Vegas Trip Information for anyone looking to go this year.

[tikay]

It is a credit card 

I think it has significant value for anyone that is going to Vegas every year.  How much value will depend pretty much on what current credit card you use (if any) and the kickbacks that card gives you.

I use the Virgin credit card, miles keep rolling in and you get other "stuff" like free cabin upgrade vouchers so I'm almost always flying on reward miles for "free" nowadays.

I don't know what the t's and c's are for the extra bonus they are offering, but 10k miles is worth about £150 roughly.  For anyone serious about taking out a Virgin credit card, I'd be grateful for the opportunity to refer you - as we both get bonus miles that way.  I will look into this particular promo and ofc if it is better than having me refer, then take the promo, if interested. 

I don't even know what a credit card is, Simon, in truth.

I currently have two plastics, both with NatWest, one is a MasterCard, & it gets settled Monthly, by Direct Debit, & the other is a Visa (?) Debit Card, & it comes off my Bank Statement sort of instantly.

I don't particularly want (another?) "credit card" as such, but if it's worthwhile for Virgin Flights or "Miles", I'd be interested, & would deffo get you to refer me. 

[Simon Galloway]

Thanks Tony, although looking into the terms, if you were likely to spend $1k on plastic in the next 90 days... this would be better than the referral.

If you want to give me a call at some point, I'll walk you through how it works/what to do.

[Simon Galloway]

Phone the front desk and explain the issues you're having, if they can't resolve them  you'll get a new room.

To be honest, those wouldn't really be small problems to me, because that's precisely the hours I would be wanting to sleep.

Yeah, sometimes things won't be right, but you can measure their service quality by giving them chance to do something about it.  I'm sure they will surpass your expectations.

The alarm clock is something I always look for.  Not sure if loads of people have to get up at 04:00 for their flight  or if they like leaving a nice surprise for the next guest.  Either way, I find switching the alrm into OFF mode to be a highly effective counter-strategy!  In fact, I usually always unplug alarm clock/room phone as I don't really want either to be making any kind of noise for the whole stay.

Making friends (read: give her some money) with your maid is one of the best tips I can give anyone.  They will make sure all your problems get solved.. even the ones you didn't know you had.

[TightEnd]

Tough life. I think I have to go to Vegas for 5 days for an interview/meetings. Basic expenses paid and flights/hotel provided etc etc so thats not the issue

Last time I went to Vegas was also a flying trip, 4 nights

I spent all of the 5 days 4 nights with a terrible headache, waking up at 3am Vegas time (11am here) and basically strugling to adjust to what I assume is jet lag in a way that never affected me when I was travelling stateside frequently for business a decade ago

Part of this might be Vegas climate/air I suppose too

So

What do you do to acclimatise quickly in Vegas? My "work" would be on the second afternoon there onwards

Any tips/products etc on how to do it?

[Simon Galloway]

Tough one to answer, as you already will have the corporate anti-jet lag tips, so this is anti-Vegas tips...

I still struggle with it tbh, I've tried every combo of getting to bed early/late/drunk/sober.  It seems to make little difference as I wake up at 3am regardless, so I just go with the late+drunk option, as that  is more fun than early+sober...

I think for Vegas, I just go to bed when (very) tired and get up when I wake up, whatever hour of the day that happens to be.  In the old days, 3am was never a problem as you could always jump into a juicy cash game at prime time, whereas on recent trips, there might very well be no game at 3am.

However, with meetings scheduled, you have to count backwards a little bit such that you aren't going into a meeting halfway through your 30th waking hour.  Some people swear by 20 minute naps, but I can't do it.

I realise that isn't any help whatsoever   Hopefully someone will be along soon to tell us how it is done.

