FRIDAY:
Bit of a delay in posting this instalment, picked up a lousy cold yesterday so didn't feel 100% last night. Thought it was drying up a bit today but it's now come right out again (6pm here at the mo').
Well yesterday we sat round the pool till about mid-day then went up to room, got changed and set off in the car to a local TJ Maxx to see what they're like. Wasn't overly impressed, only real designer clothes I could find were Ralph Lauren. We didn't spend long in there, and set off for Lake Mead. Only took about 20-25 mins to get to the Lake Mead marina from Vegas itself. Place was very busy and all the jet-ski's were out so we grabbed a bite to eat in the restaurant there (decent food and very friendly staff) and got the nod when one was available (about 20 mins later).
Signed the necessary and jumped onto the jet-ski and off we went! We always have such a great time on Lake Mead, popped round to have a look at Hoover Dam on the jet-ski and see how the new road is going, then went pretty much all round the huge lake. Only had an hour this time rather than the two we normally have, to be honest, an hour is enough to get round to see everything once you've done it a couple of times. It's really good value too - cost $83 for an hour including four gallons of fuel (we did stay flat out for pretty much the whole hour)!
We took a change of clothes as usual - needed because of spray when you're riding and also sweating in the lifejacket in 100 degree heat!!
Drove back to Vegas and got back around 6pm.
Decided to not have anything fancy to eat so walked up to Planet Hollywood to the Miracle Mile and settled on 'La Salsa Cantina'. As neither of us were really hungry we just ordered two appetizers, A 'Cantina Sampler' and Chicken Quesadillas......how glad were we that we only ordered these!! The amounts were enormous, there's no way we could have had a main meal if we had ordered one appetizer each. The Quesadillas were lovely and on the sampler dish we had a cheese quesadilla, steak nacho's and black beans, pico de gallo, lettuce, chicken wings in franks hot sauce and taquito's.......all very nice and with a couple of drinks the bill came to $35. We had a walk around the miracle mile to walk it off a bit.
We had a gamble in PH casino, it was VERY busy in there and in fact was a bit too noisy in that there was about 4 different sources of really loud music all fighting against each other so it just came across as a load of noise!
Didn't win in there so because I didn't feel great we just came back to the Signature.
SATURDAY:
Spent most of the day by the pool, weather is much better today - no cloud at all but quite windy (which was pleasant round the pool) Had to drop the hire car off so popped that back to MGM Grand at 16:30 and dropped the keys off at Dollar. Had a gamble in the MGM casino, I played some Let It Ride poker and Linda played slots - neither of us won. I had a bit of a count up when we got back to the room, and found that I've lost just $287 gambling in 5 days which is pretty amazing and an absolute result for me in Vegas I'm very happy about that!
We've booked a table at 'Fiamma' in MGM for tonight, I'm really looking forward to having their 'Arancine' for starter again, I hope they still do it! Also delighted to see that Ar5enal won 3-1 today to go top of the Premier league.....all I need now is to win a couple of hundred dollars tonight and I'll be a very happy bunny (and obviously for my man-flu to dry up again)
Cheers

TC

Oh what a bummer getting the cold! Hope it clears up enough for you to do everything you want to. I know what it's like to be sick in Vegas as I had food poisoning for 5 days and it's no fun going out and about wondering where the next toilet is.

We also had a cheapo breakfast at La Salsa as I wasn't very hungry and it was enough to hit the spot.

Enjoy Fiamma!

luci

We've never been to Fiamma, can you tell me what Arancine is please. It sounds interesting.

Hope you feel better soon. Being ill in Vegas is awful.

Hi TeeCee

Hope you're still enjoying. Funny reading your trip report about weather midweek - since we were there too! We went to the pool early on both of those days and managed to get some sun. The second shower we'd went up to the room to pack and didn't notice till we went outside and there were little patches of rain. On Tuesday we were in San Francisco but the taxi driver told us there had been some thunderstorms. We also had bad weather on the 8th I think it was, the day we picked our car up. We'd been to the pool then went for the car, and then we were going to Belz, so it didn't really matter. It is funny to see so much rain and cloud in Vegas - although to be fair it wasn't really a lot anyway.

When we arrived on the 6th, weather was up in the 100s for our first few days. It was unseasonally hot, and it was quite unbearable at the pool! I swam more than ever!

I have taken notes in a little notebook for my trip report, that will follow shortly. Derwentrocker, I'm more of a cheapskate so I will include some cheap eat info for you!

