Now that a couple of weeks have passed since our involuntarily extended Vegas Vacation, some more things have occurred to me. I don't know if any of the people (if any) who read this will be traveling to Vegas, but I'll throw in these observations.
First, some annoying things: The Strip has always been infested by guys who seem to earn their living handing out brochures for what are essentially poorly disguised prostitution operations. There seem to be less of them now or perhaps they are becoming more discreet. Time was if you were a male walking the Strip with a female and clearly a couple, these clowns would still try to press these massage parlor etc. ads into your hand. This seems to have pretty much stopped. They may have finally figured out that handing a flyer to the male half of a couple is a waste - even if the guy were secretly interested, his only option would still be to discard the thing in front of his female companion or face some serious questions.
While being part of a couple now seems to discourage the hooker brochures, it is definitely a liability when dealing with another, and in some ways more annoying scourge of Vegas: the time-share bandidos. Every hotel and casino we went to of any size had people who would come up to you and ask you things like "are you enjoying your stay?" or "where are you folks from?" and other seemingly innocuous questions, all of which are a lead in to get you to come and listen to a time share sales pitch somewhere. Now I have heard that in some cases if you are willing to sit through the pitch and resist the salesmanship 101 that you are subjected to, you can get some freebies. Personally, I have never thought it to be worth it and since I have no intention ever of buying a time share, I find the initial approaches by these people to be nothing but annoying. In fact I think they are more annoying than the hooker brochures. At least the hooker guys don't try to be your friend and engage you in pleasant conversation.
These turkeys seem to be everywhere, from a top of the line hotel like the Venetian to the seedy casinos on Fremont Street. However, there is a secret to avoiding them, discovered by Michelle: don't let these people know you are a couple. Whenever we crossed the lobby in the Luxor and came near the time-share booth, we stayed twenty feet apart and pretended we didn't know each other. It worked like a charm. They are only interested in couples for their pitch so "single" people are ignored.
Now for some not so annoying things. Namely some good places to eat in Vegas. The best food for the money we found was in our new favorite restaurant- a tapas bar called "Firefly". They had awesome tapas including these amazing stuffed dates and "sliders" (essentially White Castle sized hamburgers) made from filet mignon and a whole lot more washed down with Estrella Galicia Spanish beer - mmm. It's located on Paradise Road, just west of the Strip between Flamingo and Sahara. Worth driving to or cabbing if you don't have a car. Another favorite is "Roy's" which is not far away on Flamingo. "Roy" is Roy Yamaguchi who became famous in Hawaii for his Pacific Rim fusion seafood. If that sounds too elitist or something let's just say he does some kick-ass fish. And it's priced for about half of what you pay for similar food in one of the fancy in-casino restaurants on the Strip. Other recommendations: a good breakfast buffet at the Treasure Island - also the "Kahunaville" coffee shop in TI, also, they have good, cheap and plentiful, food in the coffee shop at "Terribles" Casino on Flamingo. New York New York has a fake "streets of New York" area adjacent to their casino which has lots of places to wander and nosh. Other places include "Bahama Breeze" and "McCormick and Schmicks" on Flamingo - both chains but decent food at reasonable prices.
Oh, and one final thing: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas - except for the buffets - they go home on your waistline.
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