From the Vegas of the North...To the real Vegas! Trip Report *Completed*

[Jordanblackpool]

Welcome to my trip report!!!

Back in January, I got a phone call from my brother.

'Fancy Las Vegas in a few weeks'.....Urrrm..Yeah ok! So we booked it, flights with Virgin from Gatwick-Las Vegas and staying at the MGM Grand for 1 week! Its a simple as that! There are a few other details in there....but we may aswell get straight into it!!!

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Day 1 - Tuesday 1st March

I woke up on Tuesday, not really that excited, as I was working a half day first of all. Once I got that out the way though, I got home for 11am and put my mum through the usual panic mode, as Id left alot of my packing till last minute. Completely the opposite of my brother, who is packed the week before we go!

We did the final checks....7 Socks, 7 pants, passport, money, insurance and I pod....and we were ready to go!! We were booked on the 2pm train from Preston to Euston, so my Dad took us to the train station and before we knew it we were on the train. A Pretty uneventful train journey but it did seem to fly by and before we knew it we were at Euston.

We then had to make our way across on the underground from Euston to Kings Cross and get the Gatwick Express. Now that Gatwick Express...is the smelliest train i have ever been on, we were on it for about 40 minutes and it just stunk!

We finally got to our hotel, the Ibis, at Gatwick airport at about 8pm....both of us absolutley starving and in need of a beer! The room wasnt bad considering it cost us £40 between us, but we had some food and got into bed about 10pm to make sure we were up for half 7.

No pictures from today either

 

[disney_princess_85]

I've been looking forward to this one! Can't wait for more.

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Day 2 - Off we go to Vegas!!!!

We woke up at half seven and were out of the room for 8am...we were both feeling very excited by this stage! We got down to the lobby and had to wait for the shuttle bus, a charge of £3 each wasnt so bad to take us directly to the terminal either.

We went through check in easy enough, both cases miles under the limit and then made our way into departures. We couldnt believe how big the lounge was, I thought Manchester was big but this was huge! We ended up having a Mcdonalds breakfast, both of us had pancakes and the next thing our flight was being called!

I noticed as we were boarding the plane, that there didnt seem to be alot of people waiting to get on it, but we came to the conclusion that most had already got on....boy how wrong were we! We were sat just over the wing on the left hand side and had 3 seats between two of us!

Before we knew it we were up in the air! Now...I dont know how many read my last trip report when I flew with Virgin i wasnt that impressed...and I can honestly say after this flight I think they have gotten worse! The food on the flight was some of the worst food ive ever seen, the bread was that hard it snapped my knife! And the even funnier part when I told the stewardess what had happened she said 'it must have been the way you cut it'

I managed to get abit of sleep in and so did my brother, but I have to say I couldnt wait to land, I felt like id been on the plane alot longer than I had. It was a 12 hour flight, but hours 6-10....just seemed to take forever.

Finnnnally, we were nearly there and a nice smooth landing to go with it did the trick! What was really bizare was how close the runway was to the strip. I was sat on the plane and could see my hotel!!

We got off the plane pretty quick and after a few minutes of walking were at customs....again we breezed through this and as soon as we walked through our cases were there waiting for us! It must have taken us 15 minutes between getting off the plane and having our cases! I was already liking Vegas. And the Sun was out!!!

We jumped in a taxi straight away. Now from previous trip reports, you will know I have a thing where I always end up with mad taxi drivers and this guy set the standard for the week. He was a Mexican gentleman, of the rather plump kind...who obviously was happy to have two young men in his cab. 'You like girls....I know where all the girls go'....and a few other statements which I dont think would be suitable for these boards

Within 5 minutes we were at our hotel, The MGM Grand...and I have to say I was abit taken back by it. It was absolutely huge and this was just from the outside. We strolled into the hotel and the very first thing we saw.....a real boxing ring in the middle of the reception!

We got checked in easy enough, although we felt the staff werent very helpful when we were asking them questions, but that was the only time we spoke to them all week! We got in the lift and straight to our room, which was on the 17th floor and absolutely huge! There wasnt much unpacking done as we wanted to get down and have a stroll round.

