Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

mookybargirl

The Bellagio Fountains

Trust wrote: »

:shocked: :shocked: :shocked: Ok Stoneman has come out and said about his skybelt fetish

So I have to come clean and say that I voted for the 'Sirens of TI,

Wow - it's just revelation after revelation. :rotfl:

Indout96

The Fremont street experience

oscarbobbins wrote: »

We are staying at the MGM Grand, booked with Virgin as I had lot of vouchers. Virgin wanted to charge me £100.00 transfers to and from Hotel, but I thought I could do it for a lot less than that!!

£100 :mad: you could all have a taxi each for that price or depending how long you are there a hire car, good old Virgin

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

Indout96 wrote: »

£100 :mad: you could all have a taxi each for that price or depending how long you are there a hire car, good old Virgin

I was thinking that even a limo to and from MGM probably wouldn't cost £100 and might even include a tour of the strip. I assume this was Virgin Holidays as they tend to be a lot sneakier than Virgin Atlantic.

It reminds me of the people who book with Virgin Holidays instead of doing a DYI because 'but it includes airport transfers and I don't want to have to worry about that'.

pebblesmax

The Bellagio Fountains

ferf1223 wrote: »

I was thinking that even a limo to and from MGM probably wouldn't cost £100 and might even include a tour of the strip. I assume this was Virgin Holidays as they tend to be a lot sneakier than Virgin Atlantic.

It reminds me of the people who book with Virgin Holidays instead of doing a DYI because 'but it includes airport transfers and I don't want to have to worry about that'.

That's because most new visitors don't realise the airport is so close. I'd checked maps before our first trip, but seeing how close it actually was to the strip was still a surprise.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

pebblesmax wrote: »

That's because most new visitors don't realise the airport is so close. I'd checked maps before our first trip, but seeing how close it actually was to the strip was still a surprise.

Fair point..maybe I should have said that it surprises me how little research many people do before going somewhere new. I forget not everyone is a compulsive researcher...but it still surprises me that people will pay quite a lot of money for something without doing some legwork first.

davidmcg2u

The Secret Garden

Hi Guys,

Just a quick note to say that we're just back & we had a great time again. I have 10 pages to read to catch up on things but I'm much too tired so will do that later along with short report but here's a wee snippet:

I managed to book LOVE tickets at 25% off 5mins before we left Glasgow for the first row in block 306 for the late show on Saturday - great show & seats!!

The flight out was decent enough with Thomas Cook in Premium but the immigration was frustrating as we still had to fill in the usual forms & TC staff didn't know if the ESTA form covered us or not which really p****d me right off. The U.S. staff weren't really interested in the ESTA form at all & told us wouldn't really be enforcing it until June/July but in all honesty they seemed unsure themselves so take it just incase. We also had a fingerprint issue - seems they got our prints mixed up when they put us on the system last time so took us an hour to sort out. The funny thing is the Officer (if that what you call them) who was trying to sort it tried to blame us until we explained it was he who did our entry last year which shut him up & we then got "I'll sort it for you guys".

Took in LOVE, Cher & Blue Man Group & we enjoyed all 3 so yet to see a show I didn't like in Vegas!

Managed to take in cup final at Crown & Anchor - thanks for the info & we won!!

After our 4 nights at the Venetian we moved to Planet Hollywood & I brassed the $20 trick - worked a treat - got a King Resort Room overlooking Bellagio fountains & really made our stay very special indeed.

The weather was great too - started at 70 then worked it's way up to 80 yesterday but obviously still a little cooler at night - nothing a cardy couldn't sort out though. On talking to one of the stewardesses on the way home, she was told the temps are going to take a big dip over the next week & said we got really lucky. Seems they got a free week in Vegas too they way things worked out.

As I said I will do something in a little more detail too or I will maybe just edit this - I will decide after I get some sleep - thanks!!

pebblesmax

The Bellagio Fountains

It always surprises me too. I'm obsessive before I go anywhere new. I just have to find out as much as possible about it.

Another thing that surprises me is when someone asks me for information about Vegas and I give them items I've brought back and loan them a book or two. Then they ask questions that make it obvious that they have not read anything you gave them and have no intention. It's as if they either want you to do everything for them, or they're not really interested.

mookybargirl

The Bellagio Fountains

oscarbobbins wrote: »

We are staying at the MGM Grand, booked with Virgin as I had lot of vouchers. Virgin wanted to charge me £100.00 transfers to and from Hotel, but I thought I could do it for a lot less than that!!

That is shocking! You could get a stretch limo for 6 people both ways for $110 (so about £81 depending on the day's exchange rate :rolleyes:) including champagne!

http://www.presidentiallimolv.com/stretch_web_special.php

Welcome back david, looking forward to more details on your trip.

Pebbles - I'm exactly like you and most people on this thread. Gotta research, research and research some more, making sure I know where things are in general and that I'm paying the right price....

mookybargirl

The Bellagio Fountains

Duplicate , hit quote instead of edit. Why would I want to quote myself - lol

nvh

The Bellagio Fountains

I know we had a brief mention of FairFX Currency Cards a couple of pages ago, but as the exchange rate has gone up for a little bit, thought it may be worth bringing it to your attention again (in case it dips!):

Basically, go via. this link and you get the card for free (you have to load it though)
https://www.fairfx.com/opodo/wizard/start/card

Minimum load = $20
Card = Mastercard

Card 'validity' is 3 yrs

Charges:
None for purchase transactions
or
$2 per ATM transaction

You basically buy dollars at FairFx's prevailing rate (currently 1.44 which is not bad considering the 'real' rate is 1.455!) and the dollars go on your card ready for you to spend abroad

Load the card more 2 or more times and your card gets renewed for free at the end of the 3 yrs (otherwise there is approx. £10 charge)

Can be used in any country (and will convert at Mastercard prevailing rate to local currency). Ie. use at ATM here and the dollars will be taken out in sterling at the official daily rate (plus the $2 charge for ATM use)

(edit: apologies, I waffled on a bit! but i really do rate this card in the current 'yo-yo' climate)