This is our trip report from our trip to Las Vegas from October 11 to 16, 2002. I will divide this report up into various sections, and not do the day by day thing, as I really can’t remember much of what happened day to day. [Linked Image]<br><br> Flights--We booked United, direct from Washington Dulles to Vegas, and direct return. Flights were both on time, with no problems. We left here at 5 PM on Friday and our flight back was at 8:30 AM on Wednesday morning, so no red-eye flights on either end, which made both ends of the trip much more comfortable. The flight out was full, as was to be expected, with the holiday weekend, although the return flight was only half full. We got a light meal each way, and free headsets for the movie. On the way out, we enjoyed being able to listen to the air traffic controllers on a radio channel. It wasn’t available on the way back, unfortunately. [Linked Image]<br><br> Hotel--We stayed at the Imperial Palace. Before you start laughing, it ended up costing us only $440.00 for 5 nights, including all taxes and fees, which I didn’t think was bad at all for a holiday weekend, through Hotels.com. We would stay there again. It’s not Caesar’s, but it sure didn’t cost the price for Caesar’s either. The IP is an old hotel, but we enjoy that area of the strip, between the Flamingo and Harrah’s. Upon arrival, we asked for a strip view room, which the front desk obliged, BUT warned us that it would be noisy. Noisy was not the word to describe it, as the music from Harrah’s Carnival Court next door was deafening, until at least 3:30 A.M. We went down the next morning and asked to move, which was obliged with no problem. We were impressed overall with the front desk, in terms of quickness and courtesy. Our second room I would recommend to anyone as being one of IP’s best room locations, unless you are deaf, in which case, by all means, request a strip view room. [Linked Image] The second room had a pool view, view of the mountains and the planes landing at McCarran. Best of all, it was very QUIET... [Linked Image] Pool view rooms are the best, as there are many rooms that have virtually no view of anything. If you’re going to get real technical and request a specific room block at the IP, request pool view, odd numbered room, numbers 15 and LOWER, and you will get the same view we had. We got the 18th floor, which is the top floor, but any one of the top 6 or so floors, the view would be very comparable. One of the things we liked best about the IP, other than the location, which is very important to us, is that the rooms all have a balcony. I enjoy being outside, especially as Eric smokes and I don’t, and it’s nice to be able to get some fresh air in the room. Technically, it’s not a “sitting” balcony, as there is no furniture, but we hauled out one of the desk chairs from the room, and were able to at least sit outside for a few minutes. Room amenities are lacking, no safety deposit box (despite what it said on hotels.com web site [Linked Image], and no refrigerator, except by request. I think that’s not that unusual, as many hotels don’t have either. There were safe deposit boxes for use free by guests by the main cashier in the casino, which is what we used to store our money and my wallet. Maid service was good.<br><br> The IP is a pretty good place to watch NFL football games, as they have all the games available on big screens up in the theatre, which seats around 800 people. It was almost full the day we went. It’s kind of a surreal experience, cause everyone is watching a different game, and you’re sitting there watching your game and a bunch of people over there are yelling and you can’t figure out why. [Linked Image] They have drink and snack service and lots of seats. They also have a sports book, but the theatre actually is a better set-up for watching games, as every game is available there.<br><br> The pool at the IP sucks, sorry, no other word for it. There is no shade on the pool deck at all, except very early in the morning or late in the afternoon. We didn’t actually lay out by the pool, but I don’t think there was any food available out there, except possibly some candy-bars or whatever, and there was no actual bar there either. The pool was only accessible by using your room key. God knows why they would do that, as even folks staying at the IP don’t want to use their pool. Why would anyone else?? [Linked Image] <br><br> Food–When we go to St. Martin, food is a very important part of the experience, but not so with Vegas. We generally get by fairly cheaply with food, as it’s not very important to us in Vegas. Places we ate, in no particular order–Emperor’s Buffet at the IP for breakfast–Cheap, at $8, but grungy and not particularly recommended, although they did have good waffles. Champagne brunch at the Mirage–$15.95. Service was excellent, with waitresses refilling your champagne glass seemingly every 10 seconds. Food was good, although it seemed to me that there was more selection at Harrah’s breakfast buffet. O’Sheas food court–Here they have a Subway, Burger King, Chinese Restaurant, pizza place, and a snack bar where you can get nachos, tacos, shrimp cocktail, etc. We picked up some cheap snacks there a couple of times. California Pizza Kitchen at the Mirage–YUCK! I know that if a restaurant has something they’re known for, that you should eat that. It was thus a mistake that at CPK, we ordered pasta. Nasty, boring, terrible. Three thumbs down. [Linked Image] [Linked Image] [Linked Image] Pizza Palace at the IP–Not bad, cheap, quick pizza. Coffee shop at the IP–Actually, a decent filet mignon for $13, prime rib for $10. Good service. <br><br> There is an Italian restaurant over the top of the Casino Royale–Sorry, can’t remember the name, but it’s on the second floor of the Casino Royale, immediately across the street from the Mirage volcano. We ate there primarily because you could get a great view of the volcano from your table. Eric had prime rib and I had pasta with chicken and broccoli. Both were good, although the prime rib was overdone. Entrees are all about $10-$15. Service was kind of distracted, as a couple of large groups came in after we did. To compensate, the manager gave us a most excellent piece of tiramisu, one of the best I’ve ever had. They serve pizza and other stuff there also. It’s kind of a ratty looking restaurant, but if you can get a table by the windows, it’s really a nice view and the food is pretty good and cheap. <br><br> Right in front of the Imperial Palace, and new since we were there last in October 2001, there is Tequila Joe’s. It’s best claim to fame is that they have happy hour every day from like 4 to 8, with half priced drinks. They have walk up service on the strip, plus several large couches, plus a bunch of tables for seating, and a decent selection of snacks. Food service was incredibly slow, even when the place wasn’t very full. <br><br> Getting around–We never rent a car in Vegas, as we deal with too much traffic on a daily basis in Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. For the most part, we walked where we wanted to go. We did take the trolley a couple of times. It’s now up to $1.65 per ride–exact change only. There is a pickup spot right by the back door of the IP, which was convenient. You can ride the trolley as long as you want, just stay on. Usually we take one full circle on the strip, but it was very crowded both times we were on, and were standing most of the time. One day we walked to Bally’s and took the tram to MGM, walked around there and NYNY and took a cab back to Paris. <br><br> Entertainment–Watched the pirate show at TI, the volcano numerous times, the fountains at Bellagio, checked out the 9-11 display in front of NYNY, and the lions at the MGM. We rode the trolley to the Stratosphere and went up the tower for the first time. Cost is $8 per person. It was OK, but I don’t like heights at all–which is why we hadn’t gone before. [img]/images/icons2/grin.gif[/img] I was OK inside the tower, but didn’t want to have anything to do with the outside observation deck. [img]/images/icons2/crazy.gif[/img] From there we took a taxi downtown to Fremont Street to see the light show. We enjoyed it again, but doubt we would go back downtown in the future, as there really wasn’t anything else down there we wanted to see and thus it ended up being about $35 roundtrip for taxi and other transfers down there to see a “free” show. <br><br> We did go to see Siegfried and Roy. We got tickets the day before the show, allegedly VIP tickets, although they really weren’t that close to the stage. It was just over $200 for tickets and we felt it was worth it, although of course, expensive. Eric saw them over 20 years ago [img]/images/icons2/shocked.gif[/img], and I wanted to see them because of the tigers. It’s a nice show and I’m glad we went, although don’t think it would be worth it a second time. <br><br> BTW, pretty soon they will have a half price same day tickets place in Vegas, like Tics in NYC, to be called Tickets2Nite. It was supposed to be open by the time we were there, but there was a sign up that said “opening soon”. Supposed to be open hopefully by the end of October. It’s right by the big Coke bottle by the Coke museum and the M & M store.<br><br> We sat at the Carnival Court at Harrah’s (outside) several times and listened to their bands. They were good, although very loud... The bartenders get up on the bar and dance, and they do the “Cocktail” juggling-the-liquor-bottles-around deal. We enjoyed our stops there, although I’m still a little deaf as a result..... [img]/images/icons2/wink.gif[/img] <br><br> The rest of our entertainment was gambling, of course. Let me first point out that, while we play table games, my FAVORITE game of all is quarter roulette, which they have at the Casino Royale. I can get $25 worth of chips and throw them around all over the table like they are play money and when I inevitably lose it all, it was only $25 to begin with! [img]/images/icons2/grin.gif[/img] Many folks don’t even know where the Casino Royale is, but it’s right next to the Venetian, on the strip, between the Venetian and Harrah’s. OK, it’s a ratty place, but they have low stakes, they have great drink service, and if you are so down on your luck that you have stopped playing, buying drinks there is even cheap. [img]/images/icons2/wink.gif[/img] At CR, they have quarter roulette, $1 craps and $3 Caribbean Stud and Blackjack. We spent most of our gambling time between Casino Royale and the Imperial Palace, which has $3 blackjack and craps, most of the time. We actually spent most of the time playing blackjack and if we’re hot, we can press our hands up quite a bit, but we played either $3 or $5 blackjack tables. Overall, not sure how much, but we did win money, as we only came home with about $50 less than we left home with, and charged only two meals and the Ziegfried and Roy tickets. Not bad at all!! [img]/images/icons2/thumbsup.gif[/img] <br><br> Overall, great trip, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Four full days in Vegas is certainly plenty for us. Weather was 85 degrees and sunny every day. That, and a winning trip--what more could one want?? [img]/images/icons2/grin.gif[/img] Carol & Eric

Carol Hill