Just Back From - Las Vegas

Vegas can be as huge or as little the experience you wish to make it.

Driving in from the Airport your first sighting is a Pyramid. Not just any old Pyramid but one that has 4400 rooms , a Sphinx outside guarding the entrance and a Museum in the basement with a collection of Egyptian Antiquities, then there is the Empire state building ,and wait – is that a castle and wow what's the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Opera house doing here and then you see them , the fountains from Oceans !0 and 11 , just like in the Movies. And they say Los Angeles is Tinsel Town This is within a 10 minute drive or 25 if there are roadworks or the building trucks backing out of the construction sites of the new hotels on the drawing board. Even the building sites are huge , whole blocks of feverish activity

In fact Vegas re – invents itself so many times that if you leave a few years between visits , the town changes, and with the Aladdin Hotel , make that 2 months. From when one day the Hotels was the Aladdin and next the Planet Hollywood. So when we were looking for to collect our car from the Aladdin not even the locals knew where it had gone to.

I stayed in the Luxor, its connected to the Excalibur and the Mandalay by a mono rail. The rooms are good value and they have a good dinner buffet which fits in with Teenager and what they like to eat.

Friends stayed in the Venetian , where you can have a gondolier take you for a boat ride. All the attractions on offer for free if you stay at a hotel are available for payment. So the gondolier ride is 15 $ if you are not staying there. Like wise at the MGM Grand , you can still get to see the Lions if you pay, or rid the Coney Island rollercoaster at New York New York

But the Vegas experience is more than just the hotels and the themes and the gambling. This is fun and can be as serious or as flip as you want. Casinos cater for 1, 2 and 5 cent slots, or if you are getting serious 15USD minimum bet on the blackjack tables. But you don’t have to be there just for the gaming there is shopping , excursions and shows.

Most of the award winning Tony Shows on Broadway finish up in Vegas, plus the huge array of singing stars that are enticed there for concerts. The week I was there I just missed Lisa Minnelli.

I finally got to see Mamma Mia with the Broadway cast in the Mandalay Theatre

I was last in the States when our dollar was the poor relation and the exchange rate governed which to buy, The Abercombie or Fitch or The Banana Republic, were this time I could choose both which made me and my daughters very happy . And my husband discovered that outlet shopping and Tommy Hilfiger are fun . Vegas has two sets of outlet stores , the more upmarket ones are out of the freeway heading towards LAX but there are buses which take you there , The others are in a huge mall type experience just before at the airport and once again have buses to take you .

Food is done really well in Vegas, imagine all the major cuisines of the world and then being able to choose a different one every day. Italian , French and British,- what's that major? – they have fish and chips! The steaks in Vegas are wonderful cooked exactly how you like and no one queries or looks at you if you order something in a particular way , staff are there to please. Which brings us to that ubiquitous question when to tip and when not to. Usually its when you have really good service but the service is good in Vegas all the time . It has to be or you go next door , so most of the restaurants include a service charge in the bill, check this when you are paying . If its not on there 15 to 20% is the norm.

The wages in Vegas are low and rents are expensive , most of your staff are students. The uni of Nevada is huge and attracts students from all over the States.If you are happy with the way you have been treated give them a couple of bucks. Its doesn’t break you but it really makes their day especially from Aussies.

Just outside Vegas is the Hoover Dam. 16 miles away to be precise. There are lots of ways to get out to see this man made wonder of the world. Drive yourself and take a bus trip out to Hoover either is an absolute must.

There are boat trips along the length , a museum where you can see the history of how it got built. ,together with the walk over the dam wall , and the descent to the bottom in the elevators all these make a whole days excursion.

Then there is the Grand Canyon. If you are only in Vegas for a few days there are many companies willing to drive you out to the West Rim and to the new Walk. I didn’t go out on it but I spoke to a lady who did and she said to me that she expected to be really scared but she wasn’t ,just so blown away by the experience. And believe me when you are hanging off the edge of the South Rim trying to get a photo you are in fact almost blown away. You can have a days flight excursion in and out of the Grand Canyon or drive in on a road trip ……………….but that’s another story.

So Vegas - its brash and bold and blonde and tanned and mini skirted and outrageous – these are how you would describe her if you met the female equivalent. But blondes are fun and wild and noisy and exciting , all the things Vegas are ( apologies to Brunettes)