Las Vegas & Los Angeles Trip

This is my first post about our west coast trip and wanted to share some info on this trip. I and my wife had visited Las Vegas and LA in 2007 Christmas. I have taken tips from fatwallet forum for the whole visit. We had booked flight, hotel and car on Price line. We got nice price from them although, they were booked separately. We have used yahoo trip planner, which was also very useful. Yahoo Trip Planner

We had started our trip from JFK at 7:50 AM flight on 25th Dec 2007. We were expecting delays due to Christmas holidays, but the flight was on schedule and check-in was also very smooth as we have checked in and printed the printed boarding pass online.

After 4 hrs inflight, we were flying over Grand Canyon. The Pilot was very generous and gave us a GC trip from the top for about 20 minutes. He covered various sections of Grand Canyon. It was looking very beautiful from air!!!!

Here are some pictures, which we have taken from the flight

Grand Canyon Slideshow

We reached Las Vegas around 10:00 am. The airport shuttle dropped us off at the car rental office. We got a "kia sentra" car from Hertz. We had our friend’s GPS with us, which was very helpful in our whole trip. Thanks to him!!!! We checked-in at Rivera Hotel around 11 AM. This hotel is located on the north strip. We got strip view from our room, where we were able to see TI,Wynn and other casinos.

We started to explorer Las Vegas blvd from the center. We parked our car at Harrah’s and went to Venetian Resort. This casino is based on an Italian theme. Felt as if we were in Italy….nice...yehh!!!!

Then we went to The Mirage, another casino. They had a live erupting volcano show on and a tropical rain forest with a beautiful waterfall.

Next we went to Treasure Island Hotel Casino.

Vegas city becomes alive at night. So many people were roaming on the strip, beautiful lights, just like a big carnival. Night was still getting young but my wife wasn’t…she was tired!!! So called it an end around 2am.

Las Vegas Day-1 Slideshow

Next day 26th Wednesday, we went to see the Hoover dam. A very huge dam located on the border of Nevada and Arizona. We almost spend 2 hrs over there, took some pictures.

Hoover Dam Slideshow

From there we went to see Grand Canyon. It was 2hrs drive from and we reached after 3 PM and the last bus had left. So we couldn’t see Grand Canyon. While coming back, because of traffic we reached Vegas very late. Then we had Thai food near at our hotel. Had some rest and back on road exploring Vegas strip at 9 PM. The day just started here………

We went to the Paris casino. The theme was on actual Paris city Eiffel tower; restaurants all the lights, built over casino were simply great. Felt as though you are in Paris (so saved on tickets to France now!!!!)

From there we went to Bellagio casino. This casino was shown, In “Ocean's Eleven” movies.

Then we went to Caesars Palace casino. This casino is built on theme of Rome city. These had the statues of Athens gods and goddesses displayed very well. Inside this casino there is a big shopping mall, restaurants and theaters.

Las Vegas Day-2 Slideshow

Next day 27th Thursday, we went to see the MGM casino and the New York casino. Yeahhh..We definitely did not miss NY. The only difference was, this time Statue of liberty was on the pathway. Then the Brooklyn Bridge, empire state & Chrysler buildings. Inside this casino, there were downtown buildings and Wall Street trade screens. So were the streets marked as Broadway!!!

Then we went to see the well known “V-The Ultimate Variety Show” at 10:30p.m. Sorry no photographs from here, as it was not allowed inside. This show had it all. Beginning with a Show host who was plain hysterical and taking us through a variety of fascinating acts from his other peers, which could only be found on the stages of Las Vegas. It was really nice show.


Next day 28th Friday, we went for a lunch buffet at Sahara casino and then we visited Stratosphere Hotel Casino. In the evening we went to Las Vegas downtown, to see the light shows at Fremont Street. Here we saw all old time casinos like Fremont casino.

After that we visited Excalibur casino which is based on Disney land's theme. Then we went to Luxor casino, which is constructed of an onyx colored glass formed into a pyramid. Then we went to Mandalay bay casino.

Las Vegas Day-3&4 Slideshow

Next day 29th Saturday, we checked out from the hotel and drove down to LA. The whole stretch was covered by mountains and desserts with very less population. We have booked Cecil hotel in downtown LA. We directly reached there and checked in.

In the noon, we headed towards Hollywood Sign along with a good friend of ours. We walked on Hollywood drive, Kodak studio etc in Hollywood. After that reached Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills, which is one of the most celebrated and exclusive shopping streets in the world.

Los Angeles Slideshow

Next day 30th Sunday, We went to see the Universal studio theme park, where we also saw the Hollywood studios.

We enjoyed couple of rides like Jurassic park, Terminator 2, Shrek in 4-D etc. Then spent the night at our friend’s place. Thanks to him too!!!!

Universal Studio Slideshow

Next day 31st Monday, we drove back to Vegas. People were roaming on the streets, wearing different kind of colorful costumes for 31st celebration. Vegas blvd (strip) was closed from 8 PM onwards for cars, so we reached early to airport. Our flight was scheduled at 11:30 PM. We reached back JFK at 5 PM morning.

You all must be wondering how much we won!!! Well that’s why they say...

“What happens in Vegas…STAYS in Vegas”!!!