. On the dance floor I met a nice couple from Czechoslovakia - he'd been to Vegas many times but this was her first time, and also some people from Reno and Salt Lake City. I was wearing my old light up Good To Glow bow tie that stays lit for days instead of my new Light Up Wear bow ties that only last about 3 hours. I got lots of compliments all night long!

When the Dance floor got too crowded I moved to a more open area in back of the DJ. That's where I took this vid. I was planning on cutting it down to just the countdown, but I put up the whole shoot (my arms got tired holding my iPhone over my head).

It starts with some sky dancers who dropped from the ceiling. Then the lights take over at about 1:30. The big chandelier comes back down at about 4:00. It is 33 ft wide, weighs 13,000 lbs, with 8 rings of lights that move up and down independently at 4 ft/sec from the 65 ft high ceiling.

The countdown starts at about 6:30. The bar that is lowered probably has a video screen on the other side of it. Towards the end you can see DJ Steve Aoki jumping around in the center.

Shortly after that I got squashed(!) trying to get to the exit at the other end of the 75,000 sq ft room. Once outside it was better until I tried to cross the Strip full of people walking north, chased by cop cars with flashing lights a ways to the south, clearing people off the Strip so it can go back to cars. Then the sidewalk on the other side was packed and not moving.

I heard that Vegas was expecting 400,000 people for this NYE, they've said 300,000 in past years.

When I finally got to the back of the Flamingo Hotel, I couldn't see the end of the line to the Monorail. So I walked to the Harrah’s/LINQ station, same thing. So I walked all the way back up to Sahara Hotel, with a pit stop and to warm up in the new Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

Back at Sahara I played a little free play from a new week (and a new year). I started talking to the person next to me and she told me about her 7 year old son who likes to cook. The vids she showed me on her phone looked like he is a Master Chef! She said when he tastes a meal, he can tell what spices are in it. I suggested they try Crossroads Kitchen inside Resorts World Las Vegas and The Modern Vegan near Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

And I got home to my cat Bluey about 4am. Happy New Year!