Immerse Yourself in Arte

Yes, I spelled it Arte, because we're going to Arte Museum, one of the newest immersive attractions in Las Vegas. It's art that moves and involves you. It's very similar to Hopscotch here in Portland (and Austin), where each room has a new theme and you move through each exhibit at your own pace. 

At Hopscotch, the exhibits are very light focused and at Arte Museum, it is very nature focused. There are tons of photo ops, or you can just choose to soak in the vibe and feel at peace. 

You start with a banger by walking into a room full of waterfalls. Almost everything is projected and they use mirrors to make rooms look bigger or neverending, which is really cool. The varying panels make it seem like it has more depth than it does. 

You'll find an entire room that has the aurora borealis over lapping waves. It's beautiful and really peaceful and it makes you feel like you're actually on the beach. 

The waves "lap" over the floor via projection and there's a lovely soundtrack that sounds like you're at the beach, standing on the edge of the ocean. If you enjoy water, there's a smaller room that has water pounding against a "glass" wall. It gave me some anxiety and was the only room I didn't love, but it was still amazing and felt very real.

Walk through a fantastical garden of sparkling trees in one room, and then experience a forest with magical animals throughout the changing seasons.

As the seasons change, you see this deer, a dragon, a tiger and a phoenix. Each embodies their season for several minutes before the season changes and a new animal emerges.

There's a smallish room called The Star, where you walk among these everchanging lights and it feels truly magical. 

My favorite room had this interactive activity. It was called Live Sketchbook. You chose an animal to color in - I chose this zebra - and then you scan it into the system and "add" it to the jungle. 

Once your creation is added, it pops into existence and makes a trip across the jungle and back, along with everyone else's creations. It is continuously changing as more people add their animals, creating new art with every animal scanned in. Everyone was having a great time coloring and the joy you saw when they saw their creations brought to life was delightful. 

The largest room, and what I would call an art finale puts you in the middle of museum works, a tribute to Las Vegas, and changing prints on the walls and floor. It's a lot like the Van Gogh immersive experience that we did several years ago.

The room is quite large and allows for a lot of people to sit on benches, explore the whole space, or even see as much as possible by standing on the viewing platform.

Monet, Renoir, Picasso, and more well-known artists rotate through the space as you watch. 

At one point, you feel like you're inside an actual museum and then several minutes later, you feel like you're inside the art itself. I learned of artists I hadn't know of before, and maybe you will, too.

You'll want to spend the most time in this room, because there are so many things going on. There are three distinct parts: Garden Masterpieces, Garden Light of Las Vegas, and Garden Paintings of Joseon.

I really just wanted to live inside this room. It can be loud though, so keep that in mind and wear ear coverings if this is something that is difficult for you. Even with the bright lights and, at times, cacophonous sounds, I found this room mesmerizing in a way that I find hard to really describe. 

At the end of my visit, I stopped at Tea Bar, an interactive art exhibit to its own self. It was included with my ticket. You choose one of three teas and then go sit at a dark table. Your drink will be brought to you and placed in exactly the right way, where your table becomes alight with moving art. Flowers bloom and change around your cup as long as it is full and on the table. Once it's empty, your experience is truly over.

Take another few moments to wind down and take in everything you've seen, heard, and felt inside Arte Museum by browsing the gift shop. It's actually one of the best gift shops I've shopped and I left with several lenticular postcards to remind me of my favorite rooms here.

While Arte Museum is not cheap, I really felt like I got my money's worth. I didn't feel lonely, even though I strolled through and experienced everything on my own. I also never felt uneasy, though I'm scared of the dark and a lot of the transition hallways are black. 

Admission rates are $50pp during the week and $60pp Friday-Sunday. If you go 8:30pm or later, which I did, or between 10-11:30am, you get a $10 discount. If you want to include the Tea Bar, it's an extra $5pp. Groups of 5 or more get a discount, and children 4-12 are cheaper than adults, while 3 and under are free. 

By far, Arte Museum has been one of my favorite experiences on the Las Vegas Strip. I made it a solo date night for myself, by also doing a fancy and delicious dinner at Park MGM's NOMAD Library beforehand.

What untraditional museum do you love or want to visit on your travels?

Review: Serenity Tray Organizer

By now, we all know that the airplane tray table is the dirtiest part of the plane, followed pretty close by the seatback pocket, where everyone puts their garbage. The pocket is never big enough for things you want to put in there either, or you're in danger of forgetting whatever you've put in there because it's out of sight. The solution: bring your own pockets.

Serenity Organizers has this awesome tray organizer that slips over the airplane tray, so you don't have to touch it. It has 3 small pockets and a large pocket, for all the things you want to have on the plane with you without having to rummage through your bag throughout the whole flight. Besides, it's too hard to pretzel yourself in order to even get to your bag with how little leg room you probably have.

The Serenity Tray Organizer keeps you from holding things when you aren't using them, keeps your lap clear, and helps you stay organized, too. I, generally, have a plan of things I want to do and eat when I fly, so being able to have all those things with me, but contained, is really important. I'm able to have my backup battery and cord for charging my phone in between reading and playing games, a magazine when I'm over screen time, headphones for listening to podcasts or the in-flight entertainment, snacks are very important, as is my water bottle, and my sunglasses for once I get to my destination. All of these things fit in the tray organizer, and have their own place in it. 

The organizer fits snugly over the tray table and is antimicrobial. This means the germy tray never touches the stuff on it. 

It also means if you want to eat directly off of it, that's fine too, because you have a barrier. once you get home from your trip, you can empty it and throw it into the washing machine, so it's clean and ready for your next trip. 

