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Usually when the wife and I travel to Vegas we really like to live it up stay in nice hotels, eat at good restaurants, do some gambling see some shows, you know, do the things that we don't normally do everyday at home. This time we decided to go on a budget. and decided that there must be some magic to saving all the money we spend so we just got back from our first frugal frolic in Vegas. Here's our trip report:
Since airfares were so high this year, I had my brother wrap us in cardboard boxes and mail us UPS. Tickets would have cost us $500 but UPS ground was only $250 so we saved a bunch. It took us 3 days to get there but it was worth it. At first we were just going to get out of the box in the warehouse and take a taxi to the strip, but to save another $15, we addressed the boxes to the Venetian, and waited for the local driver to "drop us off".
We got to the hotel around 5:00. Now, normally we would just stay at the Venetian but why pay so much for a room when you hardly spend any time in it? There's so much stuff to do other than just hang out in your hotel room! So I checked the CAT route and figured a bus stop bench would be as good a resting spot as any. We debated whether we should just start checking out the strip or check-in first and decided we should drop our bags off. We saved up the toiletries from our last visit and brought them along in a ziploc bags, figured we'd drop it off at the bench. We read that there's a nice bench at the Spring Mountain stop. When we got there, we found that there was no canopy over the top or a wind shield at this bus stop.
Despite the wife bugging me about how tacky it would be, I tried the $20 trick on the vagrant running this bus stop and he advised that the Flamingo stop had a canopy and wind shield so we took the upgrade! I'll tell you, what a difference! It was like going from the Centurion Tower to a Palace Tower Suite.
We stashed our "luggage" in a bush nearby and were famished at this point. We usually go to the Bellagio Buffet on our first night to kick things off like gluttons but who really needs all that "fru-fru" food, and $40 for a BUFFET?
We walked only a few miles to the Costco on MLK and had their free buffet. It was awesome! They have different stations where little old ladies cook the food right in front of you. They had chips/salsa, pretzel bites, smoky wieners, and little tiny quiches! And it was F-R-E-E. By the time we got back to the strip we were absolutely exhausted and decided to pack it in. Another good thing about the bus stop is that we didn't have to haggle over getting a strip view.
Rather than bore you with the inane details of the rest of the trip, I just tell some of the money saving tips we got.
Coffee: We need our coffee! But all these cyberpunks from Seattle who pay $3.50 for a cup of Starbucks are nuts. We found a Ford dealership who had a free coffee and doughnuts in the service dept so I just walked in and asked the guy at the desk if they were done with the tune-up on my Taurus. When he walked into the shop to check, I filled up the water bottle and Ziploc bags with doughnuts. Nothing better than free coffee and doughnuts in the morning.
Pool: I've got 2 words for you: Bellagio Fountain
Meals: Speaking of Bellagio Fountain, we usually dine one night at the B for a nice, romantic, fountain view dinner, typically Picasso or Olives. But $200 for dinner, are they nuts!?!? We went back to Costco and filled up the Ziploc bag with some "samples" and brought them back to the Bellagio, sat out front and made our own "fountain view" dinner.
Shows: While there' plenty of entertainment at the bus stop at night, we decided to take in a classy show. The wife wanted to see some Cirque du Soleil type thing but if I wanted to see someone contort themselves so they fit in a box, there are plenty of people living in boxes near the bus stop, and if you give them a buck they'll leave you alone. But I met her halfway and we did a time share tour to get free tickets. We smelled pretty ripe at this point (no shower at the bus stop), so they didn't put on the "hard sell" they just wanted to get rid of us. They didn't have any tickets to the cirque shows because they are "top tier" but we got to see this show where Emilio Estevez rides around on a fire breathing dragon and saves Sherman Helmsley (Mr. Jefferson) from falling into a lava spewing volcano. It was amazing!
Dance Clubs: Forget Rain at the Palms, paying a cover charge and waiting in line is just for snobby people who...uh, want to be seen waiting in line to pay a cover charge. We just went to the Carnival Court at Harrah's. Some bouncer type guy harassed us for not complying with the "dress code" as we didn't have room in the UPS boxes for our fanny packs but I lied and said we were Diamond with Harrah's Rewards Members and he said he'd let us slide this time because it was a Tuesday night.
Gambling: Every morning we woke up and realized that we weren't sitting in a tub full of ice with one kidney missing, we realized that we had defied the odds and had no craving to press our luck in a casino. The only drawback is that they don't give slot club points for dodging a kidney abduction.
Day Spa: Usually the wife always does some sort of spa thing. Last time, she got this hot stone massage at the canyon Ranch Spa. After the third trip to Costco she was bellyaching about how much her back hurt and how last year trip is was much better, especially with the hot stone massage. Well, anyone who'd pay $125 for a "stone massage" is looney. They were doing some masonry work out in front of Caesars and I grabbed some stones from there (very hot, mid day sun) and massaged my wifes back with them. She got burned pretty badly but they had free coffee in the Emergency Room so it made the mishap worthwhile.
