It comes as no surprise then that Las Vegas is the party center of the whole of the United States, and the epicenter of the bachelor party culture.

Soon to be married men flock there in droves for one last night of freedom and cutting loose, before settling down with their betrothed for a life of relative misery. Ever since Frank Sinatra’s day, the Las Vegas party scene has been notorious.

It was Sinatra who engineered the Las Vegas party scene back in the fifties. As soon as the Rat Pack hit town, celebrities wanted to get involved, and what was previously a comparatively demure Las Vegas erupted into a sea of excess and enjoyment.

In the seventies, as the cocaine generation took hold, and then in the eighties, as the ‘yuppies’ with their disposable incomes and work hard, play hard ethic descended upon the town, the partying grew and grew until local laws had to intervene to suppress it, with little or no effect.

The book ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ paints a brilliant picture of the excesses of the Las Vegas party scene at this time, and while written through a psychedelic haze of mescaline and ether, manages to sum up the bizarre nature of the desert town and its vices.

If one is to visit Las Vegas just once in a lifetime, make sure you approach it with the right mindset. Don’t take any money that you’re not prepared to lose, don’t hold back; live as if you’ll die tomorrow and most of all, enjoy the party.