bikerbear
Tourist
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2008
- Messages
- 17
- Trips to Las Vegas
- 5
Monday 29th May.
We leave our bar at 0600, flight isn’t till 1105 but we want to get under way. Flying Amsterdam-Chicago-Vegas. All pretty uneventfull and normal boring long haul flight type thing till we got the Chicago. All sorted with boarding passes etc but we had to get a wee train from terminal 1 to 5 . gets to platform theres a man in uniform, I presumed he was checking for tickets etc so I gets the black folder type thing I use for the passports/tickets/endless bits of paper out. He waves us straight onto wee train which has just arrived. 5 mins later we are in the right terminal, goes up the stairs and theres the departures board with gate numbers on it. I goes into my bag for the black folder again to check the flight number- its gone!!! Wife thought I was kidding, needless to say by the heart attack I was in the process of having I wasn’t!!. anyways , runs back down to platform and explains whats happened to man with a walkie talkie, asks him to radio back to his workmate in other terminal-he does so, comes of walkie talkie and says-“jump back on train-my mates got your folder in terminal 1â€. 5 mins later sure enough, I exits train, looks for uniform and theres my folder sitting on the window ledge next to him. Couldn’t thank him enough. Heart can slow down again.
Resumed boring trip and arrived in Vegas around 1700. bags where thru in no time so jumped into taxi and off to the Orleans we go. 15 bucks and 10 mins later we are there. Check in was effortless, I even forgot to ask for an upgrade but we didn’t need it, room facing strip, but we aren’t particularly bothered about a view etc. room was lovely, was quite impressed, certainly no worse than Harrahs we where in last year. If you want to critisise then id prefer a normal door on the toilet/shower as opposed to a slide door and a mini fridge would be handy, along with a safe. Safe deposit box was easy enough to get but a safe in the room is so much easier for day to day stuff.
Quick shower and then downstairs to explore. Times weve been in Vegas before we had never visited the place so where total virgins here, nice place. We liked it. Very laid back atmosphere, we enjoyed it. Best recommendation I can give a thing/place is to say id go back there again and well, we would quite happily go back an stay in the Orleans.
We where meeting a close friend of mine and had agreed to meet in the irish bar. We did- eventually so a few drinks where had and a bit of catching up was done.
Then it was a taxi to Ellis Island, my treat . I wanted a steak and thanks to a certain message board there was only 1 place I was going for it. So 1 steak special later (which was great btw) and we where refreshed food wise but fighting to stay awake so it was back to the Orleans and off to bed. Good start to the holiday.
Tuesday 30th May.
Orleans buffet for brekkie-was wonderfull, great value for money and sorted us for the day ahead.
First on agenda- indoor skydiving , by the convention centre. Shuttle bus to Barberry Coast and strolled up there. My friend was determined he wasn’t going to do this, I was equally determined he was! Im bigger than him so I won. To his credit he thanked me afterwards as this was a brilliant experience. Ive no ambition to leap out a perfectly good plane but this was fun. We had walked up there last year , walked in, looked at notices etc on the wall and left-don’t ask as I don’t know why we didn’t do it hence why I was so determined we would be doing it this year. Im 41, wife is 43 and friend 47 or so so none of us are kids- if you get the chance go do this, it really is fun.
Left there full of adrenaline and walked back down to the Casino Royal for some cold drinks. I like it in there , seems I wasn’t alone as the place was jumping, fun place to be.
From there it was down to the dessert passage to basically find the Commanders Palace where we have reservations for lunch next day. Found it and then ended up in “blondies†having a few drinks and generally chilling out. My friend drinks corona beer-we managed to get served the smallest bottles we had ever seen, a large mouthful and it was gone. Strange!
Walk back to the barb coast and get return shuttle to the Orleans and off to the pool for a dip/cool off. I kinda expected the place to be packed but it wasn’t to bad, busy but not “too†busy. Played around at pool, chatted, drank etc for a while then time for a wee nap and get sorted for the evening.
Wife and I had never had Japanese food-sushi/saki etc etc. my friend decideds he will takes us to the place in the Orleans for our first experience. Orders a plate of sushi rolls, 3 different kinds of rolls, of which me and the wife found disgusting. She had 1 and that was it. I tried one of each then binned it. Not for us im afraid. Now the saki, that’s different, I could get into that J
Left there and went to one of the bars for a few drinks. Sometime later Alan (our friend) leaves to go to bed. We decide to go bowling. Had some nachos covered in chilli and bowled away, nice thing to do coming on midnight. Went downstairs and gambled a wee while and then went to bed. I say gambled, we aren’t high rollers, or low rollers or any sort of bloody rollers, wife likes to stick 5 or 10 bucks in the 1 cent slots, the ones with all the fancy animated bonuses, I like the video poker but we are talking 10 or 20 bucks tops. Just for fun really.
Wednesday 31st May
Skipped breakfast as we wanted to have an appetite for lunch. Dropped 100 bucks out the big wheel of fortune so that gave us some extra play money to throw away. 3 of us went and sat out at the pool for a couple of hours-nice and pleasant. Got some book reading done.