Once you reach your destination, you can slip off your organizer, flip it inside out, and cinch it closed. I, especially, love that part, because getting off the plane is chaotic enough, and no one wants to spend 10 minutes cramming everything back in their bag while being jostled by everyone else trying to get to their things to get off the plane.

You can either just tote it with you, or toss it in your bag and go. On my way home from Vegas, I only had a backpack and a tote with some things that I wanted to try out while in the air, so it was easy for me to take my tray organizer off and just toss it in when I arrived at my home airport. 

(My video from the plane wasn't great - I still need to practice doing things while also holding my phone - so I used a chair with a smaller back to recreate how I would add all my items to the Serenity organizer and then slip it off when I am done with it.) As you can see, it holds quite a bit and it's perfect for those that like to stay organized or when you are traveling with little ones. Kids can have their own stash of books and snacks and games and toys with this organizer, so they are entertained their whole flight. 

The only downside I encountered with it is that when your tray is down, if you have bigger items in the pockets, it all ends up in your lap (though it doesn't fall out), so if you already find the tray table comes down too far and is uncomfortable, this won't help, but Serenity also has a seat organizer that lips over the airplane seat and then has the pockets on the bottom, which would be behind your legs when you're seated. This might be better for taller people. 

On the plus side, all your belongings fit snugly in the tray organizer, so anyone who needs to get past you to get to the bathroom won't end up cracking their knee on your water bottle or dump half your stuff onto the floor by knocking into it. 

Other reasons the Serenity Tray Organizer is awesome:

• It's quick-drying, so if you spill on it, or need to wash it, the lightweight fabric dries fast.
• It weighs less than 3 ounces, taking up almost no space in your bag when not in use.
• The drawstring is long enough to wear over your shoulder.
• It was created by two amazing ladies, so it's supporting a great woman-owned business.
• You can get one in 6 different fun colors: charcoal, cool grey, blue indigo, fire orange, rose pink, and powder blue.

Get yourself an organizer, or one for a gift, now, and always be organized and on your travels. Purchase on Amazon or on Serenity's website (use code Friends25 for a discount).

How much better would your flights be with one of these?

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Disclaimer: I was given the Serenity Tray Organizer for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are 100% my own. ***  Support Shereen Travels Cheap by using the links in my posts to shop. I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) so I can continue to create helpful free content. I earn from qualifying purchases made to the featured retailers. Thank you. I appreciate your support!

Review: Cheat Sheets Laundry Sheets

As you know, I am a big advocate of packing light and doing laundry on trips, in order to maximize the small space you have. A small capsule wardrobe can really become a larger travel wardrobe when you mix and match and a lot of times that means you'll have to do a bit of laundry. Of course, you may just need to do laundry in an emergency situation, as we did when we found our washing machine didn't work in Edinburgh.

I always travel with some laundry sheets and a pop-up hamper. Laundry sheets are great for travel, because they take up almost no space and you don't have to hope the store or laundromat has affordable detergent, or detergent at all. And if you only need to do a few things in the sink, they usually aren't great for that, but Cheat Sheets are different. 

Cheat Sheets are fast dissolving and don't do big suds, so you can easily do a hand wash in the sink and your items don't take forever to rinse. Depending on how much you need to wash, you can use a half or whole sheet. I used a half sheet for these few items that I've taken on trips before and they were fresh and clean at the end. 

Here's a time-lapse video of me washing my few pieces in our small sink. As you can see, there are no visible suds, but you could see that the clothes were getting clean, as the water was dirty, and I rinsed until it ran clear, then squeezed out as much water as possible. 

I found these sheets way preferable to sink washing with other products I've used before, since it didn't take me forever to rinse them out and I could tell they were clean before I started rinsing them, due to the low sudsing.

Because I don't normally hand wash my clothes, I tried All Purpose Cheat Sheets out in my washing machine, too. The great thing about laundry sheets is that you can use them in regular or high-efficiency machines without changing anything or using a special kind for one over the other. You are meant to start your water and toss in a sheet, then add your clothes once it has dissolved, but since these are so quick to dissolve, I threw my sheet in on top of my full machine. 

Not only did it dissolve without leaving any trace behind on my clothes, it washed the whole load of laundry as well as any of my normal detergents have. 

Other reasons you should invest in Cheat Sheets for your travels (and at home):

• No messy liquids, which also means you aren't restricted to 3.4oz limit.
• Everything is pre-measured, so you always know how many loads you can do with what you have.
• They're eco-friendly and biodegradable! No microplastics go into the ground water and sheets come in an easily-recyclable cardboard container.
• They're hypoallergenic, for those of us that are allergic to everything and have to be careful of the detergent we buy because of sensitive skin.
• Free of harsh chemicals you want to avoid: phosphates, fluorescer, dyes, sulfates, phthalates, 1,4-dioxane, parabens, and more unnecessary additives. 
• They work equally well in hot or cold water.
• They don't add any weight to your luggage!

Cheat Sheets come in 3 formulas. (The Sea Spray fragrance is very light and clean, so if you're sensitive to smells, this shouldn't bother you at all.): 

1. Gentle: for all your unmentionables. This comes in Sea Spray and Fragrance Free
2. Swim: for all the damaging chlorine you picked up at the pool. This comes in Sea Spray
3. All Purpose: for all your normal clothing that doesn't need gentle care. This comes in Sea Spray

Get your own either on Amazon or the Cheat Sheets website. Your purchase will support a woman-owned business.

Have you been looking an easier way to do laundry on vacation and at home?

Disclaimer: I was given the Cheat Sheets Travel Sheets for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are 100% my own. ***  Support Shereen Travels Cheap by using the links in my posts to shop. I receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) so I can continue to create helpful free content. I earn from qualifying purchases made to the featured retailers. Thank you. I appreciate your support!