Las Vegas

05/08/13 to 08/08/13 - We arrived in Las Vegas in the mid-afternoon, to the heart of ‘The Strip’ where our hotel was booked.  The Strip is where most of the action of modern Las Vegas happens, with mainly big casino hotels taking up each block. Most of them were built before the roads, so all the streets running perpendicular to The Strip are named after the hotels. This made it easy to find our hotel, one of the oldest on the strip, the Flamingo. The Flamingo has 26 floors, many restaurants, a big shopping centre, 2 casinos, 2 outdoor pools, and a large garden with parrots, pelicans, flamingos and other exotics kind of birds. After more than 10 months traveling, this was by far the best hotel we had stayed in and for 30 dollars the night… a bargain!

After checking in we took a walk down The Strip (no air con there) and even when the sun went down, it was still really warm. We got to see Vegas by night, which is probably the best time to see it with thousands of lights in every direction and replicas of the most famous buildings in Europe (and The World).

Our hotel was very close to Paris with the Eiffel Tower (Flora admitted that it was the first time she had slept so close to the Eiffel Tower and had never noticed the US flag on it before). Also there was the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe with a huge poster of Gordon Ramsey hanging from it (Here too, Flora was pretty sure that he wasn’t French, even if he does swear a lot!).

We also had a wonder in Venice, New York, Monte Carlo, Rome (Caesars' Palace), and Luxor. It was funny for a day, but it soon gets boring, mainly when you want to get somewhere quickly. Due to the traffic, you spend your time on an impressive network of lifts, walkways and escalators.  

Somehow we made it to Excalibur (a medieval English themed casino hotel) for our free Craps lesson. The whole lesson took an hour and was excellent. Croupier George took us through the rules, as well as the good and bad bets to make. It was good to learn a new game as we were a bit bored of Blackjack and Roulette (especially in Vegas where the odds are more in favour of the house than anywhere else in world). Craps is played on a long table with dice and is actually pretty easy despite looking complicated… we went away feeling like pros (or like Sharon Stone in the movie “Casino”.)

We couldn't be bothered with another night on the busy strip, so we went to Downtown, about 3 miles north of The Strip. Downtown was different. This was the Old Vegas and we liked it. It had a more nostalgic, American feel, and old fashioned light bulbs instead of plasma screens. This was certainly the Vegas that Elvis was singing about… and by the way, Elvis is not dead, he has actually multiplied.

We found more characters in Downtown. Croupiers laugh and joke with you and punters are much more social. Most importantly, minimum bets are cheaper too, so you don't lose your money so quickly.

The food was cheaper and better, although we were not tempted by the ‘Heart Attack’ burger, boasting to be the most calorific burger in the world. Instead we shared a ‘lighter option’, the chicken waffle burger with maple syrup. There was also a free rock band in the main square, belting out the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which got everyone in a good mood. It was good fun. Then we put our Craps lessons to work, and we were lucky. By lucky, we mean we managed to play for quite a long time with not too much money.

We left Vegas the next morning for the Hoover Dam to have a look around. We enquired about camping in the area. None of the options inspired us, and we were toying with heading back west to Red Rock Canyon. Eventually we bit the bullet and drove there in time to catch the sunset and have a fried egg sandwich for dinner. 

The campsites at Red Rock were closed due to the heat, so we drove to a McDonalds to use Wi-Fi to find a motel nearby. As luck would have it, we got a great last minute deal for the Golden Nugget in good old Downtown Las Vegas. The Nugget is known to have the biggest golden nugget ever found and of course came complete with swimming pool, which had a shark tank in the middle of it, and with a water slide running through middle of the tank… after a day or two in Vegas nothing surprises you!

So one last bonus night in Vegas on Dave's birthday. We went to the Bellagio to see the famous water fountain show, which was cheesy but really well done. Then we went back to downtown and were feeling some birthday luck. Flora started well on the Roulette table, almost clawing back what Dave had squandered on Craps. As expected, her luck turned. Nevermind, it was still a fun evening. We went to bed happy and a little bit merry due to the free cocktails we had whilst we were playing.

The next day we relaxed in the pool and jacuzzi, (making the most of our swanky hotel, before going for the 10 dollar all-you-can-eat buffet, a classic in Vegas. We had crab, shrimp, ceviche, roast beef, roast pork, ham, risotto, salad, spring rolls, smoked salmon as well as loads more. We even shoved in some deserts too. There goes any hope of coming home thinner!