by Laura
Tomorrow I depart for Vegas to celebrate the 30th birthdays of a few friends and sit by the pool doing a whole lot of nothing. Here’s how I hope to do Sin City research assistant style:
- Southwest is the only carrier that goes nonstop to Vegas from RDU. If you can snag advance tickets at off-peak times, you can get some great deals – unfortunately for me, this week was a popular one, but the convenience of spending only 4 hours in the air made it worthwhile.
- All of our hotels rooms were 5-star Priceline deals. If you’re looking for a specific place, Travelzoo also has a rotating roster of options. My SABFF (Study Abroad BFF) C-Pizzle and I get in earlier than the rest of the crew, giving us an extra day to enjoy an $80 suite at the Trump. It’s not well-located on the Strip, but I’ll walk a little extra to watch TV in my whirlpool tub at the end of the day. For the rest of our trip, a larger group of us have two rooms at the Paris, also just $80 bucks a pop, right in the center of the action. So, this vacation is international.
- The Vegas traveler forums on Trip Advisor have a ton of decent advice. A few tips – look on Ebay for essentially free VIP passes to clubs, which avoid lines and cover charges. And, check out restaurant.com coupons for Vegas, which can get you lunch for just a few bucks.
- Broadway Box used to be my go-to website for NYC theatre discount codes, and it turns out they’ve now added other cities. Please let me get picked to “Come on down!” & be the next contestant on The Price is Right – only $40 lets you play along, and while it may not be Cirque du Soleil, who can resist a chance at Plinko?
- Priceline helped us out again by getting us a rental car for $25 a day (regular price is about double that) so we can explore the surrounding natural wonders. Really excited to see the rock formations, desert landscapes, petroglyphs, and petrified logs at Valley of Fire (45 minutes away). Red Rock Canyon (20 minutes) and the Hoover Dam (1 hour) also make excellent, affordable day trips.
- Many casinos offer free gambling lessons (gee, why would they want to do that?) which will be perfect for Vegas first-timers like myself that only have experience with nickel slots.
Wish me luck! I’m counting on the trip to pay for next year’s tuition!
Advertisement
Laura
Harold