Time to get changed for our lunch, taxi down to the Alladin and into the CP. Well what can I say, was everything I wanted it to be, was a nice atmosphere, just a generally nice place to eat. Oh and drink cheap martinis J I had the turtle soup , then a sort of pork stew –wonderful. Wife had a chocolate bread pudding to finish which was also delightful. Cant remember the price but it was very reasonable, I was paying and I wasn’t complaining J would return to this place anytime for any meal-very good.
Walked round to barb coast and caught shuttle back to the Orleans and back to the pool to be bums again. Sat and had some quality time having a blether with my friend while wife did an impression of a beached wale J
Up to room for a rest/get changed for the evening. Other 2 didn’t know where we where going at first, wife clicked on in the taxi en route to the Monte Carlo. We where of to see the Prince tribute band “Purple Reignâ€. Well alan realized and wasn’t too keen, along with the wife who wasn’t that keen either, few drinks later and a couple of songs into their set both where enjoying it big time. They went off and danced and I guarded the drinks J excellent evening, would do it again. Place was packed but not overly so that you couldn’t see or move etc-was nice. Alan left about an hour before us, a little the worse for wear. Taxi back to Orleans , couple of slots as we made our way thru casino and bed. Wasn’t a big problem getting to sleep, must be the fresh air- or Bacardi J
Thursday 1st June
Orleans buffet breakfast again-just as nice as the last time J then out to the pool to sit and say our farewells to Alan as he was jetting off that morning.
We then walked from the Orleans down to the Excalibur, across to the shops by the M&M place, had a quick drink, then walked down to the luxor for a look round then onto the Mandalay Bay where we wanted to get tickets for the Abba show thingie. Got our tickets no problem, then got wee shuttle train back to the Excalibur and got a taxi from there back to the Orleans. We where slightly knackered from the heat/walking so a dip in the pool was in order. then time for a siesta J
Once sorted/freshened up we got a taxi to the Hard Rock. This is somewhere else we where supposed to go last year and didn’t so with it being based on my kinda music I was looking forward to seeing inside it. I wasn’t let down, some of the displays in the cabinets round the casino are brilliant. Had a good look round and then went and sat at the bar in the middle to have a couple drinks and people watch. We came to the conclusion we where glad we weren’t staying there, too many “youths†full of beer roaming around in packs. Was no bother but it was only 1930. I bet their security is kept busier than most places.
We had reservations at Simons so off we went. Once again this was worthwhile- lovely. Friendly service, all very modern. One downside to the meal was we both had the meatloaf as a main course and it wasn’t to our taste. Wasn’t the places fault, nothing wrong with it just did nothing for us. Again very reasonably priced, id recommend this place too.
From there, being our last night in the Orleans we just got a taxi back and went and played a few slots , had a few drinks and called it a night. Another great day.
Friday 2nd June;
Up fairly early as today is when we move to the Monte Carlo. Skipped breakfast as not very hungry plus we have booking for this evening so want to have an appetite.
Got taxi (after a 30 second checkout,) to the MC around 0945 thinking its far too early to check in so we will dump the bags and go wandering. Went up to girl at reception and says-“im guessing its far too early to check in?†she replys-“smoking or non smoking†hence us being checked in , with a strip view thrown in for free by 1000 in the morning.
When we got to the room-to explain, with splitting the holiday between 2 hotels, the thinking was the Orleans for value for money (which it certainly is) and then to the MC for that little bit of class and luxury. So when we opened the hotel room door in the MC im not sure what we expected but we did expect a little more than what appeared in front of us. Now don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the room at all, just wasn’t as classy or so as we expected. No better than the Orleans or Harrahs to be honest. Again it was nice enough so no big deal.
Got sorted and off we went to explore. Ended up in NYNY. …tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g45963-i10-k17467… was my trip report from last year. If you read it youll see we liked the ESPN zone for their guiness and spinach dip so we had to go see if it was the same—it was J partook in some liquid refreshment and then decided it was time to have a wee nap before our fancy meal this evening.
Booking was for 1930 at Mon Ami Gabi which we where looking forward to big time. Strolled up to Paris and had a few drinks before hand. Went to restaurant around 1900 and where seated straight away. Originally when we made the booking I wanted to be outside on the terrace- it was so hot outside that if they had seated us outside id have asked to be moved inside. Where we ended up was in the glass bitty between inside and out-perfect. As was the food and service. Wonderful. Would return anytime. I had the steak with a blue cheese sauce on it-melted in the mouth-lovely. Not hugely expensive either.
Left there quite satisfied and strolled back to the MC to get changed. I was reading a thread yesterday on the msg board about dress code for Hugo Cellar to which the basic answer is anything goes. Im not a dresser upper but must be getting old as when going to a decent place to eat I feel the need to look at least respectable hence going and getting changed-give me my shorts and t shirt any time J
Went and played some slots in the MC for a while then decided to go have a look at the dualling pianos in NYNY. We thought we would have a look, couple of drinks then bin it. Got there and the place was jammed-there was 2 separated hen nights going on plus the normal crowd. BUT.. if you sit at the bar looking into the piano place—you hear everything, see everything via the monitors fitted to the far wall etc-was perfect for us. We then sat there and basically got quite drunk. The 2 guys doing the pianos where brilliant, just as good as the twins doing the same thing in Harrahs which we went to last year. Even got comped a couple of drinks as the wife put some money in the VP at the bar.
