Starling Travel

While we were being misled by timeshare people at the Excalibur Hotel, the rest of my family stayed at Hooters Hotel and Casino just down Tropicana Blvd. Here is what their SWAG looked like on 08-09-07:

Looks amazing compared the the Excalibur SWAG, right? Yeah… it does. In the collection, was a grooming kit. Here is what the grooming kit looks like when you open it up:

My family really enjoyed staying at Hooters Hotel and Casino. Considering how scantily clad most of the cocktail waitresses are in Las Vegas, Hooters is actually pretty tame. I liked the laid-back island atmosphere. Since we were so angry at Excalibur, we ended up spending all our time at Hooters instead.

If you have taken pictures of Hotel SWAG, please share them with us on Flickr:

• Flickr: Hotel SWAG

Or you can contact me and I can post them here and give you credit for it:

• Contact Laura Moncur

Last month, we took a quick trip to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. Here is how the SWAG was presented on 08-09-07:

We were less impressed with Excalibur this time than the previous times we’ve stayed there.

When we arrived, we were exhausted. Loaded down with suitcases, we headed to the registration counter. A friendly lady approached us and asked if we were checking in. We told her yes and she told us to follow her.

She led us down the hall over some stairs (lugging our suitcases up the stairs) and to a timeshare desk!

The registration desk was in the complete opposite direction. When we realized we were at the wrong place, I asked, “Are you just trying to sell us timeshares?!” The lady at the counter said, “No, I’m trying to give you free tickets to a show.” I can’t believe she lead us the wrong direction and watched us lug our heavy suitcases up those stairs. I was so angry, I wanted to leave the hotel, but we had already paid for our room, so we checked in.

When are the Las Vegas hotels going to learn that the timeshare people are just pissing off their customers? We’re skipping the Excalibur next time we go to Vegas.

If you have taken pictures of Hotel SWAG, please share them with us on Flickr:

• Flickr: Hotel SWAG

Or you can contact me and I can post them here and give you credit for it:

• Contact Laura Moncur

I never stayed at the Stardust hotel. I never even went inside it. I had a friend who used to swear by it, but now it is gone. You can see a film of the implosion here:

They have never blown up a hotel that I have stayed in. I live in fear for the day that they implode my beloved Luxor Hotel. I can’t bear to think about the beautiful black pyramid sinking into a heap of rubble and iron and broken glass. The way things are going, I can foresee it happening and I don’t want to think about it.

Apparently, all the Las Vegas hotels are filling up fast for July 7th, 2007. I am usually a numbers obsessive, but this date slipped right past my notice this year. 777 is a lucky number for some, so the date of 07/07/07 is filling the Vegas hotels. Or… is this article from World Hum just bogus?

• World Hum | Travel | July 7, 2007: The Magic Date

I checked the hotel reservation calendar for The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. This is the current listing for July. I highlighted the 7th, and the hotel room costs about as much as it usually does in July. In fact, it’s a few bucks cheaper than the following weekend.

If hotels were really filling up and booking fast for 07/07/07, then the hotel rate would reflect that. The rates for the Luxor during CES were well over $200. It sounds like World Hum’s article is more about selling hotel rooms than about what’s really going on.

Sure, there might be a run on the hotel rooms when it gets closer to July, but it’s not happening right now. I like to think that we humans are less superstitious than you make us out to be…

Nestled in the Fremont Street Experience is a quiet and unassuming casino called Mermaids, its neon beckoning to weary travelers…

Okay, no matter how I write this it’s going to sound WRONG. Mermaids is a gaudy and bright casino that hands out metallic beads to the tourists passing by. It is loud and crowded, but compared to the horrible monstrocity of The Fremont Street Experience, it is a quiet and beloved haven.

