Okay, Birthday Bash buddies. This is the stretch. I head out on December 4th and I'm afraid my trip planning time is even more shortened because I take my computer out of service on Thursday. I'll have access to Elizabeth's computer, but not all my lists of Vegas favorites for information. However, my Blog is a pretty good resouce and I can access that.
So, if ya got questions, ask 'em.
If you have not seen the Blog recently, the next two posts give some last minute advice. September is a good month to skim for ideas.
I planned a couple itineraries for 2 Bash visitors. I can do that for you too. I am pretty flexible on my time. So far I have scheduled these days:
Xmas Day breakfast at Arizona Charlie's on the way to Red Rock to scramble on the rocks.
Xmas Day dinner at the McMullan's Irish Pub right behind the Orleans. Just a short walk there and back.
Saturday, Dec 23rd - Mirage for Cravings and LOVE.
Saturday, Dec 16th - Birthday Dinner at Marakeesh Morrocan belly dancing restaurant.
Dec 12th or 13th - Birthday Breakfast Party at Paris Buffet.
The rest of my time is unplanned but flexible around your plans. I won't be with you all the time, or do all things with you, but I'll be around.
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I worked up a detailed itinerary for the Birthday Bash guests with just 48 hours in Vegas. It may not fit your interests, but you can get an idea of what can be planned if you give me some sense of preference. Some of you want to just hang loose, and that is cool too.
My advice is for nongamblers is to plan around show locations and then around food locations and times.
Gamblers should coordinate those two interests with good pay tables/good poker games.
Even if you just divide your time up between sections of the strip, and let me know what those are, I can suggest some cool destinations.
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48 hour itinerary:
Dear ___________,
I am very happy that you have tickets to Ka on a Monday. Of all the Bash guests you have had the most difficulty getting what you wanted and I know you wanted shows. How did you get complimentary tickets?
I don't have an agenda except to hang with people, but I'll skip some of the site seeing. I don't need to go to Red Rock Canyon, for example, as I'll go later in the monty, or up in the Stratosphere tower. 15 times is enough. It took me that long to get kissed there. Elizabeth was my 15th tower guest. One week I did Margot's brother one night and Elizabeth's brother the next. It is a wonderful view, but not an everynight experience across two marriages.
I also can't be a very good tour guide from Vegas. From here I can because I have access to my own Blog as a resource. What I can't remember, I can look up.
Here is my suggested itinerary. It is a tight schedule so you won't probably be able to do all of it. :
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TRANSPORTATION:
One bus option is to buy a $5 good for the Deuce - 24 hour pass stamped when you buy it and good on the clock for 24 hours on any bus in Vegas. It depends on how often you will use it. Over two rides in 24 hours and you save money. Another pass is cheaper. You don't want that one. It is for local buses only. You buy directly from the driver
.
Before Monday print out your boarding pass on your computer within 24 hours of the flight. The sooner the better. This gives you A B or C boarding and you can pick a prime seat.
MONDAY
Have a good breakfast at home, but don't eat on the plane unless you eat right away. There is a McDonald's just after security too.
And don't talk on the plane either. Sleep on the plane, or just meditate yourself into a relaxed state. Be patient. Your body will not want to rest. Trick it. Pray quietly to yourself. Mentally go on old trips. Pretend you are on a calm lake or that you have just finished making love, and it is now time to rest. Drink liquids, but save the peanuts for your room. Almost 5 hours. Get some rest; you have along day ahead of you and you don't want to fall asleep in the show.
Settle in quickly in the hotel on Monday and get out of there. I never unpack the first night. Shower and dress for the show.
Pick a place to eat and eat a nice hearty meal soon after you arrive. At each meal drink extra water. Take it like medicine.
I suggest either the Orleans buffet(lunch is under $10) or the Ellis Island cheapest steak in Vegas($5)? Lots of other choices, but no good ones near your show.
Now you can do one of three things. Take the shuttle to Barbary Coast and make you way to the MGM, or take a bus to the MGM or take a $7 cab to the MGM. That is the corner of casinos to see today. I'd eat at the Orleans, then do the cab to the Luxor, tour King Tut's museum, and then walk up for the show.
OR
a cheaper alternative:
Take the shuttle back to Barbary Coast. If it is 3 PM check and see if Big Elvis is in the lounge and listen for a while. Incredible show. (Get a free drink coupon from your Orleans funbook for the Barbary Coast.)
Then take the free shuttle inside the Bellagio to the Monte Carlo which is close to MGM. Just go inside Bellagio and keep asking where the shuttle to Monte Carlo You probably don't have time to tour Bellagio today. Save that for Wednesday.
Or you can walk.
If you don't go in casinos you can walk from Barbary Coast at a near running pace and make MGM in 20 minutes or walk normally in 40 minutes.
The Deuce bus is also an option, but if you buy that later, the 24 hour pass will get you through most of tomorrow.