TeeCee - enjoy the rest of your trip! Hope the cold clears up, and the weather stays good.

Thoroughly enjoying this trip report (hope I'm as lucky on the slot machines )....

Three more sleeps until hubby and I are there......I am so excited

SUNDAY:
My cold is raging on, don't feel great at all. Spent the day by the pool, it's a much better day today, no-where near as much cloud but still quite windy, which is nice around the pool......till you get out of the water and then it's freezing for a few minutes!!
We made ourselves some rolls again from supplies we'd got from a local supermarket, certainly saves a few bucks on lunch somewhere and we'd probably only end up eating some fried rubbish somewhere if we ate out.
We had a laugh today by the pool, there was a guy in tight yellow speedo's, who......how shall I put it......had a large endowment! and he obviously wanted everyone to notice this.....a couple of women even had a sly walk along the edge of the pool to take a closer look, it was hilarious. After eating Chicken wings in a very spicy 'Franks hot sauce' in Las Salsa Cantina the night before, we nicknamed him 'Franks Hot Sausage'.
Went back to room around 4:30pm, we'd had enough sun by then it was very hot, it's weird how in Vegas it is never hottest around mid-day, it always gets hotter as the day goes on so it's 93 degrees at 1pm and 98 degrees at 5pm
Nothing in particular planned for tonight so we decide to jump on the monorail down to the Wynn, to try their buffet. Have never had it before but it's supposed to be great (although a bit expensive at $37 each). The monorail map said Las Vegas convention centre was best for Wynn so we got off there behind 4 american guys and started walking what was obviously a very long walk to the hotel! It turned out that there wasn't actually a sidewalk to walk on! After a few hundred yards, we were still behind the American guys, walking up the road itself when a driver stopped and said we'd better turn around as this was a freeway and didn't go to the strip! We turned around but the yanks carried on going on the other side of the road. It's a bit of a dodgy area and as we were walking past some apartments, three guys started fighting in the car park about 20 feet from us, I told Linda to get a shift on as we were in a very dodgy place! I cannot understand why they do not have signs up for that monorail stop. There is a gateway where you can walk through what looks like the edge of the golf course to Wynn but that was locked. We hurriedly got back on to the monorail (luckily we had bought a three day pass each for $28 - it's now $5 for a single ride). I said we'll go back to harrahs and cross over to the Mirage for the 'Cravings' buffet. It cost $26 each but is very nice, certainly one of the best although saying that, I do feel it's not as good as the last couple of times we have been there, looks to me like they are cutting back a bit but they still had about 7 different food stations including Italian, carvery, rotisserie, seafood, chinese, mexican and Raw, also a salad and dessert station. After we'd had our fill we had a gamble in the Mirage, using our players cards obviously. Had the occasional win but overall ended the night very down. Am now almost out of my original money I got out of the ATM
Walked back from Mirage and managed to catch the Bellagio fountains at 11:30pm. Took lots of photos and video of the fountains and hotels on the way back. Had a brief gamble on the Monopoly machines when we got back in MGM and after putting $100 in, got a bonus play right as I was going to run out of money and won $125 so cashed that in and we went back to the room.
MONDAY:
Well, halfway through the holiday now, always a major point, knowing you're halfway there having to go back to work! Still that's enough of that, I am not thinking about work for another 7 days at least!!
I feel a bit better today, I think finally it is drying up, I have developed a bit of a cough now but feel quite a bit better than yesterday. Back down to the pool for 8:30am. Quite cloudy but it's really high wispy clouds so no threat to the sun. 93 degrees forecast for today. Spent day by the pool, Franks hot sausage has gone, probably lassooed by a cowboy and dragged off somewhere Nice relaxing day, finished another book so I'm on my third now and ended the day halfway through that, still, I have another three to go! Had sarnies as usual. Am now looking very nicely tanned thankfully.......that's one objective achieved, just millionaire status to go!!
Tonight we have tickets booked for Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay. I got them from a website before we came out and got two for one, cost about $53, a very good deal. You can get $30 off at the box office but I think they want $60 upwards per ticket. Not sure where we'll eat yet, we'll probably stop off at Red Square afterwards for a couple of vodka's.......this is where we got hammered last year! I don't think we'll do that again, it took me a couple of days to recover fully! Looking forward to the show.

