As a regular reader of my local newspaper - The Manchester Evening News - I was excited when I spotted a Cirque du Soleil competition. I had seen them before and thought they were brilliant so the idea of winning tickets to see them was just irresistable. Especially as they are based in Las Vegas! All I had to do was to say what Cirque Du Soleil translated as. Easy peasy.
Three days into the New Year I got a very exciting letter to say that I'd been chosen to jet off to Las Vegas to see the fantastic Cirque Du Soleil troup in action. I was, to say the least, thrilled and excited!
On 14th May this year my husband and I set out on our prize journey to Las Vegas. He had been before but nothing prepared me for the sight of brightly lit slot machines at the airport.
We stayed in the five-star MGM Grand Hotel and grand it certainly was! A huge art deco building nestling between palm trees. It was great fun to explore other nearby hotels too - there was one called the Parisian which had street cafes and a very French feel.
Another hotel, which was called The Venetian, even had canals and gondolas. I've never seen anything like it before!
We were given the option to see one of the three shows put on by Cirque Du Soleil and by a stroke of luck I managed to choose their most famous show - the Mystere! And even better, we were in the third row so we had one of the best views of the whole audience. There was lots of audience participation and Adrian and I even had our pictures taken with some of the performers!
Footsore but happy there was nothing better at the end of a long day than to sit down at the One Cent machines for a rest. And even there we were lucky - winning over $200.We decided to buy a special ring each with our winnings so that we would always remember this fantastic holiday. I loved it!
Linda Sullivan