We had been bombarded with noise, light and bad acting on Freemont. There was only one thing that could make this trip worth it: Deep Fried Oreos…

We had taken in our fill of the Neon Sign Museum and had enjoyed it thoroughly, but the rest of Freemont Street was an unenjoyable mess. Instead of the exciting walks down the Las Vegas Strip, all the “excitement” coming from Fremont Street was artificial. The people there were assaulted with noise and lights. They weren’t happily talking about their win at the slot machine. It was impossible to have a conversation without yelling. When we walked into Mermaids, the ambient casino noise seemed like silence compared to the cacophony outside.

We waited in a long line, trying to figure out if this was THE line for the deep fried Oreos, deep fried Twinkies, foot-long hot dogs and mile long margaritas. Once we realized we were in the correct line, it was a fifteen minute wait just to order. Our deep fried Oreos, came quickly after ordering, though.

If you have ever dipped an Oreo into warm milk, then you’ve got a good idea of how deep fried Oreos taste. The frying process warms up the cookie and that partially hydrogenated oil in the white stuff warmed up to a tasty frosting consistency. It was good, but I only needed one bite before I was finished. Luckily, we shared.

We didn’t order the hot dog, but this gentleman was kind enough to let me take a picture of his. Frankly, I think I would have liked the hot dog with all those jalapeno peppers better than the greasy Oreos.

We have never been back to Fremont Street since. The only thing enticing us was the deep fried Oreos, but even their delicious and greasy goodness isn’t enough to entice us back to the noisy mess of The Fremont Street Experience.

Where: Mermaids Casino: 32 E Fremont Las Vegas, Nevada Google Map Phone: 702-382-5777

I only had one thing on my list for this trip to Las Vegas. I wanted to see the Neon Museum that’s on Fremont Street. I had never been to the Fremont Street Experience, which is a travesty since I’ve been to Las Vegas so many times. There were only two interesting things at the Fremont Street Experience. One of them was Deep Fried Oreos at Mermaids and the other was the Neon Museum.

• Neon Museum – Las Vegas, NV

There is no charge to wander the dark area just off Fremont Street. I would have felt unsafe, but there was a security guard there, so I let my guard down and took out my camera to take pictures. The signs are anything but PC with depictions of scantily clad women, Indians and “smokin’ good times,” but I love them all anyway. Both the neon and the paint were in really good repair. It’s wonderful to see these old signs restored and beautiful.

If you are planning on going, I recommend going at night so you can see them in their fullest glory. A tripod is very helpful to get a steady photograph of the signs, especially since many of them flash on and off. It’s difficult to stay steady AND click at the exact right time, so a tripod is a must for photography.

One note of warning: The Fremont Street area isn’t the safest place to be in Las Vegas. Make sure you secure your valuables, stay alert and go to a busier spot if you are worried about someone following you. On our visit, we had a man follow us half-way to our car. All of us were ready to attack the guy if he had tried anything, but because it was four-to-one, he decided to leave us alone.

Where: The Neon Museum: 821 N Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV Google Map Phone: (702) 387-6366
Admission: Free, outdoor exhibit

The Boneyard is available for photography by appointment only. Next visit to Vegas, I’m shelling out the 50 bucks to see the boneyard!

After our big trip to Texas, I got home and wanted to hide in my house for months. I didn’t even want to think about traveling. I didn’t even want to write entries for Starling Travel about other people traveling. That’s how much I wanted to concentrate on home. It has been a little over two months, and now I’m finally able to think about leaving the house.

So we planned a road trip to Las Vegas over the Thanksgiving weekend! Stay tuned for hopes, plans, ideas and actual footage!

The highlight of our recent trip to Las Vegas was a visit to the Blue Man Group. I had seen their show at the Luxor hotel, but not since they moved to the Venetian. The show was a wonderful surprise!

• The Venetian Las Vegas – Blue Man Group

The Venetian show is different than their “How To Be a Rock Star” tour, of course, but it was also vastly different than the Luxor show. The theater has a smaller and more intimate feel. Part of me desperately wants to be chosen by a Blue Man to be a “victim” in the show. Another part of me just wants to sit back and enjoy things. I somehow think that the “victims” are chosen before the show even starts.

