Wed Aug 6th cont.
Decided to have steak for dinner at the Excalibur in The Sherwood Forest. They have an offer on Mon-Thurs, 10pm-6am only $8 including jacket potato and veg. The only thing was, as their were 9 of us we were charged quite a large service charge, about 22% I think but the steak was very good.
Played on the machines for a while then went to bed around 1am.

Thurs 7th Aug.
Ordered what I thought was a mc muffin at mc Donalds in the hotel for breakfast, it was a bit strange as I got bacon and egg but it was in a sweet tasting sultana pancake type thing and came with a biscuit which was actually a hash brown! Anyhow it filled a little gap.
Mum was meeting an American friend for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe at M.G.M. so I decided to chill around the pool for a while but it was far too hot.
My S.I.L. and her sister rang and invited me out to lunch at the Todai restaurant at the Miracle Mile shopping centre. It's a Japanese and sushi buffet restaurant all you can eat for $17.99 what a place, I'm sure that a similar thing would cost you around £50 a head in London or any major city for that matter. It was amazing quality and value. I'm not one for sushi but you couldn't fail to be impressed and they did have lots of other dishes besides the sushi ones and also a Teppanyaki counter where you put your order in and they cook it fresh and bring it to the table. They also do crepes to order too with ice cream and various fillings. I would thoroughly recommend this place.

In the evening, we got the deuce bus down to Treasure Island to watch the pirate show but only caught the tail end of it.

Went to Bills Gamblin Hall & saloon and there was a band on who were quite good. I drank Budweiser in an aluminium bottle which keeps it nice and cool, only $2.25 for 16oz and coke for mum was only $2.

One thing that I have been meaning to mention is that I was surprised that there were no banks on the strip. I had taken some dollars with me and also my nationwide flexaccount visa debit card but struggled to find a place to use it at first. I could have used it in the casinos but the commission looked quite high so I decided to use it in a shop which charged $2.50 but I soon realised that I could only draw out $200 and I didn't feel comfortable not getting a receipt. I still used it anyway and it turned out to be ok. I then discovered a free standing Nevada bank cash machine next o the M&M store which charged $3.50 but I was able to draw $400 a time and maybe more if I had wanted, it also gave me a balance and a receipt so used that from then on. I've been to the bank since I came home and everything has been ok.

Went to bed quite late, supposed to be going to the Grand Canyon tomorrow (Friday) but that's another story.

Sue

When we had the steak special at the Sherwood Forest Cafe it was only $7 and was available from 7pm till 7am I think. It was excellent value for money.

Re getting cash, maybe I forgot to mention it in my trip report (sorry if I did), but the cheapest way to get cash is at the ATM inside Casino Royale. It's only $1 per transaction and you can withdraw up to the equivalent of £300 per day. Alternatively buy something at Walgreen's or CVS and get cashback.

luci

Friday 8th Aug.
Got up a bit late for breakfast so decided to have lunch at the Flamingo. It was $16.99 I think but that included unlimited sodas. It was nice, they had a good choice of salads to start a reasonable selection of main course dishes including a carvery with some very nice rare beef, the only thing was, I expected the meal to be like a roast dinner although I didn't expect Yorkshire puddings I did think that they would have a better selection of potatoes but there was only mash and no gravy either but never the less, I enjoyed it and tried a few oriental bits and bobs too as well as a nice pork chop and some vegetables.
The sweet selection was great, there were lots of calorie laden cakes and a guy making crepes to order. They also had some sugar free puds too.

We had a look around the gardens at the Flamingos and turtles e.t.c. and were amazed to see about 4 weddings going on. We later realised that it was the 08/08/08/ and that was the reason why. We also saw lots of brides on and around the strip that day.

We were very much looking forward to visiting the Grand Canyon by helicopter and were due to be picked up at 4.45pm at the Rotunda entrance at the Excalibur. We were duly picked up at 4.50pm on the shuttle bus but were only on he road for 5 mins when the driver announced that he had some bad news. He said that there were thunderstorms at the Grand Canyon and we would not be able to go. We were really disappointed, the driver suggested that we try to rebook for the next day but when we rang they only had 1 place in the afternoon and 1 in the evening which was no good. We did consider going to see a show instead but both agreed that it would have been no substitute, that we wouldn't really have been in the mood so decided just to go for a meal and a few drinks.
We had a 3 course set meal at the Regale Italian restaurant in the Excalibur which at $15 represented good value for money although the wine was quite expensive and pushed the price up. It was also very cold in there due to the air conditioning and soon realised that I should have put a wrap on.
Got the duece bus down the strip and had a few beers in the casino royal before returning to the hotel. I played the machines for a while and asked the waitress for 2 nice cocktails, I only had a $5 dollar note so tipped her with that. She asked me how much change I wanted but I said that it was ok. She seemed really pleased and wished me good luck. 2 minutes later she returned and asked me if we had enjoyed our drinks and if we'd like another. I ordered another and just tipped her a dollar a drink. I think everything you read on here prior to going is sooo true, the more you tip,the better the service.

