Las Vegas Vacation Blog Blog

If traveling around the strip, walking is a reasonable option as hotel-casinos are found close to each other. In fact in most cases, at least two hotels are connected to each other either by bridge or underground or in the case of Excalibur, Luxor and Malanday Bay, by a complimentary rail shuttle. Be aware that during the summer, the oppressive heat during the daylight hours may make walking a very uncomfortable activity. So if you don’t feel like walking or are staying at a hotel off the strip or better yet renting a home in Las Vegas here are some options:

he Las Vegas Monorail [11], +1 702 699-8200, runs on the east side of the strip with stops behind several of the hotels and at the Las Vegas Convention Center [12]. It costs $5 one-way, $9 return and $15 for a one-day pass. Do the math before boarding, it could be cheaper for a small group to take a taxi. Because the monorail stops at the back entrance of the hotels, it takes a long time to wind through the maze of casinos, often taking 30 minutes to an hour to get from one point to another on the Strip - if you’re in a hurry take a taxi.

Taxi

One of the easiest ways to get around is by taxi. It is relatively cheap to go from hotel to hotel. The cab driver is required to turn on the meter and to take the shortest route to your destination. There is a surcharge for rides originating at the airport, but not for extra passengers. Taxi lines (queues) are typically found at the front of hotels. You would be unwise to attempt to hail one on the street, especially on the Strip as it is illegal for a cab to stop traffic to pick up or drop off a passenger. The best way to hail a cab outside of a cabstand is to use the following method: if you are wanting to go north on the strip, stand on the east side about 20 feet before a turn off. The cab you want to wave over will have the yellow lights off. Standing like this allows the cab to turn off the road and pick you up. It is customary to tip the hotel taxi dispatcher $1 or more; tip the cab driver at least 15% of the meter, and about $1 per piece of luggage.

Renting a Car in Las Vegas

Renting a car at McCarran International Airport is fairly cheap and popular. The opening of the new rental car facility has increased the wait time to get your car. All the rental agencies are now located under a single roof and all use the same shuttle from the airport to the facility. There have been reports of an extra 30 min increase in the time it takes to pick up and/or drop off your vehicle, so please add this to any arrival and departure times so you won’t be late for anything important. Expect to pay about 50% more for your car rental due to recent tax increases.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. joined hoteliers in lambasting U.S. lawmakers’ criticism of corporate travel, saying hundreds of thousands of jobs are in jeopardy.

President Barack Obama’s warning this month that companies receiving government bailout money “can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime” is causing more convention and meeting cancellations in the city, already hurt by the U.S. recession, executives of the four biggest Las Vegas Strip casino owners said in interviews.
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• Pack light. Experienced travelers always offer this advice, but rookies seldom heed it. Even if you’re staying in the same hotel for three weeks, packing light can prevent headaches. My father-in-law brought six bags for our three weeks of travel. He overpacked. Within days he had to pay to ship things home. Even I took too much: a small suitcase and a knapsack, both of which were crammed with stuff. In the future, I’ll take the knapsack, but when I use it as a carry-on, it’ll only have the essentials: a change of clothes, a book, and my iPod.
• Pack smart. Take items that serve double duty. Don’t carry stuff you can buy at your destination. (You can buy shampoo in London, you know.) Leave room in your bag to bring home things you purchase while on vacation. Don’t neglect your sanity — there are a few items I like to have with me at all times: earplugs, an eyemask, my iPod (with noise-canceling earphones), a book, and comfortable shoes. Armed with these essentials, I can be happy almost anywhere — even when stuck for eight hours in an airport terminal.
• Manage your money. Know which money source is best for each situation. I didn’t understand this, and was dinged with unnecessary fees. For example, you should know that Visa charges a 1% overseas usage fee regardless of whether you’re using debit or credit. Some cards waive this fee. If I had understood my accounts better, I would have used my credit card for most transactions — I would have received the best exchange rate and avoided a common fee. But because my credit card charges 3% to withdraw money from an ATM, I should have used my debit card to obtain cash. Some of this you learn with experience, but it never hurts to review your account policies before making a trip.

Southern Nevada tourism received some good news and some bad news on international air service last week.

First, the bad.

In late April, British Midland - better known as BMI - will pull the plug on its nonstop route between Manchester, England, and McCarran International Airport.

Since Halloween 2004 BMI flew an Airbus A330 jumbo jet three times a week to Las Vegas. But the company says the route has underperformed and high fuel costs make it impossible to continue.

“The decision to with�draw long-haul services from Manchester was a very tough one, since we have operated (some of) these routes since 2001,” the airline said on its Web site. “However, sadly, the routes have never performed to the revenue levels we hoped to achieve, which combined with 2008 fuel price increases means we still see little prospect of improvement.”

BMI was the 12th busiest international carrier at McCarran in 2007, serving more than 55,000 passengers.

A sales representative said the company could reconsider the route when BMI’s acquisition by German airline giant Lufthansa is completed early next year.