Couple things about sitting there getting drunk—bartenders where serving all sorts of concoctions so I decided to get 2 jagermeisters along with our next round- 8.5 dollars each-I nearly fainted. We sell same stuff in our pub for 2.70 euro, just a slight mark up. Needless to say we only had the 1 J
Saw a barman eating something-turned out he had some olives, was filling them with Tabasco sauce and eating them in 1. saw me looking and offered me some. Gave me a glass full of olives and a glass with an inch of Tabasco in it and a cocktail stick. Got to be said they where wonderful, as well as blowing your head off J
Anyways left there sometime later, staggered back to MC and straight to bed. Had to stop wife swapping the “do not disturb†signs which seems to be her party trick when drunk in vegas J (sorry to anyone in harrahs this time last year-it was her not me!)
Great day.
Saturday 3rd June.
This happened last year-we got raging drunk, wife worse than me and following morning she feels nothing while I suffer and die. Waken with raging headache, go down to get us coffee and am almost running down hallway on return to get to the toilet in the room to have a chat down the big white telephone. Decide this is the time to go check the pool out. Breakfast is a no no in my condition. Anyways goes down to pool at 0845 (or so we thought-will explain later) and ended up waiting an hour. I wasn’t best happy feeling the way I did but eventually we got in and got a good location by the lazy river. Sat and read, swam a bit , just generally feeling crap till we had had enough sitting in the sun, It was bloody hot so decided to go back to bed for a while J.
Mid afternoon we rise and decide my stomach can handle solids. Read last years report and youll see we like Dennys. We don’t have places like that here, always been reasonable when weve been so we thought we will go to the 1 across the road from the MC which we actually ate in years ago on our first trip to vegas. Off we go, goes in, sits, orders 2 coke floats and a glass of milk to drink. 2 coke floats come quick enough but glass of milk takes 20 mins-machine was empty and the lad filling it was more interested in chatting to his friend! Orders some onion rings and mini hamburgers to start with and then 2 main courses. 25 mins later still no onion rings etc?!?! they eventually turn up, we start eating, 3 minutes later the waiter turns up with our main course. I just sat there and asked the boy what we supposed to do with them, we are still eating our starter? He didn’t know what to say. Eventually got the manager who I told we now didn’t want the main courses, just take them off the bill, we will pay for what weve had but stuff this for a game. This he duly did and we left—and will never return- the dream is over-dennys is crap!
Returns to MC, gambled, drank and bummed around for a while before getting sorted out for our show tonight. Going to see Mama Mia at Mandalay Bay.
Decided to not walk and we would get a taxi this time to MB J what that means is the wife basically refused to walk more than 100 meters after the walk from the Orleans to MB J anyways gets in taxi and noticed the meter read 10.05 as we left. Nudged wife to make her notice. Drove the 5 mins to MB , asks how much is that then to which the driver says- 10.05. so I asks hows that seeing as the meter said that before we left the MC and surely that isn’t legal. Im not 1 for particularly putting up with crap, and im Scottish so don’t like to be ripped off. Look of panic on drivers face so I just threw 10 bucks at him , called him a couple names and in the interest of peace and harmony and not letting it spoil our evening got out and walked away.
Anyway- end up in the show, great seats but ow here it comes-biggest complaint of the holiday- the air conditioning- we sat the and basically almost froze the whole show. It was a relief to go out at halftime and get warm whilst having a cigarette. Surely we couldn’t have been the only ones??? Didn’t spoil the show tho, it was great. Sound was great-if you haven’t seen it go see it, nice show. Being honest-we saw we will rock you last year and given the choice id choose that over the abba one but that’s probably cause I prefer my music more “rockierâ€.
After show we got the wee train thingy to the Excalibur and decided we where peckish so crossed over and went to “fatburgersâ€. Again we tried this place last year-it was a dump then and still is but last year the burger I had covered in chilli was wonderfull, this year I wouldn’t feed it to my dog. Wifes was no better-so bye bye fatburger as well. Today wasn’t our day as regards food-I picked a good day to be off my appetite anyways.
Returned to MC, couple of slots then bed- 0300 so we thought, explain later.
Sunday 4th
Was always gonna be a lazy day. Reservations at Hugos at 1800 but till then was a rest day J. Went and had the champagne brunch in the buffet. Was reasonable but to be honest we weren’t in the mood. Buffet was great actually , crab legs, shrimp, all sorts, nice, just wasn’t as hungry as we thought when we went in.
Left there and played some slots and then returned to bed. Got up a while later and went and bought a couple souveniers for taking home.
