Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2014

Indout96

Hi Lesley
I could not live without my sat nav both both here and in US, At the moment I have a Tom Tom over here but have US maps load on as well but a lot of the new ones are built just to take the maps they have installed to start with and do not have SD slots for new maps.
I did buy a Garmin from Wallmart a couple of years ago when I "thought" I had lost the Tom Tom (turns out I put it in a shopping bag and forgot - found it when we went to pack to go home) My son who is a lorry driver borrowed it when we got back and as kids do forgot to ever return it.


Target are an electrical discount supermarket (think Currys on steroids) and will probably be cheaper than Wallmart but harder to find.


Both Tom Tom and Garmin have built in POI (points of interest) such as Restaurants but to be honest I would always look it up on google first and just put the address in as you will have to go through paqes of McDonalds / Taco Bell type places.

ferf1223

Paradise scares me because of the whole when does it go to both directions and where is it one way thing...as a result we almost never end up on Paradise when out and about.

We also think our sat nav has been well worth it...we recently replaced it with a newer version with a big bigger screen and a few more features but the original would probably have done us just fine for awhile to come yet. We also know our way around but sometimes it is really useful to have...sometimes we'll be out and about and decide we should go to a specific place where we have only driven from our hotel and so aren't sure of the best way to get there from where we are.

Lesley - I think that the option to search for different types of business/restaurants in the area is standard...we have used ours to find a particular type of store when we were out and about and that sort of thing.

vegasvisitor

photome wrote: »

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

I do sort of know what you mean...when I am on Swenson I sort of think I'm on Paradise if that makes sense....I guess the scenery must be similar. We're thinking of venturing to Hard Rock this trip (on foot from Platinum) so I guess we'll get a closer look at Paradise. Might even try Hofbrauhaus as I think it's on the way.

robtruscott

60 days to go till my next solo trip :-)
just managed to get a seat up in the bubble too (think i was the first person to reserve thier seat at 0801 :-) )
am going to be meeting up with a friends who live out there and Also got tickets to see katy perry world tour at the MGM on the friday
Will be posting a trip report when i get back,

StuieUK34

All this talk about SatNav, there is an even better tool available, and its free!!!
Google Maps!!!
I always use that before going to look at major roads and how to get to the places, and then write down the turns/rd names etc if it gets a bit crazy.....

When we drove from Vegas to our hotel in Santa Clarita, i google mapped it, and then wrote down the turns/rd names for my co-pilot (wifey ) to look out for...
Bit more fun doing it that way....
Don't watch the movie 'Wrong Turn' before planning something like that mind! hah!!!!
Seriously, google maps for the win for navigation!

[Deleted User]

StuieUK34 wrote: »

All this talk about SatNav, there is an even better tool available, and its free!!!
Google Maps!!!
I always use that before going to look at major roads and how to get to the places, and then write down the turns/rd names etc if it gets a bit crazy.....

When we drove from Vegas to our hotel in Santa Clarita, i google mapped it, and then wrote down the turns/rd names for my co-pilot (wifey ) to look out for...
Bit more fun doing it that way....
Don't watch the movie 'Wrong Turn' before planning something like that mind! hah!!!!
Seriously, google maps for the win for navigation!

And before the internet and still going strong is Rand McNally.
I'm old school. I like a physical map in the car which not only has roads on it but topography as well.
Or an atlas as we used to call it.

romangatang

Maps are all great, if you are good at directions! I've lost count of the number of times I've told my OH to turn left, when I meant right :rotfl:

VegasGuy

Owenmc60 wrote: »

Cheers for all that info! Do you know how much drinks cost? Also, what kinda food do they serve, we're on the Sunday flight leaving Manc at about 9:15am. Is it just one meal or a few?

Finally, do you know where I might find info on these referbed planes. We've loaded my tablet up with Vegas related films anyway, so we don't have to rely on an old IFE for the journey [/QUOTE

Food was OK standard plane food, we got two meals and the drinks are very expensive. And you can contact thomas cook with on line chat and they can tell you if your on the refurb plane. If it has a premium cabin it hasent been refurbished.

Wont let me post a link but if you type "thomas cook in flight magazine" into google you can view the magazine on line showing what entertainment will be playing on the IFE and the cost of drinks.

Cinny91

Owenmc60 wrote: »

It would be great to hear of people experiences with them, whats the food/drink service like? And whats the in-flight entertainment like? Cheers! :beer:

We flew with them in June and have no complaints! We were in the "premium" cabin, which really just meant extra butt room as everyone got the same service. They did about 3 cart runs during the flight, between meals and afternoon tea/breakfast. Food was fine, but we'd been on a diet pre-Vegas so I think we were just enjoying eating something that wasn't 90% salad Puddings were delish in their own right though! There's a little Boots and WH Smiths in the terminal while you wait so I'd just grab drinks and snacks from there. Pop them in your carry on and get them out as you need them That's what we did on the way back, mostly because I wasn't ready to let go of the little fat american bottles. But if you're talking about drink drinks, I don't think they were too badly priced.

IFE was fine for us, not dated at all? If you log into the portal where you put in your flight details you can download PDFs of the menu/movie guide which comes with prices. We had the touch screen doodahs, only tip would be when you click on "channels" just wait about 5 seconds and the channel list will come up. So many people were confused be the delayed reaction, and the films played on a loop on our flight.

Also found that the TC flights were the first to land, so it only took about 20 minutes to get through border control and out to the taxis. You also get given a little pack when you're leaving the airport from a rep that's full of free food/drink vouchers.

We're actually planning our next holiday with them in Spring, was wondering why all the flight options had changed on the booking forms VegasGuy. Are they just making the whole flight "premium" level?

bobbyhibs

romangatang wrote: »

Thanks bobbyhibs We have a tablet so I will load that up with films/TV shows, especially if there's a risk the IFE may not work at all. I'm hoping I sleep a little on the flight to waste a few hours!



No worries glad to be able to hare my experince.Good luck tryng to sleep on the plane, my brother feel alseep for a few "15minute naps" so to speak where as i tried to sleep but could not