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MGM Lion
As September draws to a close, so does Vegas Month here at SoloFriendly.com. I believe I’ve covered most aspects of my recent trip to Vegas, including hotels, restaurants, socializing, the Star Trek Experience Decommissioning Ceremony, and new things I did. All that’s left are the miscellaneous notes from my journal that didn’t fall under previous categories. For me, a trip isn’t truly a great trip unless I learn something from it, and I certainly did learn some things during this trip. In no particular order, here they are:
Those neck pillows some people use on airplanes really are helpful. I saw a guy holding one in the security line at McCarran Airport; I asked him if it really worked. He said it was the best $15 he’d ever spent. I have never been able to sleep on airplanes because I get a crick in my neck if I try to , so I decided it was time to try one of these pillows for myself. I bought one at the Hudson News at the airport. I don’t know if I’d say it was the best $15 I’ve ever spent, but it was a lot easier to nap with it than without it. I’ll definitely get my money’s worth out of that purchase.
Paris Fountain
I knew I would be using the monorail, so to save money, I pre-purchased a 6-ride monorail ticket on the Las Vegas Monorail website. However, I recently heard an interesting tip that you can sometimes get free monorail tickets from the front desk or the concierge IF you are staying at one of the monorail hotels. Since I learned this after my trip, I have not tried it myself, but it certainly never hurts to ask. If anyone tries it during an upcoming trip, please come back here and post whether it worked or not!
If you really want great pictures on your vacation, invest in an SLR camera. But if you can’t afford the SLR, a tripod will help you get much better pictures with your point-and-shoot.
La Bayou
Harrahs has these great new “Bill Breaker” machines throughout its casino. These are handy to cash in your TITO (ticket in, ticket out) slips as well as break bills. I couldn’t find a single one of these at Bally’s and had a hard time finding anyone to give me change when I was there so I’d have singles for the bus. The woman who worked at the coffee stand in the lobby said she wasn’t allowed. When I went to the cashier’s cage to get change, I was bumped aside for a diamond or platinum player. All I wanted was change for a $5, and it must have taken me 20 minutes to get it. Yet another reason not to like Bally’s (in addition to the fact that they got rid of their buffet and have let the Tequila Bar become a shabby, run-down dive). Since Bally’s is owned by Harrahs, why aren’t there plenty of Bill Breaker machines there too?
Golden Gate Casino
I have come to a conclusion that I think many other Vegas fans are coming to: With airfares being what they are, it seems to make more sense to travel less often to Vegas, but stay longer when you do go. For me, that means more than four nights. I think I may give Downtown a try next time, since they’re doing so many great things to polish it up.
There is such a thing as bringing too many snacks. I get so paranoid that I’m going to starve on the airplane since they don’t serve much in the way of food any more (and I have to eat every couple of hours), that I always bring my own snacks. I went way overboard on the amount of snacks I brought with me on this trip and ended up having to schlep those damn snacks back home with me. It was a ridiculous amount of food. I don’t know what I was thinking.
MGM
A couple of years ago, there was this nice trend among hotels where if you forgot your toothbrush, toothpaste or other toiletries at home, you could call down to the front desk and they would provide you with some for free. At Harrahs, these toiletries are sold in their minibar for $4 each. (At least twice what they’re worth.) That is the ultimate in cheap–and I don’t mean the good kind of cheap. That warm, fuzzy feeling I got when a hotel provided me with that service for free has turned into resentment because they’re overcharging me for it. Good customer service is what results in brand loyalty for hotels. This kind of nickel-and-diming is the antithesis of good customer service. And Vegas hotels wonder why they’re in trouble.
I need to remember to bring more long pants and long-sleeved shirts with me next time. Every time I travel to Vegas in September, I look at the outdoor temperatures (in the 100s) and pack nothing but shorts and tank tops. But I spend more time indoors in the A/C than I do outdoors, so I freeze the entire trip. No more! This time I’ve learned my lesson.
Is it just me, or have bars changed the mixers they are using for mixed drinks to nothing but syrup? Every mixed drink I ordered in Vegas was sweet to the point where I felt like I was going into a diabetic coma after drinking just one. It tempts me to give up alcohol altogether.
I used one of those Internet stations in Harrahs lobby to print my boarding pass for my flight home. It was a wasted $5.95 because it didn’t have a baggage claim number on it. So when I got to the airport, they ripped up the boarding pass and printed a new one with my luggage claim number on it. Never again.
Thanks for reading my Vegas Month posts and see you in October!
