Vegas 2005

i did ask and people said post them so here goes--enjoy.

Monday 30th May 2005;

Alarm wakens us at 0500 and the journey begins. Daves a bit hungover but no matter, weve waited too long for this holiday, a wee headache doesn’t matter.
Drive to Schipol, park the car, bus to terminal, find the Continental desk, get our “e†ticket, check in, coffee and next thing we are on the plane and away. Next stop Houston.
Plane arrives on time in Houston where we have to reclaim our baggage and re check in for the next flight to Vegas. If you’ve ever been thru US immigration then youll know that the time between landing and our next flight which was 35 mins just isn’t going to be possible. So as we stood in line I stopped some official looking woman and asked to be told— “plenty of flights to Vegas†. yes I agreed but only 1 of them has our seats booked on it to be promptly told “no problem they will get you there, this is normalâ€. Ok, who am I to argue. And to be honest sure enough, as soon as we got to the desk they just stuck us on the next flight so no big drama. Only thing it meant was we where 2 hours later getting to Vegas-again no big deal.
And so it happened and we ended up at Las Vegas airport. Was our first time there as last time we drove from California—getting a train to the baggage pick up was novel I suppose-at least they have a smoking area-unlike Houston.
Outside to get a taxi which took all of 2 minutes and then a short drive and we where at our hotel mid strip- Harrahs. Over the last couple of years ive read mixed reports about Harrahs, good bad and evil so to speak, having now spent 9 days there I can only recommend it, I cant seriously mention anything bad about the place. Best recommendation I can give it is if I go back to Vegas ill quite happily stay there again. Anyways we got checked in and up to room which was more than satisfactory. Quick shower and freshen up and then out to explore. First thing was register as players as id read about the freebies you get-we duly did this and received our cards and coupons etc-spent the next few hours waiting for a little coke can they gave us to flash-it didn’t so we didn’t become instant rich people –guess that means ill be working again next week! The plan was to just have a casual explore of Harrahs , something to eat and then bed and start afresh early Tuesday morning-somehow 20 minutes later we where walking round the casino of the Bellagio. Not quite sure how that happened but anyways we explored there instead. The place (Bellagio) just oozes class/style/money. You cant fail to be impressed by it. One of the most impressive things I saw the whole holiday---the ashtrays in the casino, in fact all over the place, was stood by one of them having a smoke, a man comes up, obviously the cleaner, cleans up the black sand in the top of said ashtray, then brushes it all flat and level and then produces a “stamp†which he then presses into the sand leaving the big Bellagio emblem. I was impressed.
Left there tired and hungry-headed for a “Subway†which to explain we both love but don’t have anywhere near where we live in Holland so it holds a certain novelty factor. Ate our food and headed back to Harrahs. Couple of drinks at the bar, bit of people watching then headed to bed. Roll on tomorrow .

Tuesday 31st May;

0630 and time to get active. Proper food needed so the buffet in Harrahs was the obvious choice-again I can only give credit. Ive read all the reviews of most of the strip buffets etc but this 1 certainly holds it own-good value for money in my opinion. Stuffed ourselves and then set off to explore big time.

Leaving Harrahs and turning left we worked our way down the strip- Ballys, Paris, Desert Passage shops, Aladin, gameworks, ending up in the MGM where we had to pick up tickets for a show the following night. You might say once you’ve sen 1 casino you’ve seen them all-well you might but it doesn’t apply if you actually look. Layout, party pits, style etc etc. we soaked it all up. Moved on to the Tropicana – registered and then made the wife make 5 bucks last in a machine so we could get the free t shirt-which she did. Took in the airshow while we where there, quite impressive. Went to look at the Titanic artifract show as it holds an interest to me-till we got to the door and realized they wanted $35 each—wasn’t that interested!! Now for a small find that I never saw mentioned anywhere when I was reviewing the holiday-the Polo towers, just off the strip, if you stand at the bellagio fountains and look back youll see them. Go to top floor to the bar /lounge and youll find a lovely little quiet bar with a stunning view. We found it by accident to be honest but sat and had a couple of drinks and gave our legs and feet a break while taking in the view. Was great. When we left there we walked back up to the flamingo and went and saw the birds there, something we missed the last time we came to vegas. Again very peacefull and calm-just what we wanted . This all took time and we returned to our hotel for a few drinks. We ended up in the carnival court-the round bar with stage attached to Harrahs, next to the imperial palace. There was a group onstage and flair barmen doing their stuff so we stayed , and stayed…. I thought I was a bit drunk till I saw the state my wife was in-she was very drunk but happy, so when the time was right we retired to bed to sleep it off. A good day was had by all.

