What You Need to Know Before You Go to Vegas
Some of you have asked many times if there are any warnings, anything you need to know before ‘hitting Las Vegas’. Well, there are probably 5 top tips or ‘warnings’:
1 Keep to the tourist areas, which are extremely safe at any time of the day or night; these are the famous Strip (Las Vegas Boulevard South) and Freemont Street in downtown Vegas (where the resorts are, from around El Cortez to and including Main Street Station Hotel and Casino). You can go to the main shopping areas too, using the Downtown and Strip Express bus or the slower Deuce bus (or by taxi, of course), without any concern. However, to avoid ‘ending up’ by mistake in a less-than-safe area, especially if you are alone, I’d keep to the ‘beaten track’.
2 If you start gambling, which can be fun of course, keep to a low-ish budget. It’s often the case that you will be dipping into your purse or wallet again and again before you realize what’s going on ( = you have been hooked gambling and you need to stop), so I would recommend you don’t keep more than what you can afford to lose on one night available, and the rest tucked away in the hotel safe, which is hopefully to far for you to run back to and return to the casino! Our experience is that slots are less than generous now, we tend to win much more outside of Vegas… Even Reno was better! So take it for what it is, namely fun, but don’t expect to win otherwise you run the risk of being hooked. There are some strategies which have helped us over the years to lose less money (and even win some nice amounts!), but you have to remember that, in the long run, the house always wins and that some resorts seem to have really ‘tightened’ their slot machines almost where it’s no longer fun to play. We all have our own opinion as to which ones these are, though lately we found some pleasant surprises. We have written more on this subject on the page How to Gamble in Las Vegas.
3 Bring comfortable shoes and be prepared to walk; even if you intend to walk absolutely nowhere, you will still have to walk from your room through the large casino areas to, at the very least, where you line up for the taxi! These can be very, very long walks, depending on which resort you are in!
4 Drinks can be very expensive in Vegas. If you gamble you can order free drinks from the cocktail waitresses, but they are watered down (at least all those I’ve had!) and hardly worth the tip you’ll be leaving; however, if you order 4 at a time, especially without ice, you may find it an acceptable deal. Most seem to agree, however, that you will enjoy much cheaper drinks all-around in some areas of downtown Vegas.
5 Bottled spring water can also be expensive in Vegas. Tap water tastes like the chlorinated water of a pool, so you have no choice but drink bottled water. Avoid buying your bottled water from stores inside your resort, since many some of them are ridiculously marked up. I still remember that one litre of bottled spring water in a store at the Luxor resort was 7 dollars! Yes, 7 dollars. We walked away in disgust.
6 Having a good time in Vegas may be, for some, meeting girls; you need to know that everywhere you go you may be approached by ‘escorts’ (or similar), although it may not seem the case at the beginning. Some say that using the escort ‘cards’ can have its pitfalls and you may run the risk to incur much higher fees than expected, as well as disappointment all around. More on this on the page Las Vegas Solo.
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