During our stroll round our hotel we found the following - A lion habitat, a slot machine where you could win a BMW, 4 bars, a shopping mall, a 16,000 people arena, a boxing ring, a nightclub and a sports area that any fellow sporting fan would have dribbled over!

We went back to the room and had an hour upstairs, before heading down to the casinos for a couple of hours. We spent alot of time watching the high rollers betting and some of the amounts were insane. I won $25 off my first $1 bet though, so I was quite pleased.

Both of us were shattered and Warren was up to go to the Nascar on the Thursday, so around 11pm we called it a night after a quick Mcdonalds!

 

[disney_princess_85]

Wow, it sounds crazy!! Did you not end up trying the $20 trick then?

 

[VAN]

Also excited to read your TR for Vegas. We are from the U.S. and manage to get to Vegas about once a year ... usually for 6 nights.

Keep it coming!

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Wow, it sounds crazy!! Did you not end up trying the $20 trick then?

Yeaaaah, we did and it completely failed. The guy on reception was beyond misserable so I asked for an upgrade and he flat out went NO without even looking up at me.....so i took my $20 back!!!

 

[VAN]

I've had good luck with the $20 trick; however, when the hotels are full, they just don't have the inventory to accomodate you. Don't take it personal.

If NASCAR and/or boxing was in town, that would explain it.

I've usually had the best luck when I just had a 2-3 night stay during weekdays.

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Day 3 - Thursday 3rd March

We had a really good lie in on our first proper day, we woke up about 10:30. We showered and decided the first thing we wanted to do was head to the Premium Outlets, I know this might sound wierd, but we didnt pack that many clothes, so I was in desperate need of shorts!!

After spending quite heavily in Ralph Lauren, Adidas & Nike....we grabbed some dinner in Panda Express, we just wanted something quick and then headed back to the hotel.

We dumped the shopping in our room and decided to have a walk down the strip.....oh some of the sites we saw! Every 10 yards there is something happening whether it be dwarfs(is that correct name for them?) dressed up as Elvis...or Michael Jackson impressionists....or the gentleman you can see below (sorry if he offends anyone)

This was in the middle of the day! We couldnt believe how bad the guys were handing out 'girls to your room' cards and people trying to sell you rap cds, they were everywhere, but if you just avoid them they dont bother you.

We walked up to the Flamengo, and then *** the sun was out we thought we would head back and spend the rest of the day by the pool catching a few of the Las Vegas rays!

While down at the pool, I was sat in the jacuzzi and began chatting to these two blokes. Both American, from Arrizona, I spent a good hour chatting to them about Sport and we all shared a few beers in this time.........this wouldnt be the last time I would see these guys!

It was about 5pm and I decided to have abit of a snooze. My brother was going to the M&M Store for a Nascar event, which meant i could have a quick hour or so.

Buttttt.....I awoke to find my brother sat on his bed telling me that jet lag had kicked in and he wasnt feeling too good...uhhh oh . I decided to go down into the casino for abit of a gamble and ended up sat in one of the bars in the casino doing shots of Jagermiester with some American blokes! It wasnt a late one again and I got to bed about 1am ish, although when I went to bed it felt like Vegas was just coming alive.

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Day Four - Friday 4th March

Friday morning had a very very interesting start to the day, I woke up after four hours sleep and couldnt get back to sleep at all, so decided to have a wonder downstairs at 5am....I grabbed a hot chocolate from the Starbucks and decided I would sit at a roulette machine for abit. I put $10 and walked up to my room half an hour later with $77...I was quite happy at that. I went back to bed for an hour, and it wasnt long before Warren was up and about. He was heading to the Nascar track to watch the qualifying, so it meant I had the day to myself.

I had another few hours in bed and at around midday headed down to the pool for an afternoon of relaxation. The pool at the MGM was really good, they had a waitress service so I didnt have to leave my sun lounger for a beer...although at $8.50 a bottle she wasnt called that often!

One thing I did like the pool was they had areas you could sit on in the pool.....these became a perminant base for my backside during my days by the pool!!

