Day 297: Las Vegas
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Wednesday June 1st
There was no sleep-in again this morning, as my coughing woke me up. After showering, I started to organise the ‘crap’ in my room, making 4 piles: rubbish; clothes; essentials; and things to send home.
At about 9am, I headed down to the breakfast buffet – the second of my included buffets. Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and I was looking forward to seeing the options. There was the traditional egg station, and mini pancakes, French Toast, and stuffed waffles, which were all satisfactory; and the dessert station was in operation, with what I will assume were Americans grabbing Danishes, muffins, and even ice-cream (!) for breakfast.
Passing through the casino on the way back to my room (everything routes you through the Casino – and they make it so disorienting that it’s almost impossible to find your way out!), I noticed a ‘Deal or No Deal’ pokie machine. It looked like fun – hey, haven’t you always wanted to play Deal or No Deal? – so I inserted some money. The premise worked as such – for $1, you had a spin of a board. You had to keep spinning until you landed on ‘Bonus’, which would actually take you into the game. Then once you were in the game, it worked the same as the TV show. I didn’t do too badly for the first few spins, winning $12 and even doubling another win for $23, but of course I got greedy and walked out down $30. (Oh well … I’ve barely gambled at all whilst I’ve been in Vegas!)
Back in my room (housekeeping had already been and gone), I looked up postage rates and the nearest post office to the MGM, then grabbed the ‘send home’ pile I had made earlier and headed to the taxi rank. One thing I’ve found in Las Vegas is that there are no essential services on (or even near) the strip – for example, hospitals and doctors are in the suburbs; and the same rule applied for the post office. The friendly postie (can I call him that even though he doesn’t actually deliver the mail?) helped me get a box, package my items, and fill out the customs paperwork - it worked out quite reasonable at $80 for 12 pound (5 kgs?). Sending the non-essentials home meant I would have more room available for shopping in New York … something I planned to do a lot of.
The cabbie had recommended he wait for me at the post office as it was in the middle of nowhere, but I decided to walk back. (Americans mustn’t walk anywhere … it was probably a 2.5km walk, but the cabbie had looked at me aghast when I said I’d walk back!) The route took me past the airport and a billboard for the upcoming NKOTBSB concert, which I got all excited about …. Less than 2 weeks to go until I see them in New York!
After my walk, it was nice to be back in the air-conditioned comfort of my room, and I spent a few hours on my laptop, trying to get my blog updated. After 2 weeks in the national parks, I have scraps of blog on various bits of paper, and I need to get them typed and uploaded with photos, as well as actually write the blogs for the last few days! I felt so guilty being in Vegas and not gambling, drinking or going to shows – although, being sick (and tired after 2 weeks camping), it was nice to just have a hotel room to mill around!
By 3pm it was time for another walk along the strip, and I decided to check out the hotels nearest the MGM Grand, namely Excalibur, New York New York, and Monte Carlo. The Excalibur façade is a castle, and one of its claims to fame is the restaurant ‘Dick’s Last Resort’. Sharon has told me about it – apparently, the wait staff is deliberately obnoxious, bombarding the clientele with insults. I guess it’s something you have to experience to understand and appreciate ….
New York New York is one of my favourite hotels. It’s hotel towers mimic the skyscrapers of New York, and there is a replica of the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge outside. It even had a rollercoaster starting within the hotel, that gives you a bird’s eye view of Las Vegas (albeit, upside down!) The souvenir stores there were really amazing, with lots of I Love New York items and a candy store that had a 100s and 1000s replica of the Statue of Liberty – yum!!
Next door to New York New York was the Monte Carlo. It didn’t really interest me that much, so I used it more as a means to get along the strip rather than to explore (although as I said before, the Casinos are designed to keep you in, getting you totally disoriented). I heard a UK lady say how she was surprised about the lay-outs of the hotels – she had though that the Casinos would be at the back of the hotel, separate to the eating and sleeping facilities. In reality, the Casinos dominated the buildings – you actually had to walk through the gambling areas to get anywhere, which meant that children were in the Casinos! Completely different to Australia ….
On the way back, I stopped in at Ross’s, a discount clothing store. It had racks and racks of clothes, from designers to basics, and you had to sort through the overflowing racks to try and find yourself a bargain. For example, I found a Calvin Klein shift that had been discounted to $27.99 (unfortunately, it wasn’t very flattering, so I walked out empty handed).
Back at the MGM once again, I turned on the TV to find game 1 of the Stanley Cup play-between the Canucks and Boston in progress. The Canucks managed to scrape through with a 1-0 win after scoring with 17 seconds to go, and the Canadian crowd erupted when the goal was scored. I will actually be in Boston shortly – my Glee concert has been re-scheduled from Monday to Tuesday due to the play-offs, which means I am no longer able to attend. (I’m looking at attending in Washington DC instead …my refund from Ticketmaster has already been processed).
I was too tired to head out for dinner (and not really hungry to be honest), so after completing a few ‘chores’ I simply packed my bag and headed to bed, thus bringing to an end my time in Vegas.
