Travel: The Grand Canyon by Helicopter

Hello, it's me.

The person still writing up posts on trips that were over a year ago.

But they were awesome, and I like looking back and writing 'em up, so enjoy, my lovelies!

Our Las Vegas-Hawaii-Las Vegas honeymoon was brilliant and filled with so many high points, but one of them truly has to be the helicopter flight we took on the final evening of our holiday. We wanted to end the holiday on a high, and we took that word, high, quite literally, with an evening flight out to the Grand Canyon and back across the city as the sun went down.

We took the sunset tour offered by Papillon, and it was truly worth every penny. We were whisked from our hotel by limo (only in Vegas would a limo be considered a par-for-the-course mode of transport) and taken out to the airfield with another couple. Once there we were checked in, weighed in (to balance the flights), and awaited our resignation.

The waiting room was busy, but not uncomfortably so as three helicopters were heading out. We were assigned a flight with a lovely family from Burnley and strapped ourselves in for the flight out to the canyon.

Up in the air we flew, over the beautiful houses of Lake Las Vegas and Lake Mead.

The enormous Hoover Dam looked tiny as we soared overhead!

After taking in the amazing views across the desert and the mountains, we were into the canyon and ready to land.

We stayed down in the canyon for about 45 minutes, enjoying a champagne picnic and taking in the beautiful views. Out here all was still and calm and the rocks and the river combined to make a stunning vista.

Isn't the helicopter cute?

After soaring upwards, we needed to top up our fuel for the return to Las Vegas, so we got to stop at the Grand Canyon airport!

The Red Rocks which we flew over on our way back to Las Vegas were beautiful! They looked simply otherworldly in the early evening light.

As we came into the city the lights were just turning on for the night. It was so cool to see the tower of The Stratosphere, the Eiffel Tower, the wheel and the Bellagio fountains from up on high!

Forgive the blur - we were at quite a pace! It was so special to see the city we like so much from up in the air.

If you're holidaying in Las Vegas I would heartily recommend a flight with Papillon. The flights felt smooth and safe, the pilots were knowledgeable, friendly and funny, and the whole arrangement ran like clock work. Definitely an ideal way to see the Grand Canyon.

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Most read posts in September

It's always fun to see which posts do well in a given month - I also think these roundups are pretty useful if you don't have much time to read a particular blog (heaven knows there are lots of them out there!) and want to catch the highlights!

Here are this week's top ten (and a bonus item at the bottom.  Ooooooooooooh).

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Our honeymoon, the last few days....

It has been such fun writing up our honeymoon.  It's reminded me a little of after a long school trip, this little project, where the teachers make you write up everything.  Except this has been super fun, the pictures are all ready to go on devices various (rather than collected from Boots, never quite sure if the photos had worked or not), and this is all out there on the web rather than in a scraggly exercise book.  Man, school was fun.

After over two weeks of being in holiday mode, our last couple of days in Las Vegas were the perfect mix of chilled, exciting, and lovely.  We headed down to Fremont Street and the older part of town, and played plenty of cards.  We took a helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon which was spectacular.  We enjoyed our suite at the Aria, took the chance to enjoy some great food and cocktails, and discovered the wonder that is the The Big Bang Theory slot machine!  Here are some shots from a lovely last few days on honeymoon.

Warning, oh-so-many photos.  But life is busy and I wanted to wrap up the honeymoon posts by the end of this month.....so here we go!

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Our honeymoon, days 14 & 15

After an amazing visit to Hawaii, day 14 was our last full day in the islands.  We were so sorry to be leaving!  We'd long ago selected Hawaii as a honeymoon destination as it's the sort of place that's so far from the UK, you'll only visit once.  After our adventures on the Big Island and our idyllic time in Kauai - that's no longer true.  If and when we can save enough we hope to return, perhaps for a big anniversary in a decade or two, should the fates be kind.

We started the day with these amazing lemon-pineapple-soufflé pancakes, a Koa Kea speciality. So yummy.  After that it was time to catch a taxi across to Lihu'e, where we were scheduled to take a light aircraft flight around the island.  We flew with Wings Over Kauai and they were fantastic!