See the show. Before or after the show, depending on time, see that NYNY corner of casinos. Skip Tropicana unless you win free tickets at the free pull on the way in. Skip the free deck of cards.
Before or after the show, walk down to Excalibur and wander in a bit. Go in the Luxor. If you have time before the show, see the museum there of King Tut lookalikes. Stand on the bridges over the roads and look around at the lights. Good photos here. Wander around NYNY if you want. It is not my favorite.
There is a half priced ticket place located across from Monte Carlo. You might want to check and see what is playing.
At the NYNY hotel arrival circle on Flamingo catch your bus(runs about every 20 minutes) or $7 cab (my pick) facing toward the Orleans and go back to the Orleans. After midnight there is no free shuttle back to the Orleans, Walk a few steps down Tropicana to the circle where people drive in to NYNY to register for the hotel, and either wait for a Tropicana bus back to the Orleans or grab a cab in that circle for about $7.
Or if you don't want ever to sleep that first night:
After the show take the Deuce bus to the Stratosphere and go see Huck Daniels review in the lounge( 10 PM until 2 AM). Most everything else is dark on Monday, but he usually plays only that night. This is a Black experience. If you can last, by midnight performers from all over Vegas come up on stage for a song or two. There will most likely not be music at the Orleans that night. It will be pretty dead there.
Take the Deuce back to NYNY/MGM corner for the bus or cab described earlier.
Back at the Orleans (lounge music is dark-check out Brendan's Irish Pub) you are now ready for a little exercise. How about some bowling? Usually after midnight games are one dollar each. Or how about a "graveyard special"(midnight til 6) at the Cafe. Breakfast type meals for about $2 or steak and eggs for $4. What the hell! It is breakfast after all. It may be 2AM but on Albany time it is 5PM. Or what about a little gambling? If you catch up with me, I'll have video poker strategy sheets and know the good machines. And if you play with my player's card I'll get free rooms again.
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TUESDAY
Take the Orleans shuttle to the Barbary Coast Casino.
We may have a good joint breakfast this morning at the Paris. I won't know for sure until my college friend's set their schedule. I'd aim for 9-10 AM.
If we don't, eat a light or hearty breakfast buffet at the Orleans buffet or cafe. Food is better and much cheaper there.
Shuttle to Barbary Coast.
Standing at the front of the casino, walk right going North. Today you are going to cover the North strip. Skip the closest casinos. Those are for Wednesday.
Stop and see the car museum (I have coupons) at Imperial Palace. Check to see if they take your picture for free at the outside. Then go in with your coupon, sign up for a player's card, get your picture, and see the cars. It is incredible!
Then see some of the attractions at the Mirage.
http://www.mirage.com/attractions/
Go at least as far as the Venetian and walk in there and look around at the canals, the art, the shops. See Treasure Island.
If you like a good long hike, then keep walking. If not, Grab a Deuce bus going North and ask him for a $5- 24 hour bus pass. It is $2 a trip or $5 unlimited ride for a clocked 24 hours. Get off at Circus Circus and go in and walk around and wait for one of the short Circus acts. Go next door at Slots of Fun and play cheap craps just to say you have done that or cheap blackjack. If you are hungry get a foot long hot dog.
Continue North. Walk the short few blocks or back on the bus.
Get off when he announces the Sahara. Quickly walk into the Nascar cafe and check out things to do there. I don't really know what they have, but there is something. I'm not really impressed by this spot, but I know you like Nascar and there is a shop and some decorations and some kind of driving game. If you are really hungry, the worst buffet in Vegas is at the Sahara. It is cheap with coupons. Or the diner has an excellent prime rib special and pretty good food. Stratosphere 50's diner is also good and coming up.
Walk across the street to the largest souvenir shop in all the world and buy some tacky junk for all the people back home. If you don't mind carrying, get all your shopping done. Little things: real decks of cards with any casino name, thousands of forms of dice, thousands of tacky things here with Vegas on them. Really a museum of tacky and a mustsee. (Actually, however, the very best cards and dice are right in the Orleans gift shop. Cards are just 50 cents a pack and dice are 25 cents a piece. Real stuff used in the casino. Some of the other decks of cards have marks on them. Orleans just snips the corners.)
ALTERNATIVE: Skip everything and go directly to the Stratosphere to arrive at 2 or 4 for the Viva las Vegas Show. This is one of the best deals in Vegas. The tickets 9with my coupon) are free but you buy a drink for about $9 each. The show is a review: dancing girls, singers, a comic, a dog act. It is the best value show for a first time Vegas goer and in the afternoon so you won't fall asleep.
Try to hit the Stratospehre tower just at sunset. See Vegas in the daytime and be patient and watch it change into darkness. This is one of my favorite experiences.
Are you interested in roller coasters or rides that hang you over the tower above all of Vegas?
