Thank for popping in TC- glad to hear your having a good time

ps sorted autofill for you

Good to see you're arrived and settled TeeCee.

We also like Maggiano's, we'll be going there from Trump. Another I used to like but not been to in years is Il Fornaio in NYNY.

I'm also finding it hard to type on a 9" keyboard, expecially when I've been typing in the dark when hubby is trying to sleep! I can never sleep at first when I arrive.

Well best go get packing, think we have proper internet access at Desert Rose rather than just havin to sit alongside a coffee shop and feeling like I'm piggy backing!!! Reception told me to though, that
s my story and I'm sticking to it!

You cannot have too many Vegas trip reports!

Sounds like your trip is off to a good start. We went to Maggiano's a few years ago and had a pretty bad meal so we have never ventured back. We must have been the exception as I haven't seen one other bad review of the place.

Looking forward to the rest.

luci

Wednesday:

I'm slacking! Am late updating this, we've been having some trouble sleeping so when we get back from the pool in the afternoon we are trying to get a couple of hours sleep! Strange really because we'd forgotten just how comfortable the Signature beds are, probably the most comfortable in any hotel we've been in to be honest. Anyway, after spending yesterday at a windswept pool 1 - wind was so strong it blew an umbrella over and these have big concrete bases! They took down all brollies after that. Yesterday evening we changed our plans from originally thinking about going to Gallaghers in NYNY for one of their fantastic steaks, to going to Diablo's Cantina, just next to Monte Carlo. We walked down there around 20:30 - I have to say, I have never known Vegas to be so cool in the evening in Sept. It's really rather pleasant! (apart from the strong wind I guess but even that is quite pleasant if you don't have much hair like me)!
We got seated pretty much straight away in Diablo's, our first time there. Atmosphere was good even though it's midweek. We placed our order, I went for the wood grilled chicken with garlic mash (yeah I know, about as Mexican as sushi, but hey, I liked the sound of it) Linda went for chicken quesadillas. We waited ages for for food, not impressed with the service at all. The food was mediocre at best as well. By the end of the meal we both said we will not be returning! The bill came and it wasn't cheap at $65 but to be fair that did include a couple of cocktails. I think Diablo's would be a great place to go and have a drink but definitely not worth it for the food.
We decided to go and check out the Tropicana, since it's been refurbed, a few people on Las Vegas Talk forum have said it's much better so we took a walk up there. It was still windier than Linda after a bean feast! (I'm in trouble for that comment)
Tropicana is indeed much cleaner and pleasant than before. The advertisement for the new rooms makes them look pretty good, I don't know what price they are but may be worth considering? We had a gamble in there, played a few slots and I also played some of my favourite table game, Let it Ride poker Bonus, which is actually let it ride poker and three card poker in one! $5 minimums meant it was decent value. Having said that, I was as lucky as a one legged man in a bum kicking tournament! Couldn't get a decent hand for love nor money......well, not much love as the dealers were guys but you know what I mean! I felt like sitting on the bridge linking The Trop with Excalibur holding a cup in my hand it was that bad!
Anyway, we returned to Mgm around 00:30, and foolishly decided to have a 'quick' gamble in there. The good thing is, I found the megabucks slots, which happen to be the same kind of slots that I had my big wins on last year so I can see me losing a fair bit of money in them in the next two weeks! Not surprisingly, the gambling in MGM was just as bad as the Trop, and I returned to our room prostitute........I mean destitute........mind you, that could be a moneymaker!
THURSDAY
Just to compound our feelings about Diablo's, Linda has been unwell today which seems very much like food poisoning. She came down to the pool with me but went back up early afternoon feeling very unwell and to put a toilet roll in the fridge! Know what I mean Weather was very nice today, not too hot, a little breezy so I got to top up my George Hamilton tan some more, will keep working on that!
We have Mon Ami Gabi booked for tonight, never been there before either but at the moment I'm not sure if we'll go or not as Linda is still in bed feeling pretty bad. Hopefultly, if it is food poisoning, it should be a 24 hour illness, fingers crossed! We have the Scissor Sisters concert tomorrow at Palms and they are one of Linda's fave bands so we don't want to miss that.