[Doobs]

I have settled in to try and stay up until 8 pm/9pm or so first night.  This should be easy enough if you are used to late nights playing/reporting on poker. Expect to wake about 5am day 2.  Get good breakfast as soon as wynn buffet opens.  Try and get a nap on the plane out, but don't go crazy, and I don't think this matters much.  Day 2 do what you like.  You can probably stay up til close to midnight anyway.  Drink lots of water on plane and when you get there. 

I used to do the drinking booze thing, but it just can't help and is going to screw up your sleep when waking needing a piss and the hangover on the next day.

[Marky147]

Flight always lands ~2pm, so I aim to kip a bit on the flight and then stay up as late as possible on the first night. If you can make it through until the early hours, you're as close to the correct time as you can be.

I always find that even when I go to bed at 6am out of my box, I still wake up at about 9am and struggle to get back to sleep.

Plenty of lip gloss to combat the chapped lips, and I know quite a few people take small humidifiers for the rooms as well.

I've never tried it in Vegas, but if I'm really struggling with insomnia at home I pop a melatonin, and that normally does the trick.

[Simon Galloway]

I have settled in to try and stay up until 8 pm/9pm or so first night.  This should be easy enough if you are used to late nights playing/reporting on poker. Expect to wake about 5am day 2.  Get good breakfast as soon as wynn buffet opens.  Try and get a nap on the plane out, but don't go crazy, and I don't think this matters much.  Day 2 do what you like.  You can probably stay up til close to midnight anyway.  Drink lots of water on plane and when you get there. 

I used to do the drinking booze thing, but it just can't help and is going to screw up your sleep when waking needing a piss and the hangover on the next day.

The only way I would expect that is if I went to bed at bout 03:30....

[Longy]

Yep I am in the stay awake as long as you can that 1st night and everything should flow from there. Though my body has become very used to a weird sleeping pattern and therefore has the ability to stay up for 24+ hours and then self correct itself with a 12+ hour sleep.

[aaron1867]

You live and you learn I suppose & from this first trip will make a significant difference to the next one, I probably wouldn't stay here in vdara again for the location, perhaps only ideal for people who want to be playing in Aria, which I do prefer over Venetian. With regards to my moan and groans, they have refunded all resort fees & $40 of in suite dining. I suppose that's nice, but the problems still aren't fixed lol

As for Las Vegas as a whole, I would have never thought it would have been as expensive! I went to the Five50 pizza place in aria last night and asked for the price of a can of coke, to be told its $4.65, then as I type this, I see Red Bull showing on the menu for $8! I never expected to be doing it on the cheap, but lol at some prices although I thought the Grand Crux cafe @ Venetian is awesome for price & quality. You can get a decent starter, main meal & tip for $25

Hopefully quad biking to finish off the holiday though, anyone any recommendations?

[Chompy]

Tough life. I think I have to go to Vegas for 5 days for an interview/meetings. Basic expenses paid and flights/hotel provided etc etc so thats not the issue

Last time I went to Vegas was also a flying trip, 4 nights

I spent all of the 5 days 4 nights with a terrible headache, waking up at 3am Vegas time (11am here) and basically strugling to adjust to what I assume is jet lag in a way that never affected me when I was travelling stateside frequently for business a decade ago

Part of this might be Vegas climate/air I suppose too

So

What do you do to acclimatise quickly in Vegas? My "work" would be on the second afternoon there onwards

Any tips/products etc on how to do it?

BA flights work for me...

Day of flight over, get to Heathrow for 3pm. Arrive 7.30pm local time. Hit the sack about midnight. Wake up about 6am for breakfast, then crash again 9am till about 11am.

Virgin flight no good for me at all coz of times.

Flight back. 10.30 Vegas to NY, then overnight in JFK, followed by 8.30am flight back the next morning, which gets in about 8pm. BA direct to Vegas, and two flights back comes to about the same price as Virgin.