Slowly got ready and decided to get the deuce downtown. This is now mid afternoon. Well never again. Didn’t actually have to wait long for bus to come. It was too full so didn’t get on. Another comes, we gets on but till it passed the Wynn we would have been quicker walking. I looked next day in the morning and the busses weren’t full and the traffic not so busy and they where flying along so it must have just been our lucky timing- next time mid afternoon itll be a taxi that’s for sure.
I had a plan. Weve been downtown a couple times before so I wanted a drink. I wanted the football shaped thing id read about which La Bayou has. So does the 4 queens as it happens but I didn’t know that then. We walks up and wife gets some banana concoction in a tall plastic thing. I gets the football with some jungle juice in it. Sits at some slots and puts a couple bucks in. we woman says wait, ill get you a couple more shots, which she does, gives her a tip and then mixes in said shots. You could taste this thing was strong. Id drank about 2 inches of this liquid and could feel it going for me. given what we where drinking, the heat, not a lot to eat it wasn’t suprising really. Anyways we goes for a walk and ends up in the 4 queens playing some slots. Ive drank 2 thirds of this thing and am sat thinking-“if I drink the rest of this we wont be going for no fancy meal , itll be taxi and straight to bed†so I had to ditch it. Was a shame but oh well, life can be hell J
Next was Hugos Cellar. I was looking for this to be the best meal we went for-I wasn’t let down. Everything about it was perfect. All the starters are fish related in one way or another, wife isn’t into fish at all, it was a joy to watch her face as she chomped down the scampi whilst declaring it was like nothing she had ever had before. She had 1 of my snails, loved that as well. Whole meal was a delight, service was perfect and again the whole thing was reasonably priced. Left there completely satisfied. We decided all in all it was probably the best meal weve ever had-cant say much higher than that.
Taxi back to MC and went straight to bed, sleepy but content.
Monday 5th.
Wasn’t a late night last night so I was awake from 0400 onwards. I didn’t sleep 100% right any night but im always like that away from home. So im sitting watching tv , then thinks if I can get wifey up we can stroll up the strip and go for breakfast at the Peppermill. Manages to wake her and persuades her what a great idea it would be. Principle being it being so early itll be cool outside, hardly anyone around, nice stroll. She buys it J. Walks outside where we thought it was around 0630, its bloody warm already. Ok, lets go. Well she moaned and puffed and panted all the way up the strip. We stopped at harrahs and got a coffee from starbucks which I thought might shut her up-it didn’t L anyways we got there and it was worth it, even she agreed. Was a nice place to eat. I will go back here. Whilst there I noticed a mans watch saying 0705 or so. I thought that’s not possible, weve walked here, stopped for coffee, ate our brekkie, all in 35 mins??? Checked someone elses watch-same. Realizes that it must be the clock by the bed in the MC, it must be an hour fast, it’s the only time reference weve used since arriving-when we got back we checked, sure enough. Oh well it only took 3 days to realise.
She wants to get a taxi back, I don’t, so I suggest we cross over to the Stardust and have a look. Ok, she is for it. So then I suggest the New Frontier. Ok. Im wondering how far I can get. She clicked on after the big shopping place, TI, Mirage, walking towards Ceasers she declares what a nasty man I am!! J now theres no way im getting a taxi from Ceasers to the MC and she knows that so she played along. CP and the bellagio and we where almost home. Nice walk , even if the wife doesn’t agree J time for a siesta. Once rested we wanted something to nibble—ESPN zone it is then. More guiness and dips and some hockey game with candians against Americans came on-was quite lively in there. Was fun.
This led us into the evening. We decided to have a gamble session with some of the cash we had left over. Well for whatever reason the MC decided to close down a huge amount of their slots-they where upgrading the tracking systems apparently which came as a bit of a let down for us. Actually I didn’t mind too much as it probably saved me some money but it was a shame slightly. Oh well , we still managed to lose our loose bucks so it was a big problem J went a bought a couple slices of pizza which we took back to room, then threw away cause they where horrible and fell asleep. Nice day.
Tuesday 6th June.
Our return trip. Flight isn’t till 1305 so we take our time with brekkie etc. try the café in the MC-nothing wrong with it but I think we where both put off by the fact we where going home.
Taxi to airport, check in with a machine which decides im a case for special security (again) which actually, same as last year actually speeds you up getting thru, no long lines etc, wife just tags along saying im with him and we are thru to departure gate in no time. Totally uneventful flight to Chicago, same again to Copengagen, long boring 4 hour wait then a quick 1 hour flight into Amsterdam. New personal record in the car and we where back in our pub which seems to have survived us being away again J
Couple of notes from the trip overall. Both hotels, why cant the sinks be bigger in the bathrooms, kept banging my head on the nozzle thingy.
Why no security check before the elevators in MC, they had it in the Orleans, in Harrahs last year as well. No bad thing in my opinion.
Why do the MC set their beside alarm clocks 1 hour fast??? J J
I said at the end of last years report it would be a few years before we return to Vegas, and 9 months later im reviewing our next trip there. We wont be going next year as we are going to a convention in florida but we will be back in 2 years time-cant wait, there just is no other place like it.
