I Ditched The Bachelorette Party And Took A Solo Trip To Las Vegas Instead — Here's Everything I Loved (And Didn't Love) About It

I was dealing with some grief — so instead of forcing myself to take the "traditional" pre-wedding route, I went wedding dress shopping by myself, skipped the engagement party, and took a solo bachelorette trip to Las Vegas.

When you get engaged in America, it's typical to have a big wedding, attend a few events before the big day, and throw a bachelorette party with a bunch of friends. For me, however, none of those things came to fruition. In fact, I went on a solo bachelorette trip instead.

Raven Ishak

This is me with my fiancé after he proposed. 

This new pre-wedding "trend" (which has garnered over 3.1 billion views on TikTok) gained traction after small business owner and YouTube content creator Aja Dang-Puspos went to a spa resort sans friends. Aside from not wanting to put more financial pressure on her loved ones, Aja also didn’t want anyone to ask her questions about what to do or where to go. "I just wanted to be pampered,” she told the New York Times — and honestly, I wanted that for myself as well.

To give a little more context: In April 2017, my fiancé and I got engaged, and in August 2017, my mother unexpectedly passed away. Since then, I've been trying to rediscover who I am as a woman without my mom — and honestly, it's been hard. 

While I would have loved to do all the traditional wedding events — and there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing those things in the first place! — I experienced new mental health struggles that made it difficult to do certain things after her passing.

Raven Ishak

So instead of forcing myself to go down the "traditional" wedding route, I went wedding dress shopping by myself, I forwent the engagement party and bridal shower, and I took a solo bachelorette trip to Las Vegas.

Raven Ishak

To be transparent, this trip only came about because a hotel publicist reached out to me to check out their Las Vegas properties, and even though I never imagined myself going to Las Vegas for a bachelorette party, I saw this as an opportunity to slow down and take time for myself in the midst of my grief right before my wedding.

I also want to share that I know what a privilege it is to be able to do this, and I recognize that not everyone has the flexibility to just get up and go on a trip.

I am unbelievably grateful that I was given the opportunity to go when I could. But I also wanted to share my solo trip experience to see if this might help others make the decision to do something for themselves, whether it's a cross-country trip, a "non-traditional" bachelorette party, or simply a few hours at the movies for some alone time. 

So if you're thinking of taking a solo trip somewhere but not sure where to go or what to do, here's a small guide to my solo trip* to Las Vegas — less "sin," more city — and all the reasons you should absolutely take a solo travel trip of your own whenever the time is right. Plus, I've included little tips that may make you feel more comfortable being by yourself during your vacation.

Raven Ishak

*BuzzFeed was provided this trip free of charge; however, we were under no obligation to give a positive review.

While I've traveled alone on a plane before, I usually preferred traveling with people — however, for this trip, I took a cross-country flight from New York to Nevada by myself, and I forgot how easy it is to travel by yourself.

Raven Ishak

Let me explain: I didn't have to wait for anyone to get ready, I only had to worry about my belongings, and I left for the airport when I wanted to leave. Travel stress? Who is she?

That was probably the biggest thing I noticed while traveling alone, which I didn't quite realize I was lacking in my everyday life: I got to do what I wanted, when I wanted, without having to worry how my decisions were going to affect others (like my partner and our puppy dog). I got to be a little selfish doing things that were going to make me happy. I got to put energy into myself, first and foremost. 

Having the ability to make decisions without concern about anybody else is a luxury that not a lot of people talk about — but needs to be discussed more often. (Also, shoutout to all the parents and caregivers out there who rarely get to do this — you deserve alone time above everyone else.)

Once I landed in Las Vegas, I was able to acclimate myself by opening up my Google Maps app to see how far the airport was from the hotel I was going to be staying at. (Luckily, the airport was only about 10 minutes away from The Strip — aka the "hub" of Las Vegas.)

Raven Ishak

Arriving in a new place by yourself can be not only exciting but also a little intimidating and confusing — so do whatever you need to do to feel comfortable ASAP, whether that's getting your go-to order from the airport Starbucks or calling a loved one to let them know you landed (which, honestly, I miss doing with my mom).

Another tip before you go on your solo trip? Go on TikTok and use it as a search engine for the city you plan on visiting — this will give you an idea of how the city is geographically structured, as well as the kinds of foods and activities it has to offer.

Raven Ishak

There are SO many travel TikTokers who have accounts fully dedicated to a specific city. Since I wasn't too familiar with Vegas, for instance, I was told to check out @vegasstarfish to get some ideas on places to eat at and visit.

After scrolling TikTok, I went back to my Google Maps app and "starred" everything I wanted to do and see. 

Random tip: If you ever dream of going to a place and you find a restaurant or shop on social media that you really want to go to, star it on your Google Maps right then and there. This way, when you finally get to go to this destination, you'll have a premade itinerary already set for you (sans booking, of course). Hopefully, this should make planning a little less stressful for solo traveling. 

