Australian Country Girl Loves Las Vegas – Looking For Like-Minded Friends

Love your newsletter, been to the states twice, 06 and 07 hope to be back this year.

Cannot believe I have been to Vegas twice and there is so much I have not seen.

Stayed at the Excalibur Las Vegas on both trips and loved our rooms.

I am a country girl so you can imagine my excitement when we drove over the rise and saw Vegas stretched out in front of us.

I just love the place and would love to stay for 12 months and experience all the things the state of Nevada has to offer.

My sister in-law and I arrived in LA and from there picked up our car and drove to Lake Ellsinore, shopping is unbelievable.

Stayed the night at Temecula and then headed off to Barstow, more shopping, we had no idea on distance and how far towns are spread out, funny thing is we went from Los Angeles to Lake Ellsinore, took us like 4 hours and later we find out it is only 20 minutes away . Still do not know what we did wrong but we saw lots and did not mind getting lost.

Your roads are so easy to understand so that makes our trip even more embarrassing.

I could not get the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road so my mate had to do all the driving. She did a great job.

I cannot wait to come back, we where coming back May 09 but with the dollar as it is we had to put it off. Everyday I am on the net looking at pics and stories on Vegas, I find it very interesting that since I have been back in Australia there has not been a day go by when I don’t think about you guys, I so want to be back there its all I think about. My dream is to come back and buy a home, stay for a year or so and then spend six months in Vegas and six months here, not likely but how good would that be.

Thanks for your newsletter; I look forward to reading it every month.

Would love to start a friendship with anyone who is interested, I am 45 F, married no kids, love animals and walking my dog in the bush, also like the beach but do prefer a creek for swimming. I work full time and do volunteer work. Want to know more just ask thanks.

Kindest Regards

Julie
[email protected]

Las Vegas $20 Check-In Trick At Riviera

I have read your site for many years and want to thank you for alll the great info you have imparted.

You had a recent response that said to try the $20 trick at check-in at the Riviera. Well, they have changed check-in to be computerized, much like Southwest Airlines or Alamo Rental. All the clerk does now ishand you your receipt room keys and a copy of the transaction. I don’t know whether the trick works anymore.

Thanks again!

Kevin Tokunaga


Ted Responds:

Thanks for the great info. The one thing we rarely do (living here) is actually stay at the hotels. Hence we have to rely on reader advice. I’ll pass it along.

PS For those not familiar with the “$20 Trick” (when checking into a hotel), we’ve covered it in various previous newsletters:

Access Vegas Insider Vibe October 2, 2013

Ted Newkirk
CEO, Managing Editor
AccessVegas.com

Artwork and Paintings On Las Vegas Area Overpasses

My wife and I visited Vegas in September. Having a rental car, we decided to drive to Primm. On our way back, we saw the most beautiful over (under) pass I think we have ever seen. The place I am speaking of is the last major intersection on I-15 heading south. Is there a way you could perhaps get a picture of the the bridge, support wall, etc. there? Also, what is the significant of this beautiful work on your highway?

Thanks for your newsletter on Vegas.

Astor Kinney


Ted Responds:

Here’s a couple photos so that people know what you are referring to:

Las Vegas animals statues along the freeway.

Photo courtesy Retired Travelers

The Review-Journal also did a story about it:

Sculptures aim to soothe beastly drivers

Hope that helps!

Ted Newkirk
CEO, Managing Editor
AccessVegas.com

Flying To Las Vegas, Immigration Lines Too Long?

Just reading your news letter  and especially the part about the planes. This bit made me smile  “However, many of you are flying 12-16 hours to get here and that commitment to come visit isn’t lost on us either.”  Not lost on you but for many of us Brits who used to come over regularly ( I came at least once a year ) we’ve decided that enough is enough and we are no longer prepared to queue for two hours or more once we get off the plane at Chicago or Atlanta or Washington, as we crawl towards the Immigration desk where we are finger printed and photographed.

12 hours on a plane, then two hours to pass thru Chicago. Normally you miss your connecting flight to Vegas and then have to kill another 3 or 4 hours before making the next 3 hour leg of the journey.

I tried going direct last time ( not a lot of cheap direct flights for those of us living in the North of England ) and the wait to pass thru Immigration at McCarran was nearly two hours as well.

Story from British newspapers. Hope you can open the link. As a journalist myself, I’ve spoken to a few people re this already and the view is “stuff the states” plenty of other countries to visit. Your transportation people really are doing their best to wreck your efforts !!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1023821/Britons-visiting-America-register-72-hours-advance.html

I love Vegas but I just can’t do the immigration- Homeland security bit any more.

Regards

Dave Kendall


Ted Responds:

I appreciate the note and understand the hassle. We call the TSA the Transportation Screw-up Administration. And something should be done to speed up the immigration lines here, especially with the number of non-stop international flights.

May I suggest sending the same note you sent me to our local paper as a letter to the editor? They have even an bigger voice than I do (politicians generally don’t read our publication but they read the newspaper).

In fact, I suggest all of our international readers frustrated about this to spend just a couple of minutes doing so. A barrage of complaints will have to be noticed by our newspaper and it might even create extra coverage that the politicians can’t ignore.

Ted Newkirk
CEO, Managing Editor
AccessVegas.com