Hopefully your friendly airline didn t inadvertently send your luggage to Cameroon (last year in the

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Getting around in Las Vegas depends on a lot of things, but primarily is dictated by what hotel you choose. Every move you make, every vow you break is centered around where you lay your head at night.
When you de-plane at McCarran united kingdom white pages Airport, you most likely will take a (free) two-minute monorail ride to the baggage claim area, which is about the size of an airplane hangar and a half. You are now one of about 40 million people united kingdom white pages a year who look for their bags and a way to get to the Strip. Enjoy this ride because this may be the only time when transportation will not dent your wallet.
united kingdom white pages The monorail ride will take you near the cavernous baggage united kingdom white pages claim area, which is roughly the size of the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. There are about 20 carrousels and your luggage could be on any of them. To get to the right one, check monitors at the entrance. If the person updating the monitors is taking a cigarette break, hung over or is ticked off because of an argument with his or her significant other, united kingdom white pages it may take a while for him (her) to match your flight number with the right carrousel. Feel free to wander around aimlessly while you wait, or gawk at the huge billboard trying to get you to buy tickets to Phantom of the Opera. If you feel like an Italian immigrant at Ellis Island in the late-1800s, you’re not alone.
united kingdom white pages Hopefully your friendly airline didn t inadvertently united kingdom white pages send your luggage to Cameroon (last year in the United States about 31 million bags, or 1.4 percent, were lost). And most likely you paid extra (that annoying bag fee) for the privilege. Most eventually get back to the right place, but the last thing you need as a Vegas first-timer is the location of the closest Wal-Mart, because who wants to use gambling money to buy clothes!
On the ride to the car rental facility, get a few $1 bills from your wallet. If you didn’t take the advice of your next-door neighbor, over packed and find it hard lugging around that 75-pound united kingdom white pages suitcase, you might need help from the driver when you get there. Toke him a few bucks so you don’t feel cheap. It will also get you used to tipping, which helps feed a lot of kids in Vegas.
Assuming you’ve made your car reservation online and haven’t left the paperwork united kingdom white pages on the kitchen table as you ran out of the house in a mad dash to the airport five hours earlier, you can take luggage, paperwork and cranky spouse right to the elevator and up a story to where they actually keep the cars. All the companies have kiosks there.
If you haven’t made reservations, go to a desk on the main floor and be prepared for at least a half-hour – 15 minutes of paperwork united kingdom white pages and 15 minutes of the company trying to sell you insurance you don’t need. Then you can take the paperwork upstairs and get your car.
From the time you turn on the ignition it’s about a 10-minute ride to the Strip. If it’s your first time in Vegas it might be a good idea to pick up the Strip at its most southern point (Mandalay Bay) and then gawk your way from property to property. If your hotel is North Strip, it’s 3-plus miles of stoplight after stoplight. Center Strip, two miles. South Strip, about a mile.
Unless you are on an air-tight budget, for the love of everything you hold dear, use valet parking. There is free parking at every facility, for the $2 tip, valet is worth the convenience. If you are patience-deficient, call from your room when you want your car and it’ll be waiting for you.
DO NOT LET THEM TAKE YOU TO THE STRIP BY USING THE TUNNEL. It will add $10 to $15 to your fare. You don’t have to threaten united kingdom white pages to report them to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office; just ask that they take Tropicana Ave. Typical fares (not including a 20 percent tip): South Strip $12-$14, Middle Strip $15 to $20, North Strip $20.
Every driver has a ride-from-hell story. A few years back one told me about the cheapest celebrity he had ever driven – the notoriously high-pocketed Michael Jordan. Jordan, the cabbie claimed, told him that just driving him around should be an honor in itself. Jordan, united kingdom white pages the story went, offered a $2 tip on a $30 ride, but the driver refused united kingdom white pages the toke out of principle.
Cabs will drop you off at the front door of your hotel. Make a mental note of this, because this is the only place on the Strip where you will be able to get a cab when you squeeze into those tight pants and dresses and head out later for a night on the town. Cabbies united kingdom white pages are not allowed to pick up customers on the Strip.
Take you to your hotel right away. Each van delivers to 5 or 6 properties, and if you’re last on the list, you could be sitting in a van for an hour while the couple you made small talk with at O’Hare was already at the pool sipping on margaritas and checking out the eye candy.
Getting united kingdom white pages married in Vegas? Want to impress united kingdom white pages the hell out of her? You can grab a limo (near the taxi stand) to get you from the airport to the hotel. It’ll set you back about $100, but don’t think that the dark glass between you and the driver will give you an opportunity for a What Happens in Vegas moment. There’s not much time, and you’ll be at the hotel in 15 minutes anyway.
