I’m going to dedicate this post to saving money in Vegas, getting around and other tips.

Water. Bottled water is a rare commodity in the desert, more so than gasoline, which retails for $3 USD a gallon. How about $3.50 USD for a half-liter of bottled water? That wasn’t a typo. So, where to go? There’s a Walgreens conveniently located on the Strip, albeit closer to the southern end near the MGM Grand. Walgreens sells bottled water for about $1.50 USD a liter, plus plenty of other merchandise (including food) at a discounted price. Hey, it’s even open 24 hours.

Food. If you love food, there’s plenty of buffets to choose from at nearly every hotel. Expect to pay upwards of $18 USD per person. That said, you get nearly unlimited portions. Have some pasta, a salad, chow mein, some more pasta and follow-up with some dessert. We found that Treasure Island and the Monte Carlo had fairly decent buffets for the prices we paid. We weren’t impressed with the buffet at the MGM Grand, which was lacking in variety and was overpriced (nearly $32 USD per person) as well. There are plenty of fast food restaurants on the Strip as well, including McDonald’s and Subway. Our favorite restaurant for dinner was Tamba (Indian food).

Commuting. As indicated in my previous post, expect to do a lot of walking. A Vegas block is not the same as a typical city block. One way to save time and commute to other hotels quickly is to use the Las Vegas Monorail. We paid $8 USD for a day pass. It’s one of the best alternatives to a taxi — no extra surcharges and no traffic congestion. Hey, there’s no gratuity fee/tip either! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Shows. All of the Cirque Du Soleil shows are really good. Definitely check them out. We saw Mystere and O. I love how they entertain the audience before the show starts. Remember to wear a cap if you’re bald! Otherwise, someone might decide to come up and wax your bald spot. Watch out for flying popcorn, too. The Variety show at the V Theatre in the Miracle Mile Shops (Planet Hollywood) was entertaining as well. It’s got a bit of everything — comedy, talented performers and more. The theatre itself is a bit small compared to the other venues. If you purchase the Expedia Entertainment pack ($30) with your trip, there’s a buy-one-get-one-free coupon that will pay for one V ticket ($75).

Shopping. There are plenty of places to shop in Vegas: the Forum Shops in Caesar’s Palace, the Miracle Mile Shops (Planet Hollywood), the Fashion Show Mall, exclusive shops inside various hotels and a couple of Premium Outlets. The Forum Shops in Caesar’s Palace and the Las Vegas Premium Outlets were our favorite shopping experiences. At the Premium Outlets, designer fashions (eg. Armani Exchange, Banana Republic, etc) can be had for nearly 50% of their retail prices.

Upon our arrival in Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport, I took a whiff of the air and smelled a combination of alcohol and vomit. My boss had warned me of this. It wasn’t a strong smell, but it wasn’t faint either. Thankfully, we didn’t experience much of the dreaded stench as we quickly gathered our luggage and headed towards the shuttle area outside. Our hotel shuttle (ShowTime) was waiting, and a couple of minutes later we were checked in and sitting in the air conditioned shuttle.

Our hotel, MGM Grand, was the first stop of many on the Strip. I thought people were exaggerating when they stated it took 20 minutes to get from the front lobby to their hotel room. They were. It takes ten minutes. I wasn’t speed walking either. On the other hand, walking from the overhead pedestrian walkways to your hotel room does take approximately 20 minutes.

If you go to Vegas, be prepared to do a lot of walking. On our third day there, we walked from the Stratosphere to the MGM Grand. Yeah, crazy. It was good exercise though. After eating a Vegas dinner buffet, walking should be mandatory. Of course, there’s a monorail that runs from the MGM Grand to the Sahara, but it’s another walking adventure just to reach the monorail stations. I quote the monorail station recording at the MGM Grand, “Using this monorail, you get access to the rear of the hotel that no one else usually gets to see.” Trust me, there’s nothing much back there to see.

Don’t quote me on this, but “drink lots of water!”. You might hear that from staff and other employees. Some people appeared to make a living selling bottled water sitting in the pedestrian walkways: “One dolla! Ice cold water!”

Don’t get me started on the Mexicans handing out stripclub cards along the Strip. I almost smacked one. They don’t appear to care if you are a guy or girl, but insist on making a ridiculous flapping noise and handing you a card. Some guy walking in front of us grabbed one from a guy and tried to hand it back to his friend a couple of meters away. The Mexican hid his hand and ignored him. We ignored them too, but they flapped the cards at us all the more. Thankfully, Las Vegas has crews that clean up the cards on the ground every evening. For the record, we didn’t grab any cards, but I’m sure we walked over quite a few.

If the Mexicans weren’t enough, there are plenty of agents trying to sell timeshares. Agents from various timeshare companies are everywhere. Memorize the following line, you’ll need it if you go to Vegas: “We are leaving tomorrow!” Agents will try various lines from, “Are you married?” to “How long are you in Vegas for?” to “I have a free gift for you, follow me!”. They will promise you free shows and dinners, but you have to attend a high pressure timeshare presentation. Of course, if you walk out of the presentation, you get nothing (well, maybe a drink and a cookie).

Come back soon for some more tips!