Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!

I’m finally ready and able to tell you all about our Vegas trip! For those who haven’t been, GO!!! So many people say “well I don’t gamble, so what would I do?”. There’s SO MUCH more to do in Vegas besides gambling! Instead of a play by play, day by day, trip report, I decided to tell you about it in a different way this time. I’ll tell you all about dining in one post, entertainment in another, etc. And I’ll tell you how we did it all on a budget. I’m all about saving money.

Getting there & getting around– we cashed in our frequent flier miles that we’ve been saving up for years. Thinking we’d go to China to get our baby, then Guatemala. The miles were just sitting in the account and then a few months ago they started deleting miles! 12 a month! Well, I told CSP to pack his bags cause we were flying some where. Anywhere! I just didn’t want to lose 100,000 miles! But we didn’t have a lot of money for a vacation so our dilemma was where to go so the flight would be worth it, but once we got there we wouldn’t have to break the bank? Vegas! A five hour flight & cheap hotels beckoned. So I cashed in all 100,000 miles and got 2 round trip first class tickets in return. Woot! First class is the way to go man.  CSP hasn’t flown since our honeymoon in March 2001.  We were given round trip first class tickets to Vegas as a wedding gift.  So he’s spoiled.  I’ve certainly done my time in coach.  Things have changed since then though.  No movie.  No fancy salt & pepper shakers.  But they still fed us and gave us a hot towel to freshen up with.  Nice!

We flew over the Grand Canyon on the way out.  That was so cool!
When we were on our honeymoon we rented a car for the week in Vegas.  We drove out to the Hoover Dam & the Grand Canyon.  This time we knew we’d be hanging around the strip more so we didn’t rent a car.  We took a taxi once a day and walked the rest.  I was having a hard time with my knees or we would have taken the Deuce. It’s a great low price option.  Love the retro graphics.  With tip we spent about $20 a day on the taxi, about the same as if we’d rented a car.   If my knees had been better we wouldn’t have taken a taxi at all, except from to and from the airport.  So that’s $100 I’d like back.  Sigh.  Anyway, I’d ask each taxi driver where they were from.  We never heard the same place twice.  We had drivers from Thailand, Greece, Mexico City, Cuba, Guatemala, Jamaica, and Ethiopia.  I’d also ask if it was hotter where they were from or in Vegas.  They ALL said Vegas!  Here’s a tip for you.  Verify your destination with your driver each time you get into the cab.  One night we were leaving the Venetian and a valet told our driver the Palms instead of the Paris!  We were driving and driving and things looked unfamiliar and I finally asked him where we were going?  What a mess!

We also took advantage of the free shuttle bus going to the Rio from the Paris.  It runs every 30 minutes and anyone can ride it.  A great way to get to the Palms & Rio without taking a cab! We had heard all about the World Carnival Buffet at the Rio but we weren’t looking forward to paying a cab to get there.  Yay for the free shuttle!

We also took the free tram between the Mirage and Treasure Island a few times.  We’d take a cab to the Mirage, the tram to Treasure Island, then the pedestrian walkway over to the Wynn.  That way we never had to cross the street on foot (the traffic is unbelievable!).  It also meant less time out in the heat.  It was between 104- 107* every day!

I had really looked forward to riding the new monorail.  But it goes in the back of the resorts and didn’t really go anywhere we wanted to go.  Maybe next time.

Next up:  Entertainment!