Here are some tips I have after a week of driving around Las Vegas as a tourist for 7 days this Summer:

1. Take your GPS – everyone has one, and they are expensive from the rental service
2. Don’t take the gas option – gas just off the Strip is cheaper than airport gas
3. Get familiar with the following North and South running streets:
   • Paradise Rd gets you from the Hilton to the airport with not too many stop lights
   • The Strip – besides 8p to 2a, this is a fun and exciting way to get around
   • Koval Road – this is the entrance road to most of the casinos on the Eastern side of The Strip
   • S. Valley View Road – a little more “seedy” but still useful for travel on the West side of the strip
4. Get familiar with the casinos on the strip and utilize the roads named after them including: Sahara, Desert Inn, Flamingo, Harmon and Tropicana
5. Be sure to pay close attention to the “self-park” signs for each casino, most are behind the casinos, but a few (like the Wynn and City Center) are right off of the strip
6. Stay in your lane – unlike in most cities, Las Vegas does not use paint to divide lanes, instead using round reflectors – this took me a day or so to get used to
7. Remember that half a mile from the strip, Las Vegas is a normal city. Make use of the restaurants, gas stations, Walmarts, Walgreens, etc.
8. Take your rental car back early. The complex is a bus ride away from the terminal and can take as much as 45 minutes to return your car and get to the airport.

Renting a car is a great way to see all that Las Vegas has to offer. I highly suggest renting one on your next trip.

My wife and I had this conversation several times, all the way up to the minute before we boarded the plane. Now that we are back, I would say you can definitely have a good time with a baby in Las Vegas, but it is a different kind of vacation. Here is what to expect:

When we were trying to decide where to go on family vacation, our criteria was simply – have a good time, spend time together, get out of our current town. We typically try not to go to beaches since we live at one. I have always enjoyed Las Vegas, and have been there now five times. It fit all of our criteria and gave us a chance to do something you don’t typically do when visiting there, actually explore the city. It was also something we thought we could do with our five month old.

When most people think of visiting Las Vegas, I don’t think they consider it a “vacation” but more of a “getaway.” By that I mean most people go to Las Vegas with a mission – get drunk, gamble, find girls/guys, stay up all night. Our approach was different – let’s see what Las Vegas is like during the day. We planned trips to Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon and the West Rim of the Grand Canyon (we didn’t make it) as well as side trips to see the World Series of Poker, The Ultimate Fighter Training Center and the Pawn Stars pawn shop.

If you are taking a baby to Las Vegas, I highly suggest you rent an automobile and take your own car seat. The car seats offered by rental car companies, that I saw, are pretty raggedy. With the car, we had the opportunity to explore the outskirts of The Strip, something that would cost you a fortune (or your life) without transportation. Driving through Summerlin, up and down Paradise and Spring Valley Road, as well as making it to Hoover Dam are all things you can enjoy with a car. Paradise and Spring Valley Road are two of the “side roads” that you can use when trying to avoid the traffic on the strip.

There are some other things you can expect to do (or take advantage of) when traveling with a baby in Las Vegas:

1. Taking naps and resting more than usual (this makes Las Vegas much more enjoyable)
2. Carrying around bottles, diaper bags, toys, etc.
3. Searching for the elevators in Casinos (see future post)
4. Saving money by gambling less
5. Getting stopped to have people tell you how cute your baby is
6. Not being hung over every morning
7. Visiting more free attractions/exhibits/museums/parks
8. Saving money on alcohol and night clubs

Most of the above are positive. We really enjoyed the time we had in Vegas with our five month old and I wouldn’t have traded it for a month of babyless Las Vegas – just expect a different kind of Las Vegas.

Vegas is smokin’, literally.

I was in Las Vegas this week for a convention in Caesar’s Palace. I had an outstanding room, ate great food, and had an enjoyable conference. I even got to meet Joe Montana. Tough to beat that.

I stayed in the brand new “Augustus Tower” of Caesars. It is on the southern most end of the complex (Caesar’s Palace is ginormous) with a beautiful view overlooking the fountains at the Bellagio.

The walk from the Augustus Tower to the convention ball rooms on the other end of the complex is a good 10 minute walk. On the first day of the conference I was walking toward the convention when a seedy looking guy started walking towards me smoking a cigarette. You can’t smoke cigarettes inside was the first thing that went through my mind (quickly followed by, why is this guy staring at me). I passed the guy and continued on to the convention, but I couldn’t shake the site of the cigarette in his hand.

I’m probably spoiled from living in cities with full indoor smoking bans. With all we know about the harm first and second hand smoke cause, I can’t believe people still smoke, period. Seeing people smoke indoors is entirely more foreign. Certain parts of Caesars (which I loved in whole) have very low ceilings, and you can feel the smoke burrowing into your pores. I’m also interested in if when people sit down and light up right beside someone obviously not smoking, do they feel self-conscience of their habit, or vindictive towards non-smokers who have taken over the rest of the nation?

Would a casino that disallowed smoking completely recognize a net gain or loss in gaming and food? I wonder if anyone has done this study? I would certainly sit longer and spend more if I was thinking about gaming and not about the sore throat I was getting from ingesting their bad habit.

Sound off below. Can casinos and other similar entities successfully market a non-smoking environment?

Picture credits: Superfantastic on Flickr

Me and Parker headed to Las Vegas

I was joking with my “any-day-now-hurry-up-and-deliver” pregnant wife about whether or not our unborn son would love Las Vegas as much as I do.

Her immediate reply (she’s pretty witty) was, “If he has to hear you talk about it as much as I do, then I’ll guess no.”

She has never understood why I enjoy it so much. I have only been there three times, twice with family and once for a job interview. I was a VP’s whim of reorganizing the department from moving there, and I’m currently gambling positive, thanks to a strong streak in the Poker Room at the Sahara. I also wrote a “mini-thesis” to complete my MBA on how the marketing campaign What happens is Vegas… positively impacted the Mandalay Bay Resort Group.

The reason I enjoy it so much is the “idea” of Las Vegas. The fact is, Las Vegas strives to be over the top. It is like Disney World for adults. There is a casino where elephants and lions walk behind you while you’re gambling. There are diagonally rising elevators, roller coasters on top of space needles and huge man-made waterfalls viewable just to the folks in the casino.

The “idea” of Las Vegas for me is that the hotel-casinos will do whatever it takes to get you in the door, and then take care of you in such a way to make it easy for you to come back. Stay in the Wynn Las Vegas. The rooms are nicer than your bedroom, the food is better than you can make, and the decor makes your $500 an hour interior decorator look silly. While you are here, they are monitoring all of your eating and spending habits so that they can target their marketing and promotions to your specific tastes, all with the goal of treating you like a king or queen so that you will come back next time, and tell all of your friends.

This glamorous “idea” caters to everyone. If I want to put on some shorts and a t-shirt, I’ll fit right in gambling at the Sahara or the Luxor. If I want to take my kids to Vegas we’ll have a blast at Excaliber or Circus Circus. Want to take some friends to see a UFC fight, or a boxing match, or a concert, you can be sure something is going on at MGM, Mandalay Bay or Caesar’s Palace. There are enough restaurants and enough restaurant turnover in Las Vegas to never eat at the same restaurant twice, ever.

The “idea” of Las Vegas for me, is that if you can get there, you are guaranteed to find something you enjoy, and you can guarantee that activity will be over the top. I think Carlos Parker will love Las Vegas.