Drinking in Vegas: A Few Pro Tips

Drinking in Vegas is pretty much a given, otherwise you've chosen one of the worst places on the planet to vacation. Leave immediately.

Because it's a tourist hotspot, however, prices tend to be outrageous. (I'm looking at you, Mirage Pool)

Pro tip: there are ways to do this on the cheap.

Option A: Buy your own booze at the drug store. Alcohol at stores in the USA isn't like in Canada. Because it isn't controlled by the government, there are reasonable prices attached. Downside? As I mentioned in my last post, most resorts are savvy to this and have weight-measured fridges. So you can't move anything and put your own stuff to cool down instead. Solution: ice bucket, and/or the tub, depending on how crazy of a night you're planning on having.

Option B: Visit Casino Royale. $1 beers, $2 mixed drinks. Need I say more? Oh and the best part - in Vegas, you can carry alcohol in public out onto the street. So you can buy and fly (ok that was lame). It's in the middle of the Strip, so you can access and go anywhere before/after/between reloads.

Option C: Play the casino. Servers will come around the floor, and as long as you're playing a game, be it slots or a table game, drinks are FREE. that's right, free. Downsides: it can take a bit of time for them to notice you at first; drinks are free, but if you expect them to come back with any speed/if at all, you should tip them. A buck or two should do the trick. So they're not quite free. But this works in every casino.

DO NOT: Buy bottle service at a club. It is the most overpriced rip off I have ever encountered (seriously--would you pay $5000 for the privilege of sitting on a couch in a room that's too loud to talk to the person beside you, and you might end up getting 1/5 of the bottle? That's like $1000 drinks!) and strangers nearby will probably steal most of it anyway. If you're into that/have money to light on fire, go nuts. Otherwise, #notworthit. If you're a girl, ignore this--you will never have to buy and you will almost always get in for free. Yay Vegas! Sorry, boys.

-BPK

Vegas Day 1 Observations.

I just have to start off by saying there are two EXTREMELY important things to know about Vegas: 1. Vegas is ridiculously hot.

I've been to India in the summer. Vegas was a thousand times worse. Granted, we did go in August, but man. That dry desert heat is something else. Prepare yourselves, people. It is so hot, the air HURTS to inhale. It is so hot you sweat out of every orifice in your body. It is so hot, you'll break out in a rash as soon as you set foot outside (just me? alrighty then).

2. Vegas is bigger than you think.

When Adam, who has been to Vegas 4 times already, suggested that we do one side of the Strip one day, and the other side the next, I thought he was insane. It's a road! A single road. How much time can it take to see it?! Well. I had not taken into consideration either of the two very important things above. Each resort, is like 5 city blocks. It took almost 15 minutes to walk past Caesar's Palace! That's ONE resort. And there are 33 resorts on the strip (I looked it up). Do the math. Adam was right. Combine that with the sweltering heat and I was more than happy to hang out at the pool for the majority of the morning.

The Mirage Pool

This pool is GORGEOUS. It's one of the nicer ones on the Strip (says Adam--I have zero things to compare it to). It's in a funky shape, with lots of palm trees, and it's pretty quiet--perfect for relaxing. The drinks there are exorbitantly expensive ($33 USD for ONE cup) but it's like a litre of booze and you get to keep the cup as a souvenir, so it's worth getting at least one. You will not realize how strong they are until you try to get out of the pool and proceed to fall on your face.

After relaxing (and getting day drunk, let's be real) we decided we needed food, and we knew we wanted to take advantage of Las Vegas' amazing restaurant scene while we were here. Made sense to see some of the Strip then at the same time. We explored and saw: The Bellagio, Caesars Palace, The Cromwell, and the Cosmopolitan, where we decided on Chinese-Mexican fusion restaurant, China Poblano. (It's exactly what you think it is, and it's damn good).

It doesn't sound like much, but walking/exploring the strip took up most of the day. We also wandered into each casino, and I got hooked on the wonderful world of slot machines. Sex & The City and 'The Hangover' games were my favourite; I have never seen a way to spend money faster. Be warned! It's a lot of fun though.

Losing my Vegas Virginity

When we arrived in Vegas in the early evening (after flying over the Grand Canyon, which was epic), we got a cab, where I immediately proceeded to drop my iPhone on the sidewalk and shatter the screen. Standard Kat.

We were booked into the Mirage for the first part of the trip, and our final night at Monte Carlo, because if you are a rewards member anywhere, you can do things like this and save a ton of money (more on that later).

Anyway, the Mirage was cool--modern rooms, although the fridge was weight-controlled, meaning we couldn't remove anything to put our own, much cheaper booze from the drug store in there to cool. Boo!

We headed out to the Strip to grab a bite to eat and see some sights. Adam (my partner in crime, who you'll be seeing frequently on this blog) is a huge fan of Guy Fieri, so naturally the first place we tried had to be his new burger bar. I ordered some tuna tacos, and he had a heart attack  a burger. The food was pretty good, and the cocktails were especially delicious.

After that, we headed over to the Linq, which is basically an outdoor shopping promenade with lots of cool shops. It reminded me a lot of the Santa Monica Pier, but more Vegas-y. You can also catch a ride on the Highroller from here, Vegas' answer to the London Eye. We didn't do it because it was $35 per person but it's probably a pretty cool view.

That's all for Night 1! Stay tuned for more on the Strip and other fun Vegas activities coming up.

Flight Hacking Las Vegas

After trying and failing to organize a trip here for my 25th birthday, I was convinced it was a sign that I wasn't meant to visit Sin City. But I knew it was one of the few places you can travel from Toronto for a) a short period of time, and b) for a reasonable price. (North America is huge, y'all.) Running short on vacation days through work, I have to be very selective with where I choose to go in a calendar year.

With the August long weekend coming up, I figured I'd check out last-minute deals and see if something popped. I checked Expedia, Travelocity, and Air Canada for last-minute packages, but everything seemed a bit too pricey for a 3 day long weekend trip ($700 approx.)

Out of curiosity I looked at flights alone and while it was more reasonable at about $400-450 round trip, then I'd have to add hotel on top of that, and I'd end up around the same price as the packages. No bueno. About to give up on my long weekend vacation dreams, I had an idea: I have credit card points! Would they work? Here's how it broke down:

I checked my RBC Avion Travel Visa Rewards and I had 55,706 points (I'll do a credit card reward comparison post at a later date--but I've been pretty happy with this one so far). The redemption schedule is normally as follows:

However. Since I wanted to book less than 14 days in advance, the rate was 100 points/$1.00.  (Note to self: definitely book ahead if I want to use points in the future--points will go much further that way!) I found an excellent flight (albeit not direct) on Cheapoair.ca for $436 return, stopping in Philly on the way there and Newark on the way home. I made note of the flight numbers and searched for them in RBC's travel reward booking system (you have to use their site to book air travel with points). I found the flights, although they were slightly more expensive through this booking system, and I'm still not sure why. The itinerary looked like this:

After selecting this itinerary, I used all my points to decrease the price as much as possible. My points paid for an entire ticket, leaving a balance of less than half the full price. Breakdown is here:

We (you didn't think I went to Vegas alone, did ya?!) ended up splitting the cost of the remaining balance, meaning I flew to Las Vegas from Toronto for a total of $248.11 -- NOW we're talking a reasonable amount for a long weekend trip!

Stay tuned for more Vegas adventures detailing more travel hacking, including how I stayed on the strip for $37/night, and what I saw and did while there (spoiler alert: there are Lamborghinis involved.)

-Kat