I can't thank everyone enough for the inspiration to finally do a trip "on the cheap". I now see the light, why spend so much money when on vacation?
Since airfares were so high this year, I had my brother wrap us in cardboard boxes and mail us UPS. Tickets would have cost us $500 but UPS ground was only $250 so we saved a bunch. It took us 3 days to get there but it was worth it. At first we were just going to get out of the box in the warehouse and take a taxi to the strip, but to save another $15, we addressed the boxes to the Venetian, and waited for the local driver to "drop us off".
We got to the hotel around 5:00. Now, normally we would just stay at the Venetian but why pay so much for a room when you hardly spend any time in it? There's so much stuff to do other than just hang out in your hotel room! So I checked the CAT route and figured a bus stop bench would be as good a resting spot as any. We debated whether we should just start checking out the strip or check-in first and decided we should drop our bags off. We saved up the toiletries from our last visit and brought them along in a ziploc bags, figured we'd drop it off at the bench. We read that there's a nice bench at the Spring Mountain stop. When we got there, we found that there was no canopy over the top or a wind shield at this bus stop.
Despite the wife bugging me about how tacky it would be, I tried the $20 trick on the vagrant running this bus stop and he advised that the Flamingo stop had a canopy and wind shield so we took the upgrade! I'll tell you, what a difference! It was like going from the Centurion Tower to a Palace Tower Suite.
We stashed our "luggage" in a bush nearby and were famished at this point. We usually go to the Bellagio Buffet on our first night to kick things off like gluttons but who really needs all that "fru-fru" food, and $40 for a BUFFET?
We walked only a few miles to the Costco on MLK and had their free buffet. It was awesome! They have different stations where little old ladies cook the food right in front of you. They had chips/salsa, pretzel bites, smoky wieners, and little tiny quiches! And it was F-R-E-E. By the time we got back to the strip we were absolutely exhausted and decided to pack it in. Another good thing about the bus stop is that we didn't have to haggle over getting a strip view.
Rather than bore you with the inane details of the rest of the trip, I just tell some of the money saving tips we got.
Coffee: We need our coffee! But all these cyberpunks from Seattle who pay $3.50 for a cup of Starbucks are nuts. We found a Ford dealership who had a free coffee and doughnuts in the service dept so I just walked in and asked the guy at the desk if they were done with the tune-up on my Taurus. When he walked into the shop to check, I filled up the water bottle and Ziploc bags with doughnuts. Nothing better than free coffee and doughnuts in the morning.
Pool: I've got 2 words for you: Bellagio Fountain
Meals: Speaking of Bellagio Fountain, we usually dine one night at the B for a nice, romantic, fountain view dinner, typically Picasso or Olives. But $200 for dinner, are they nuts!?!? We went back to Costco and filled up the Ziploc bag with some "samples" and brought them back to the Bellagio, sat out front and made our own "fountain view" dinner.
Shows: While there' plenty of entertainment at the bus stop at night, we decided to take in a classy show. The wife wanted to see some Cirque du Soleil type thing but if I wanted to see someone contort themselves so they fit in a box, there are plenty of people living in boxes near the bus stop, and if you give them a buck they'll leave you alone. But I met her halfway and we did a time share tour to get free tickets. We smelled pretty ripe at this point (no shower at the bus stop), so they didn't put on the "hard sell" they just wanted to get rid of us. They didn't have any tickets to the cirque shows because they are "top tier" but we got to see this show where Emilio Estevez rides around on a fire breathing dragon and saves Sherman Helmsley (Mr. Jefferson) from falling into a lava spewing volcano. It was amazing!
Dance Clubs: Forget Rain at the Palms, paying a cover charge and waiting in line is just for snobby people who...uh, want to be seen waiting in line to pay a cover charge. We just went to the Carnival Court at Harrah's. Some bouncer type guy harassed us for not complying with the "dress code" as we didn't have room in the UPS boxes for our fanny packs but I lied and said we were Diamond with Harrah's Rewards Members and he said he'd let us slide this time because it was a Tuesday night.
Gambling: Every morning we woke up and realized that we weren't sitting in a tub full of ice with one kidney missing, we realized that we had defied the odds and had no craving to press our luck in a casino. The only drawback is that they don't give slot club points for dodging a kidney abduction.
Day Spa: Usually the wife always does some sort of spa thing. Last time, she got this hot stone massage at the canyon Ranch Spa. After the third trip to Costco she was bellyaching about how much her back hurt and how last year trip is was much better, especially with the hot stone massage. Well, anyone who'd pay $125 for a "stone massage" is looney. They were doing some masonry work out in front of Caesars and I grabbed some stones from there (very hot, mid day sun) and massaged my wifes back with them. She got burned pretty badly but they had free coffee in the Emergency Room so it made the mishap worthwhile.
I can't thank everyone enough for the inspiration to finally do a trip "on the cheap". I now see the light, why spend so much money when on vacation?