Cheers,

TC

Oh no, poor Linda. I can sympathise as I got food poisoning from a dodgy warm egg sandwich on a bmi flight on the way out to Vegas. I decided to let it run its course thinking it would only last 24 hours, but I was ill for 5 days and we were only there for a week.

If it doesn't clear up in 24 hours, get yourself off to CVS for their own brand of Imodium. That's what I should have done, but I kept thinking it would stop soon.

I've never fancied Diablo's, but definitely won't be trying it now.

MAG is very good. If you want a patio table you will need to put your name down once you get there and they will give you a pager. However a good alternative if it's still windy is to ask for a table just off the patio and just inside the restaurant.

luci

Thankfully Linda felt a bit better last night so we went to MAG. I had booked a table online back in the UK and as it happened, Linda was feeling quite hot so wanted aircon so we decided to go with the indoors table. As it happened they took us right round to the patio area and we sat just inside with a view of Caesers/Bellagio. The food was excellent, I had a filet Mignon with Merlot and red wine reduction and Linda had Steak au Poivre. We then had a Creme Brulee for dessert. It was really nice and we will definitely go back. We used our Monorail tickets to go down to Sahara afterwards. It was very quiet down there but one thing you do notice is the high number of 'dodgy' looking people in that casino!
Linda feels much better this morning (Friday morning) so we're sure it was food poisoning. We're off to the pool shortly. We have the Scissor sister tickets for tonight so will use our monorail tickets again just before they expire tonight to go to Mid strip, and get the bus from Bills to Gold Coast and then walk over to Palms. Afterwards we'll go back to Gold Coast to go in TGI's for food. I LOVE their ribs! Then I'll win a couple of grand on the slots............well that last bit probably isn't true

Cheers

TC

Glad Linda is feeling better. Not good being ill on holiday.

I always have the Filet Mignon with Merlot butter at MAG. However we didn't go to MAG last trip as we tried a few new places. We normally go there every trip.

luci

Glad Linda is feeling better TeeCee, I remember reading Luci's stomach bug story and feeling very sorry for her! Shame to waste so many days of a Vegas trip so glad that's over for her.

Lol at Sahara and dodgy people. I'm sure you're English so not sure if you've got a shop there called Farmfoods, it's a cheap frozen food shop (from Luci's home town funnily enough). Anyway I often go there because I love a bargain, but it can also be a bit of an experience.

Well TeeCee, enjoy your night over at Palms/Gold Coast. We're going to Brad Garrett at the Trop at 10pm, thinking about Il Fornaio beforehand.

Great TR so far Tee Cee
Glad Linda is feeling better ...there's nothing more miserable than a jippy tummy on holidays...been there done that got the tee shirt and I never go away now without a portable pharmacy in my suitcase
Hope the concert was good...I love Scissor sisters but OH isn't keen

THURSDAY NIGHT:

Well Scissor sisters were excellent last night, sounded really good live. It was a bit strange for me, I've not been amongst that many fairies since going shopping for Christmas decs last year, but at least there was no trouble in the crowd, until one guy trod on anothers Boa then the feathers flew!! The concert finished at midnight, so as planned, we walked over to the TGI's in Gold Coast. We thought it was open late but it's actually open 24hrs, worth remembering for some decent late night/early morning grub. Linda had Jack Daniels ribs and a long island iced tea cocktail and I had baby back ribs with BBQ sauce and a Corona. Mmmmmmmm they really are superb ribs, much better than Tony Roma's. We need to try Lowrys some time as they have a great reputation for ribs too.
Bill came to about $60 with tip. Had a gamble in Gold Coast, played the hot hot hot slots and Wheel of Fortune amongst others, had a couple of half decent wins but lost overall. Walked outside and flagged down a cab.....first time that's ever worked! Cab back to Signature at 2am, cost $13 without tip.
Signature is Very busy for the weekend, lots of groups of damned youngsters (am I showing my age)? Pool areas are really busy, doesn't affect us as we're out there at 9am when they open, straight after Starbucks! We make sure we get our usual beds with an umbrella.....talking of which, boy was it hot today absolutely roasting! Looks like the next few days will be hotter still which unfortunately means the cool evenings are gone, it's gonna be the usual hot sticky nights!
Not sure what we're doing tonight, we did talk about going to see Human Nature show (Motown songs) or Legends but on checking, looks like they are both dark tonight! Might just go down to City Centre tonight for a look round and grab something to eat down that way. Did have some great news this morning.........Arsenal won 4-1 so it set the day up nicely!!

