Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

Just trawling for opinions. My boss has asked me if I want to attend a conference at Caesar's Palace at the end of September. I thought I might take Souvette along. I'll be busy during the days but could have use of her in the evenings as bait. Is there enought there to keep her amused during the day? She's not into gambling.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

Yes - spent 3 days in Vegas on our honeymoon, only played the slots for 1 hr max, no other gambling and found plenty to do.....

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

Yes.

Pool.

Day trips e.g. Grand Canyon.

Riding/Jeeping/Hiking.

Machine gun rental place.

Spas.

Restaurants.

Matinee shows.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

Yes, loads and loads of shops.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

[QUOTE=dbd33;6385318]Yes.
Pool.
Day trips e.g. Grand Canyon.
Riding/Jeeping/Hiking.
Machine gun rental place.
Spas.
Restaurants.
Matinee shows.[/QUOTE]

Sorted. Ta.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

[QUOTE=Souvenir;6385400]I thought firing machine guns might be a bit "busman's holiday" ...

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

[QUOTE=dbd33;6385407]She's retired now and a civvy. She still gets PMS, though.

A quick dip in the pool, followed by blasting the living crap out of something, a massage & nail job, nice dinner and a bit of Celine...

Yeah. That could work.

Doesn't LV also do quickie weddings?

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

Agree with all other posts....but make sure she gets out to the Grand Canyon....a helicopter trip is fantastic.....sunrise and sunset not to be missed....

If she's adventurous she could stray as far as the beautiful red rocks of Sedona...or off to the Hoover Dam.

Have fun!

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

[QUOTE=Souvenir;6385487]They do. I was leaning on the wall in the Venetian when a man said "would you two like to be married, the chapel's free ?". We had to decline due to being father and daughter and Vegas being more west than south.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

I agree with the other posters. I've been to LV just once, with the missus. It was her business trip, I went along for the ride. Shops, shows, plenty of good restaurants, pool, poolside bars, ... plenty to do without gambling. Neither of us are gamblers and didn't return any money to the casinos by that route. We walked around in a few of the casinos to see what they were like. They're noisy, smoky (smoking permitted in them) and confusing.

Caesar's has a gigantic mall (Forum Shops). If you like fancy watches, go into Roman Times.

Edited to add: the hotel/casino complexes are BIG. It takes longer than you think to walk from one to the next. Take that into account if the forecast highs are in the 90s.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

We filled in an hour looking at flip-flops. $280 was the highest price we found.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

[QUOTE=dbd33;6385517]Christonabike!!!

Still, it would achieve the objective without involving an extended family nightmare in St.-Whatever-de-Six-Doigts-de-<insert name of river here>.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

I went to Las Vegas for the first time last year. This was how I reported it at the time:

Well. That was quite some experience.

It was hot, hot, and hot. In the daytime the temperature got up to 43 C. With the wind it was like opening an oven or facing directly into a hair dryer. You have to wear sunglasses or your eyes dry out in moments. The coolest it got at night, about 5.00 am before the sun came up, was 30 C.

Fortunately, the beer was cold, and as I was with my boss we spent quite a lot of time in bars. Unfortunately, the bars are nearly all in the casinos and they have gambling machines right on the bars. They don’t want you to take a break from gambling, even when you buy a drink. In most of the bars you have to gamble while you drink or they won’t let you sit down (though if you put enough cash in the machines they don't charge you for the drinks). In the few bars we found on The Strip that did not have gambling machines the drinks were hideously expensive. The only exception was at one music bar when we started chatting to the bar maid and it turned out she was from Vancouver. We paid for the first round and she kept filling our glasses for the rest of the night. What a lovely woman. Hic.

Well, as I was in Las Vegas I had to gamble. Right? The trouble is I am very attached to my money and don’t like giving it away to rich casino owners. So, I searched for the 25 cent slot machines and risked a whole $5. My system was to play until I was up, even by 25 cents and then stop that session. I kept my winnings and next time I would risk the original $5 again. By the end of the week I was $11 up. Much to my surprise, no mafia types invited me for an “interview” with the manager, and I got out of town with my winnings intact. They might even let me go back again sometime.

Oh, and before I forget, I should mention that we did some work as well – meeting lots of machinery manufacturers at the show.

On the bright side, our hotel was very good and excellent value for money. As it was a couple of blocks off The Strip it was much quieter and the rooms much bigger. Even more important for us, the drinks were a quarter of the price!

Mrs JonboyE asked me to bring her a present, something typical from Vegas. That sounded easy until I realized that there is nothing typical of Las Vegas because, apart from the gambling, there is nothing to it. It is a complete pastiche of everywhere else, an ersatz world. It is done well, I have to admit, but it is as real as Disneyland.

It is also a sensory overload. In the casinos the slot machines flash lights and constantly emit electronic beeps and gurgles. There is “background” music that tries to drown out the slot machines and, in the sports betting sections, TVs that have to be loud enough to be heard over the top of all this. There are no windows in these places and the colours are as loud and discordant as the noise. I am sure there must be border guards on all the roads into Nevada collecting any notion of taste, class or subtlety from anyone entering the state.

We had some time on the last day before our flight and were looking for something to do. The Bellagio advertised an exhibition of ceramics by Picasso. I love Picasso’s work so this was an obvious place to visit. The exhibition was small but surprisingly good. Some of the pieces were truly exquisite. I couldn’t help but feel, walking away from the exhibition and back into a fake Italian palace, that is really was a walk from the sublime to the ridiculous.

I’m glad I went to see Las Vegas, but I won’t worry if I never have to go back.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

If you haven't been it's worth trying to get out to the south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park - it's much more impressive than the stuff near Vegas. It's about a 4-hour schlep each way and it'll likely be too hot in September, but it really is incredible.

Vegas itself is horrid. Not least because you're forced to mingle with the kind of people that thing a holiday to Vegas is something worth paying for.

Re: Las Vegas; worth the bother?
 

[QUOTE=Souvenir;6385487]
Do I detect a hint of a BE wedding ;)