Off to Atlantic Citaaay!!!

On Thursday morning we boarded the Hamptons Luxury Cruise Liner and headed to Atlantic City!

We discovered that the Hamptons Liner was infact a posh coach and not a boat, we did think that boarding a boat in the middle of Times Square was a bit odd - but it was a mighty fine coach and made our 2.5 hour journey to AC very comfy. There were soft, reclinable chairs, free drinks and snacks and film to keep us from playing I-spy the whole way...

Atlantic City is a mini Vegas/Blackpool type area in New Jersey - with a lovely boardwalk and a load of casinos. It's where the Boardwalk Empire programme's set, and has been on Sex & The City (which I think is the main reason Abi wanted to go!)

We arrived at our hotel, The Resorts Casino Hotel, and made our way to the check in desk... Abi, however couldn't even control herself for that short lenght of time and hit the slot machines as soon as they came into sight and instantly tripled her $5 bet! How's that for beginner's luck?!

After finding our room (on the 41st floor!) we went off to explore the boardwalk and the fun fare. Apparently the boardwalk is rated as the country's best, or one of the best, and there was a load of rides and games on the Steel Pier right outside the hotel.

It was a bit of cloudy afternoon, and veeeeery muggy - so we didn't spend too long outside, but we were out long enough to see a massive protest march. We could see the crowds of people coming towards the boardwalk, and then later they all came shouting and chanting and clapping, walking down the boardwalk and stopping outside the casinos...

I think it was a big protest about their work contracts - based on the 'What do we want? CONTRACTS! When do you want them? NOW' chants, but it didn't seem like a very angry protest or anything. But it did block off the boardwalk so we went back inside the casino instead...

Just by the doors that lead onto the boardwalk from the hotel, there were a selection of hand prints in concrete, all mainly from the 1980's, from people who have performed at the Resorts Casino. They had handprints of the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Englebert Humperdink, Joan Rivers, Steve Martin and loads more, including Dean Martin!!!

Complete with shot glasses and bottles!

During the course of the day, Abi got hooked on the slots, here she is at the beginning of the evening...

...and here she is a few hours later...

We went for another stroll down the boardwalk when it got dark, looking at all the sparkling and flashing lights, it was just like a mini Vegas...

Just down the way from our hotel was the Trump Taj Mahal, a very glitzy and unsurprisingly gowdy casino, with plenty more slots to play on. Then we popped down to the Hard Rock Cafe for something yummy for tea, and then back to the casino for one last gamble before bed.

We had a quick dabble on the blackjack table (albeit a quite unsuccessful dabble). It's always nice when you get friendly people on the tables with you, people who are willing to give you tips and advice. Luckily we'd found a quiet table with just two other people on, so the four of us had a nice game. Unfortunately after being up a nice amount, we both ended up chipless at the end of the game, the other guys however - they had piles of chips left!

After seeing Atlantic City on Sex & The City, it was great that we found the SATC slot machines for Abi to blow her earlier winnings on.

It was a great first day in Atlantic City, and we went to bed hoping that we'd have a bit more luck in the casinos in the morning - if not, at least we knew we'd have a good breakfast!