The Las Vegas Thread and MSE guide

Stew68

PCG,

With regards to shopping for electronics, I bought this very laptop from Best Buy in LA, brought it back from LA via Virgin as hand luggage (no other hand luggage, I put my stuff in the laptop case) and walked right through customs with no problem at all, however I have to say there was nobody there at customs when I came through which seems to be the case whenever I come back from the States.

I was at six flags just over three weeks ago, we bought tickets on line before we went but there was also an offer with Coca Cola cans as well. I would reccomend buying them before you go though to be on the safe side. I can't remember metal detetectors when I went in, but did notice towards the end of the day that there were a lot more groups of youths hanging around. Rwo tips reference Six Flags. Do X2 woth queuing for, never done anything like it before, don't do the raft ride in the afternoon, you can get very wet (i'm not joking, I was still drying out three hours later when I finally got back to the hotel!!).

Stew

sew109

November/December

triggerrabbit wrote: »

Thanks Sew,
is the Wynn a lot more expensive than the Luxor? I remember in the Luxor,the small Kiosk in there 20 marlboro lights were $7.50 but a short walk up the road to CVS pharmacy and they were less than half the price. We've not set our minds on the Wynn for definite but it does look the nicest and i really do want it to be a holiday to remember.

Yes everything is more expensive we had terrible colds and did not really eat we had yougot and fruit compete things they were $9.50 each !! We got two sandwhices some water and crisps from the coffee shop to take to the room I think it was just shy of $60 it was nice but pricey.

If you come out of Wynn and trun right its about a ten min walk to the Walgreens but its a bit quiet and dark I think its prett safe though. Its the cost and location that is making us go back to Mirage, if the cost was the same it would be a toss of a coin

Froggitt

pcg2001 wrote: »

However I know there are import restrictions...

Can any of you give more info on these restrictions? For clothes, I plan on just removing the tags and making them look a bit worn. I laughed :rotfl:when I read nvh had only taken socks and tshirts!! I hadn't thought of that, I was worried I might not have space in the bag for what I bought - when the solution was to take an almost empty bag!!

What about fragrances and electronic equipment, such as console games? I might (might is the word) try to find one of those small laptops there, how about those?

All will be for personal use... But can you give some idea of what to expect? The other day as I was returning from Spain via Gatwick, a LV flight was retunring at the same time and I noticed the guys at the "nothing to declare" exit were gently "harrassing" the LV people. So, should I worry?

When we came back, my mate was the only person on the flight to go down the red channel. He had itemised everything....kids clothes, adult clothes, pens etc......about a grand of stuff.

The immigration officer said as he was the only honest person on the flight that he would pretend it was all kids clothes and he could go thru paying nothing.

The guy said when a third of the flight goes thru customs wearing a Hilfiger jacket or an Abercrombie sweatshirt.......they know all the wheezes about wearing clothes etc.

pcg2001

I just bumped an old discussion thread on buying in the usa with the same question I am going ask you, so sorry for the duplicate.

Martin's article states "The European Union (EU) has set a goods allowance of £145 (excluding tobacco and alchohol) rising to £290 next year, on bringing items back to the UK from countries outside the EU". Do you know if this limit has increased? £290 would be more than enough for what I might buy. To be honest £145 might also be, except for the small laptop I might like to buy.

As for clothes, if I buy any, I will most likely try to wear them beforehand. and obviously remove the tags.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Has any of you ever witnessed someone having to pay import taxes on arrival?

sew109

November/December

pcg2001 wrote: »

I just bumped an old discussion thread on buying in the usa with the same question I am going ask you, so sorry for the duplicate.

Martin's article states "The European Union (EU) has set a goods allowance of £145 (excluding tobacco and alchohol) rising to £290 next year, on bringing items back to the UK from countries outside the EU". Do you know if this limit has increased? £290 would be more than enough for what I might buy. To be honest £145 might also be, except for the small laptop I might like to buy.

As for clothes, if I buy any, I will most likely try to wear them beforehand. and obviously remove the tags.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Has any of you ever witnessed someone having to pay import taxes on arrival?

I went through the red channel once coming back from vegas and told the custsoms officer I had boughts lots of stuff fro myself his reply "i think you have come through the red channel by mistake sir please carry on"

nvh

May

stoneman wrote: »

Bl**dy hell NVH, we are not worthy!! I need to go and have a lie down now after reading that lot. I thought we got busy, but man you are the master:T

haha - cheers... to be honest, i wanted to get as much as possible done cos we have no idea when we get to go back now we're a young couple, just married, poorly paid jobs and now a wacking mortgage to deal with and uncertain job contracts... all fun and games!

Spend it whilst you got it

something i didn't mention is even though two of us went, only one of us could drive so those journeys were trully mammoth!

nvh

May

Stew68 wrote: »

Maybe we should be able to stretch out reports to include LA, quite a few of us combine the two together. I too did the night trip to Alcatraz, thought it was a fun idea.

Yeah, i tried not to waffle on to much about non-vegas just in case i got shouted at liked SF and LA but it just wasn't Vegas and we ended up being a bit eager to get back in a way we like the nightlife and Vegas feels so much safer than anywhere else we've ever been!

nvh

May

pcg2001 wrote: »

What about fragrances and electronic equipment, such as console games? I might (might is the word) try to find one of those small laptops there, how about those?

last time i went, i bought a nintendo DS lite and about 5 games, along with a few other clothes and just ended up collapsing the cardboard box and putting it in the suitcase, and playing the DS lite on the plane... as others have said - all was fine.

certainly this time we went with 3 suitcases and came back with 4 (and i know we weren't the only ones!)... if they wanted to monitor things more strongly they could

If it's an EEE you're after, i think they are still quite hard to get hold of over there... i 'whipped' mine out in our SF hotel and the bell boy and check-in clerk(?) creamed their pants going on about they'd never seen one 'in real life' before and they were dead hard to get hold of...

stoneman

May

As for shopping for electronics, remember that the voltage is different and for most things you would need to buy a converter. We bought one of those flashing Vegas signs and bought a converter off ebay for £5 when we got home.
As for Laptops remember that they have no "£" on them and the "@" is in a different place. Never felt safe spending that much money on something that might have a problem such as a HD failure as the warranty might be a bit hit and miss.
Games consoles have to be considered as well. The Wii games bought in the states are a different region to the ones bought here, but I think there is a hack to get over this. We priced up a 360 in the games shop at FSM and it was actually more expensive for less spec than the one I just bought.
On my last trip I exchanged my golf clubs while over at Las Vegas Golf and got $200 off of my new set of Cobras!!! Just went out and played a round with them to scuff them up a bit. Speaking of golf, we always play at Angel Park and get an OB sports card at the beginning of the year. The director of golf there is an Irish guy and if you ask him nicely he will let you have it at the locals rate of $159. That lets you and up to 3 guests play for $35-$50 a round, you get 2 free par 3 course rounds, free hat, bag badge, 10 putting course rounds, and 10 practice range goes. Then in August you get an email inviting you to renew before the end of the month for the next year at $99. We put both sets of clubs in one bag and then use the remaining space to fill up with clothes

stoneman

May

nvh wrote: »

If it's an EEE you're after, i think they are still quite hard to get hold of over there... i 'whipped' mine out in our SF hotel and the bell boy and check-in clerk(?) creamed their pants going on about they'd never seen one 'in real life' before and they were dead hard to get hold of...

What's an EEE