Later in the afternoon I decided to have a walk to the Palms hotel to pick up some tickets for a comedy show. When I asked at reception of my hotel how far the walk was....'5 minutes maximum' was the response I got. Now im a fairly fit guy, walk at a decent speed but it took me a good 45 minutes to walk it! I spent the last 10 minutes of the walk talking to myself and vowing to get my revenge on the guy at reception! It was baking hot and I was dying for a drink! I wasnt a happy guy! My mood worsened when I saw I had to cross this road!

I eventually got to the Rio and I picked the tickets up. The Palms was a really young vibrant hotel, which I suppose lacked the class of some of the other hotels...but MTV had taken it over. I bumped into a Youtube sensation while I was there, I doubt many will know who he is, but hes called Keenan Cahill and he has something like 20 million views on You tube.

I got back to the room about 7pm, just about the same time my brother got back from the track....we decided to head out to get some food and ended up at the hard rock cafe. Warren was buzzing over his day, he had seen some good racing and met some drivers. After some ribs and a burger, we started to walk up the strip...where I met another celebrity..

And so did my brother....

Cant go to Las Vegas and not meet the King!!

We did a wonder around some of the hotels on the strip. We were both really amazed by the likes of the Bellagio and Caesers Palace, although we decided not to watch the fountains tonight as they were really busy and the temperature had really dropped.

We headed back to the hotel and stayed in the casino for abit, although winning wasnt our major thing tonight!

 

[disney_princess_85]

Loving your updates Jordan! It looks like such a fun place.

Yeaaaah, we did and it completely failed. The guy on reception was beyond misserable so I asked for an upgrade and he flat out went NO without even looking up at me.....so i took my $20 back!!!

Oh dear! Oh well, maybe next time...

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Saturday 5th March

I woke up really early for me on the Saturday morning, as my brother was off to the track at 6:30 and Arsenal were playing Sunderland at 7am...so I thought I may aswell get up. I threw my Arsenal top and went downstairs expecting it to be fairly quiet...boy was I wrong! Vegas really is a 24 hour place, I grabbed a Starbucks hot chocolate again....and couldnt believe I had to que for about 10 minutes! It was really busy.

I sat in this area watching the game....it is any sports fans heaven! You name the sport and game that was being played and it was on in this area live! There were a couple of Arsenal fans down there and a few stragglers from the night before, its just a shame the game finished 0-0!

The game finished at about 9am and I decided to head back to bed for an hour or so. I was awoken by our over chatty cleaner at about 11, so decided to get all my stuff together and have another day by the pool, while Warren was at the Nascar.

I had a pretty chilled day by the pool, had all the usual chatty Americans having some banter with and I headed back to the room, to have a quick snooze. One thing that I did notice was I was starting to get a cold and my lips were really sore, fortunatley id read about this and bought plenty of chapstick!

Warren got back about half six and we decided we would head out at about half eight, we werent overly hungry so said we would grab some food on the go. We headed towards the Palms (In a taxi this time) where we had tickets for a comedy show with a guy called Nick Cannon (who's married to Mariah Carey).....the comedy show......wasnt overly funny, it had its moments, but I was very dissappointed. Although to me comedy isnt funny unless theres a fat bloke shouting 'Garlic Bread'!

After the comedy show, we both headed back to the MGM Grand and decided we would try the Studio 54 nightclub in our hotel, as Snoop Dog was doing a live show in there and Im abit of a fan.

When we got to Studio 54 we couldnt believe the que....all the females were getting in really quickly and for free, but the men werent. The que must have been 45 minutes long, so being the cheeky chap I am I went over to the bouncer and asked if there was anyway we could get in and fortunatley we had a decent guy, he said tip me and we will get you in! So not only did we save $30 entrance fee each we also didnt have to que up for an hour!

What we werent expecting inside was how expensive a beer would be. I got the first round in of 2 Bud Lites....$20 + Tip But heres where the night go interesting......

We were by the bar and the guys that I had been chatting to in the jacuzzi the previous day came over to us, asking if we wanted to join them.....intrigued we said 'yeah why not'!! The guy called Barny, took us through a rope and onto his VIP Table. You wouldnt believe this table, had big bottles of vodka, tequilla and at least a dozen bottles of Budweiser and we couldnt believe our look when he said 'Guys, tuck in, theres plenty more where that came from'

Below is a picture of me with Barny, the VIP guy!

