We check out Sin City after Virgin Atlantic launched a new route from Manchester Airport
I'm standing by a swimming pool, watching a topless Sir Richard Branson pose for photographs. Just moments earlier, the billionaire owner of Virgin Group emerged from the water, shivering and dripping from head to toe.
In just over ten hours, you can find yourself transported from the runway of Manchester Airport to the sights and sounds of Las Vegas Boulevard. We hop on an air conditioned minibus and make the short journey over to the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas - my home for the next few days. My room is huge and luxurious, featuring a king-size bed, two TVs, a living room area, and a huge bathroom featuring an enormous shower and bath.
With my dreams of getting rich quick in tatters, I decide to see what the city has to offer away from the felt tables and roulette wheels. Vegas's reputation precedes itself when it comes to debauchery, but there is much more to the city than its nickname Sin City suggests. Boasting stunning views across the bustling strip and the vast expanse of desert and mountain ranges that surround Vegas, it is a perfect spot to admire the city from above.
This June was Vegas's hottest on record and, in order to avoid the worst of the sweltering heat, we head out early for possibly my highlight of the trip - a Pink Jeep Tour to Red Rock Canyon, a conservation area in the desert outside Vegas. Home to a series of large red rock formations, it's only an hour from the bright lights of the Strip but feels like a different world altogether.
Things take an even more surreal turn when I head through one of the store's hidden passages and find myself in a maze of rooms and digital art. Created by hundreds of local artists, I could have happily spent hours getting lost in the trippy artwork. On the final morning, I took a taxi across the city to Fremont Street. While most tourists spend their time in Vegas around 'the Strip', this is the area that most locals consider to be the true centre of the city. According to our taxi driver, the street is at its most vibrant in the evening when locals come out to let their hair down and enjoy live music, entertainment and street food.
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