I didn't write anymore notes for Sat and Sun, we flew home at 6pm Sunday evening, the taxi was only $11 on the way back to the airport so we gave him $15. Check in went very smoothly, we got chatting to the check in guy and he told us that he was visiting Manchester on his way to Italy next week, he said that he was looking forward to having some fish and chips and we joked with him saying that he would have to visit Yorkshire for the best ones. He said " I like you guys so I'm not gonna even weigh your bags, there's no allowance for you. " which I was really pleased about because I'd bought a few things and was a bit worried about been overweight.
Got a litre bottle of Jack Daniels in duty free for only $26.
The journey home was ok, I slept for about 4 hours. I have felt really jet lagged though since coming home not having done a long haul flight before hasn't helped.I have been very sleepy in the afternoon then been unable to sleep at night. I only went back to work today (Friday) which was a good job really.
I enjoyed Las Vegas and obviously, the wedding was the icing on the cake (Sorry bout the pun ) I would like to go back for my 50th which is in March 2013, hopefully it will be cooler then.

Sue

Excellent Sue, I really enjoyed your trip report. Thanks very much for posting.

Now you can come on here and relive it all in the cold, dark days of winter.

luci

Thanks Luci, glad you enjoyed it.

Now you can come on here and relive it all in the cold, dark days of winter.

Yeh i will, I have Benidorm to look forward to first though, just 4 nights at the end of September then the dark cold winter nights will set in.

Sue

Thanks Sue, that was brill.

You will have to go back for Grand Canyon
Kath x

Thanks very much Sue. I know you said you didn't like to do detailed reports, but Vegas is so difficult to describe without details.

Everyone's experience is so different. I absolutely love to read everyones reports.

Thank you so much for making the effort. (I think it might have been me that tried to persuade you to do a report.)

Thank you so much for making the effort. (I think it might have been me that tried to persuade you to do a report.)

Hi Pebbles, yes I think it was you.

Thank you for taking the time to send me all the Pm's prior to going. Hope you had a good time in Beni.

Sue

Sue, I'm so glad you seemed to have enjoyed your trip. Vegas can be different for everyone who goes. It's slightly like Benidorm as in it's a 24 hour town, but that's where the comparison ends. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we do.

We are going for the 11th time in November and are staying for a whole month this time. Every time we go we find more things to do. We absolutely love Vegas, (and Benidorm) Sad or what! we don't care.

I particularly liked the info you gave on the flamingo as that is where we are parking out bum for 8 nts twinned with anaheim for 8 nts also. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it all, its nice to have so much info to digest ahead of our trip.
Michelle x

Enjoyed your report Sue, thanks!
Also glad to hear you enjoyed Vegas just like us

It's always good to reminisce and think of Vegas, so we all love talking about Vegas and making suggestions.

I'm so excited about going in 3 weeks....well 2 weeks 6 days now. So far on the agenda is:-

Days:-
Valley of Fire
San Francisco (2 flights for $277 - £70 each)
Laughlin

Shopping:-
Outlets south strip
Outlets near downtown
Shopping at Laughlin
New Mall down by airport can't remember name
Boulevard Mall
Meadows Mall
Henderson - Galleria Mall maybe
Fashion Show Mall

Shows (some of these at least):-
Penn & Teller
Defending the Caveman
Phantom
Comedy Stop at the Trop
Riviera Comedy Club
Comedy Club at Trader Vic's in Miracle Mile

We'll be there for 13 nights, 6 at Orleans (with 4 days car), then Platinum 2 nights, then 5 nights at MGM in a Celebrity Spa Suite on their Visa offer.

Orleans I finally got down to $60 for sat and $29 for other nights! Platinum and flights were a package £1200 for 2. MGM Celeb Spa $89/$99 rates.

I feel like I'm overstretching it a bit when I am looking up shows etc, so I think as usual we won't be able to fit it all in and might have to go back???

Sounds like you are going to be busy Lesley! I too like to have a plan of what we intend to do otherwise we sort of "drift". With a plan we usually do most of it.

Hubby's cousin called last night as they are thinking of going to Vegas for the first time at the end of September. Priced some flights for her and bmi are coming out at £1120 each!

luci

Flythomascook is coming out at £700 - £750 for the end of September. They go from Manchester (Wednesdays and Sundays) though - don't know if that is any good for them?

Suzy

Thanks Suzy. I found that as well. They still have to get to Manchester from north of Aberdeen and with the time of that flight would need to go down the night before.

I left them with a few ideas and will wait to see if they are definitely going to go before hunting some more.

luci

Phew....that's expensive.

I recently got a cheap flight to Miami with 2 stops on Airline Network's site (they're now known as netflights I think). I had looked up flights everywhere and they were all over £400, and I ended up getting them for £327. 2 stops rather than 1 which is better, but if they are flying from Aberdeen then they will probably have to do 2 stops as I think I'm correct in saying that there won't be any scheduled flights to the US from Aberdeen, nor any from anywhere in the UK straight to Vegas?

First time we went we took a package from Manchester with Mytravel. We paid £499 each and stayed at the Best Western Mardi Gras. It was absolutely fine, and for a first trip we were perfectly happy. Of course later you learn the tricks with the hotel deals and there's no need to stay at the Best Western. I'd probably do it again though if it was a good price on a package.

I'm in the Glasgow area though, so I guess we're not as far away from Manchester. It's on the way back it's a killer driving back!

Thomas Cook airlines direct from Glasgow to Las Vegas!
It departs Manchester and then calls in at Glasgow.

But I think it only goes from Glasgow in July Gemma, or it could be June & July.

luci

I see Luci. Not much help for Lesley then
A great flight if you are boarding at Glasgow but a nightmare if you are coming from Manchester and landing in Glasgow to pick up more passengers.
Lots of the holidaymakers we spoke to on the flight thought it was direct from Manchester to Las Vegas and werent too pleased about the stopover, made their journey about 15 hours in total, not good poor people.

PS. Luci what are you doing posting at 3.44am