Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2014

bubble113

Thanks Misty and Owen, I chose MC as I am using a Myvegas reward to stay there ( I am up at South Point most of my stay) so fancied splashing out on a cabana mainly for my son who is not particularly keen on sunbathing so thought it was a good way to spend a day at the the pool to enjoy lazy river & wave pool.

I've also used all 3 rewards.....

Indout96

I've seen somewhere that you can hire them in the UK before you leave, is it
worth doing or should we just pick one up there?

You can normally hire them with your car but depending how long you are staying it might be cheaper to just buy one there, Target, Wallmart ect do them quite cheap (often cheaper than buying USA maps for your UK sat nav)

Triker

Indout96 wrote: »

You can normally hire them with your car but depending how long you are staying it might be cheaper to just buy one there, Target, Wallmart ect do them quite cheap (often cheaper than buying USA maps for your UK sat nav)

http://www.walmart.com/browse/electronics/gps-navigation/3944_538883

We bought our TomTom one from Walmart, cheap and does the job splendidly. Plus you can always resell on your return on eBay if required.

ferf1223

romangatang wrote: »

We are going to GC/HD and Red Rock so are going to need a sat-nav. I've seen somewhere that you can hire them in the UK before you leave, is it worth doing or should we just pick one up there?

do you have a sat nav you use in the UK? May be worth seeing if you can get US maps for it. That's what we did...bought the SD card from ebay the first time and used that for about 5 years and if you have a Garmin check amazon too, there was a seller there selling the City Navigator North America for quite cheap which is where we got our most recent SD card from.

One benefit of having it beforehand is you can load it up with all the places you want to go.

I'm pretty sure some people have said you can use certain Apps if you have a smartphone and the sat nav app doesn't use data so no awful charges but it's not something we have done.

Agree that if you buy one you can probably resell it on ebay when you get back if you don't have any expectations of going back anytime soon.

John259

We are going to GC/HD and Red Rock

Assuming that GC is the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park, HD is the Hoover Dam, and Red Rock is Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, then IMHO a printed Rand McNally US road atlas such as this one would be more than adequate:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/2015-Road-Atlas-Midsize-Easy/dp/0528011553/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406222660&sr=1-3&keywords=rand+mcnally+road+atlas+2015

Just trying to save you money...

vegasvisitor

romangatang wrote: »

When are everyone's trips? It's just under 60 days until we go now.

We are hiring a car as we are going to GC and HD, along with a trip to Red Rock if we feel like it. OH is doing all the driving but has never driven abroad, does anyone have any useful tips?

Also, has anyone flown with Thomas Cook to LV recently, I've never flown long haul and heard some horror stories about flying with them. Any tips for the flight would be good too!

60 days...oooh I was think that's around when I go...then I realised I go 6 weeks tomorrow so it's actually only 43 days for me. Isn't that exciting

We are flying to Phoenix and driving across via Grand Canyon over a few days. I suspect you'll go to the West Rim, whereas we're going to the North Rim.

I suggest you get out to Red Rock. We go out there most trips. Sometimes we take a drive out a bit, then b/fast at Red Rock Resort (lovely, relaxed and very reasonably priced....decent quality). And there's some shops across the road from there if you want a little retail therapy built in.

Enjoy!!

vegasvisitor

photome wrote: »

I would have thought Paradise and Harmon would be best as harmon goes directly in to City center/Aria/Vdara

Swenson and Harmon would be the preferred route. Or for casinos further north on the strip I'd take Swenson then Harmon then Koval. Pardise Road is one way (South only) down there, so you can't really take it from the airport. Unless that has changed recently, I'm not sure when I was last on Paradise Road that far down.

vegasvisitor

Triker wrote: »

http://www.walmart.com/browse/electronics/gps-navigation/3944_538883

We bought our TomTom one from Walmart, cheap and does the job splendidly. Plus you can always resell on your return on eBay if required.

Triker and Indout - we are thinking about buying one this year. We normally don't bother with one since when driving in Vegas we know our way around, but this year since we're doing Phoenix etc it might be useful. On arrival at Phoenix we pick up a car. We then drive up north then onto a street which has a Walmart on the way to our hotel.

Triker, you mention Walmart. I had looked some up in there last week. Handy as it's on our way to the hotel anyway.

Indout, you mention Target. I've not had a look yet.

Anything I need to look out for? If I buy a sat nav do I have to charge it or plug it into a pc or anything to get it up and running? Sorry for sounding stupid but I've never used on - not got one at home either....we sometimes use our phones but won't be doing that while abroad. If I buy one I'd keep it for future, so do I need to look out for free updates or anything?

Also, a colleague told me she got one in Florida one time with their hire car, and that it was really good for finding restaurants. Not just if you have the postcode but it sounded like it had a search facility...maybe you could look for Italian in the area or something. Maybe I'm not remembering it well but it sounded really good. Is that standard?

photome

lesley74 wrote: »

Swenson and Harmon would be the preferred route. Or for casinos further north on the strip I'd take Swenson then Harmon then Koval. Pardise Road is one way (South only) down there, so you can't really take it from the airport. Unless that has changed recently, I'm not sure when I was last on Paradise Road that far down.

I was close:) when i typed it i thought it wasnt quite right (maybe i should have used google maps or you tube ) My point really was that harmon takes you straight in to city center/Aria

Triker

Hi Lesley, no they just plug in and go in your car, cigarette lighter jobby.

Ours is great, we kind of know our way round too but always love exploring new places. For what we spent on it it was a sound investment for us.


Only thing you need to work out is which American voice you want to listen to.:)

Also its great to find your way back when you've accidently found a whole new road network which tends to spring up each visit.:D