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D
1700-10
We leave our bar at 0600, flight isn’t till 1105 but we want to get under way. Flying Amsterdam-Chicago-Vegas. All pretty uneventfull and normal boring long haul flight type thing till we got the Chicago. All sorted with boarding passes etc but we had to get a wee train from terminal 1 to 5 . gets to platform theres a man in uniform, I presumed he was checking for tickets etc so I gets the black folder type thing I use for the passports/tickets/endless bits of paper out. He waves us straight onto wee train which has just arrived. 5 mins later we are in the right terminal, goes up the stairs and theres the departures board with gate numbers on it. I goes into my bag for the black folder again to check the flight number- its gone!!! Wife thought I was kidding, needless to say by the heart attack I was in the process of having I wasn’t!!. anyways , runs back down to platform and explains whats happened to man with a walkie talkie, asks him to radio back to his workmate in other terminal-he does so, comes of walkie talkie and says-“jump back on train-my mates got your folder in terminal 1â€. 5 mins later sure enough, I exits train, looks for uniform and theres my folder sitting on the window ledge next to him. Couldn’t thank him enough. Heart can slow down again.
Resumed boring trip and arrived in Vegas around 1700. bags where thru in no time so jumped into taxi and off to the Orleans we go. 15 bucks and 10 mins later we are there. Check in was effortless, I even forgot to ask for an upgrade but we didn’t need it, room facing strip, but we aren’t particularly bothered about a view etc. room was lovely, was quite impressed, certainly no worse than Harrahs we where in last year. If you want to critisise then id prefer a normal door on the toilet/shower as opposed to a slide door and a mini fridge would be handy, along with a safe. Safe deposit box was easy enough to get but a safe in the room is so much easier for day to day stuff.
Quick shower and then downstairs to explore. Times weve been in Vegas before we had never visited the place so where total virgins here, nice place. We liked it. Very laid back atmosphere, we enjoyed it. Best recommendation I can give a thing/place is to say id go back there again and well, we would quite happily go back an stay in the Orleans.
We where meeting a close friend of mine and had agreed to meet in the irish bar. We did- eventually so a few drinks where had and a bit of catching up was done.
Then it was a taxi to Ellis Island, my treat . I wanted a steak and thanks to a certain message board there was only 1 place I was going for it. So 1 steak special later (which was great btw) and we where refreshed food wise but fighting to stay awake so it was back to the Orleans and off to bed. Good start to the holiday.
Tuesday 30th May.
Orleans buffet for brekkie-was wonderfull, great value for money and sorted us for the day ahead.
First on agenda- indoor skydiving , by the convention centre. Shuttle bus to Barberry Coast and strolled up there. My friend was determined he wasn’t going to do this, I was equally determined he was! Im bigger than him so I won. To his credit he thanked me afterwards as this was a brilliant experience. Ive no ambition to leap out a perfectly good plane but this was fun. We had walked up there last year , walked in, looked at notices etc on the wall and left-don’t ask as I don’t know why we didn’t do it hence why I was so determined we would be doing it this year. Im 41, wife is 43 and friend 47 or so so none of us are kids- if you get the chance go do this, it really is fun.
Left there full of adrenaline and walked back down to the Casino Royal for some cold drinks. I like it in there , seems I wasn’t alone as the place was jumping, fun place to be.
From there it was down to the dessert passage to basically find the Commanders Palace where we have reservations for lunch next day. Found it and then ended up in “blondies†having a few drinks and generally chilling out. My friend drinks corona beer-we managed to get served the smallest bottles we had ever seen, a large mouthful and it was gone. Strange!
Walk back to the barb coast and get return shuttle to the Orleans and off to the pool for a dip/cool off. I kinda expected the place to be packed but it wasn’t to bad, busy but not “too†busy. Played around at pool, chatted, drank etc for a while then time for a wee nap and get sorted for the evening.
Wife and I had never had Japanese food-sushi/saki etc etc. my friend decideds he will takes us to the place in the Orleans for our first experience. Orders a plate of sushi rolls, 3 different kinds of rolls, of which me and the wife found disgusting. She had 1 and that was it. I tried one of each then binned it. Not for us im afraid. Now the saki, that’s different, I could get into that J
Left there and went to one of the bars for a few drinks. Sometime later Alan (our friend) leaves to go to bed. We decide to go bowling. Had some nachos covered in chilli and bowled away, nice thing to do coming on midnight. Went downstairs and gambled a wee while and then went to bed. I say gambled, we aren’t high rollers, or low rollers or any sort of bloody rollers, wife likes to stick 5 or 10 bucks in the 1 cent slots, the ones with all the fancy animated bonuses, I like the video poker but we are talking 10 or 20 bucks tops. Just for fun really.
Wednesday 31st May
Skipped breakfast as we wanted to have an appetite for lunch. Dropped 100 bucks out the big wheel of fortune so that gave us some extra play money to throw away. 3 of us went and sat out at the pool for a couple of hours-nice and pleasant. Got some book reading done.