Wednesday 1 June;

Arose early with a headache while the wife was full of the joys of life-theres no justice in this world!!! Attempted the buffet, didn’t really get value for money here as I couldn’t eat much-must have been that last cola I had last night!!
Set off on our exploring trip again-the Venitian, Treasure island, Mirage, Ceasers Palace. CP was a deliberate thing-I was looking for the cheesecake factory-found it, was too early tho so it wasn’t open yet. Come the afternoon we where a bit hungry so went to the harley café looking for a cold drink and some nachos/dip to munch on. Wife had a spinach dip and I had the “royal†dip, this bloody plate landed on the table that could have fed 6. I gave it a try but didn’t do it justice while the wife sat and giggled and nibbled her way thru hers. Was lovely tasting, just too much. Checked out the pics and fuel tanks on the walls and left to go back to Harrahs to get changed for our show that night at the MGM.
So we find ourself in the MGM waiting to see David Copperfield-been looking at this being 1 of the highpoints of the holiday. Doors open and we enter the Hollywood place. Smaller than I expected but as it happens it made for a good atmosphere. Was sold out. Got a couple of cocktails and waited for show to begin. A guy who was obviously part of the shows crew came along and started asking us questions then asked me if id like to assist in the show. Of course says I, so the guy leads me off behind the scenes and explains what I have to do. I returned to my seat and awaited my moment of fame. Was simple stuff and went ok, I just had to check a wooden container was empty and then “he†produced a duck from said emptiness. Was quite a funny act , in fact the whole show was amusing along with amazing. We left after the show and I was on a high, was good for the ego anyway.
On the way to the MGM we passed a burger place called “fatburgers†so we had to try them-place is a bit of a mess, a bit rough and ready but the burgers where magic along with the chilie poured over them—good stuff.
Back to Harrahs for a few nightcaps and another attempt to get rich. Didn’t work.

Thursday 2nd june.
For some reason my wife and I love “Dennys†and there was one attached to the casino royal next door so that’s where we went for breakafast. You cant beat a nice steak with eggs over it for breakfast, where well stuffed when we left there. Registered with the club royale to get their $50 free slot play—which took less than 5 minutes to blow.
Left there and headed for the Wynn resort. Now this place is special-it oozes class and style everywhere you look. Its as classy as the bellagio but in a different way-impressive. What wasn’t too impressive is they wanted $10 to see round their car show. Considering the Forum shops have the exotic car show which is free to wander around I wasn’t paying 10 bucks to see more cars. The imperial Palace has another car show which is free if you get a coupon (we did) and was quite good also so we saved our dollars and headed for the Riviera. Now if your looking for a couple of free souveniers this is the place. Registered as players, key chain, mug, keyring, margarita and $30 free play on the slots later we left-was a fun place to be, good atmosphere, would go back there again. Across to Circus Circus. Id read that this place was a bit shabby etc-I saw no evidence of this in the casino etc. yes its not as new as some places but wasn’t bad I thought. The bit upstairs for the kids is a good idea, keeps the kids all in one place so im not standing on them all over vegas- im not a kid person! Won a couple of teddy bears for the wife and off we went. Stopped and got a footlong hotdog for her and a shrimp cocktail for myself-was lovely and was less than $2.50, cant complain. From there we did the stardust then strolled down to the shopping mall next to TI, (cant remember the name). theres a small ticket office there, I went to see what tickets they had up on the screen, as I entered theres a woman offering me a leaflet. I turned to face screen and ignored her , not wanting her leaflet and the wife says to me-oh that’s quite realistic isn’t it, I looks, woman with leaflet was a waxwork of woopie Goldberg- how small and stupid can a wife make a husband??? So left there quickly… back to the hotel to freshen up.

Now the reason/excuse for this trip was it was the yearly convention of NARSA. Now if your reading this and you don’t know what NARSA is then it doesn’t matter, its all to do with Rangers football club back in Scotland and Vegas was the venue for the yearly get together. We arranged to meet a couple of friends for cocktails-was sat in the outside bar out the front of Ceasars Palace, place was called Vialle or something similar to that. Spent the next couple of hours knocking back various cocktails and catching up/chatting. Was joined by a couple of other people and more drink was had. Was a nice few hours, expensive but nice. We all separated due to prior arrangements so off we went for a subway- I told you we liked them, then for a session in the casino. I found I had taken a liking to the video roulette so spent a few hours on that while the wife played her heart out on the 1 and 5 cent machines. I think we both lost 20 bucks –we aren’t heavy gamblers thankfully. Then bed, another good day.

