Although we were sad to leave New Orleans, we were very excited to be travelling on to Las Vegas.
Our journey from New Orleans to Las Vegas involved a flight to Dallas, where we had an hour before our flight to Vegas. The travel agent had told us that our luggage would be transferred by the airline from one flight to another so we wouldn’t see our cases from checking them in at New Orleans airport to collecting them at Las Vegas airport. I have to say we weren’t convinced this was going to go smoothly.
When we reached Las Vegas we headed to the baggage carousels and waited … and waited … and waited. Everyone who had been on our flight from Dallas had collected their cases and ours were nowhere to be seen. We started to panic. I was imagining me wearing the clothes I had on for the next six days … with no makeup. But then I decided we should look on the baggage carousel next to ours … just in case. And there they were! Panic avoided.
We grabbed a taxi outside the airport to take us the our hotel, The Mirage, which was smack bang on the strip.
I thought I was prepared for my first sight of the Las Vegas strip, I’d seen it in films etc., but the actual sight of it is absolutely gobsmacking. The hotels are like nothing I’ve ever seen in my life. They’re huge! We passed the New York skyline, the Eiffel Tower, an Egyptian Pyramid and what looked like King Arthur’s Castle. Next came the Bellagio and Caesar’s Palace, and then we arrived at The Mirage.
Having passed all of those awesome looking hotels on the way in I’ve got to say I was quite disappointed with how The Mirage looks from the outside. It looks like a multi-storey car park. The inside of The Mirage however was a different story, very impressive. The beautiful atrium leading you from the reception area into the casino really lifted the place. Checking into the hotel wasn’t as smooth sailing as it should have been. We’d booked a room with a premium view but when we got to the room it was looking out of the side of the hotel, so although you got a glimpse of the strip it mainly looked onto the hotel’s outdoor pools, which were closed. So back down in the lift we went to reception. The reception staff were very helpful though and said if we’d like to wait a couple of hours they’d have another room ready for us. They asked if we minded an ‘accessible’ room, which we were told meant it had no bath, just a shower. This was fine with us we said. Unfortunately an accessible room at The Mirage means they don’t have wardrobes or even a peg to hang your coat on! By this time I couldn’t be bothered to complain again so we decided just to go with it.
In the five days we were in Las Vegas we never left the strip so we didn’t do the usual tourist attractions such as the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon or even a show. Our trip here was pretty much an ‘immerse yourself in Las Vegas Strip’ one, so here are the highlights.
The Las Vegas Sign
If you go to Las Vegas you have to do the photo under the sign thing. We were staying at the Mirage Hotel and the sign is just under 4 miles from there. As we walk quite a lot at home we thought it would be a good idea to walk to the sign. For some reason I decided sandals would be a good idea. It may be a 4 mile walk if you go in a straight line but some of the roads you encounter involve having to go up stairs, through casinos, and down the other side, so we probably added another mile onto the trip. It was also a fairly hot day and we didn’t take a bottle of water with us. Honestly, we’re not usually this unprepared on our walks. We’d probably gone about three miles and I really needed a drink so as there was a McDonald’s just up the road we popped in for a bottle of water. We also asked how much further it was to the sign and were told it was ‘just a block’ down the road. America”s blocks are huge! It was at least another mile. Hubby hoped this wasn’t the sign 🙂
Anyway we arrived at the real Las Vegas sign to find a massive queue … I wasn’t expecting that. People were queuing to take their own photos. However we did notice some people just taking photos off to the side, they weren’t right under the sign but you could still see the sign behind them, so we decided to do that. By this time my feet were absolutely killing me (I’ve still got a mark on my big toe 6 months later) so we thought it would be nice to get the bus back to the hotel. After waiting about 20 minutes the bus arrived. It was quite packed already but hubby and me and a few other people got on. The driver was behind a screen so obviously he wasn’t the person to pay our fare to. We heard a couple of other people wondering where to pay and heard the response ‘Oh you buy your ticket at one of the machines on the strip. If you don’t have one you’ll get a $200 fine”. Oops. So we decided to get off at the next stop. Just as well because as we were getting off the inspector was getting on. So here’s a tip for you: Buy your bus ticket at one of the machines on the strip before getting on the bus. But at least we got our Vegas sign photo.
Caesar’s Palace Shopping Forum
We heard the advert for Caesar’s Forum before we saw the place. It was booming out across the strip, coming from an 80 foot high digital LED totem sign that looks like a really tall IMAX cinema screen. The speakers for it are hidden in the shrubbery along the strip outside the forum. I actually think this was my favourite thing in Las Vegas. The imposing voice booming out combined with the 3D pictures of roman columns and statues of Caesar fading in and out were spectacular. I never got tired of hearing or seeing that. Inside, the forum lived up to the awesomeness of the sign. The ceilings are painted with blue sky and clouds which look very realistic, and there are 160 specialty stores, restaurants and attractions to keep you busy for quite a few hours. We didn’t actually buy anything as the shops were quite expensive but we enjoyed looking around them. Hubby did want to take predator home, but as he was about $10,000 and very large we decided against it. One of the Forum’s must-see attractions is in the middle of the shopping forum, the Fall of Atlantis show with fountains, special effects and animatronic figures who share the myth of Atlantis. It only lasts about 15 minutes but it’s free and definitely worth a visit.
The Hotels on the Strip
Most of the main hotels on the strip have lots going on inside and out, making them attractions in their own right. From our bedroom window at The Mirage we had a great view of the erupting volcano attraction that goes off at regular intervals of an evening (apologies for my commentary on the video, not sure what I was thinking lol). Further along the strip you have the Bellagio Fountain Show which was very impressive and was set to Luck Be a Lady Tonight by Frank Sinatra (what else could it have been). The Venetian Hotel was another favourite of mine with its canals winding through the hotel inside and out, complete with gondolas and a singing gondolier (although a ride on one of these does cost $29 per person). The Venetian also has a roof that’s painted to look like the sky and the cobbled malls really do make you feel as though you’re outside. A very romantic hotel.
