Things everyone planning a trip to Las Vegas should know

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

A good general principle that is especially useful in Las Vegas:

That
(attractive person/friendly older fellow/clean-cut kid/shady character)
who is
(serving you something/shaking their moneymaker/standing in front of an info booth/just hanging around/driving the taxi)
is not
(really into you/trying to strike up a friendly conversation/going to give you a great deal on something).

In fact, they are just
(doing their job/running a scam/bored/crazy)
and they will not
(cry/be very disappointed in you/lose the will to live/become violent)
if you simply
(firmly say ‘no thanks’/keep walking/say ‘thanks’ and tip them/say ‘maybe later’).

22

And they target it hard. But a big part of it is that they also serve food centered around Hawaiian expectations. We’re no longer from Hawaii, but pretty much every trip to Vegas at some point has us down at the California eating.

23

What is the Hawaiian expectation of food? Does it involve pineapple?

24

Or Spam?

25

I’ve never been, but something tells me the phrase “two scoops mac salad” is involved someplace…

26

Well. I just got back from Vegas.

I didn’t start out going to Vegas. It really started with a trip to Tennessee to visit my wife’s family. We were supposed to fly back to Seattle yesterday around midnight.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t agree. Our flight was delayed 4 hours, and we were told that we were going to miss the connection in Las Vegas. Now, I’ve been to Vegas, once, ten years ago. My wife has never been.

“Great!”, I said. “We can make a quick dash to the Strip when we get there, so you can experience at least a little bit of Vegas. Oh, and you can finally see the Belagio fountains that I’ve been raving about for years now”.

We eventually landed in Vegas around midnight, and made our way over to the hotel room. After we got everything settled, we headed over to the Strip. We were both really, really tired, so we were just going to take a quick look inside a few casinos, maybe spend a few bucks on the slot machines, and catch the fountain show. The concierge at the hotel said that, at that time of night, the fountains ran once every half hour. The taxi driver said that the fountains ran every hour on the hour, that late at night. Both of these were wrong.

The Belagio fountains actually stop running at midnight, and don’t start back up 'til 3pm.

The casinos were dead- hardly anyone was there, since it was right after Thanksgiving.

We spent two dollars on some slot machines, which took us about five minutes, and then headed back to the hotel.

As we were catching the plane this morning, my wife said, “You know, I think I’ve seen just about enough of Las Vegas.”

27

I went about 6 months ago, I hadn’t been in 6 years. It changed a lot, and I don’t think for the better. Bathrooms were dirtier, nobody was handing my nice clean towels after I washed my hands. Everything was WAY more expensive.

It seems its all tried to go more upscale, snooty restaurants and what not, though I did have a very nice $23 cheeseburger.

I realized I hate walking and walking and walking and walking. I hate treasure island and the Mirage. first drink at the bar is free and unless you are playing MAX credits beers after that are $6. Jack and Sprite is $10. They can kiss my ass.

Stayed at the Excalibur, even though its on the strip and surrounded by casinos, its far away from the cheap and fun stuff, though they did have a restaurant with a crab cake and filet benedict, (a crab cake and filet mignon over hash browns with holendaise(sp??) for $15.99) I ate that every morning at 3-5am.

Spent most nights at wild bills gambling hall, free live music and $2 Bud pounders.

Just not as much fun as I remember.

28

As a local, I agree with all of the above. (I’ve lived in Vegas for a year and a half, and I’m moving away again in May.)

The financial crisis hit Vegas HARD. A lot of casinos made money, I think, even on the lower-priced buffets and brunches, but with fewer locals taking advantage of them, they’ve tended to become pricier…at least on the Strip.

The Strip is a lot more boring than it was when I first got here, and I’ve only gone out there 4-5 times. The Fremont Street Experience is worth it, though it’s not the Strip.

Red Rock National Park is worth a visit. I always take visiting friends there. It’s absolutely gorgeous and you’d never know it was so near Vegas.

A lot of the workers here are very hardened and cynical. Most of them are not being nice to you because they like you, or even because they want to keep their jobs (a lot of them are union). They just do it because they’ve done it that way for years. Plus, casinos are cutting costs anyway, so you’re not likely to get the freebies and “gifts” from the employees that you might’ve done in the past.

And drink bottled water. Vegas water is not only heavily chlorinated, it’s also infused with lime run-off. I got sick the first time I drank it, and happily spend 5 bucks a week on cheap water fill-ups at the grocery store. And if you’re going to be here longer than a day…drink the water. Dehydration and/or kidney stones are unpleasant.