[Tal]

You live and you learn I suppose & from this first trip will make a significant difference to the next one, I probably wouldn't stay here in vdara again for the location, perhaps only ideal for people who want to be playing in Aria, which I do prefer over Venetian. With regards to my moan and groans, they have refunded all resort fees & $40 of in suite dining. I suppose that's nice, but the problems still aren't fixed lol

As for Las Vegas as a whole, I would have never thought it would have been as expensive! I went to the Five50 pizza place in aria last night and asked for the price of a can of coke, to be told its $4.65, then as I type this, I see Red Bull showing on the menu for $8! I never expected to be doing it on the cheap, but lol at some prices although I thought the Grand Crux cafe @ Venetian is awesome for price & quality. You can get a decent starter, main meal & tip for $25

Hopefully quad biking to finish off the holiday though, anyone any recommendations?

Go to a convenience store and buy cheap stuff. There are some very expensive places to eat and drink and, like every tourist destination in the world, there are places designed to overcharge those daft enough to pay.

There's a shop by the coke store (turn right from Vdara and on the other side of the road. Guess at opposite NYNY) that sells all your odds and ends. Even sells tea bags.

[dwh103]

I'm looking at doing London-Vegas-Orlando-London, June 21st-July 12th probably.

I can do the long haul flights easily enough with Virgin, and shouldn't struggle with an internal flight. However, with the two destinations I  might lose out on package deals. Any suggestions from anyone who's done this before?

 - Is booking flights and accomm separately the only way to go?
 - If so, booking flights asap and accommodation around Easter when there are more deals out there the best idea?

[Marky147]

I'm looking at doing London-Vegas-Orlando-London, June 21st-July 12th probably.

I can do the long haul flights easily enough with Virgin, and shouldn't struggle with an internal flight. However, with the two destinations I  might lose out on package deals. Any suggestions from anyone who's done this before?

 - Is booking flights and accomm separately the only way to go?
 - If so, booking flights asap and accommodation around Easter when there are more deals out there the best idea?

I can't be sure if it's the cheapest/best way, but doing everything separately was definitely easiest for me when I needed to stop in Colorado for a week on the way back from Vegas a few years ago.

I got London-Vegas-Denver-London for a ridiculously good price That said, I did have to go one stop on the way out, but it was direct with BA back from Denver.

My most annoying airline experience ever that trip, when we got diverted to Grand Junction and ended up sat around that long that they had to change the cabin crew 

Flights bit is horses for courses, but if you want to do the flights out/back with Virgin then waiting around seems the best way, and hopefully they'll chuck another sale on.

When I was still staying on the strip, I used to spend 10 minutes every week or so looking for anything decent that was going. I used to end up with about 5 rooms booked before each trip, and then would just cancel the ones I didn't want.

[dwh103]

I'm looking at doing London-Vegas-Orlando-London, June 21st-July 12th probably.

I can do the long haul flights easily enough with Virgin, and shouldn't struggle with an internal flight. However, with the two destinations I  might lose out on package deals. Any suggestions from anyone who's done this before?

 - Is booking flights and accomm separately the only way to go?
 - If so, booking flights asap and accommodation around Easter when there are more deals out there the best idea?

I can't be sure if it's the cheapest/best way, but doing everything separately was definitely easiest for me when I needed to stop in Colorado for a week on the way back from Vegas a few years ago.

I got London-Vegas-Denver-London for a ridiculously good price That said, I did have to go one stop on the way out, but it was direct with BA back from Denver.

My most annoying airline experience ever that trip, when we got diverted to Grand Junction and ended up sat around that long that they had to change the cabin crew 

Flights bit is horses for courses, but if you want to do the flights out/back with Virgin then waiting around seems the best way, and hopefully they'll chuck another sale on.

When I was still staying on the strip, I used to spend 10 minutes every week or so looking for anything decent that was going. I used to end up with about 5 rooms booked before each trip, and then would just cancel the ones I didn't want.

Thanks, that's a good idea - hadn't occurred to me to book, then cancel if a better deal came up as booking separately. Simple things