But if you really want to upgrade your solo travel plans, I 100% recommend using Wanderlog. While I didn't use it for this trip, I am currently using it for another, and. It's. A. Game changer.

Raven Ishak/Wanderlog / Via wanderlog.com

Not only does it allow you to create your itinerary day by day like any other travel planning app, but it also shows you how much you plan on spending for the trip based on your itinerary, gives you directions and travel time from place to place, and allows you to forward all the important hotel and flight confirmation emails to the app to easily log all the vital information you need to have it in one place. This is not an ad for this app — but it's definitely been helpful with my current travel planning needs, so I had to share. 

Anyways, back to Vegas. Once I got to the hotel, I had about 30 minutes to get ready before my first solo dining experience. The restaurant? The Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace — which is often dubbed the most luxurious buffet in America. Free to check out my full review here. The TL;DR is that it was definitely an over-the-top experience, but it also had some faults.

Raven Ishak

As for my solo dining experience, though, I don't know about you, but when I eat alone, I usually feel more present in the moment, especially when I'm not looking at my phone.

While I absolutely love eating dinner with my fiancé, I often forget that there is something romantic (and confidence boosting) about sitting at a table by yourself in a restaurant. 

I think in that moment, it's hard not to look around you, see groups of families and couples sharing meals, and believe that that is more valuable than having a meal by yourself. But when I do go to a restaurant with people and I see someone eating by themself at the bar or a table, it's hard not to feel envious that they had the courage to do that. 

Now that I've gone on this solo trip, I plan on scheduling more solo dinner dates. Like the women I've seen before, I'll order a mocktail or cocktail and snack on an appetizer while I turn the pages of my current book.

Talking about food, I had the opportunity to try out so many different kinds of restaurants and meals on this trip — so here are some favorite places and dishes I'd recommend that you check out, whether you're dining solo or with other people.

Raven Ishak

• Gordon Ramsay Burger: Look, to be honest, I don't normally order a burger from a restaurant unless it's from a fast-casual place like Shake Shack or In-N-Out because I prefer eating smash burgers (aka really thin patties that are packed with flavor and fat). And when I saw the price tag on all these burgers (they start at $26), I truly was not expecting much because I figured the sky-high price was due to the "Gordon Ramsay" name. 

HOWEVER, I was blown away by this restaurant — specifically, their Stout Burger.  No joke, I dream about this damn burger so much that I need to figure out how to re-create it at home. It's juicy and tender and packed with enough flavor without tasting just like "salt." If it had asked me to marry it, I would have considered it. (If you're staying at the Flamingo this summer, Gordon Ramsey will be opening another GRB there.)

• In-N-Out Burger: Do I have to say more? It's burgers, it's fries, it's a milkshake. This chain is the West Coast jewel of burgers — and if you've never been, it's a must-try at least once. Pro tip: Ask for "animal style" on your burger or fries if you're into onions, special sauces, and melted, gooey cheese. 

• The Bedford by Martha Stewart: After reading the New York Times review of this place, I honestly wasn't expecting much — but I was pleasantly surprised, though the price tag was steep. For instance, roast chicken for one person is $59.95.

That was another thing I noticed in Las Vegas: how pricey everything is. So if you plan on coming here, keep this in mind if you're wanting to explore a lot on the Strip.

As for the rest of the trip, I made sure to listen to my body by not pushing myself too hard. When you're traveling with friends, it's important to consider not only your goals and expectations for a trip but also theirs. However, it's also common not to always be on the same page about things. Look, I used to love staying out until 2 a.m. drinking and laughing with my friends — but now that I'm almost in my mid-30s, my body doesn't know how to sustain that kind of nightly marathon anymore. Like, how do people train for triathlons, when I need to train myself to stay up past 10 p.m.? Please, someone, make it make sense.

Raven Ishak

But since my friends weren't on this trip with me, I got to make the calls, which was a nice change of pace. If I wanted to stay in and order room service instead of going out for dinner, I did just that. If I originally had plans to check out a new place down the Strip but my body was telling me to rest, I listened to it instead of forcing it to do something more adventurous. 

Even though this was my solo trip in "Sin City," I took a lot of naps — like, a lot, and I don't feel one ounce of guilt for doing so. I normally have a really hard time sleeping in the middle of the day because of my anxiety, and while I could 100% blame the time difference, I took advantage of the situation to just snooze any chance I had. 

Yes, I could have seen more of Vegas, and I know I would have felt this guilt even more if I didn't have the privilege of a hotel company footing the bill, but I also had to tell myself multiple times that catching up on sleep is just as important as (if not more important than) going out in order to feel like my best self. After all, this was the whole point of the trip: to take care of myself during a really exciting yet emotional time. If no one else was there to guilt me into going out and doing things, then why was I going to do this to myself, when this was exactly what my body was needing? 

However, when I did go out, I made sure to do things I really wanted to do. For instance, when I found out that Meow Wolf had one of their immersive art exhibits in Las Vegas, I bought a ticket right then and there and took a 15-minute cab ride to go see it.