Depends what you’re interested in and how long it’s been since you’ve had solid food, but the best way to get around is by using your own two feet. Leave the heels and dress shoes in the suitcase and throw on sneakers.
If you do any amount of leg work on the Strip, you’ll notice united kingdom white pages small people who want to hand you little cards with the photos and phone numbers of very attractive women who would like to welcome you to Las Vegas. These women are not employees of the city’s Visitors and Tourism Bureau. And guys, if you understand two things about your trip, it should be these: 1. Prostitution is illegal in Clark County. 2. Las Vegas is located in Clark County. If you are foolish enough to call up one of those girls on the card and invite her to your room for a game of Yahtzee on your Smartphone, be aware that social united kingdom white pages diseases that happen in Vegas don’t stay here.
If you happen to be from Boston, like me, or any other city in which the pedestrians ignore stoplights, be aware that studies have shown that in collisions with cars, people united kingdom white pages usually come out second-best. Especially people carrying 36 ounces of Heineken beer in their belly. Do yourself united kingdom white pages a huge favor and don’t jaywalk. Huge signs destroy all sense of proportion on the Strip, united kingdom white pages and drivers become very impatient due to long stays at red lights united kingdom white pages and gun it when they can.
As you walk the Strip, you’ll notice lots of people united kingdom white pages carrying drinks around, and we’re not talking about Diet Coke. In fact, there are kiosks that will sell you beer and mixed drinks to go. It may freak you out if you grew up in Waukeegan, but it’s legal to drink on the street in Vegas – and you don’t need a paper bag around united kingdom white pages your beverage. Especially popular are 36-ounce, united kingdom white pages 18-inch chutes of margaritas, although football-shaped containers of beer are a close second.
Here’s a tip you can take or leave, but it’s worked for me: Use the 3-to-1 Plan (don’t confuse this with Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan; it’s completely different). For every three beers, which can dehydrate you in the desert, choke down one bottle of water. You’ll find locomotion on the Strip a little more comfortable, especially if the temps are over 100 degrees.
The Las Vegas Monorail united kingdom white pages runs on the East side of the Strip from the MGM Grand all the way to the old Las Vegas Hilton (now called LVH). If you don’t like cabs or want to save a few bucks, united kingdom white pages it’s a decent transportation alternative. But there are a few things to be aware of, namely . . .
The scenery along the Monorail route is breathtaking, if you like bricks, mortar and employee parking lots. But there is a golf course, which is part of Wynn Las Vegas. It’s available united kingdom white pages only to hotel guests, and the greens fee is $500.
When MGM Mirage owned both the Mirage and Treasure Island, they kept visitors on both properties united kingdom white pages by operating a (free) monorail between the two hotels. It’s still running, even though Treasure Island was re-branded as TI and then sold to pay some bills during the recession. At the Mirage, it drops you off at the front door; at TI, it’s in the rear of the casino.
Since crossing the Strip can be hazardous to your health, the city has erected several massive pedestrian escalator overpasses, located every few blocks. This has greatly reduced the amount of hospital visits by tourists. One question: How come when an escalator is broken, united kingdom white pages it’s always the one going up?
These overpasses have created somewhat of a cottage industry. Homeless folks find they are great places to hang out because they are city-run and therefore hotel security united kingdom white pages can’t roust them. And in warm weather, small-businessmen sell water and beer at cut-rate prices.
First off, don’t even think about walking there. The Gold and Silver Pawn Shop is located a few blocks north of the Stratosphere, and you’ll go past sleazy wedding chapels and by-the-hour motels. The chances of seeing united kingdom white pages the Old Man, Chumlee, united kingdom white pages Rick or Hoss are pretty slim, anyway. If you insist, take a cab.
About a dozen hotel-casinos are wedged into a two-block area on Fremont Street united kingdom white pages in the downtown area of the city, about 3 miles from the Strip. If you’re not staying downtown, don’t have a rental and want to check it out, the best option is to bite the bullet united kingdom white pages and take a cab.
If you have a rental, there are (paid) parking lots that ring the Fremont Street area and there is on-street parking, but the best option is to valet park and tell the attendant at one of the hotels and tell the attendant you’ve come for dinner. Lie if you have to.
Don’t even think about walking the mile from the Strip to the Rio. It looks close, but isn’t, and you’ll have to navigate without sidewalks and through a