We had such a good night in Studio 54, we didnt pay for a drink all night and i knew I was going to have a sore head in the morning. Snoop Dogg came on and did 6 or 7 songs and we had a really amazing night. I couldnt believe it when the waitress bought the bill over, the guy signing for it didnt even look how much it was for.....I did though $1300 Thats nearly as much as id taken to last me the week!!!

After leaving Studio 54 around 3am, we decided rather tipsy, we would spend abit of money in the casinos. Our thinking was we hadnt hardly spent a penny all night so we could afford to gamble abit. We played abit of roullette and both us ended up calling it a night with more money in our pocket than we had gone out with, so we really couldnt moan.

One thing we did take good advantage of was the waitress service. If your playing on any machine/table, your waitress will come over and bring you free drinks, all you have to do is tip her. So through out the week we would sit on the 1cent slots, get served and walk off

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Sunday 6th May

Wow.....what a write off Sunday morning was, it was like being back at home! Warren again had got up for his final day the track and gone, but I didnt wake up till about midday....and oh man was I suffering! I wasnt a very pretty site!

I got up not long after I woke up and decided to head down to and get some food. I ended up with a giant hot dog as I thought it would settle the nerves and it did! I did the same as the past few days, went and had some time by the pool and it seemed like the rest of Las Vegas was feeling like I was!

During the mid afternooon, there was a boxing fan event on. Two fighters were fighting on the Saturday at the MGM Grand, so I decided to have a wonder into our reception to see what was happening, as im a massive boxing fan. I was completely amazed by what went on, met some of the fighters and even managed to meet a couple of boxing hall of famers in Bob Arum (Promoter to alot of big name fighters ) and Mr Don King (Muhamed Ali & Mike Tysons former promoters)

After the busy and rather exciting afternoon I had completely forgotten about my sore head and Warren was due back any time from the Nascar, so I was looking forward to what the night ahead had in store for us!

Warren got back at around 7pm and he was ready to go out by 8pm. We decided we would have a walk up the strip as far as we could be bothered walking, as the furthest we had been was up to the Flamengo.

As we were walking out of our hotel....we saw something we found really strange but nobody else batted an eye lid around us.

Yes....That is two people with back packs on...with two REAL dogs in there back packs.... We couldnt believe it when we saw it. We did develop a phrase by the end of the week 'Only in Vegas'.

We had a walk up the strip and went in a few different casinos, what we found was that the further up the strip passed the bellagio we went the more seedy it got. We were constantly being offered 'Direct girls to our rooms' and getting asked if 'we knew charlie'....there is that side of Vegas, but I suppose if you go to any City your going to have that somewhere and we certainly saw worse areas towards the end of the week!

We decided to stop at a Rock Themed bar at the Planet Hollywood hotel and grab some food, we were both quite tired by this stage, so I ended up having a salad and Warren just had some fries...before we decided to call it a night, we had some busy days planned a head of us so we wanted to get a good sleep in!

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Monday 7th March

Monday morning was an early start, because as every trip to the USA....we were off to Walmart! Yes, it was time to go and stock up on them things we cant get back here! So we got changed and got in a taxi outside the hotel.......and we ended up in the worst taxi ride ive ever been in! The driver loved the sound of his own voice, and was one of the most religious person ever, he spent 10 minutes preeching to us! Although when we got to walmart it did make us laugh, when he handed us 2 leaflets for a local gentelmans bar!

We bought lots of goodies and I managed to get some new hand wraps for boxing for $3...there normally £7-10 back here!! We did spend an absolute fortune in there, which is crazy really *** its just Asda We got another taxi back to the hotel and dumped all our stuff in the room, then decided to head over to the New York New York to get some dinner and watch the Blackpool V Chelsea match.