Raven Ishak

If you're unfamiliar with Meow Wolf, it's a collection of artists who come together to completely revamp a space with interactive art and storytelling in an out-of-the-box kind of way. While you may have seen their Santa Fe original space going viral on Instagram back in 2016, they now have three other locations in America — with one of them being in Las Vegas. 

To be honest, I did get a little sad that I wasn't able to share this experience with my partner, as we normally love to do these kinds of things together — but I also reminded myself how amazing it was to be able to just get up and go first thing in the morning, because my partner usually likes to sleep in a little later than I do.

Once I was there, though, I loved having the ability to take my time and explore the way I wanted to explore. As an overthinker, I tend to worry a lot about whether the people I'm with are having a good time. It's hard for me to "take up space" even when I'm around thoughtful and kind people. 

While learning to "take up space" is something I'm still working on, choosing to do activities like this on my own allows me to fully engage with the thing I'm doing without having to worry the whole time I'm there. I was able to feel more present, feel less anxious, and step outside of my comfort zone (which is something I'm actively trying to do more of — hence this trip).

Raven Ishak

If there is one thing I highly recommend you do in Las Vegas, it's visit Meow Wolf's Omega Mart, especially if you plan to travel alone. Between the faux supermarket with punny food items and the Stranger Things–like "Upside Down" world that I discovered behind the frozen meat section and food aisles, I spent almost two hours in this space. And you're encouraged to touch, climb, and open everything you see.

Raven Ishak

Aside from Meow Wolf, there are so many other things you can do on the Las Vegas Strip by yourself — all of which are about a 5- to 10-minute drive from one another. One of the things I did was go on the High Roller, a giant Ferris wheel that takes about 30 minutes to complete. (It was the largest Ferris wheel in the world until the Dubai Eye was constructed in 2021.)

Caesar's Entertainment

I also caught the Absinthe show, a sexy circus show that's pretty dang unique. The sex factor is high, and the stakes are even higher because of the stunts they do. I was stressed, the audience was stressed, but it was worth the watch. Pro tip: Try to go on a nonweekend night — later in the evening if you can — to save some cash.

Raven Ishak

A few other things I did:

• Spa treatments: The Strip is lined with hotels, which means you have a lot of spa treatments to choose from. I had the opportunity to check out the Voie Spa & Salon at Paris Las Vegas to get a hydrafacial and Reflections, the Spa at Planet Hollywood to get a massage (which is where I was staying). However, the inside of the Sahra Spa, Salon & Hammam at the Cosmopolitan looks like a dream, and the Canyon Ranch Spa & Fitness at the Venetian looks extremely futuristic.

• Sphere at the Venetian Resort: If you haven't heard, there's a new kid on the Strip, and it's really hard to miss. While the outside of the Sphere showcases large-scale visuals such as giant basketballs, abstract imageries, and more, you can also purchase tickets for The Sphere Experience, where you'll watch a "real-life humanoid robot, who will take you on a tour into the future of technology."

• Cry in a hotel room: Let's be honest — a cathartic solo trip isn't complete without a full cry session in your hotel room, right? To be transparent, toward the end of the trip, I remembered that my mom came to Las Vegas with my aunt to see Céline Dion when she had a residency there, and I wanted to replicate a photo she took in Vegas — but I couldn't find it on her Facebook. So I tried the second-best thing and simply took a picture of myself in the middle of the Strip in hopes that I was close to where she was. 

That's the incredibly sucky thing about grief: You could be having a relaxing time one minute and be hit with wild emotions the next because a forgotten memory reemerges out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong: I'll never take those remembered thoughts for granted, and I actually prefer it when they pop up — but I have to allow myself to feel the grief, because fighting it simply doesn't work. 

So I called my fiancé and cried on the phone while telling him how much I missed my mom and how I wished I could just call her to ask where the picture was. The frustration of not being able to do the thing you easily had access to before is one of the major things I now feel with grief — and it's been a learning curve for sure. 

Now that my solo trip is over and I'm back in New York to reflect on my experience, I'm really grateful I had the opportunity to do something on my own and for myself before my wedding day. This trip helped me reconnect with myself, my needs, and my relationship with others because I got to exercise the muscle of simply putting myself first (which is something I have a really hard time doing — not in a selfless way, but in more of a "people pleaser" way). This trip also helped me learn to cherish my alone time, which I was so afraid to have for the longest time.

Raven Ishak

But if there's one thing I'm super grateful for, it's having the space to face my grief again, which has been hard to do with the little wedding planning and everyday life stresses we currently have going on. 

While I don't believe you need to travel across the country or go on a solo bachelorette trip to face your fears, get alone time, or do something for yourself, I do think it's incredibly important to try to do these things as often as you can at home (at least I will try doing this more often for myself). Because especially as women, most of us are in service of others, and most of the time, we need to remember to be in service of ourselves, especially if we have a major life change happening.

Raven Ishak

Have you or someone you know ever taken a solo bachelorette or bachelor trip? If so, tell us what you loved (or hated) about it in the comments below.