Cheers,

TC

Glad you had a good time at the concert.....the ribs sound amazing might try them myself if we venture down that way....no wonder you are hot just looked at the weather report ...today (sun) 34 C and tomorrow it's meant to be 36 C

Looking forward to your next instalment TeeCee

You've made me hungry talking about those ribs...slurp. I had the ribs when we went to Florida and still remember them as being melt in your mouth tasty!! Never had any like them over here.

Many thanks for the update

TeeCee

You need to pick up a copy of Vegas 2GO magazine (think it's vegas.com that do this mag??), it's one of the week free ones and has a red 'vegas' arrow accross it. It has a coupon for 20% off TGIs at the Gold Coast 24/7.

Yes that's the Vegas.com magazine that has the red arrow on it. You can pick them up at one of the desks in the Miracle Mile.

luci

Back online! Down at the Golden Nugget they wanted $13 for wi-fi so we didn't have access for a couple of days. Have a fair bit to write, hope I can remember it all! Will be updating tonight when we get in after having some dinner and a gamble.
Have just checked back in to the Signature for 6 nights. We're in tower 2 this time. Will update soon

Cheers

TC

Ah, that explains, wondered why you'd gone off the radar TeeCee.

Glad you got a better tower for your next leg at Signature. We've only got another few nights left

Worst thing about leaving the report a few days is remembering what we did and when! Can't remember what we did Friday!
SATURDAY
We were still at the Sig and decided to go up to Mandalay Bay for something to eat. On the way, via the express tram from Excalibur, we decided it was time for another Italian so we searched for one in Mandalay Bay. We eventually found 'Lupo' which is a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. I had the four cheese ravioli and Linda had mushroom fettucine. Food was ok but not great and service was poor. Bill came to around $60 including a drink each, drinks were expensive though with my beer being $9 alone. Wouldn't recommend Lupo to be honest, it wasn't anywhere near as nice as Maggiano's. Had a quick gamble in the MB, then walked back to Excal as the tram stops at 22:30......not quite sure why that is? Seems real early to stop it? Had a go on the tables and slots in Excal, lost again. As Ian Holloway, the Blackpool football club manager said...."With my luck, if I fell into a barrel of boobs I'd come up sucking my thumb"! Walked across to Tropicana and had a little gamble in there, again, really poor luck. It looks a lot nicer in the trop now though, the renovations are a definite improvement. The new rooms look pretty smart too judging by the advertising board outside.
Finally got back to the room around 2am.
SUNDAY
Up at about 08:30am. Down to pool by 9am as usual. Got our fave sunbeds. Spent the day by the pool, another hot one. Pool service remains really good at the Signature. I ordered a 'fruit plate' for lunch. I really hate Melon so asked for no melon (it normally makes up a fair percentage of the plate from the ones I've seen), it was $12 but was a plate full of Banana, Raspberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Pineapple, Peach, Plum, Pear and Apple, with a marshmallow dip.....delicious!! Stayed down at the pool till around 16:30. Finished reading another book - I'm halfway through the series of books written by Lee Child, about an ex-Military policeman called Jack Reacher, they really are great reading.
We had Lion King booked for Sunday evening so left MGM at 18:30....which turned out to be a bit late as we only just got there in time! Picked our tickets up from the box office at 19:50 and it started at 20:00. Good seats, 6 rows back just left of centre. Linda loved it, I thought it was good but not one of my faves. When we came out we weren't sure what we wanted to eat so walked back to Excalibur and ended up in their food court and grabbed some Pizza which was cheap but really really salty! Played the tables for a bit, didn't win again. Lucky I've been saving my gambling money all year as this would kill me!! Got back to room just before 2am. Checking out on Monday to go downtown to the Golden Nugget, have one of their new 'Rush' rooms booked.

