Wow, where do I even begin? We just got back from four days in Las Vegas and I had the time of my life. I thought I’d take a minute to recap our awesome trip to those who couldn’t attend. We missed you, but hopefully, you can re-live the weekend vicariously through me and the below article.

I’ve never been to Vegas before, so this was a big weekend for me. This was our debut trip with Flair Airlines and I can’t wait to do it again hopefully soon. Everyone told me leading up to the weekend that I will be left wide-eyed and jaw-dropped while walking down the strip for my first time. I took it all as a joke, but that was literally me when we arrived. The city is extraordinary.

After checking in and unpacking at the Excalibur hotel on Friday, we hit the town. Some went straight to the casino, and others went touring. I personally, along with a handful of other fans, was escorted by The Nation Dan to Secret Pizza in the Cosmopolitan hotel where I tasted some of the best pizza in my life. We eventually met up with the rest of the group where we walked the strip, hitting up a couple of other bars, casinos, and restaurants, and then eventually called it a night as we had a big day ahead of us.

For some reason, we made a very dumb rule throughout the trip, where you have to take either one shot before 10 a.m, or ten shots before 1 pm. Sure, it gave us a kick-start to the day, but the rule also kicked me while I was down. We started off Saturday morning with a shot of Jack, and eventually made our way to the hotel pool where we rented a cabana and spent the afternoon in the sun. Don’t worry, because we were working too! It was at the pool where we shot our One Minute Men video leading up to the game. We didn’t have the game day notes with us this time, so we ended up just making them up. Looking back at the video now I realized how drunk everyone was. Maybe it wasn’t a great idea to film it at the time…

After the pool, we hit up the Moneyline bar at MGM where we watched the Oilers take on the Arizona Coyotes. This was when we first realized how many Oilersnation fans there were in Vegas, as we packed the bar full to watch the game. Hearing Let’s Go Oilers chants in Vegas bars will never get old to me.

After Connor McDavid’s overtime winner, a few of us made the trek to Freemont Street, where we spent the night listening to live music, donating some money to the casinos, and drinking all the pop we could find. We woke up the next morning to the smell of another Oilers game day, but this time it was different. This time, the Oilers were in Vegas, and you could feel the energy in the city.

After a ton of touring and walking throughout Sunday morning (have I mentioned I walked nearly 45 km’s during those four days?), we made our way to Brew Hause outside of T-Mobile Arena which was the Oilers fan gathering zone before the game. Let me tell you, seeing so many fans on the patio in 25-degree weather reminded me TOO MUCH of the Oilers playoff run in 2017. It was very nostalgic, and I loved every second of it.

After several cold ones and several hours of chanting with fellow fans, the Golden Knights drum line eventually paraded through the crowd to the rink, and we followed. It was officially game time.

The atmosphere was absolutely ecstatic outside the arena. There was ongoing chanting from both fan bases and it was a battle for the ages. Nothing changed as we went inside as the drum line continued their parade through the building, and we made our way to our seats. By seats, I mean the party deck. This place was great. They spoiled the group with complimentary food and drinks, and things got messy very quickly.

Unfortunately, the Oilers didn’t pull out a win, but I think it’s safe to say that every Oiler fan in the building had a blast. I don’t have a bad thing to say about the show the Golden Knights put on during the game, it was nuts. Vegas is known for its entertainment, and they didn’t disappoint this weekend.

Amazingly but not unexpectedly, 20 great fans joined us on the Nation Vacation to Vegas, but we met hundreds more when we arrived in the city. The Oilers fandom in Vegas was incredible, and it made me feel so lucky to be a part of this fanbase. I was lucky to get to talk to a bunch of people outside of Brew Hause before the game, and I learned that people travelled from all over North America to watch the team play in Vegas. I have no statistics to back this up, but I can only imagine that T-Mobile Arena has it’s the highest population of opposing crowd when the Oilers are visiting.

This awesome trip couldn’t have been done without the help and love from the good people at Flair Airlines. Flair did everything in their power to take care of us during our time in Vegas, and I have to add that the round trip was very pleasant for my first time flying with Flair.

During the trip, Evan the Intern filmed as much as possible to make a recap video for you all. Enjoy!