There was no sleep-in again this morning, as my coughing woke me up. After showering, I started to organise the ‘crap’ in my room, making 4 piles: rubbish; clothes; essentials; and things to send home.
At about 9am, I headed down to the breakfast buffet – the second of my included buffets. Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and I was looking forward to seeing the options. There was the traditional egg station, and mini pancakes, French Toast, and stuffed waffles, which were all satisfactory; and the dessert station was in operation, with what I will assume were Americans grabbing Danishes, muffins, and even ice-cream (!) for breakfast.
Passing through the casino on the way back to my room (everything routes you through the Casino – and they make it so disorienting that it’s almost impossible to find your way out!), I noticed a ‘Deal or No Deal’ pokie machine. It looked like fun – hey, haven’t you always wanted to play Deal or No Deal? – so I inserted some money. The premise worked as such – for $1, you had a spin of a board. You had to keep spinning until you landed on ‘Bonus’, which would actually take you into the game. Then once you were in the game, it worked the same as the TV show. I didn’t do too badly for the first few spins, winning $12 and even doubling another win for $23, but of course I got greedy and walked out down $30. (Oh well … I’ve barely gambled at all whilst I’ve been in Vegas!)
Back in my room (housekeeping had already been and gone), I looked up postage rates and the nearest post office to the MGM, then grabbed the ‘send home’ pile I had made earlier and headed to the taxi rank. One thing I’ve found in Las Vegas is that there are no essential services on (or even near) the strip – for example, hospitals and doctors are in the suburbs; and the same rule applied for the post office. The friendly postie (can I call him that even though he doesn’t actually deliver the mail?) helped me get a box, package my items, and fill out the customs paperwork - it worked out quite reasonable at $80 for 12 pound (5 kgs?). Sending the non-essentials home meant I would have more room available for shopping in New York … something I planned to do a lot of.
The cabbie had recommended he wait for me at the post office as it was in the middle of nowhere, but I decided to walk back. (Americans mustn’t walk anywhere … it was probably a 2.5km walk, but the cabbie had looked at me aghast when I said I’d walk back!) The route took me past the airport and a billboard for the upcoming NKOTBSB concert, which I got all excited about …. Less than 2 weeks to go until I see them in New York!
After my walk, it was nice to be back in the air-conditioned comfort of my room, and I spent a few hours on my laptop, trying to get my blog updated. After 2 weeks in the national parks, I have scraps of blog on various bits of paper, and I need to get them typed and uploaded with photos, as well as actually write the blogs for the last few days! I felt so guilty being in Vegas and not gambling, drinking or going to shows – although, being sick (and tired after 2 weeks camping), it was nice to just have a hotel room to mill around!
By 3pm it was time for another walk along the strip, and I decided to check out the hotels nearest the MGM Grand, namely Excalibur, New York New York, and Monte Carlo. The Excalibur façade is a castle, and one of its claims to fame is the restaurant ‘Dick’s Last Resort’. Sharon has told me about it – apparently, the wait staff is deliberately obnoxious, bombarding the clientele with insults. I guess it’s something you have to experience to understand and appreciate ….
New York New York is one of my favourite hotels. It’s hotel towers mimic the skyscrapers of New York, and there is a replica of the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge outside. It even had a rollercoaster starting within the hotel, that gives you a bird’s eye view of Las Vegas (albeit, upside down!) The souvenir stores there were really amazing, with lots of I Love New York items and a candy store that had a 100s and 1000s replica of the Statue of Liberty – yum!!
Next door to New York New York was the Monte Carlo. It didn’t really interest me that much, so I used it more as a means to get along the strip rather than to explore (although as I said before, the Casinos are designed to keep you in, getting you totally disoriented). I heard a UK lady say how she was surprised about the lay-outs of the hotels – she had though that the Casinos would be at the back of the hotel, separate to the eating and sleeping facilities. In reality, the Casinos dominated the buildings – you actually had to walk through the gambling areas to get anywhere, which meant that children were in the Casinos! Completely different to Australia ….
On the way back, I stopped in at Ross’s, a discount clothing store. It had racks and racks of clothes, from designers to basics, and you had to sort through the overflowing racks to try and find yourself a bargain. For example, I found a Calvin Klein shift that had been discounted to $27.99 (unfortunately, it wasn’t very flattering, so I walked out empty handed).
Back at the MGM once again, I turned on the TV to find game 1 of the Stanley Cup play-between the Canucks and Boston in progress. The Canucks managed to scrape through with a 1-0 win after scoring with 17 seconds to go, and the Canadian crowd erupted when the goal was scored. I will actually be in Boston shortly – my Glee concert has been re-scheduled from Monday to Tuesday due to the play-offs, which means I am no longer able to attend. (I’m looking at attending in Washington DC instead …my refund from Ticketmaster has already been processed).
I was too tired to head out for dinner (and not really hungry to be honest), so after completing a few ‘chores’ I simply packed my bag and headed to bed, thus bringing to an end my time in Vegas.
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