MONDAY:
Picked our car up from MGM. Asked for a 4x4 this year as we've never tried one before, got a Jeep Cherokee - it's really easy to drive and very comfortable, not great on petrol though! Booked it via Netflights.com before we came out on their 'Platinum' package, full insurances, full tank of gas and any driver and it cost £144 from 9am Monday to 9am Friday, not bad.
Drove round to tower 3 and loaded the luggage. Set off to go shopping, no point in rushing down when check-in isn't until 3pm. Linda wanted to look round some TJ Maxx's so I went online before we left the Sig and did some directions. I drove to 3 in all, 1 east and 2 west of the strip. On the way west, we stopped for lunch in an 'In n Out burger'. Oh my god, the best burger and chips ever!! Seriously, don't ever bother with Maccy D's or burger king ever again, In n Out burgers are lovely and cheaper than the opthers as well!
Linda bought loads of clothes, I bought a couple of small items. From there I drove back down from Decateur to the Outlet Mall near downtown. We bought quite a bit of stuff again.....and ended up buying a new large holdall to take home Just as well Premium Economy on Virgin allows you to check in two bags of 23kg each, we need it! Never bought as much as this before. I bought two pairs of trainers, 6 polo shirts, pair of shorts, pair of shoes, a light jumper (for back in England) and a new baseball cap. Then drove up to the other outlet past the airport and bought a couple more things (well we have to fill the new bag up)!! After a long day shopping we drove down to the Nugget. I went straight down the strip, traffic wasn't bad at all. We passed the 'Pawn Stars' shop - if you haven't seen it, it's a brilliant TV series about a Las Vegas pawn shop. It's normally on the History channel on Sky, really really good programme, very funny but also very interesting. We wanted to go in but there was a big queue of people waiting to get in!!
Dropped car off at entrance of the Rush tower at the Nugget for the Valet - too much hassle parking in the self service car park. Got checked in after 5 mins or so, was about 5 people queued and only one person doing the Rush Tower desk (it's away from the normal reception area). Not quite the service they should be providing for their 'best' rooms! We were put on the 17th floor. The tower is very nice, very modern and smart. When we got to the room we thought it was lovely, again, very contemporary, beautiful bathroom area and nice corner sofa, big Plasma TV. Very pleased with the room, it was $79 a night. Got unpacked and had a mooch round the hotel/casino. It's a few years since we stayed at the Nugget and it's changed so much! It's now really modern and quite plush, easily the best hotel downtown, by a huge margin I'd say. The new 'Tank' area with the huge aquarium as part of the swimming pool complex is amazing. The only thing I would say is, it's a fantastic pool area but it's so built up now you only get the sun for some of the day. We didn't actually use the pool at all in our two days here but it did look lovely. There's a chinese in the Nugget called Lillies so we ate in there, food and service was excellent, we had a started each and main and a drink each and the bill came to around $60 with tip. We also stopped off at 'Vic and Anthony's Restaurant' to book a table for the following night. Have read loads of great reviews about this place.