When we got to the New York New York, we both got the idea to ride the Rollercoaster that goes round the hotel. We had a look at and it was $14 each....which was expensive but we thought we are only here once so ended up riding it! It was very simular to Hollywood Rip Ride Rock It, but about twice as long! Deffinatley worth doing it if you ever go to Vegas as you get a great view of the strip.

After the ride, we went into the Sports bar at the NYNY and both had a burger and fries! Unfortunatley Blackpool lost 3-1, but the chips in the sports bar were unbelievable....they had garlic in them, never tasted anything like them. But now it was time for us to have some unexpected fun! (are you intrigued???)

A few yards down from our hotel was the huge Coke world store, 5 floors of coke products, merchandise and goodies. On floor 5 there was the coke tasting area. We had been told to buy the tray of 16 coke shots, which is 16 coke products from all over the world. Now, were not stupid so we knew somewhere in there, there would be at least one dodgy drink.....but it was just finding it, we were going one after the other so nobody had an advantage!

Ahhhh and then we got to it! I wont tell you which one it is, incase you go and do it, but one of the 16 is the worst tasting thing I have ever had in my mouth!!! Both of us sprayed it out and were very shocked when the lady working there told us alot of people come in and buy cups of it...

After the coke experience, we headed over to M&M world for a stroll round, again 5 floors of M&Ms....only in America!!

We started getting silly with some of the statues in the shop!

After the M&M shop, we decided to have a walk up the strip and see what we could find, also Waz wanted to find an apple shop and look at a new I Pod. The stroll up the strip is really good, theres some huge roads to cross but the hotels between them have built giant walkways that go from hotel to hotel so you dont have to put your life in danger! We ended up at a shopping centre mid-strip and spent a few hours in there, because it had started to go abit cooler.

After abit of shopping, we had to do the walk back to the MGM Grand, the walk felt like forever. It must have taken us a good half hour to walk back to our hotel, although a couple of bud-lite's on the walk did make things abit easier!

Once back in the room, we both fell asleep on the bed and waz wasnt feeling to great, which he blamed on the dodgy coke product, but I think it was just the fact we had done a lot of walking. We both woke up around 9pm and got ready to go out and grab some food.

We ended up back in the rock themed bar at Planet Hollywood again, the atmopshere in there was really good and my brother loved it being a big rock fan. I had a pulled pork sandwhich and Waz had a steak, I cant remember how much it set us back, but it wasnt overly expensive. We couldnt believe how many people in there were playing beer pong, it really is a game I dont understand.

Once we had eaten, we decided to head back to the Casino to throw some more money away! I started the night with $50 in my pocket, ended up walking back with nothing...... Warren on the other hand went in there with $13 and ended up walking back to the room with $70! Not massive wins, but they kept things ticking over.

One thing I had noticed is that I couldnt shake the cold I developed, I blamed the air conditioning there and my lips were completely wrecked, again the air conditioning! Poor me! At around 2am, after a few drinks we decided to call it a night before our final full day tommorow.

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Tuesday 8th March

Ahhhhh it was our last full day..... I woke up not happy! I was really loving Las Vegas and didnt want to come home, but I knew I had to!! We got up for half nine on the Tuesday, and headed down to the Outlets. Warren wanted a few more bits and I never say no to a quick shop! We picked up a few bits from Puma, Adidas and I got a bargain of a Ralph Lauren shirt. Normally £50+ here....I got one there in the sale for $30, If i had the allowance id have bought more back to sell! Haha!

Once we had finished shopping, we got a taxi back to the hotel and dumped our shopping. Warren was packed and ready to go (hes very organised) and my stuff was all over the place still, but the sun was out so we decided to head to the giant 'Welcome to Las Vegas sign'.

On the way down, we asked at reception how far away it is...'Not long, about a ten minute walk'....stupidly again we believed them, so set off walking! 40 minutes later, we got to the sign!! Either people in LV have really bad time keeping or they walk beyond fast!

It was quite busy by the sign, there were alot of wedding parties down there wanting pictures and celebrating. That was something we came to see alot in Vegas, no matter where you were you would spot a wedding party. We started walking back towards our hotel, but ended up in the Luxor because we wanted to get a taxi to the stratosphere, which was right at the other end of the strip.

