Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

ferf1223

October , November

kt21 wrote: »

After reading the reviews on here am really interested in eating at Mon Ami Gambi. i know you cant reserve for the patio and its first come first serve but do you still need a reservation to start with? When's the best time to go to be more in with a chance of getting a patio table?

Agree that you don't need a reservation- you can make one, but it will be for inside so will effectively be cancelled when you turn up and want to sit on the patio.

We normally go a bit later than stoneman - We like going after sunset as we think it's a nice atmosphere with the strip lights and the fountain lights, etc...usually about 7 or so and we do normally have a 45 minute to an hour wait. But they give you a buzzer which works part way through the casino - so you don't need to stand in the queue the whole time.

wadia860

October , November

Has anyone done the Vegas-L.A on the bus? I've found it for $185 pp. Picked up at hotel at 6 a.m (!) back to Vegas by 21:00ish. Just wondering if you can go and do your own thing once you're in L.A or are you soap-on-a-rope all of the time? I'm not particularly keen about hiring a car and getting lost in L.A.
TIA

davidmcg2u

September

stoneman wrote: »

3 more days to go. Have booked Terry Fator, that's it. Will try and pick up some cheap Carrot Top tickets from T4T. Looking forward to this trip. Been a long time since we have stayed down the south end (have 4 Seasons for 8 nights). We will be checking out NYNY, hope to do the dueling pianos thing, hear it's really good, just have to get my head around paying for a drink!!! Will give MGM some craps and B/J play. Will by pass Excalibur altogether (oh wait, they have the cold stone ice cream place, might just venture in for that). Going to eat at Mon Ami Gabi, Austins Steak House for the 241 (thanks for the heads on that ferf) and of course Ellis Island. We usually do one cracking buffet per trip and this time it is the turn of Bellagio, or red Rock, or M, oh well, we will decide later. Golf is all booked. 7am on the morning after we arrive. Might as well, we are up by 5am anyway. This will be our last trip till May next year, never been more than 3 months between trips before, but we just can't take another cold holiday. Gonna venture out a bit, want to go to Sams Town (OH wants a pic taken in front of the sign as she is huge Killers fan) Eastside Cannery and Valley of Fire.

Stoneman,

I may have missed it but are you going to The Killers gig too?

We intended doing the Sam's Town pic on our 1st trip but never quite had the spare 2-3 hours to go down on the free shuttle (we don't drive).

We hope to pick up some Carrot Top tickets too but when I don't know - only really have Thursday, Mon & Tues free & may leave CT until next time!!

ferf1223

October , November

wadia860 wrote: »

Has anyone done the Vegas-L.A on the bus? I've found it for $185 pp. Picked up at hotel at 6 a.m (!) back to Vegas by 21:00ish. Just wondering if you can go and do your own thing once you're in L.A or are you soap-on-a-rope all of the time? I'm not particularly keen about hiring a car and getting lost in L.A.
TIA

Couple of things - the drive (without stops) from Vegas to LA is 4 hours+ in a car...on a bus making stops, I should imagine it would be much longer...so even if you assume 4 1/2 hours each way which I would think would be conservative - that's 9 hours on a bus. If you depart at 6 am and return at 9pm, that's 15 hours. So 6 hours maximum in LA.

Do you have specific things you want to see in LA? Are they close together? How will you get around and back to the bus once in LA?

It seems like a lot of travel time for a limited time in LA and a fairly significant cost - you could probably get cheap flights for less.

luci

September

davidmcg2u wrote: »

Stoneman,

I may have missed it but are you going to The Killers gig too?

I was about to ask the same. If she's a huge Killers fan Vegas would be the place to see them and really handy with you staying at the Four Seasons.

stoneman

September

luci wrote: »

I was about to ask the same. If she's a huge Killers fan Vegas would be the place to see them and really handy with you staying at the Four Seasons.

We saw them at the Hard Rock before they were famous. We actually got discount tickets, think the management thought they might not get a big crowd.:rotfl: We then saw them just April gone in Nottingham.

BaileyB

October , November

Has anyone hired a car from Vegas to LA and left it there?

We are thinking of staying in Vegas for 6 days or so and then going to LA for a few more days and then maybe on to Hollywood.

But we do want an old style American car if possible.

Any ideas

Froggitt

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

wadia860 wrote: »

Has anyone done the Vegas-L.A on the bus? I've found it for $185 pp. Picked up at hotel at 6 a.m (!) back to Vegas by 21:00ish. Just wondering if you can go and do your own thing once you're in L.A or are you soap-on-a-rope all of the time? I'm not particularly keen about hiring a car and getting lost in L.A.
TIA

Buy a Sat Nav £100
Rent a car for a day £30 for a convertible
Convert into dollars......say $200.
Cost of bus $185x2
Cost of taxis in LA say $100.....largest city in the world I believe.

IMHO, its half the cost to buy a Satnav AND rent a car, you get more time in LA, you dont get stuck on hot smelly bus, and you have a Satnav at the end of it. Im sure the car rental places will rent you a Satnav for maybe a tenner a day.

wdyw

stoneman wrote: »

We saw them at the Hard Rock before they were famous. We actually got discount tickets, think the management thought they might not get a big crowd.:rotfl: We then saw them just April gone in Nottingham.

Must have been the 2003 concert before Hot Fuss. That will be the earliest I've ever known someone to have seen them. THe played a load of concerts in the UK at the end of 03 opening for British Sea Power (WHO??????)

Before the June 07 concert at Hard Rock we spent a few hours at the Michael Jackson auction. I wonder how much that stuff jumped in price by

duchy

August

Check out the jetblue sales that pop up from time to time and fly. You can fly direct into Burbank so really close to Hollywood. I think it'd still be almost as cheap but without the horror that is 9 hours on a bus.