Cheers,

TC

When you get off the monorail at the Convention Centre, you can get a shuttle to Wynn, I don't know the times, but I believe it is fairly frequent. Just some info for your next attempt.

Loving your day by day TR so far.

Sounds like you're enjoying!!

Are you staying at the Signature Pool, or going to the other MGM ones? We quite liked the director's pool (in the back right corner coming from MGM) - it was quite quiet as it was at the back and I don't think people noticed it. We also used to go to the lazy river after an hour or two at the other pool.

Sounds like it's cooling down a bit now. It was 104 and 105 for quite a few of our days and it was honestly too hot. 90s is much more bearable!

Hope you continue to enjoy!

Lesley,

That is interesting regarding your opinion of the Director's Pool at the MGM. That was the one where we had a nightmare and it was insanely busy when we were there, with empty beer bottles and cigarette butts everywhere. What a difference a few weeks make?

Pebbles is right about the shuttle to the Wynn from the Convention Centre, we were told this by one of the monorail workers and they do run quite frequently. In the end we carried on down to the Sahara and just walked up but obviously that is not the quickest way of getting to the Wynn. I must admit to thinking that the area at the backs of the hotels and around the convention centre doesn't look too bad (from the monorail at least) but obviously with TC's comments below it looks as though it is a no go.

The only time I have actually felt unsafe in LV is waiting for the Deuce back to the Strip in Downtown late at night. Sure there are lots of people getting the bus back but the area isn't the best, even though it is only a block or so away from Fremont Street. Still the worst area I have found myself in the USA is the Tenderloin part of San Francisco, that is not where you want to be especially at night.

Good reports TC, glad the cold is going and you are still having fun. Halfway through is always a key point, I like to have more days left than have gone but you still have plenty to go.

Keep enjoying!

i'm loving this report!
we go to vegas on 15th oct and our tickets arrived today!!!!!
although just noticed that we get a car when we arrive i've only been to vegas once and i'm not too sure about driving so dont think i'll take it.
cant wait for the next report!
angela

It will be a great shame when the report ends, it feels like we are all there, especially as i am hungry and the mention of all that food is making it bubble
We had a franks sausage in Egypt exactly as you decide, he was German and wore white thongs Quite hiddeous