The taxi to the Stratosphere was a very interesting one. Nothing to do with the driver this time, but the driver took us off the strip and down the back roads which showed us the very very very seady side of Las Vegas. Living in Blackpool, I wasnt shocked by what I saw, but i was abit taken aback by a neighbourhood just behind the Stratoshpere which was just covered in police tape...not nice.

The Stratosphere and surrounding hotels like Circus Circus were not nice at all, they were very 'Blackpool'ish, very run down and especially Circus Circus, smelt really bad. We were very happy that we didnt stay at this end of the strip and would recommend to anyone not to stay up this end, although it is a bit cheaper you can deffinatley tell. My brother even commented he felt abit uneasy on the strip at this end, in the middle of the day!

We continued the walk up the strip and got back to 'safe' territory. We had spoken earlier in the week about doing Madame Taussauds if the weather turned bad, and as luck would have it, it started raining just as we were walking past it. We got to the entrance and they wanted $25 each to get in, we were having none of that, so said to the worker '$30 for both, take it or leave it'...thank fully they took it!

We had a really good laugh in Taussauds, things like this dont really appeal to me, but we had a laugh in there and got in some interesting poses with the 'celebs'...there were alot of people rolling there eyes at us! Ill not go into whos who, but il just post a few pictures below, see if you can guess who they are!

After leaving Taussauds, we ended up walking round the hotel it is in (I cant remember the name), but it had a Ferrari shop and showroom. We wanted to go in the showroom, but refused to pay $10 each to go in. What made us laugh was a sign saying 'Ferrari keyholders get in free'....we thought if you can afford a Ferrari...you can afford $10!

We started walking back up the strip, but we couldnt believe how cold it had turned, I was absolutely freezing and it really wasnt helping my cold! So it was a rather quick walk back to the hotel! Once back, we had an hour or so in the room (I even packed!) and got changed. Our plan was to go down to the Bellagio fountains, and finish up in the Casino at our hotel!

The Bellagio fountain shows are absolutely amazing, they dont last long, but they are every 15 minutes and free! But we stayed and watched them a couple of times, but they were really impressive.

After them, we ended up walking round Caesers palace, another really amazing hotel. It had a huge shopping centre in it, with all the top line shops like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada etc....we said its crazy how you can go from the 'ghetto' near the Stratosphere to a money rich area in the space of less than a mile!

We headed back to the MGM Grand and stayed in the casino all night....thank fullly both of us ended up! I went back to the room $35 up, but Waz went back over $100 up! I wouldnt mind, but all the money he won was on my lucky number I told him to put it on!

Not long after 1am, it was time for bed.....long day ahead tommorow!

 

[disney_princess_85]

Great updates and pics Jordan. You're really selling it to me!

 

[VAN]

Great report ... really loving it!

Regarding the walking, next time you may want to familiarize yourself with the monorails. There is one that you have to pay for from MGM Grand down the backs of casinos on the east side of the strip. We tend to get a 24 hr pass and use this when we plan to go down to the Treasure Island, Harrahs areas. One end is at MGM and the other at Sahara. It is well worth the money if you plan to explore up-and-down the strip. Here's the link with info and prices: http://www.lvmonorail.com/

Also, free monorail between Bellagio/Aria/Monte Carlo and then another free one between Excalibur/Luxor/Mandalay Bay. Additionally, there is an internal walkway connecting Excalibur/Luxor/Mandalay Bay.

There is a free shuttle that gets you from Bills Gambling Hall over to the Orleans, Gold Coast, Rio.

Additionally, the city buses are quite inexpensive and you could have gotten around quite cheaply on a 24 hr pass for those as well (they include the double-decker buses that you saw on the strip).

Just something to keep in mind should you go again and not have a rental car.

 

[Chilly]

Brilliant report, sounds like a fab trip, so many highlights.

 

[tony64]

Thanks for this. We are hoping to go next year and all the info will be very useful.

 

[Linda67]

Just read your whole TR

Love it

I've been to Vegas three times now and we just love it there

We've stayed at Caesars Palace a couple of times and once at The Venetian.

You've just made me really want to go back