Time to get changed for our lunch, taxi down to the Alladin and into the CP. Well what can I say, was everything I wanted it to be, was a nice atmosphere, just a generally nice place to eat. Oh and drink cheap martinis J I had the turtle soup , then a sort of pork stew –wonderful. Wife had a chocolate bread pudding to finish which was also delightful. Cant remember the price but it was very reasonable, I was paying and I wasn’t complaining J would return to this place anytime for any meal-very good.
Walked round to barb coast and caught shuttle back to the Orleans and back to the pool to be bums again. Sat and had some quality time having a blether with my friend while wife did an impression of a beached wale J
Up to room for a rest/get changed for the evening. Other 2 didn’t know where we where going at first, wife clicked on in the taxi en route to the Monte Carlo. We where of to see the Prince tribute band “Purple Reignâ€. Well alan realized and wasn’t too keen, along with the wife who wasn’t that keen either, few drinks later and a couple of songs into their set both where enjoying it big time. They went off and danced and I guarded the drinks J excellent evening, would do it again. Place was packed but not overly so that you couldn’t see or move etc-was nice. Alan left about an hour before us, a little the worse for wear. Taxi back to Orleans , couple of slots as we made our way thru casino and bed. Wasn’t a big problem getting to sleep, must be the fresh air- or Bacardi J
Thursday 1st June
Orleans buffet breakfast again-just as nice as the last time J then out to the pool to sit and say our farewells to Alan as he was jetting off that morning.
We then walked from the Orleans down to the Excalibur, across to the shops by the M&M place, had a quick drink, then walked down to the luxor for a look round then onto the Mandalay Bay where we wanted to get tickets for the Abba show thingie. Got our tickets no problem, then got wee shuttle train back to the Excalibur and got a taxi from there back to the Orleans. We where slightly knackered from the heat/walking so a dip in the pool was in order. then time for a siesta J
Once sorted/freshened up we got a taxi to the Hard Rock. This is somewhere else we where supposed to go last year and didn’t so with it being based on my kinda music I was looking forward to seeing inside it. I wasn’t let down, some of the displays in the cabinets round the casino are brilliant. Had a good look round and then went and sat at the bar in the middle to have a couple drinks and people watch. We came to the conclusion we where glad we weren’t staying there, too many “youths†full of beer roaming around in packs. Was no bother but it was only 1930. I bet their security is kept busier than most places.
We had reservations at Simons so off we went. Once again this was worthwhile- lovely. Friendly service, all very modern. One downside to the meal was we both had the meatloaf as a main course and it wasn’t to our taste. Wasn’t the places fault, nothing wrong with it just did nothing for us. Again very reasonably priced, id recommend this place too.
From there, being our last night in the Orleans we just got a taxi back and went and played a few slots , had a few drinks and called it a night. Another great day.
Friday 2nd June;
Up fairly early as today is when we move to the Monte Carlo. Skipped breakfast as not very hungry plus we have booking for this evening so want to have an appetite.
Got taxi (after a 30 second checkout,) to the MC around 0945 thinking its far too early to check in so we will dump the bags and go wandering. Went up to girl at reception and says-“im guessing its far too early to check in?†she replys-“smoking or non smoking†hence us being checked in , with a strip view thrown in for free by 1000 in the morning.
When we got to the room-to explain, with splitting the holiday between 2 hotels, the thinking was the Orleans for value for money (which it certainly is) and then to the MC for that little bit of class and luxury. So when we opened the hotel room door in the MC im not sure what we expected but we did expect a little more than what appeared in front of us. Now don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the room at all, just wasn’t as classy or so as we expected. No better than the Orleans or Harrahs to be honest. Again it was nice enough so no big deal.
Got sorted and off we went to explore. Ended up in NYNY. …tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g45963-i10-k17467… was my trip report from last year. If you read it youll see we liked the ESPN zone for their guiness and spinach dip so we had to go see if it was the same—it was J partook in some liquid refreshment and then decided it was time to have a wee nap before our fancy meal this evening.
Booking was for 1930 at Mon Ami Gabi which we where looking forward to big time. Strolled up to Paris and had a few drinks before hand. Went to restaurant around 1900 and where seated straight away. Originally when we made the booking I wanted to be outside on the terrace- it was so hot outside that if they had seated us outside id have asked to be moved inside. Where we ended up was in the glass bitty between inside and out-perfect. As was the food and service. Wonderful. Would return anytime. I had the steak with a blue cheese sauce on it-melted in the mouth-lovely. Not hugely expensive either.
Left there quite satisfied and strolled back to the MC to get changed. I was reading a thread yesterday on the msg board about dress code for Hugo Cellar to which the basic answer is anything goes. Im not a dresser upper but must be getting old as when going to a decent place to eat I feel the need to look at least respectable hence going and getting changed-give me my shorts and t shirt any time J
Went and played some slots in the MC for a while then decided to go have a look at the dualling pianos in NYNY. We thought we would have a look, couple of drinks then bin it. Got there and the place was jammed-there was 2 separated hen nights going on plus the normal crowd. BUT.. if you sit at the bar looking into the piano place—you hear everything, see everything via the monitors fitted to the far wall etc-was perfect for us. We then sat there and basically got quite drunk. The 2 guys doing the pianos where brilliant, just as good as the twins doing the same thing in Harrahs which we went to last year. Even got comped a couple of drinks as the wife put some money in the VP at the bar.