I have to say I felt the Paris Hotel with the Eiffel Tower at its centre was a bit of a let down. Although the Eiffel Tower is impressive, I found the inside of the hotel quite dingy and looked like it needed a lick of paint (I think it’s supposed to look like Paris at night but I wasn’t very impressed).
I did like the outside of the New York-New York Hotel which is designed to look like the New York Skyline and features the Statue of Liberty. There’s also an opportunity to take a ride on the huge roller coaster which circles in and around the hotel … but I don’t like heights so I gave it a miss. I was also impressed with the Egyptian theme of the Luxor Hotel, shaped like a pyramid with a very large Sphinx guarding the front.
Just strolling along the Las Vegas strip, marvelling at the opulence of the outside and inside of these hotels can take you a full day. I was blown away by the size of the hotels, they are absolutely enormous inside and the majority of them have shops, restaurants and casinos. You have to see them to believe them!
Gambling
Hubby and me have often enjoyed a night at our local casino, which is one of the reasons we wanted to visit Las Vegas, but Vegas casinos are on a completely different level to the ones at home. Most of the hotels in Vegas make you walk through their casino area before you get to their shops or accommodation area (they want you to spend money), and it’s quite a walk. The casinos are massive! The Mirage boasts more than 100 gaming tables and over 2000 slot machines! (apologies for the use of so many exclamation marks). I felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory (they’ve actually got that on a slot machine too). If you like a bit of a gamble then Las Vegas is most definitely the place for you. Hubby likes a flutter on the craps or roulette table and had an enjoyable time listening to some of the other players – he even heard one man saying “come on, papa needs a new pair of shoes”. Unfortunately the minimum bet for most of the tables was $10 so he didn’t play much on those.
The slot machines will cost you anything from one penny to $1,000 so there’s something for everyone. They even had some double seated, two player slot machines so you can cosy up with your partner if you want to. One thing I did like about the Vegas casinos was the drinks … they’re free if you’re playing. Well maybe not completely free as it’s custom to tip the waitress who brings them to you. We tipped them one dollar per drink, and for a bottle of Stella or a Captain Morgan rum and diet coke I think that was well worth it. You might be thinking yeah but you have to spend money on gambling … not if you’re a bit crafty, put a dollar in the machine, wait till your drinks arrive and then cash out and walk away.
We limited ourselves to $60 per day in the casinos. You might be thinking that’s quite a lot of money but a night out on the town would cost more than that … and we were in Vegas. It was the weirdest thing to be walking through the casino at 7.30am in the morning on our way to breakfast and saying “let’s just stick a twenty in”. And talking about weird we were also offered a hand and neck massage while we played. We declined the offer but did notice quite a few people accepted this bit of relaxation.
And here’s the really good bit … we won! We always play together on the same slot machine and normally on the lowest bet, so we were playing 30 cents a spin. On the first night there hubby won $200 … we were pretty thrilled with that … then on the second night he won $2000!! (that definitely deserves two exclamation marks). They were both his wins as it was his turn at pressing the button 🙂 It was definitely a proper American ‘high-five’ moment. We were suddenly surrounded by about 6 casino staff who offered congratulations, wanted to see hubby’s passport and needed him to fill in a tax form. As we’re from the UK we were exempt from paying their tax so got the full $2000 … which was very nice indeed, and we took $1500 of it home with us.
Here’s another small tip – if you do win in Vegas don’t take the money home in $100 bills, it’s a pain trying to get them changed in the UK. Our travel agent Tui, where we booked the holiday and got our money changed on the way out, wouldn’t change them for us. They said there had been too many forgeries. I wasn’t very happy with them at all about this – Tui if you’re listening I think it would be nice when you know someone is going to Las Vegas to actually tell them about this up front. We did manage to get them changed eventually at the Post Office.
A couple of other things
The all you can eat buffet breakfast at Cravings in The Mirage Hotel is an awesome sight. There are 11 food stations serving everything you could think of, from fruit to fully cooked breakfasts to pastries, and they even have unlimited beer and wine to go with it … yes at 7am in the morning. Sometimes you find that a buffet breakfast isn’t quite up to scratch but this one was very, very good. The vegetarian version of Eggs Benedict was particularly delicious. You probably won’t want to eat for the rest of the day after one of these breakfasts. The buffet costs $19 + tax per person (Monday to Friday, 7am to 11am), and be aware that if you go on a Saturday or Sunday they call it brunch, serve it 8am to 3pm and charge you $29 + tax per person. Even though they add Champagne to the weekend brunch we gave it a miss and went to Denny’s instead.
One thing that did bug me about Las Vegas was there was no tea & coffee making facilities in the hotel room. They obviously want you to buy your cuppa from Starbucks in the hotel, but at $7 a cup we only did that once. If we ever went back I’d be taking a travel kettle. You also get a fridge in your room. Very nice you might think. But in tiny writing, on their mini-bar tray (which looked very expensive so we didn’t partake), was a tiny sign I could only read with a magnifying glass .. it stated “A $50 service fee will be applied for storing personal items or altering existing items in the mini-bar”.
And so our USA trip was over (and we only saw one Elvis the whole time). This was a holiday we will never forget and I enjoyed every single minute of it. New Orleans and Las Vegas are two very different cities but I’d certainly recommend both. If you’ve visited either of them let me know what you enjoyed most.
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