Trip Report - 19th April to 23rd April

Will update as I go (good to get this down (for myself) before it all blurs into a booze/food/walking distant memory!).

Details:

Me and partner (D). 40 and 35 respectively. On a 3 week %26#39;tour%26#39; of some of the USA. First time in Las Vegas.

Arrive by car from Death Valley on Saturday 19th April. Great drive. Great to see Vegas appear on the horizon :) both very excited.

Struggle to find Avis on West Sahara, go around in circles for half an hour. Eventually find it - we were never more than 400 yards from it! No worries - we made good time on the trip from DV. Get cab to the Signature at the MGM Grand.

10.30am - arrive at the Signature. Requested room on a high floor, with balcony, with strip view. Get it all - room on the top floor (38). View is pretty good. Monte Carlo, Rio in the distance, part of NY NY. Will be a great view when City Centre is finished.

Signature is fantastic - staff, room, pool, EVERYTHING - all spot on. Not a problem at all (for us) to walk to the MGM Grand. 5 minutes max from tower 2. Great access to MGM pool, monorail and studio walk. Another 5 minutes through MGM casino floor to the strip.

Dump bags in room and literally run out to see Vegas :)

First impressions:

Even madder than I thought it would be. Love people walking around with beers / cocktails / 2 foot long drinks (before midday). Decided we should follow suit and bought two large white russian slushies - ace.

Said ';the casino isn%26#39;t as big as I thought it would be'; (MGM Grand). D said ';I think there%26#39;s more than this'; - we turned a corner and saw slots and tables as far as the eye can see - my jaw dropped as D laughed (at me, not with me).

Loved the atmosphere in MGM Grand. Favourite casino so far. Bit smokey, but not as bad as most (worst thing is the smell of smoke on your clothes afterwards, rather than it being bad whilst in the casino%26#39;s).

Over to NY NY on the walkway - just laughed as we looked down (up?) the strip. Amazing.

Wandered through NY NY / Bellagio / Ballys - just taking it all in.

Into Miracle Mile. Saw Cat Deeley in Urban Outfitters - which seemed bizarre. Tempted to ask her about wonky donkey but didn%26#39;t. Got bargains in Urban Outfitters - Penguin shirt for 1/2 the price of back home. Pair of jeans reduced from $200 to $99, then when I took them to the till the guy says ';oh, these have been reduced further to $49.99'; - I%26#39;m very happy with this.

Back to MGM Grand and through to the Signature - down to the pool at tower 2. A couple of beers and a swim - nice.

Out to Wolfgang Pucks to eat. Shared hand made chips (crisps) and maytang(sp) blue cheese sauce - very nice. D had pizza - very good. I had the special ';Kobe'; sirloin. Very very good. Too full for dessert. Asked waitress about taking beers out with us - ';no problem, this is Vegas - do what you want!'; Oh, bill was $104, $125 with tip.

Found a $10 Blackjack table and plucked up the courage to play. Explained I%26#39;d never played before (I had practiced on-line beforehand - thanks TA LV forum for links to relevant sites). Dealer was nice and helped. Didn%26#39;t need help with the first hand - BLACKJACK!!!! Won next three hands. Fourth hand two aces - split - 20 and another BLACKJACK. Should have walked away at this point. Carried on, lost a few, cashed out at $105 - $5 up - I win! Go me!

Wandering around the casino. Find a %26#39;Unicorn%26#39; slot machine. Joke between me and D about %26#39;Unicorns%26#39; being gay, so we have to play. Put $5 in. Have no idea what I%26#39;m doing. Think I bet the full $5 on the first spin - I win. Not sure how much as it%26#39;s reading as points. Anyway, carry on for about 30 minutes. Get a couple of JD and cokes ($5 tip) - waitress is back quickly :) Cash out eventually - 拢195 for $5 put in. I%26#39;m very happy. Back up to the room - cold beers in the fridge - to celebrate.

Right bored you and myself enough now. More later (Sunday = Luxor / Mandalay Bay (breakfast) / helicopter tour / Fix at the Bellagio / CDS ';O';).

Trip Report - 19th April to 23rd April

It%26#39;s always fun to read a TR from a first-timer . . . awesome city, isn%26#39;t it??? ;)

With you posting as you go, I feel like I%26#39;m back there . . . carry on :)

Trip Report - 19th April to 23rd April

Not bored at all, I love to hear firsttimers impressions. Have a great time and keep posting when you take a break. Good luck to you both!

Sounds like a great trip, looking forward to hearing more about it!

OH NO not again.

Fake KOBE Beef being fed to an un-suspecting tourista.

Pay thru the nose for FAKE Kobe Beef.

Did not believe ';';Wolfgang';'; would stoop so low as to offer something fake.

Cheers coffeemug.... yes, it is an awesome city - I%26#39;ve travelled quite a bit and this is completely unlike anything I%26#39;ve ever seen (no surprise there I guess)!!!

Right, literally walking out the door now - monorail down (up?) the strip - will be visiting Wynn / Venetian / Pallazo.

Oh and 拢195 should have read $195 - unfortunately ;)

What a wonderful start on your TR. I can just picture your faces when you where on the walkover to NYNY and looking up the strip.

Great to see you made a few $$ as well.

Pls keep going.

Patron(ising)-Hump wrote:

';Fake KOBE Beef being fed to an un-suspecting tourista.';

No, I assumed it wasn%26#39;t real Kobe beef hence the '; '; around Kobe (apologies if that should have been inverted commas rather than speech marks). It was very nice regardless and was about $5 more than the other steaks on offer - no big deal to me, but I was not an %26#39;un-suspecting tourista%26#39;.

those ';happy'; unicorns were nice to you!

As an American living in England I know what a big difference there is between 拢195 and $195. Your enthusiasm is contagious, great report so far!

great report so far - I%26#39;m looking forward to the rest.

very disappointed that you didn%26#39;t greet Cat with a chorus of wonkey-donkey - I would think the look on her face would have been priceless!! but she wouldn%26#39;t be where she is without it.