Vegas first timers - October 9th to 16th

This is a first trip to Vegas and actually a first trip to the US for me (35) and my wife (38). I booked it last Xmas for her main present and have been looking forward to it since then. We started playing myvegas in February but quickly got bored of it. We have $400 we got as Xmas/birthday presents and have $5000 in spends. I have booked Mon Ami Gabi for dinner, Gordon Ramsay at Paris for dinner and Joes Crab and Steakhouse. My wife wants to get our vows renewed from Elvis so I have booked and paid for that in advance, we are getting "married" on the Tuesday. I have told her I am getting seriously drunk that day! The service will be streamed live so people back home will be able to watch us make an idiot of ourselves haha!

I am wanting to do the helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon but my wife hates flying and I don't think I will be able to get her into a helicopter!

We both love our food and drink. We like exploring so won't just be staying at the one hotel/area.
I have been on his forum for a while now and have been getting plenty hints and tips.

We get up early (5am) on the Thursday (9pm Wed night Vegas time) to fly out from Edinburgh. Have a last Scottish breakfast to keep me going at the airport, sad i know! Flight to London is good. Flight to Vegas is quite turbulent for the first hour and wife is in tears! She then decides to hit the gin and tonic which calmed her nerves! I have a couple of beers but stick mainly to water as I get quite dehydrated when travelling. We are hoping to stay up to 9-10pm Vegas time which will be 6am our time.

We land in Vegas around 1.30pm. I have booked Presidential Limo to pick us up. Mike the driver is there already to meet us which was very welcome as we are tired at this point. Bottle of fizz in the limo. I ask him to go to the Vegas sign and we quickly get a few photos. It's hot in Vegas and my wife loves the heat. I have dark hair but should've been a ginger as I am not mad on the heat. We head to Caesars and I tip Mike 50 dollars. No queue at Caesars as we arrive at 3pm. Hotel lobby is stunning and we get an Asian girl checking us in. I tell her we don't have a credit card and she asks for $200 deposit, fair enough. It'll be money for the last day if we blow it all! I have my passport and $40 on the counter and ask the upgrade question. She types away for at least ten minutes. As we are staying for 7 nights I'm not very hopeful. We have booked the Forum tower. She says that she can offer us a room but it should be hundreds more dollars per night. I am expecting her to say she will give us it for $500 extra for the week but no she gives us it for free! We are upgraded to the Octavius tower with a jacuzzi! We are both so happy! Room is fantastic! We are warned about the mini bar but stupidly picked up the stuff on top of the counter thinking it was freebies, but then realised it was connected to a pad below. Now expecting to get charged approx 40 bucks on checkout, never mind.

We have a wander over to The Cromwell and The Quad. Hash House a Go Go for dinner, just what we needed. We are beyond tired now so head up to the room and crash out at 7pm. Good first day and excited for the week ahead.

 

Second day and we are up quite early as our sleep is all over the place. We have $20 per day to spend at Caesars but have to use it each day as it can't be carried forward. We head down to the Bachanal Buffet as it'll only cost us around $30 with the money off. Very impressed. I try the crabs legs but wasn't mad on them. Perhaps I'll be cancelling Joes for later on in the week. Some crazy stuff on offer for breakfast. Chinese curries, sushi, pizza, fried chicken etc. We try most of it tho haha! We end up both absolutely stuffed but really enjoyed it.

We go upto MGM and I win on roulette. I tend to do better the more drunk I am haha! I don't have a massive budget for gambling but enjoy it all the same. We get a cab to North Premium Outlets. I buy 4 Lacoste t-shirts, a Ralph Lauren one. I am also looking for a g-shock watch. Wife buys loads as expected! Head back to Caesars and get ready for Gordon Ramsay at Paris tonight. I ordered steak, was $54 but cooked really well. Ordered side of mac and cheese and creamed corn. Wife ordered fish and chips. She thought the fish was good but the rest of it was too fancy. Had a few cocktails and a few beers there too.

Head back to Caesars and have a gamble there but lose 70 bucks. We call it a day around 11pm as tired again. Perhaps the curse of not winning at Caesars is true after all?

 

Great read so far. $40 of minibar and $40 tip to the hotel clerk for a jacuzzi for a week is a smart investment in my opinion! Looking forward to the rest of the report.

 

Great report so far, hope you guys enjoyed yourselves in Vegas/America

 

Really enjoying your report.....$50 tip for driver.....sure he loved you!!!

 

Congratulations on the upgrade (so you did have a small win at Caesar). Hope the rest of the trip went as well as the first two days. Enjoying reading the report.

