Grazing Rites

I don’t want to get my hopes up just yet but its beginning to look like I may yet get a vacation this year and not by myself or with a relative stranger. Mindi dropped out due to economic reasons and using up her sick and vacation days at work – we’ll probably just see about doing a long weekend road trip or something now that we have some wheels. Burton, sadly, is unreliable in such things. So I sent out an SOS to the navy and it looks like reinforcements may yet arrive. November is the month, the first week is currently the frontrunner but these things could change. It seems like Jon has submitted his vacation request so hopefully once that gets approved and we have some dates and we can start booking.

Jon was initially pushing for the UK (~$1,400) but there was 4 problems with that. Firstly it would cost double of many North American destinations. Secondly we would lose 2 days in air travel. Thirdly driving isn’t really an option so we’d be limited to London. Finally Stonehenge isn’t available in November. And as a bonus given the cost and time of the flight I think it’d be more economical to go for more than a week or less. Not that I don’t love London and Jon would likely fall in love with it too; I just don’t think this is the time. It wouldn’t be fair to him not to see Stonehenge if we’re making that kind of money and time investment.

So I suggested Orlando or Vegas (~$700), Anaheim (~$800), Cancun (~$1,000), or Toronto (~1,100). He seemed most interested in Vegas; my bank account appreciates that choice.

Vegas isn’t perfect either as The Experience will be closed by then and Second City sucks bum but it could still be a lot of fun – I haven’t done any of the rides after all.

Where to stay is an interesting question. Much as I love the Strat it might be nice to try somewhere else. It’s a bit of a walk to the monorail and with The Experience gone the motivation to stay near that end of the strip is gone. It really was my anchor attraction in Vegas. Given that we’re going the cheaper route for destination we might not have to go for the absolutely cheapest accommodations. So what would our options be?

Tropicana (TripAdvisor score: 3 stars)
I didn’t go into this hotel in my previous visit. The TripAdvisor pictures show a pretty decent pool and no real problems. The rooms seem to have lots of mirrors – I ain’t saying nothing. Much more centrally located than any of the other properties mentioned here.

Stratosphere (TripAdvisor score: 3.5 stars)
Of all the hotels I entered this had the least amount of ambient smoke – that along could well be worth the walk to the monorail. The TripAdvisor pictures would seem to indicate that it hasn’t really changed since I was there in 2006 (http://las-vegas-hotels.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g45963-d114898-r7956805-Stratosphere_Hotel_Casino_and_Tower-Las_Vegas_Nevada.html) but the pool was a bit of a disappointment as I recall.

Circus Circus (TripAdvisor Score: 3 stars)
I didn’t go into this hotel in my previous visit. The TripAdvisor pictures show some slight problems with rooms and an unimpressive pool although the indoor rides look cool. The location and price are slightly more compelling than the Strat but it seems the Strat wins in every other category.

Sahara (TripAdvisor score: 3 stars)
I went through this hotel a couple of times during my stay in 2006 to get to the monorail and I was not impressed, it was smoky, run down, and fill of depressed people few under the age of 40 – although a friend from work said it was actually pretty good to stay at. The TripAdvisor pictures show no real problems and an unimpressive pool.

So looking at those options I’m leaning more towards Tropicana and Stratosphere.

This entry was posted on July 23, 2008 at 11:19 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.