Friday 3rd june.
Day of our big trip to the Grand Canyon.
Met up and got a taxi to the Stratosphere for breakfast-logic being we where going to get our moneys worth from the limousine that was picking us up. Had breakfast and explored the place. 1 downer was they wanted $10 just to go up the tower, needless to say we didn’t pay .
Got picked up and taken to helicopter place-just up from NY NY. Briefed on the safety aspects etc and then we where off. What can I say, brilliant views etc, if you’ve been youll know what I mean, if you haven’t then go do it. We had a little interlude of the girl sitting next to the pilot evacuating her guts into a couple of bags and stinking the helicopter out big time, a fact her boyfriend sitting with us in the back seemed oblivious of till a couple of hours later when we landed again-she was a very well girl, nice shade of green (if there is such a thing!).
Anyways wonderfull trip but it has to be said it wasn’t worth what we paid for it. We seem to have paid over the odds a bit but no matter, it was a once in a lifetime thing. Once landed and the happy snaps where taken we went to NY NY for refreshments. The 3 I was with then decided to do the rollercoaster that runs thru the place-I was the bag man, through choice I might add, rollercoasters make me want to throw up so I tend to give them a miss. They seemed to enjoy it even if the photograph says differently.
From there we moved to the Monte Carlo for another wee refreshment. Was in good company so a nice couple of hours passed.
We separated after that and the wife and I went to Paris to suss out the tickets for “we will rock you†which we duly got . back to the hotel where we both fell asleep. Woke later , went for a slice of pizza then went back to bed. Yet another great day was had.

Saturday 4th june.

Was up early trying to get the Scotland football score-sportsbook in Harrahs didn’t even recognize the game was being played, then I gets a message on my phone from a friend telling me he is sitting in some bar watching the game-not a good start to the day. We won so I suppose that’s what matters. Part of the convention is the selling of all the supporters clubs shirts so I went to buy some of them while the wife went to the pool. She managed half an hour then came to find me declaring it was too hot. So off we went to explore again.
I had a plan-I took us back to the cheesecake factory with the intention of sickening the wife of cake/sweetie type stuff. It worked. We had the biggest cappuchinos you’ve ever seen and a piece of some sickly gooie yukky chocolate cheesecake. It was wonderfull but totally sickening, neither of us could finish it. Plan worked as I don’t think the wife had sugar the rest of the holiday.
Left there and went to the shopping mall next to TI again, (still cant remember its name). I mentioned earlier how I got caught out by a woopie Goldberg model at the ticket office-well said model was stood outside now, as we approached the office there was a woman leaving office who bumped into the model/waxworks. She turned and apologized to the waxworks and started to walk off till I pointed out to her she didn’t need to apologise to a model-oh did she fell silly-it was great. Found the shop with the relax chairs in it and sat and had a free massage-brilliant chairs these things are.
Anyways we did some shopping and made our way back to hotel to freshen up. Time for food.
We wanted meat and we had noticed a place called the “rib house†in the Imperial Palace so decided to try that as it was only next door. Great choice-we had a wonderfull meal, my t bone was perfect, in fact the whole meal was and not expensive-great value. If you try it ever then get the mash potatoe, never had mash like that before-lovely. A bottle of good wine and a few bacardis later we where about ready for bed, in fact a corner of a room would have done but we made it as far as bed. Great day again.

Sunday 5th June
We where only in Vegas for the 1 Sunday so we decided to have the champagne brekkie at the Bellagio. We got there early so no waiting. This was the 1 let down from the whole holiday, the whole breakfast was nothing special. Im not sure what I expected but just felt a bit let down. We had the champers brekkie in the Tropicana a few years ago and it was just as good if not better. There was nothing actually wrong with it, just wasn’t as “special†as I thought it might be. From there went back to the hotel , wife went and gambled for a while while I went for a chat with a friend that was over for the convention. A few cocktails ensured for a couple of nice hours.
Feeding time again, we decided to return to the ESPN zone for more dip and nachos and baseball. From there made our way to Paris for the show. If you ever get the chance go see “we will rock you†it was brilliant, far better than I was expecting. We where suitably impressed.
Returning to hotel, just outside Harrahs the police where there, 2 of them on mountain bikes, with a biker (a real one with an engine) in handcuffs sat on the pavement. I was keen to ask how the hell they caught him on pushbikes compared to the lads jap speed machine but the wife didn’t seem so keen. We got coffee and observed for a while. For what I could gather it was because the lad didn’t have a rear number plate. The cuffs just seemed a bit over the top but for all we know the guy might have threatned the police or whatever-just looked over the top. Maybe its just me being sympathetic to a fellow biker.
A bit of the slots and then bed. Great day.