Pebbles - Forgot to say what Arancine is.......it's a starter in Fiamma, albeit a big one! Basically it's 'Rice' balls, which are more like breadcrumbs to be honest, about the size of golf balls. You get 5 of them and inside there is Kobe beef and I think it's arborio rice, and it comes with a delicious tomato pasta type sauce. Very filling but delicious, costs about $13 I think so not cheap but well worth it, Kobe beef is seriously expensive, it's comes from the cows that the Japanese rub beer into their bodies to help prepare it for us steak lovers!!
MONDAY NIGHT:
Feel much better now, cold really drying up.
Got tram up to Mandalay Bay from Excalibur for Mamma Mia. Picked up tickets from box office on arrival, got my prices a bit wrong, I paid $58 for them but they were front row, just right of centre! Best theatre seats we've ever had, it was so good to be almost on the stage! The show itself was excellent, one of the best shows I've ever seen, Linda said it IS the best one she has seen. Not only is the music and storyline good but there is a lot of humour in it and it has you laughing out loud quite a bit. We came out of the theatre just after 10pm. We hadn't eaten so we decided to go into the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay, never been in there before. We had a Mojito cocktail each and I ordered a cajun chicken sandwich with fries and Linda had Southern Fried chicken with mash and cauliflower. Large portions and it was very nice........until Linda got to her last two bits (had 4 in total) of fried chciken to notice they were very pink inside and obviously not cooked properly. I told her to say something as we're always too content to put up with things in restaurants in particular. We told the waiter and he took the plate away, just saying 'OK' when told it was not cooked properly. He asked if Linda wanted more and she said no thanks. He bought us our bill a minute or so later so just as well we didn't want dessert!! On checking the bill they had removed the cost of the chicken, rightly so. The bill was just over $30 with the two cocktails and my meal, which I have to say again, was very nice and well worth the $9.95 it cost.
We stayed in the MB for a while gambling on slots. Had a few little wins here and there but was down about $80 by the time we left. Decided to go back to MGM. Got the tram back to Excalibur and then thought I'd have a quick look at the table games in there - they had my favourite game, 'Let it Ride' poker with a 3 card poker bonus with just a $5 minimum bet so I changed up a $100 and sat down. I had a couple of half decent hands but overall really didn't get much at all and lost the lot in an hour or so. The lady next to me was having extraordinary luck, just before I sat down she hit a straight flush on her 3 card poker hand, winning just over $500. The very next hand she got a full house, winning over $400 and within the next 40 minutes, hit another full house, three of a kind and several straights meaning she won well over $1500 just whilst I was at the table, incredible to watch and it makes me insanely jealous!!
Walked back over to MGM and stopped off at our favourite machines, just as you walk into the casino by the poker room/rainforest cafe, there are some Monopoly machines we've had quite a bit of luck on. Stuck too much money in there and lost. Whilst Linda was still on there I spotted some interesting machines along the wall so had a look. I had just over $100 left in my wallet so thought, what the hell, it's not like there's a credit crunch or anything and put it in. To qualify for the bonus you had to play max credits so I went for it.....then realised that made it $5 a spin oh well, I didn't expect this to take too long! With about $11 remaining I got the bonus, it amounted to 8 free spins and during those spins I managed to win 120 credits, yup, just 120 poxy credits - $6. Then I realised I had been getting some 'hot shot' symbols as well and at the start I was required to get 8 of them and I'd actually amassed 9. Looking up I saw that I had won the bottom and second bottom progressives which worked out at $277......RESULT!!
Cashed out and went to bed feeling even better than I had 5 minutes earlier. On the way back I thought I would try getting some money out the ATM anyway for the rest of the week and found my card has been blocked by my bank. I appreciate security but they just block it the second you use it anywhere but your home town it seems! By the time we got back to the room it was 01:30am so I called the help number I have on my mobile (not sure what that will cost but it will probably be cheaper than a hotel phone)! Took a couple of mins to get through but eventually was told it had been blocked and was now unblocked....haven't tried it again yet so fingers crossed!
TUESDAY:
Nothing planned for today so down to the pool at 08:30. Noticed a LOT of people arriving yesterday so expecting it to be busy today. Nice clear skies, temps forecast to be around mid nineties again. No sign of Franks hot sausage so I put my thong on.....................only joking I wouldn't be seen DEAD in a thong.....although of course people would be giving me admiring glances Spent all day by the pool, the tan is coming along very nicely and cold pretty much gone. Had some potato skins and chicken for lunch by the pool (we have stayed by pool 1 in the Signature all the time, it's busy but still quiet and really laid back). We ran out of supplies for sarnies so need to get some tonight! skins and chicken were very expensive, around $25.....but the portions were gigantic, nice too.
Tonight we are going to use our Monorail passes again and go for a walk in a dangerous area down the the Wynn......NOT! Must admit, there was no sign of a shuttle bus when we were there or even a sign that said there was one that ran occasionally. Tonight we're going to head down to Sahara, just in case it's not here next year! Will pprobably have a table game in there if it's $5 minimums which I expect it will be. Not sure where we'll eat tonight, don't want anything special so we'll play it by ear, might be Denny's or something like that.
Tomorrow night we have tickets booked for 'Bite' at the Stratosphere, a topless revue show which I can't wait to get my teeth into. I wonder if camera's are allowed? I think not. We are going to eat at Roxy's Diner tomorrow night, love it in there, it has a real 50's feel and all the waiters and waitresses take it in turns to sing karaoke, it's a great idea and they can all sing! Food is good and failry cheap too, will report on that tomorrow.
Bye for now!

TC

You certainly fit a lot in. We hardly ever go to shows. We do have Tom Jones booked for our next trip thought.

Thanks TeeCee, enjoying it very much. I don't want you to go home.

I had my first visit to vegas in may and went to see mamma mia which was excellent and tom jones who was fantastic,I,d go back just to see him!
jeanie