Being so high up was an amazing way to see the island, where so many films (including the Jurassic Park series) have been filmed and there is such a wealth of beauty to enjoy!

The water was so, so blue.

After a beautiful tour of the island (including a glimpse of our resort from the air in the top picture in this post!) we headed back to the Koa Kea for a chilled evening - we had a very early flight scheduled the next day.  The hotel was really exceptional and was just perfect for a honeymoon, with some of the finest staff I've ever encountered in the field.  For me the best of a very good bunch were Nick, who brought perfect blueberry toast from room service for a late night snack; Imelda, our wonderful, friendly turn-down lady; Whitney, the super helpful conceirge who assisted us with table bookings and logisitcs aplenty; and Erin, who made the pool bar a lovely place to sit and unwind (as well as making us some brilliant cocktails!).

Our last Hawaiian sunset.

Next day we were up bright and early to take a taxi back to Lihu'e.  We had to take a quick 20 minute flight back to Honolulu before our long flight back to Vegas.....and the plane was over an hour late!  Quite usual for the islands, we were assured, but a bit worrying if you like to be early for flights and have a quick turnaround!  Despite the worry, we made it to Honolulu, dashed through the terminal, and made it to our Vegas flight just in time.  Phew!

A lovely, smooth flight took us east across the Pacific, and in a few short hours had us back to desert views out the window.

We had had a great stay at the MGM Grand on our first Vegas leg, but for the return we stayed in a Sky Suite at the Aria.  The Aria is a newer hotel and is very plush and well-finished - we loved our one-bedroom corner suite on the 32-floor with floor to ceiling windows.  Best views of the Strip!

The hotel sent a limo to take us from the airport to the Aria.  As it was our first limo ride together I felt a selfie was in order!

We could see Copperfield from our room again - a little further away this time!

Space age room controls!

You could see for miles from our bedroom.

Once we were settled and unpacked - check in taking next to no time as the Sky Suites have their own entry and check in - we headed down to the casino floor to take in the lay of the land and grab a quick pizza and beer supper.

The Aria has art dotted throughout it's corridors and atria - I liked that this one bore signage which cautioned that the horse was not for sitting on...

Exploring done, we turned in for the night, and enjoyed a nightcap taking in the glittering lights of Las Vegas.  It was fun to be back!

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Our Honeymoon, days 12 & 13

More Kauai based fun.  It truly was a little slice of heaven!

After a yummy breakfast at Koa Kea we got a taxi across to Port Allan, where we enjoyed some beers at the Kauai Island Brewery - Matthew and I shared one of their awesome beer flights.  The drink he's supping above was called 'the Fonz' - hence the pose!

As the most westerly brewery on earth, it truly is the last beer before tomorrow!

Nobody has more fun!  After our drinks we crossed over to Captain Andy's, as we were heading off on a cruise along the beautiful Na'pali coast.  This northern region of Kauai is breathtaking and it was so wonderful to be able to journey along it with our lovely crew and fellow passengers.  We only managed a few snaps as we were busy enjoying the scenery and getting very wet - we opted to travel in the 'splash zone' at the front of the boat - so fun!  We were getting soaked with fresh spray and crashing through the waves at pace; absolutely thrilling.

So pretty.

Ha!  I think this shot shows quite nicely how mad the wind and waves were :)

The views were breathtaking, and I quite enjoyed drinking them in without fussing about photos.  We saw wildlife too - turtles, spinner fish, and monk seals.

We got back to the hotel and went for a dip in the pool - lovely tepid water for a late night swim.

The next morning we decided to have breakfast on our balcony, which was a lovely way to start the day - fresh fruit, delicious lemon muffins, coffee and juice, while the waves lapped below.

I don't think I'd ever tire of this view!

On this day we had planned to go on a coach trip up to Waimea Canyon, but I was wiped out.  Instead Matthew went off adventuring and I opted for a chill day at the hotel.  I knew we'd be seeing Waimea on our aeroplane tour too so I wasn't too cut up about it, and I was shattered!