Couple things about sitting there getting drunk—bartenders where serving all sorts of concoctions so I decided to get 2 jagermeisters along with our next round- 8.5 dollars each-I nearly fainted. We sell same stuff in our pub for 2.70 euro, just a slight mark up. Needless to say we only had the 1 J
Saw a barman eating something-turned out he had some olives, was filling them with Tabasco sauce and eating them in 1. saw me looking and offered me some. Gave me a glass full of olives and a glass with an inch of Tabasco in it and a cocktail stick. Got to be said they where wonderful, as well as blowing your head off J
Anyways left there sometime later, staggered back to MC and straight to bed. Had to stop wife swapping the “do not disturb†signs which seems to be her party trick when drunk in vegas J (sorry to anyone in harrahs this time last year-it was her not me!)
Great day.
Saturday 3rd June.
This happened last year-we got raging drunk, wife worse than me and following morning she feels nothing while I suffer and die. Waken with raging headache, go down to get us coffee and am almost running down hallway on return to get to the toilet in the room to have a chat down the big white telephone. Decide this is the time to go check the pool out. Breakfast is a no no in my condition. Anyways goes down to pool at 0845 (or so we thought-will explain later) and ended up waiting an hour. I wasn’t best happy feeling the way I did but eventually we got in and got a good location by the lazy river. Sat and read, swam a bit , just generally feeling crap till we had had enough sitting in the sun, It was bloody hot so decided to go back to bed for a while J.
Mid afternoon we rise and decide my stomach can handle solids. Read last years report and youll see we like Dennys. We don’t have places like that here, always been reasonable when weve been so we thought we will go to the 1 across the road from the MC which we actually ate in years ago on our first trip to vegas. Off we go, goes in, sits, orders 2 coke floats and a glass of milk to drink. 2 coke floats come quick enough but glass of milk takes 20 mins-machine was empty and the lad filling it was more interested in chatting to his friend! Orders some onion rings and mini hamburgers to start with and then 2 main courses. 25 mins later still no onion rings etc?!?! they eventually turn up, we start eating, 3 minutes later the waiter turns up with our main course. I just sat there and asked the boy what we supposed to do with them, we are still eating our starter? He didn’t know what to say. Eventually got the manager who I told we now didn’t want the main courses, just take them off the bill, we will pay for what weve had but stuff this for a game. This he duly did and we left—and will never return- the dream is over-dennys is crap!
Returns to MC, gambled, drank and bummed around for a while before getting sorted out for our show tonight. Going to see Mama Mia at Mandalay Bay.
Decided to not walk and we would get a taxi this time to MB J what that means is the wife basically refused to walk more than 100 meters after the walk from the Orleans to MB J anyways gets in taxi and noticed the meter read 10.05 as we left. Nudged wife to make her notice. Drove the 5 mins to MB , asks how much is that then to which the driver says- 10.05. so I asks hows that seeing as the meter said that before we left the MC and surely that isn’t legal. Im not 1 for particularly putting up with crap, and im Scottish so don’t like to be ripped off. Look of panic on drivers face so I just threw 10 bucks at him , called him a couple names and in the interest of peace and harmony and not letting it spoil our evening got out and walked away.
Anyway- end up in the show, great seats but ow here it comes-biggest complaint of the holiday- the air conditioning- we sat the and basically almost froze the whole show. It was a relief to go out at halftime and get warm whilst having a cigarette. Surely we couldn’t have been the only ones??? Didn’t spoil the show tho, it was great. Sound was great-if you haven’t seen it go see it, nice show. Being honest-we saw we will rock you last year and given the choice id choose that over the abba one but that’s probably cause I prefer my music more “rockierâ€.
After show we got the wee train thingy to the Excalibur and decided we where peckish so crossed over and went to “fatburgersâ€. Again we tried this place last year-it was a dump then and still is but last year the burger I had covered in chilli was wonderfull, this year I wouldn’t feed it to my dog. Wifes was no better-so bye bye fatburger as well. Today wasn’t our day as regards food-I picked a good day to be off my appetite anyways.
Returned to MC, couple of slots then bed- 0300 so we thought, explain later.
Sunday 4th
Was always gonna be a lazy day. Reservations at Hugos at 1800 but till then was a rest day J. Went and had the champagne brunch in the buffet. Was reasonable but to be honest we weren’t in the mood. Buffet was great actually , crab legs, shrimp, all sorts, nice, just wasn’t as hungry as we thought when we went in.
Left there and played some slots and then returned to bed. Got up a while later and went and bought a couple souveniers for taking home.