TUESDAY:
Decided to go down the the pool area but when we got there it was really windy and as mentioned above, sun is blocked out a lot by the buildings. The sunbeds are all stacked out in rows with about 2 inches between each one so are really packed in. We decided to go out in the car for the day so drove to the Valley of Fire instead. Spent all day out and about. Got back around 5pm so washed and changed and went down for a beer and a gamble before eating. I had a real good run on some penny slots and ended up over $130 up.
Went for dinner at 9pm. WOW! Vic and Anthonys was amazing. Service was superb and the food gorgeous. It feels a little posh in there but is a really nice atmosphere. Linda had the daily special which was a steak, lobster tail and shrimp, I had Filet Mignon with Mash potato and green beans. We both had a glass of white wine. Afterwards we decided we could squeeze a dessert in so Linda went for the New York cheesecake and I went for the bread pudding which was made from croissants baked in cinnamon custard with a toffee sauce......they were HUUUUUGE! There was enough dessert to feed 4, I am not kidding, really good though but we felt bad leaving quite a bit. It's not cheap in there as you can understand but the service was so good I left a 20% tip, I think the total came to around $170.
We watched the 'Queen' music show on the Freemont lights and then had a gamble in Fitzgeralds and Binions. Had a decent run on Pai Gow but lost overall on the night. Went to bed around 02:30am. Back to Signature on Wednesday. We're going to the Gun store and then on to Lake Mead to jet-ski before checking in late afternoon.

WEDNESDAY:
Did express check out of Nugget. We both really like the atmosphere downtown so liked our couple of days there. Decided to grab some food before going to the Gun store as it's gonna be a long day. Went to the Spice Market buffet in Planet Hollywood. Got in just as they changed from Breakfast to Lunch so we ended up having lunch. Very nice as usual. Set off for the Gun Store. Linda had decided she would fire some guns for the first time, I have done it several times before. It was pretty empty when we got there. Linda took the 'womens pacjage' which was $50 for 20 rounds in a Beretta pistol and 10 rounds in a rifle (can't remember which rifle it was). I went for the custom package as I had a couple of guns I really wanted to fire. I had a world war 2 German machine gun called an MP40 with 50 rounds of ammo, a Chinese SKS assault rifle with 40 rounds of ammo and a Sig Sauer 45mm pistol with about 50 rounds of ammo, cost $160. Loved it!! Real adrenaline rush. Linda confirmed her hate of guns though and didn't really like it much. LEft there and set off for Lake Mead. Got there around 15:10. Managed to get two Waverunner jet-ski's straight away. Had a fantastic hour of zipping about Lake Mead at 40mph!! First time Linda has done this on her own as well, she normally sits on the back of my jet-ski so I'm proud of what she's done today! When we finished she was raving about it, absolutely loved it. Cost was around $170 for the two of us for just over an hour and for gas too, that's really good value when you think it costs about £30 for 10 or 15 mins around the Med!
Got back to Signature around 17:40 and checked in straight away. In tower 2 this time. Chilled out for a bit and then went out. Fancied something really simple so went for a hot dog and fries in Nathans in MGM. The place is PACKED tonight, worse than a weekend! Turns out it is Mexico independance day today and they had some big star in concert in MGM - Alejandro Fernandez? Must be very very popular!! We popped across to Excal for a gamble. All the tables are really busy in there too so we had to play slots. Decided to have a reasonably early night after an exciting day!!
Tomorrow we plan to laze by the pool again. We're going to try to see if we can get Human Nature tkts from the half price booth if we can. Sorry for the long post!!

Cheers,

TC

Excellent reading with my morning coffee TeeCee - many thanks
I'm in awe of Linda as I'd poop myself driving a jetski so well done Linda

Hi ladies,

Am really enjoying reading your trip reports, myself and hubby are going 6th october for 4 nights in trump international, my first time in vegas, hubbys 2nd time. to say i am excited is an understatement, would love to know if you went to see human nature as i quite fancy going too, ?half price tickets, how, and where?

we have booked tickets for Matt Goss at ceasars palace, looking forward to that, have seen some previews and looks a good show. enjoying all your tips on buffets, places to eat, glad you enjoyed vic and anthonys as it was on my list also.

enjoy the rest of your trip, looking forward to hearing more!!!

Lou