I spent the morning reading on the balcony and napping in our insanely comfortable bed, and by lunchtime was feeling much more human.  I did some laundry, booked a spot for dinner, and then headed to the pool bar for some lunch, a beer and a catch up on some celebrity gossip... 

Matthew arrived back mid-afternoon as I was curled up watching Pretty Woman.  We both got washed up and changed ready for dinner, then headed down to the bar at the hotel for a drink before dinner.

Matthew opted for a rum based cocktail, while I asked for my signature drink (Tanqueray 10 martini, extra dry, straight up with a twist).  I can confirm it's just as delicious on Hawaiian Standard Time.

For dinner I'd booked us a table at the gorgeous Beach House restaurant in nearby Poipu.  It was utterly splendid to enjoy a sumptuous meal in such wonderful surroundings.

Sipping champagne with the favourite as the last rays of the day faded away = perfection.

After dinner we repaired to our hotel for a nightcap.  I decided to try a traffic light of martinis, while Matthew raised a glass to his partner in whiskey adventuring with a Lagavulin 16.

Two more beautiful days.  Full and happy, it was time for us to retire.

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Our Honeymoon, Days 10 & 11: Volcano Exploring and Off To Kauai!

I am so loving doing these honeymoon recaps.  It truly was the holiday of a lifetime and having the chance to relive it a little here on the blog is quite special.  However, life continues apace and I have *so* many other things I want to write about too....so I'm going to start doing a couple of days per post.  So much to share, so little time!

Looking out over the volcano on our hike along to the Jaggar Museum and the main viewpoint.  Just amazing!

I couldn't stop taking pictures :)

There was so much activity at the point we visited that the longer route we'd planned was out of the question.  Kilauea was busy and some of the hiking trails were closed!  We still managed a fair few miles though, which turned out to be quite enough in warm, humid conditions.

The steam banks were magnificent.  Felt like we were in a movie set.

After our hike we went back to the hotel and changed into non-hiked-in clothes.  Then we headed over to do a smaller walk to check out the Thurston lava tube - a long, cylyndrical cave created entirely by lava forcing its way through, 500 years ago.

Again, I loved the green, lush flora.

The lava tube itself.

We then retired to the Lava Rock Cafe, a great little spot in Volcano Village where all of the menu items have names inspired by volcanoes.  A tasty, fun meal.  Then we drove back to the viewpoint at the edge of the caldera to catch a glimpse of the volcano at night.  Stunning.

In the morning we were up early for some more yummy Volcano House waffles and omlettes, before we had to pack up and head off to the airport.

This view, from the hotel, is just awesome.  Nowhere else like it.  Reluctant to leave, but so excited for stage four of the honeymoon, we said our farewells and headed to Hilo.  We flew back to Honolulu (a swift 30 minute flight), then waited around a little for our 20 minute flight from Honolulu to Lihu'e, on the island of Kauai.  We were very much looking forward to experiencing the Garden Isle.

Kauai is beautiful!  Absolutely gorgeous, fresh and green.  This was to be the proper 'honeymoon' portion of our visit, romance central, so we had chosen the gorgeous Koa Kea resort for our stay.  It was, quite simply, one of the finest establishments I've ever encountered.  Beautiful rooms, lovely facilities, and fantastic staff.

Our balcony looked out over the surfing area.

Beautiful westward views across the water.  I can hear the surf now.

About twenty minutes after we'd arrived there was a rap on the door, and a gentlemen came in with gifts - a bottle of champagne and a bunch of flowers to welcome us and congratulate us on our honeymoon.  Such a wonderful way to toast our arrival!

Beautiful!

The golden glimmer of sunset.  I think I saw more sunsets in Hawaii than at any other point in my life :)

We changed for dinner and went down to Red Salt, the gourmet restaurant at Koa Kea, for supper.  There was seafood, steak, wine and chatter, and for dessert a cream soda float and the largest cookie I've ever seen.  I managed about a quarter - thank heavens for goody bags!

Happy, full, and excited to explore Kauai more in the morning, we turned in for the night.

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