Not to seem overly pessimistic, but I doubt that’s going to happen. When a carrier exits a market, it usually does so with sound economic reasons, so I doubt Lufthansa’s deeper pockets would finance a route that ultimately disappoints for the long haul.

BMI management apparently was disappointed with the amount of traffic generated from Las Vegas to Manchester - an argument I’ve never completely understood since it’s the traffic

Las Vegas that is going to generate the most interest and most of those coming here have to go back. Why not just reduce the number of flights from three to two a week? That’s a question I would have asked had BMI managers returned my calls and e-mails.

When BMI leaves the market, it will trim the number of carriers offering nonstop trans-Atlantic flights to two, with Virgin Atlantic - an airline that our governor may have recently ticked off by writing a letter of support for a cause supported by its biggest competitor, British Airways - from London to Las Vegas and Lufthansa-owned Condor, which flies nonstop from Frankfurt, Germany.

Despite that bad news for the local tourism industry, which is banking on increased international traffic to help boost sagging visitor numbers, there was some good news. It came from the busiest carrier at McCarran, Southwest Airlines, which isn’t an international flier.

Southwest announced it will work with Mexican carrier Volaris to develop a code-share agreement to link Mexican travelers to the United States and vice versa.

Southwest gave customers a view of how it would develop its code shares when the company had a deal with ATA - a deal that ended in March when ATA abruptly declared bankruptcy and quit flying.

Under Southwest’s ATA agreement, the airline offered flights on its Web site to places like New York LaGuardia Airport via Chicago Midway Airport. Las Vegans making that trip would fly Southwest to Midway and transfer to an ATA flight from Chicago to New York. The baggage transfer was seamless and passengers could earn frequent-flier points partially delivered by ATA.

Free trips earned on Southwest also could be used on ATA - which flew to Hawaii from Las Vegas.

Southwest said it hopes to announce more details about its partnership with Volaris next year and begin offering the connections by 2010.

Volaris, founded in 2006, is new enough to the market that a lot of people don’t know much about it. It has 39 routes connecting 23 cities south of the border. But, like Southwest’s planned code-share partner north of the border, Canada’s WestJet, Volaris has many similarities to Southwest.

It’s known as a discounter. It flies to some alternative airports (the center of its operations is in Toluca, outside Mexico City). It has a primary aircraft type, the Airbus A319 and A320 series, both twin-engine jets similar to Southwest’s Boeing 737s.

But where would Southwest and Volaris connect?

Right now, Volaris doesn’t fly into the United States, and Southwest has said it has no desire to begin flying south of the border. The closest Volaris flies to the U.S. is to Tijuana, Mexico, one of the airline’s busiest destinations.

Southwest has numerous routes and destinations near the Mexican border: San Diego, Tucson, Phoenix, Albuquerque and El Paso, Texas, among them. But would Southwest instead try to connect at some of its busiest stations to serve a maximum number of passengers - such as Houston, Los Angeles or even Las Vegas?

McCarran officials acknowledged Volaris made an initial contact last week about flying into Las Vegas. It’s still too early to know whether that means Las Vegas would be the transfer point in the Southwest-Volaris code share, but at least it’s a possibility.

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With the economy in distress, there might be no cheaper time to Las Vegas than this winter as a sharp drop in demand forces airlines, hotels and cruise companies to slash fares, cut rates and lower fees.

In what might be a silver lining during a season of economic angst, travelers are finding some of the best deals in recent memory, from half-priced resorts to rock-bottom airfares.

An off-peak, round-trip ticket from O’hair International Airport to Las Vegass was selling for $244 last week, the lowest it had been in recent memory. No one could recall average fares to Hawaii falling below $300.

A Las Vegas Vacation can be a great expierience. Though, if it is your first time and you don’t know the city, you may miss out on some wonderful memories and expieriences. Below are a few things that I believe will enrich your Las Vegas Vacation expierience.

• Make sure not to overdue it at the tables. Las Vegas is the city of gambling, but it’s not all it has to offer you on your vacation. Set a money and time limit for yourself and stick with it. Not following these Las Vegas gambling guidelines can result in stress and regret.
• Plan your vacation at a time where a performer favorite of yours is in town performing. There are always shows in Las Vegas, but, of course, seeing an act you know you will enjoy will enrich your vacation experience.
• The Bellagio Texas Hold ‘em tournements. If you are not a poker player this probably won’t work for you. The Bellagio offers great tournements throughout the day and it can be a whole lot of fun.
• Be sure to walk the strip at night. All those bright lights are just awesome for a walk on the town, very exciting to see for the first time live.
• Stay in a rental house if possible, rather than a hotel. It can be more pricey, but if you can afford it, it will be worth it. I was sold at the idea of having my own pool!

  This is how I would reccomend a Las Vegas Novice to spend there vaction time. Of course everyone is different and you will find things about the city of Las Vegas you love to do on your trips there.