The woman they chose to share their Twinkies with this time around was dressed in traditional Indian garb. With all the problems we’ve had with the Middle East, I felt a certain connectedness with her. Her husband sat near us and laughed lovingly as he watched her discomfort dealing with the three naive mutes at her side.

When they performed “Persistence of Vision,” they said the phrase, “microscopic moments of blindness.” I don’t remember hearing that phrase before when I saw that performance. It was such a beautiful pairing of words that I felt it burn itself into my memory. The dancing sculptures were vibrating before I recovered. I was gorgeous.

When I’ve seen this show before, we had seats in the back, but this time, we were very close to the front. It was a vastly different experience. Not better or worse, just different. When the tubes fell from the ceiling, they surprised me. I thought something was falling on my head. When the paper started coming at us from the back, it looked like a rush of white water heading toward us. When it flowed off the balcony, it looked like whipped cream, alternatively spilling and sticking to the fixtures.

Afterward, they allowed people to have their picture taken with a couple of the Blue Men. I asked for a blue mark on my face and he silently looked at me. He swiped his finger across his own face and then touched my own.

As we waited for the valet to get our car, a stranger looked at me. “I know where you’ve been,” he said knowingly. I smiled happily to myself.

Where:

The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino
3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Phone: 702.414.1000 or 877.883.6423

Blue Man Group Performance Schedule:

MON-FRI 7:30pm
SAT 7:30 and 10:30 pm
SUN 7:30pm

Ticket Prices: $71.50 to $121.00 (and totally worth it!)

While we were in Las Vegas, we stopped at the Vosges Haute Chocolates shop at The Forum Shopes in Caesar’s Palace. Stacey and Dan bought a large box and Mike bought a small box of the expensive treats.

• Vosges Haut-Chocolat – Exotic Chocolate Truffles, Specialty Chocolates & Luxury Chocolates

Sadly they were nothing more enjoyable than the chocolates we can get at home at Xocolate for half the price. Additionally, there are some irritating things about their service that make me want to avoid the store from now on.

• The store has a pretentious feel. I didn’t really feel “rich” enough to buy the chocolates there, even though I have plenty of money. I don’t need a snooty atmosphere to keep my chocolate fresh.

• The girls behind the counter weighed no more than 110 pounds. I have a hard time believing the clerk when she says she eats the chocolate all the time and she is rail thin. I can’t believe her when she says a particular truffle is good because it looks like she has never eaten chocolate in her life.

• They write up a directory for you so you can tell the different truffles apart. That’s great, but if your chocolates drop off of the back of the car and get all jumbled up, that directory is useless. A pre-printed guide with pictures describing each truffle would be MUCH better.

In the end, I liked the chocolates, but they weren’t better than ones I had eaten at half the price. I detested the snooty atmosphere and I’ll probably never go there again.

Where: Google Map
Vosges Haute Chocolates
Forum Shops at Caesars
3500 Las Vegas Blvd South Suite R04
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Ring: 702.836.9866
Hours: Sun-Thurs. 10-11, Fri-Sat. 10-midnight

Las Vegas has been called the wedding capital of the United States because they had 24 hour state offices open to provide wedding licenses. Now, if you want to get married after midnight, you’ll have to get your license before they close.

• ABC News: Vegas Closing 24-Hour Marriage Office

It seems the people of Las Vegas are torn with the decision.

“All the stars come out at night,” Richards said. “People that are high profile, when they come down to Las Vegas to get married, they don’t want to come in the middle of the day when people are around. They like the privacy.”

County officials, who issued 122,259 licenses last year, said the new schedule won’t prevent holy matrimony after midnight, but will just force a little planning to obtain a license in advance.

This change in hours will save the state $200,000 a year in costs to pay employees to man the offices during the late hours, but only affects 4% of the marriages that happen in Las Vegas.

Will the city stay the marriage capital of the the country? Probably. A couple of unmanned hours at the office isn’t going to affect their numbers all that much and nothing can beat the ease to get a license there.