TUESDAY NIGHT:
Well we had nothing on for Tuesday night especially so we made use of our monorail passes and went down to the Sahara. Stayed there for a few hours gambling. I played a lot of Let it ride/Three card poker and ended up losing quite heavily I just need one big hand!!
It was getting late, about midnight'ish and we hadn't eaten so rather than go back up the strip to Denny's or a fast food place, we decided to eat in the Carnival Cafe ( I think that was the name of it) in Sahara. I was dubious about eating in the Sahara because I'm sure I read some reviews on their buffet which said it was bad. Anyway, Linda had chicken breast with spaghetti and a tomato sauce and a side salad and I had a chicken caeser wrap with a potato salad.
The chciken and spaghetti were ok, quite edible. My wrap was awful, incredibly salty and not nice at all, the potato salad looked like it had been sitting on the hotplate for an hour or two and didn't taste any better! Oh well, you live and learn, it only cost about $20 with a couple of drinks.
We took the monorail back to MGM and had a quick gamble on the Monopoly machines (didn't win) and called it a night
WEDNESDAY:
Got the show tonight, nothing planned for the day so time for some more sun! Another beautiful day. Stayed at the pool all day, managed to finish another book so that's 4 finished so far. Should be able to finish the next one as well - 'American Psycho', it's a great film with Christian Bale in the lead role, I understand the book is much more graphic so looking forward to reading that.
Had lunch round the pool, shared one dish this time, it's big enough to fill both of us up and it cost $12 so that's more like it for two people!
Left the pool area around 5pm'ish. Chilled out in the room a bit. Checked the email I had printed for 'Bite' at the Stratosphere and realised the start time was 22:30 so we had loads of time, although our Monorail passes ran out at 19:45. Started to get ready and at 19:25 Linda said 'I don't think we can make the monorail before our passes run out' as she was straightening her hair so I said don't bother rushing. As it happens, we walked through the barriers bang on 19:45 and it let us through so that saved us $10! Got off at Sahara and walked down to the Stratosphere. Even though it was only around 8pm there were still quite a few 'dodgy' looking people milling about around there. Common sense is definitely needed around that area.
Got into the Strat. and went to pick up the tickets first. Got them ok and then went to find 'Roxy's Diner'. It was reasonably busy in there bit not crowded. I had roast chicken, veg and mash potato with rosemary gravy and Linda had a burger and fries. It was very nice, especially the mash! We shared a mud pie for dessert (just as well because it was BIG). Altogether, with a couple of Corona's the bill came to around $45 (my mind is actually a blank at the moment, I'm sure it was around that or just under).
Went and signed up for a players card as they have the supposed 'best deal' on the strip for new players. Gambled for a while, lost around $40. Then decided to go up to the theatre as it was 22:15.
'Bite' is actually quite entertaining, (particularly for guys) as it includes topless girls. Basically it's the story of the Lord Vampire losing his love and finding a new one with his 6 female vampire 'helpers'. They pull half a dozen people out of the crowd (some are plants) and are part of the show. It's non-stop for an hour or so of dancing and rock music and there's this guy who sings a few songs and he has an amazing voice, a truly excellent singer. The girls were gorgeous and yes, I did enjoy it more than the missus!!
After the show we gambled on the slots for a bit, unsuccessfully, then I found a Let it ride/3 Card poker table with a $5 minimum and spent about an hour and a half playing....and lost way too much money!
It was now aproaching 2am so we went out front and grabbed a cab straight back to the Signature - cost $17 which I thought was pretty reasonable for the time and distance.

Cheers,

TC

I dislike the Strat with a passion and normally avoid that area totally whilst in Vegas but now that TC has found a decent show (for men anyway ) and somewhere decent to eat I might give it a go (I also appreciate the Top of the World is good also). I think my problem with the Strat stems from something I saw whilst standing at the Security desk whilst visiting there in 2002. Basically a hotel guest had written out a report detailing how she had been "informed" by a fellow guest that something bad is going to happen in the hotel today and they should leave as soon as possible . Of course nothing happened but in that year post 9/11 it was a very worrying time for everybody.

Plus a Coke machine swallowed a $5 bill of mine and I never got it back (the vending guy only comes once a day!!).
Plus I hate those rides at the top of the tower.
Plus I always lose on the slots down there.

Give me the Sahara any day over the Strat.

Good report again TC, keep it going !!!

I dislike the Strat with a passion and normally avoid that area totally whilst in Vegas but now that TC has found a decent show (for men anyway ) and somewhere decent to eat I might give it a go

Funny how a few boobies can change a man's mind.

Funny how a few boobies can change a man's mind.

Too right Pebbles, too right!!!!

Just picking up on your post earlier. We hadn't seen one show in Vegas during 3 trips until we went to KA last September, we always just seemed to have other things to do but now shows are a priority for me and we did Zumanity & Mystere along with Scarlett Princess of Magic and Dirk Arthur at the Trop a month ago!!!

Talking of Scarlett, I wouldn't mind seeing here in that Bite show at the Stratosphere!!!!

pebbles wrote:

Funny how a few boobies can change a man's mind. :rofl

Love it!