The Las Vegas Strip is one of the safest places in the country. I have routinely walked the Strip at 3 or 4 in the morning without so much as a panhandler approaching me. However, every city has it’s criminal element and you should take steps to protect yourself from it. In addition, due to attraction of the large volume of tourists, the thieves can just as easily have come in from out of town on a “business trip”, staying at a hotel, as local residents. This doesn’t mean you should be afraid or limit your activities. Just follow the same simple common-sense steps you’d use when visiting any large city.

• Enlarge large crowd of tourists, money in their pockets, jammed together focused on the Bellagio Fountain Show or one of the other attractions, is enough to make a pick-pocket drool. ALWAYS be mindful of your purse or wallet. Keep your valuables well covered and don’t drop your guard while checking out the attractions, gambling, shopping, at a buffet, at the pool, or even walking down the sidewalk. Shopping bags are nice but they’re usually wide open at the top. You’re better off with bags that you can fold the top over.
• Always use the additional dead-bolt lock when you’re in your room. As fast as new key-cards and electronic locks are developed the thieves find a way to thwart them. Don’t leave large amounts of cash or valuables in your room. The hotels will keep them in their safe as a free service. Moderate amounts of cash should be locked in your suitcase. The vast majority of maids and maintenance workers are honest, hard-working people trying to make a living. However, the only way the occasional “bad apple” can come to the hotel’s attention is after guests have been victimized.
• When in a hotel/casino lobby or at the airport, always keep a hand on your luggage or set it in front of you. It only takes a second for a suitcase or bag to disappear. Thieves like busy places where people are rushing around. Hotel lobbies, casinos, and especially McCarran Airport, all fit this profile.
• Whatever you do, don’t try to walk from the Strip to Fremont Street (or visa-versa). I can tell you from personal experience that it’s no “leisurely stroll”, and you pass through areas where there are not a lot of people, even during daylight hours.
• Enlarge pictureWhen you are walking, use the crosswalks. Jay-walking in Vegas carries a $95 fine. And when you’re at the crosswalks, wait for the “Walk” light and don’t step too far off the curb while you wait. The locals really fly down Sands, Flamingo, and the other streets that cross the Strip and the traffic lanes are close to the curbs. (The pedestrian bridges at Flamingo and Tropicana are helpful in this respect.) I’ve seen numerous posts in Las Vegas newsgroups which said that car/pedestrian accidents around the Strip happen a lot more often than the Convention and Visitors Bureau would like to admit. And often the people driving the car are themselves visitors with a rental who are sight-seeing while driving. Whether walking or driving, be extra careful around the Strip.
• You should always bring along a photo ID with your current address and something with your name and social security number on it. The IRS requires the casinos to get this information if you hit a jackpot at a machine or do extremely well at the tables. However, don’t carry the document bearing your social security number around with you. If your name, address, and SSN fall into the wrong hands you could become the victim of “credit identity theft”. (You shouldn’t carry your Social Security card in your wallet or purse at all anymore because this applies everywhere, not just Las Vegas. Also check any health insurance cards or school IDs you may have in your wallet. They also often have your SSN on it.) Leave your SSN document in your room, locked in your suitcase. If you do hit it big, the casino will be glad to hold onto your winnings while you go back to your room to get the document.

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You have several options for getting from the airport to your hotel. Shuttle buses cost $5 to Strip hotels and $7 to downtown hotels per person (but it can take over an hour to get to your hotel). Taking a taxi will cost you about $15 to Strip hotels and over $20 to downtown hotels (but you will get to your hotel much sooner). Limousines cost $55 to $65. If you are in a group of six people (or you can get a group of six together from your flight while waiting at the baggage carousel), splitting this fee six ways comes out to about $10 a person. Note that all six people will have to be going to hotels in the same general area.

The ground transportation diagram on the Diagrams page will show you where the shuttle bus and limos are located at both airport terminals.

If you decide to take a cab to your Strip hotel, be sure to tell the driver “don’t take the freeway.” Some less-than-honest cab drivers will take a round-about freeway route which will raise your fare from less than $15 to over $20.

From the gambling Meccas to the homes of our pioneers you’ll see it all.

The Grand City Tour was developed to introduce you to the many other points of interest that Las Vegas has to offer, however not to worry you’ll still drive up the strip and learn of the many legendary figures like Bugsy Siegel.

Las Vegas and the development of the first Nuclear Bomb are forever linked so we’ll start your adventure with a trip to the Nuclear Museum. This guided tour will allow you to learn some of the details of Manhattan Project, and the various nuclear tests that were conducted in the area. From the Nuclear Museum you’ll head off to the Clark County Museum where you’ll walk down Heritage Street which hosts a collection of actual historic homes and other important buildings of Southwest Nevada’s early residents.

View some of Las Vegas residential neighborhood’s which were or remain the home’s of famous celebrities, such as Wayne Newton, Mike Tyson. Learn about Benny Binion who started the World Championship Poker Tournament, visit Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas and much more.

To book the Grand City Las Vegas Tour visit there site here.