Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2012
Comments
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And I can confirm that at 7000 feet the snow is currently packed near Grand Canyon! And the cold air takes your breath away. I had left a bottle with a few oz of water in it in the car overnight, had an ice pop in the morning (Got back to UK on 30th Dec)
We were there Thursday/Friday and it wasn't especially cold during the day! You could feel it had been cold overnight and there was a bit of frost on the windscreen. There was no snow on the roads at all, but some on the side of roads etc or on the main paths in the parts of the park we saw.
[Edit - I will say that we are more northern than southern, so maybe don't notice it being cold so much For me, when I have to wear a wooly hat, coat and gloves then it's cold]0 -
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WEATHERHappy New Year everyone!!! Only 14 weeks till our honeymoon in Vegas!
Feels good to say we are going to Vegas this year!Lucky wins - Rituals Beauty Advent Calendar; Starbucks Coffee & £20 Gift Card; Amazing Hen Weekend at Dunblane Hydro; Heat Magazine Book Bundle; Le Crueset Goodies :j
Wishing everyone some magic fairy pixie dust for luck!0 -
tarkytarks wrote: »Sorry - bit of a disjointed post here, but I think I've covered all of your questions
Weather wise it's been really nice actually! I gather from the news etc that it's been unusually warm for this time of year though.
The GC had had snow, but there was nothing on the roads when we were there, with a minimal amount in the park itself. It felt cold but not bitterly cold - I was wearing my usual UK winter coat and OH was just wearing a hoodie - it was find when the sun was out but you could feel it was cold there after dark.
In vegas we've not needed coats! I've seen people walking around in shorts & tshirt or sun dresses. I saw a man sunbathing by the pool yesterday. I've been fine with a cardi on. Last night (NYE) we were out without coats on, it was chilly and I wished I'd had a hoodie or something, but it wasn't bad - in the crowd it was warm enough! It's been a nice change from UK winter weather to be honest
All of the hotels just outside the GC are all in the same sort of place, the only reason I opted for the Holiday Inn is they specified "free" wifi and breakfast as part of the room rate
We did as Ferf mentioned - hired with CH3000 and got the upgrade to the full tank of fuel included (and all of the insurances etc which you normally have to pay for ontop of the price). Paying with cash at the pump was a faff - but I would go in and pre-pay and OH filled up. I handed over a $50 I think and got the change back after he had filled as we weren't sure how much fuel would be needed. We've got this jeep thing and it just ate fuel tbh! I think we've spent $50-60 total on fuel - with around 1/4 to 1/3 fuel still in there for the local pootleing that we want to do over the next few days. We plan to hand it back as empty as poss I'm not sure about fuel prices tbh as I wasn't paying attention to that. The price $3.40 mentioned seems about right though. Not that it matters really but do remember that the quality of US petrol is pretty rubbish compared to what we have in the UK - OH used to work as a chemical engineer in a refinery and he was explaining the diferences.
We drove on route 66 (both ways I think), it was just the route the sat nav took us, I'll have a look on google maps to check later. We've been using our UK sat nav and added on the US maps - it's worked really well actually!
RE Hoover dam, they have built a new bridge (and also blocked any view you might've had with concrete blocks) and the highway now takes you over this - so you need to be on the ball to take the right turn off to the dam as it isn't obvious. We'd planned to try and drive back over it (we did the tour last year and saw the road being built actually) - it's definately worth a visit!
Thanks very much, i decided to upgrade our car to a Mustang Convertable yesterday, with the extra insurance and first tank of fuel. I know its not the most MSE thing to do as fuel costs will be more, and im sure the convertable wont be much use at the canyon but may be for some of the journey. 2 weeks today I really cant wait.....0 -
VALUE FOR MONEYThanks very much, i decided to upgrade our car to a Mustang Convertable yesterday, with the extra insurance and first tank of fuel. I know its not the most MSE thing to do as fuel costs will be more, and im sure the convertable wont be much use at the canyon but may be for some of the journey. 2 weeks today I really cant wait.....Does remembering a time that a certain degree of personal responsibility was more or less standard means that I am officially old?0
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tarkytarks wrote: »We were there Thursday/Friday and it wasn't especially cold during the day! You could feel it had been cold overnight and there was a bit of frost on the windscreen. There was no snow on the roads at all, but some on the side of roads etc or on the main paths in the parts of the park we saw.
[Edit - I will say that we are more northern than southern, so maybe don't notice it being cold so much For me, when I have to wear a wooly hat, coat and gloves then it's cold]
we got to the canyon about dusk on Tuesday. It was absolutely freezing, genuinely took our breath away. I didnt have a coat on, only a woolly jacket/long cardigan type (and I am a northerner!) By the time we got to hotel at 8pm it was very cold indeed!
Went back next day with my coat on and spent the day there.0 -
FREE ATTRACTIONSHas anyone used a standalone company for CDW insurance on hire cars in Vegas? If so, can they suggest one that isn't too expensive and beats Dollar's own policy?0
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chrisvaldez wrote: »Has anyone used a standalone company for CDW insurance on hire cars in Vegas? If so, can they suggest one that isn't too expensive and beats Dollar's own policy?
We Use insurance4carhire.com annual policy is £119 ( - Quidco @ 25%) so comes in around £90 a year, covers everything, including the sneaky stuff that the CDW does not. They also do a daily policy at 6.99 a day
I had a claim with them in Vegas a couple of years back, (My Fault, put a big dent in the rear of hire car)! and they sorted it all out direct when I returned the car, did not have any hassles, would really recommend them
There is anotherone that get gets good reviews as well called
icarhireinsurance which seems good as they do worldwide policy as well but no quidco!
LINKS
INSURANCE4CARHIRE
http://www.insurance4carhire.com/
ICARHIREINSURNACE
https://www.icarhireinsurance.com/Over 100k miles of Electric Motoring and rising,0 -
VALUE FOR MONEYI'm not sure I can see any savings in getting a 3rd party insurance policy - not for a one-off trip at least...while I know it may cover things like tyres and windscreens, I used to rent via dollar.com and use the car hire insurance (primary) on my US credit card...the last few years it's been cheaper to rent via a UK 3rd party with insurance...the cost of doing that has either been less than renting through dollar.com without any coverage, or so very slightly more...so we swapped our approach.
Looking at our dates in Feb, via netflights or CH3000 about £130-£140 for a mid-size/intermediate...looking at dollar.com - $341.96, expedia.com not far off that...so way more expensive to book via a US site without insurance than a UK site with insurance waivers?Does remembering a time that a certain degree of personal responsibility was more or less standard means that I am officially old?0
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