Monday 6th june.
Harrahs buffet for brekkie. Then off next door to the IP to take in the car exhition they have. You can get coupons everywhere which saves the 7 bucks admission fee. Quite a good exhibition, even the wife seemed to tolerate it well. Few drinks and a general wander then back to hotel before moving downtown for something to eat. We ended up at the Plaza having their buffet. Was a lucky but great choice, stuffed ourselves with good food for little money. Impressed again. Went for a wander down freemont street waiting for it to get dark so we could watch the “experienceâ€. We weren’t disappointed, it was great. Well worth the wait.
Taxi back to hotel but we then went into the IP karaoke bar next door, we had passed thru it earlier in the holiday and it had looked fun so we wanted to suss it out more. Was worth it. Apart from the entertainment singing we ended up with a celebrity sitting at the table right in front of us. We had absolutely no idea who it was but he had two woman on his arm and the staff of the place running after his every beck and call. Was driving me nut as to who the hell this guy actually was so I went and asked the guy he seemd to have running around the most. Turns out this is some world poker champion called “Scotty†. a bloody card player!!!!! I sat for the next couple of hours entertaining my wife by taking the piss out of this guy, it was fun. Im in so many peoples photos making silly faces behind this guy its unreal. When we got bored with him we returned next door. Wife went on the slots and me to my wheel of fortune (NOT). Wife managed to lose her money and hotel room key, oh well , could have been worse. Great day.

Tuesday 7th june.
Buffet brekkie again, I did say it was good. Time to get some souveniers etc so we walked up towards the Rivierra and found a general store that had all the same stuff as on the strip but at a fraction of the price. Strolled back down to the mall by TI to have a look round the bit we hadn’t already seen. Somehow the wife ended up back on the massage chair-I think she likes it! Went outside and sat in the sun while we had a drink. Wife opens a bottle of fizzy drink which decides to fizz up all over her, she was covered in it, not helped by me wetting myself almost with laughter. Was quite funny, even she laughed. Needless to say back to the hotel so she could clean herself up. Decided this was officially a day of rest so went back to bed. Rose and decided we wanted to watch the baseball , oh and the nachos and dip (and guiness) so wandered down to NY NY and endulged ourselves again. Left there slightly drunk and headed for the piano bar in Harrahs, great stuff in there as seems the norm every night. Gambled and then stumbled to bed, great day once again.

Wed 8th june.
Another relax day. We had seen the thing we wanted to see, done what we wanted to do. Went to dennys for our last brekkie, I do enjoy steak for breakfast. From there we went to the forum shops for a couple of last minute things-toys for the dog as it happens. A few drinks. Got our stuff together and into the cases.
Spent the evening gambling-we had promised ourselves if we had money left over we could blow it. As it happens neither of us lost so we just brought our money home-helps pay the visa card I suppose. Went to bed happy and content. Holiday over really, just the long trip home.

Thursday 9th june

Was up and checking out of hotel at 0600. taxi to airport and check in. a wee woman decides to help us and announces ive been specially selected. Thinking it was for an upgrade or so I was quite chuffed. Till she pointed out it was for special security. Oh thanks! As it happens it speeded us up getting thru, I didn’t have to wait in any of the long lines, security did their thing quickly and we where thru and waiting for our plane to Houston. One thing that had worried me was catching the connecting flight to Amsterdam, turns out no problem, plane lands from vegas at the gate next to where our flight is waiting. Easy. Flight to Amsterdam goes no problem, long and boring but the price you pay for a long haul trip I suppose. (its now Friday btw-time zones and all that) Cause we where almost last getting on plane in Houston our bags where almost first thru at Schipol. Walked outside and theres a bus for the long term car park there. Drive to Schiedam, stop by our bar to check on how things have been, they’ve had no problems which is good news. Dropped cases off at house and went to pick up the dog. Here the 1 problem of the whole holiday happened-we got there at 1145 and the place apparently didn’t open till 1300. we rang from the gate as we could see people in the office. They let the answer machine cut in 3 times before picking up phone and basically telling us to go away until 1300. no exceptions. Having been up all night etc etc we weren’t in the mood for this, just give us our dog and we will be on our way. No, they weren’t having it. So we had to go away, went for a drive round the local town, had a coffee, returned to kennels at exactly 1300, had a shouting match with the people in the office, told them to shove their kennels, got our wee boy and went home. By 1500 we where unpacked and sorted out . holiday over. Good time had by all. 9 days is enough in vegas, wasn’t too long, wasn’t too short, was just right for what we wanted. We will go back, would wait maybe 5 or 10 years so that we could notice the changes but we will return.
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D

1700-10

 

Another great TR! Thanks for posting.

That really is a shame that they closed the lounge at Polo Towers.

 

It is indeed, that was a genuine hidden gem.

D

1700-10

 

An oldie but goodie. Thanks for posting.

later, GVJ

 

It certainly was. Reading your TR's just brings to light how many wonderful things in Vegas have disappeared in the last few years. I really miss the Stardust and Commanders Palace to name just a few...