 

Saturday and we have breakfast at Payards. Both have banana and chocolate crepes, tasty but maybe just a bit too sweet. Both have a coffee. Just over 20 bucks so just about free with our daily allowance taken off. Head to the Cromwell and win 90 bucks on the roulette. Go to Flamingo for lunch, a massive pizza between us did the job nicely. Win on roulette at Flamingo too, 50 bucks this time. Head back to the pool to chill out at Caesars. Have a few cocktails and a few beers at the pool. Booked Penn and Teller for tonight at the Rio. Have also booked Mon Ami Gabi for dinner. Free bus at Ballys to the Rio so not far too travel after dinner. Very, very impressed with Mon Ami Gabi. I had warm Brie salad starter, wife had half portion mussels for starter. Main I had scallops, wife had chicken grandmere. Had a jug of frangria too which was delicious but strong. Walk along to Ballys for free bus. Penn and Teller were good and were outside signing autographs after the show. Queue for taxi is really long after show, wait about 40 minutes for taxi. Quick gamble in Caesars and surprisingly I lose 50 bucks!

 

I wake up at 5am on Sunday and leave the wife in bed and go down to the electronic roulette with the real wheel in Caesars. I have now won at EVERY casino I have went in apart from Ceasars. I am now determined to be up before the wife comes down for breakfast and I can finally break this curse. I put in $20 and a guy comes and sits across from me and says hi. He recognises I am scottish too and we get chatting for a while. He has been drinking all night and hasn't been to bed. Then an American guy joins us who has invented a new table that is LED lit and can be change to a different game at the touch of a button. We are having a good laugh and he promises when he makes it big he will pay for me and the other Scottish guy to come over in 2 years time all expenses paid haha! Wife comes down about 7.30 and laughs at the 3 of us sitting there being daft. We order few coffees from the CW and i find myself $80 up!!!!! I have finally done it, i have won at Caesars - I cash out for 100 bucks.

We head to Mon Ami for breakfast as we loved it last night. I have the smoked salmon eggs benedict. Absolutely amazing! Wife has caramelised banana crepes. Really tasty too. Decide to go for a really good wander today. Go to Cosmopolitan, sit there for a while and have a few drinks playing roulette, 40 bucks in cash out for 157. Head upto New York but don't gamble, just have a look around. Walk upto Mandalay Bay. I drink Guinness back home so went into Ri Ra for a very enjoyable Guinness. Head to Luxor for the Titanic exhibition, very good but haunting in places. Taxi to South premium outlets and i get my g--shock watch and my wife spends loads again. Taxi back to Caesars. Had a few drinks by now so we explore the other way. Pop into Harrahs but the coconut/perfume smell is overwhelmingly disgusting we come straight back out. Surely they're trying to mask a smell in there?!

Walk up to Mirage, 50 bucks win there. Head up past TI, then into Wynn. Too posh and fancy in there for my liking. $87 win in Palazzo. Have a look in Venetian. This gambling thing is easy! I pop a few bucks in a slot machine in Casino Royale and cash out for 80 dollars. We have now had a really good drink and have forgot to have dinner. We grab a Subway in the back of Casino Royale and a great day has come to an end.

Today we didn't use our $20 allowance at Caesars but never mind the wins will cover it.

Plus I have beaten Caesars anyway!!!

 

Monday and Payards again for breakfast. Just have a pastry and a coffee each. Taxi to downtown. I like rough and ready pubs back home so this is my kind of place. We are here during the day so I would imagine its totally different at night too. I had head about the 99 cents hot dogs and 99 cents shrimp cocktail so we have both and that is our lunch. Few small wins again downtown and I keep my amazing record going. We go to the Mob Museum which was good. We watch Boardwalk back home so it is quite interesting reading about some of the characters that have been in that and involved in Vegas too. Taxi back to Caesars.

We were going to be going to Joes crab and steakhouse but my wife wasnt in the mood of anywhere too fancy, plus I wasn't too keen on the crabs from Bachanal so I went into Joes and cancelled the booking. We bumped into the Scottish Guy again at the pool and he said he had been at Cabo Wabo last night and he enjoyed. It's probably more along the lines of what we were in the mood of so we head there. We order the sharing platter starter and ask the waiter if its enough for two. He said it should be ok and we could always order more if we needed to. Well the starter came out and it could've fed a family of 6 haha! My wife had steak fajitas and I had pimento chicken. Few cocktails and a few beers and another good day done.

Getting married from Elvis tomorrow!!!!!! I need alcohol tomorrow!!!!

 

sounds awesome to hit and run each casino.

don't forget to watch the free stuff on the strip. Bellagio fountains, mirage volcano, etc

 

Enjoying this mate and love the smash and grab roulette. Just remember they can smash and grab your cash too! Keep it up.