Slowly got ready and decided to get the deuce downtown. This is now mid afternoon. Well never again. Didn’t actually have to wait long for bus to come. It was too full so didn’t get on. Another comes, we gets on but till it passed the Wynn we would have been quicker walking. I looked next day in the morning and the busses weren’t full and the traffic not so busy and they where flying along so it must have just been our lucky timing- next time mid afternoon itll be a taxi that’s for sure.
I had a plan. Weve been downtown a couple times before so I wanted a drink. I wanted the football shaped thing id read about which La Bayou has. So does the 4 queens as it happens but I didn’t know that then. We walks up and wife gets some banana concoction in a tall plastic thing. I gets the football with some jungle juice in it. Sits at some slots and puts a couple bucks in. we woman says wait, ill get you a couple more shots, which she does, gives her a tip and then mixes in said shots. You could taste this thing was strong. Id drank about 2 inches of this liquid and could feel it going for me. given what we where drinking, the heat, not a lot to eat it wasn’t suprising really. Anyways we goes for a walk and ends up in the 4 queens playing some slots. Ive drank 2 thirds of this thing and am sat thinking-“if I drink the rest of this we wont be going for no fancy meal , itll be taxi and straight to bed†so I had to ditch it. Was a shame but oh well, life can be hell J
Next was Hugos Cellar. I was looking for this to be the best meal we went for-I wasn’t let down. Everything about it was perfect. All the starters are fish related in one way or another, wife isn’t into fish at all, it was a joy to watch her face as she chomped down the scampi whilst declaring it was like nothing she had ever had before. She had 1 of my snails, loved that as well. Whole meal was a delight, service was perfect and again the whole thing was reasonably priced. Left there completely satisfied. We decided all in all it was probably the best meal weve ever had-cant say much higher than that.
Taxi back to MC and went straight to bed, sleepy but content.
Monday 5th.
Wasn’t a late night last night so I was awake from 0400 onwards. I didn’t sleep 100% right any night but im always like that away from home. So im sitting watching tv , then thinks if I can get wifey up we can stroll up the strip and go for breakfast at the Peppermill. Manages to wake her and persuades her what a great idea it would be. Principle being it being so early itll be cool outside, hardly anyone around, nice stroll. She buys it J. Walks outside where we thought it was around 0630, its bloody warm already. Ok, lets go. Well she moaned and puffed and panted all the way up the strip. We stopped at harrahs and got a coffee from starbucks which I thought might shut her up-it didn’t L anyways we got there and it was worth it, even she agreed. Was a nice place to eat. I will go back here. Whilst there I noticed a mans watch saying 0705 or so. I thought that’s not possible, weve walked here, stopped for coffee, ate our brekkie, all in 35 mins??? Checked someone elses watch-same. Realizes that it must be the clock by the bed in the MC, it must be an hour fast, it’s the only time reference weve used since arriving-when we got back we checked, sure enough. Oh well it only took 3 days to realise.
She wants to get a taxi back, I don’t, so I suggest we cross over to the Stardust and have a look. Ok, she is for it. So then I suggest the New Frontier. Ok. Im wondering how far I can get. She clicked on after the big shopping place, TI, Mirage, walking towards Ceasers she declares what a nasty man I am!! J now theres no way im getting a taxi from Ceasers to the MC and she knows that so she played along. CP and the bellagio and we where almost home. Nice walk , even if the wife doesn’t agree J time for a siesta. Once rested we wanted something to nibble—ESPN zone it is then. More guiness and dips and some hockey game with candians against Americans came on-was quite lively in there. Was fun.
This led us into the evening. We decided to have a gamble session with some of the cash we had left over. Well for whatever reason the MC decided to close down a huge amount of their slots-they where upgrading the tracking systems apparently which came as a bit of a let down for us. Actually I didn’t mind too much as it probably saved me some money but it was a shame slightly. Oh well , we still managed to lose our loose bucks so it was a big problem J went a bought a couple slices of pizza which we took back to room, then threw away cause they where horrible and fell asleep. Nice day.
Tuesday 6th June.
Our return trip. Flight isn’t till 1305 so we take our time with brekkie etc. try the café in the MC-nothing wrong with it but I think we where both put off by the fact we where going home.
Taxi to airport, check in with a machine which decides im a case for special security (again) which actually, same as last year actually speeds you up getting thru, no long lines etc, wife just tags along saying im with him and we are thru to departure gate in no time. Totally uneventful flight to Chicago, same again to Copengagen, long boring 4 hour wait then a quick 1 hour flight into Amsterdam. New personal record in the car and we where back in our pub which seems to have survived us being away again J
Couple of notes from the trip overall. Both hotels, why cant the sinks be bigger in the bathrooms, kept banging my head on the nozzle thingy.
Why no security check before the elevators in MC, they had it in the Orleans, in Harrahs last year as well. No bad thing in my opinion.
Why do the MC set their beside alarm clocks 1 hour fast??? J J
I said at the end of last years report it would be a few years before we return to Vegas, and 9 months later im reviewing our next trip there. We wont be going next year as we are going to a convention in florida but we will be back in 2 years time-cant wait, there just is no other place like it.
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