Get back on the bus and continue away from the casinos you have visited and go downtown (as long as it is after dark. Downtown is boring in the daytime, like an abandoned amusement park, no people, no lights.) It must be dark by now. Walk the Freemont experience and see at least one light show and hear any music in the streets. Shop a little there. Just savor the ambiance. Nothing much inside any casinos unless you want to gamble or watch gambling or look for lounge music (Golden Nugget) or a cheap show at the Fitzgerald (see if I have a coupon). Do go in the Four Queens and Golden Gate. Do the free pull in the doorway of the 4 Queens and go in and get a key chain. Also if you have a lot of time to kill, go to the promotions booth at the Plaza and get a free picture on a key chain for signing up for their card.
Down the street from the Plaza toward the Main Street Station are some cool old railroad cars that Teddy Roosevelt and Buffalo Bill once rode. Main Street Station is worth seeing for wood, antiques, stained glass. Their buffet is one of the best in Vegas. Go in the men's bathroom closest to the buffet and pee against an actual section of the Berlin Wall. Wait for a break in traffic and sneak Mary inside.
Don't wander too much from that downtown canopy area except toward Main Street Station. Other directions are not safe. Stay with the tourists. You can head up to the El Cortez if you want to see a downscale, some would say seedy, smoky Vegas casino. Comparing this to walking the Bellagio gives you the entire gamut of gambling folk.
There is a small collection of old neon signs at Neonopolis that I like. Walk in for a moment.
There is a nice 24 hour drugstore on the corner there too for those things you forgot. Sometimes they have reasonable souvenirs too.
There is a great Indian jewelry store on this canopy Freemont experience with good prices and wonderful Western stuff. We shop there every time. Our friend does too. She collects Indian jewelry and respects what they sell. Not so tacky.
You can eat again downtown. Lots of great cheap places. Main Street Station buffet and Golden Nugget Buffet might be open if you are early enough. Golden Gate has a diner on the far right as you face casino. I like to sit on the stools. In the diner in the back they have a piano player and 99 cent shrimp cocktail and some antique slot machines. This is old Vegas; the place has been there forever.
California has a great cheap prime rib.
The prime rib special is in the Market Street Cafe 5 Pm until 11PM. Salad bar is included as is a cherry desert. Sometimes there is a line but you can go ahead of everyone if you will sit on the stools.
Also lots of Hawaiin food and a Hawaiian food shop in the California. Lots of Hawaiian people too. Main Street Station buffet also has a Hawaiian section. Great pulled pork.
Get back on the bus heading home. You don't catch it where you got off, but around the corner of Neonopolis. Ask someone if you feel lost.
Are you tired yet?
With your 24 hour pass you can ride free as far as Bellagio and see the fountains at night and wander that area. Caesars Galleria Bar may have Ghalib Ghalab playing in lounge into the early morning ours. Expensive drinks, great jazz. If you don't sit down you can listen for free. Remember the Galleria name, however, that place is huge and no one knows what is up there.
http://www.lasvegastribune.com/20041112/entertainment2.html
If you are tired and ready to head back to the Orleans, which is what I think is reality, there will be music there in the lounge or in the Irish Pub. Then get off the bus at NYNY corner and take another or $7 cab home.
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WEDNESDAY
Get up early. You can sleep later on the plane. In Vegas you rent a hotel room so you can make love and nap. No real sleeping.
Dress and check out. No lines.
Eat a light breakfast at the Orleans cafe if you must.
Put your bags in storage with the bellman.
Take the shuttle to Barbary Coast and wander around that corner: Bellagio conservatory is a must see, blown glass in the hotel lobby, chocolate fountain inside, Paris - do the tower (but I was not impressed,) I like the bathrooms. Then Alladin shops, Caesars shops.
Eat late breakfast or early lunch at Paris or Bellagio buffet. Maybe this will be the day we do a joint breakfast at Paris.
Take the shuttle back to the Orleans and grab a cab to the airport.
Sleep on the plane.
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Alternative plans might be made around another show for Tuesday night. There is comedy. I have a coupon for Vinnie Favorito. There is also the Jubilee Show. There are some cheap shows usually at the Fitzgerald's downtown. The problem with shows on a tight time budget is they eat up all the time by determining the geography. If you are hungry for performance I would just settle for wandering in and out of a free lounge act, where you can come and go for the price of a drink.
How important is seeing guitars at the Hard Rock? It is not close to anything. A long walk. Still fun to see only it cuts out something else.
I'll hang with you for some of this as long as you want company and as long as I can stay awake. My problem is I am awake almost every morning with the sun. If the others go to Red Rock on one of the days you are there (highly likely), I'll hang with you for most of that time. I can find you anywhere with a cell phone.
I hope that helps. Check the maps in the permanent Blog links. There is a good interactive with some ways too of seeing attractions.
Questions??? Five days left.
See some of you all in Vegas. Drink water!
See the rest of you in Vegas some other year.
Happy Holidays
Dewey
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