 

Tuesday comes and it's "wedding day"! Wife wants to go to Fashion Show mall, but I'd rather gouge my own eyes out. We walk up there for 9.30am, have breakfast and then I leave to go gamble at Palazzo saying she will meet me at 12pm. I get off to a good start at roulette and I'm about 135 bucks up. Should've walked away at this point as my target was 150 dollars up. Anyway gambled it all back and another 150 dollars on top of that. My luck had changed dramatically and this was my first loss apart from the 2 times at Caesars. Wife meets me at 12pm as planned. Play a bit more but lose another 50 bucks. Decide to have a walk back to Caesars, dump the shopping bags and it's time to hit the drink for our wedding tonight. We go into Mirage and have a burger and fries at BLT Burger . Quite tasty and should set us up for the day. Grab a seat at roulette and CW is around really fast. Tipping 5 bucks for 2 drinks and she comes around faster and faster so we get quite drunk. Sit there about 3/4 hours but my luck has definitely left the building. Finish about another 100 bucks down. Go to Señor Frogs and get 2 of the big tall drinks for 30 dollars. Drink them too and I have another few buds. Hit Walgreens for some vodka for the room whilst we are getting ready. Wedding is at 7 and driver is picking us up at 6.30. Both pretty drunk by this point but wife wants to do this so let's do it! Driver is really nice. Arrive at A Elvis Chapel which is near downtown. Photographer meets us and we have a good laugh. Walks me thru to the chapel. Elvis arrives and escorts my wife down the aisle. He is crazy! Have such a laugh with him. It's 3am back home but apparently there's a few people watching. Tip them both 40 bucks and driver is finished for the night so he takes us right past Fremont St which was a nice touch as we only seen it during the day last time. Looks pretty good at night, different feel to it during the day. Tip driver 40 bucks too. Grab a bite to eat and gambling luck still gone! A great day but jokingly calling it Black Tuesday due to my gambling performances!

 

Haha Ade you are right there! I was on fire up until then

 

Wednesday brings more shopping in the morning then a few drinks in the afternoon. Gambling luck still gone. Nothing more frustrating than sticking to same formula that has seen you win every day for 5 days but now sees you struggling to win a penny! That's gambling tho I suppose.

This is our last night in Vegas so we book Mon Ami Gabi for dinner at 5pm. It has been our favourite restaurant we have been to and we love it there. I order the liver pate and wife orders mussels again for starters. I order steak frites au Dijon and wife has chicken grandmere again. Food is excellent again.

Go to Shania tonight at Caesars. Her show is really good. Still looks amazing for near 50! Good interaction with the crowd and plenty of selfies in the aisles with the audience.

Go for quick gamble at Caesars but still no luck!

Up to the room to pack for flight tomorrow!

Loved Vegas!

 

Thursday and it's time to fly home to Scotland. Check out expecting room charges of around 40-50 bucks to come off our 200 deposit. Guy at checkout is really nice and manages to clear them all off and give us our full 200 back. It's small things like that you appreciate.
Gives me some money for a final gamble. Try a different formula but still no luck. Holiday has to be split into two for me. First 5 days winning then last 3 days losing. Been a blast tho. Limo from Presidential is 10 mins late but no big deal. Still plenty time at airport. Flight delayed 90 mins and overbooked by 80 people??!!! We get on ok tho. Connecting flight in London delayed by 60 mins too. Have been up 36 hours by time I get to my bed.

Been an amazing holiday tho and we will definitely be back. Would stay at Caesars again but book shows in advance as we missed Absinthe and Enrique as they were sold out. Would also got to Fremont St at night and do the Grand Canyon next time!

See you soon Vegas!!!!!!

 

Oh Tuggy.....what a great time you both seem to have!! Congrats on the funny wedding story.... Appreciate you posting, enjoyed your writing style and get to book a return to Mecca soon!!!

 

Thanks Sybgal. Had a blast. I am the smallest roller ever but I enjoy it all the same. I tried to play craps but couldn't really get into it. It was on one of the machine tables tho, so maybe next time I will try the real thing. My wife is fancying Cuba next year, so the year after will probably be our return to Vegas, it'll coincide with her 40th too.

I found the Americans super polite and helpful. I felt the standard of customer service there is miles better than in the UK. Everything is much cheaper too.

 

Thanks for writing up a report. Very nice. Glad you had a fine 1st trip to Vegas.Good Lord willing, I bet you make several more!

later, GVJ

 

I can't remember enjoying a trip report as much as I just enjoyed yours! Thank you for taking the time to post it (still laughing at your "would rather gouge my eyes out" comment!)

Our favorite place to eat is also Mon Ami Gabi -- and I even order the same breakfast as your wife! Thanks again for the great report. Glad you had fun and are home safely.

 

Thanks for the great report! Awesome read.