Haysie1

I was lucky enough to get to go to Las Vegas for work about 6 years ago. It was one of those places that looks so familiar because you see it on TV and in films so much (just think about the James Bond scenes for example).
When I arrived late at night the taxi driver took me up the Strip instead of the usual route (apparently) and I got to drive passed the famous landmarks from the airport up to my hotel (the historic Flamingo). He even stopped and opened the door so I could get a better view of the Bellagio fountains. Wonderful.
I only got one day on my own to explore and walked from the Flamingo down to the Luxor, went for a coffee in their Starbucks, walked through the neighbouring hotel (can’t remember the name, looks like a castle). Went shopping in Caesar’s Palace Mall (the Warner Bros shop was worth it just for the Roman-ised Elmer Fudd and Sylvester outside). Walked down towards the other end of the strip passed the StarDust sign. It was fascinating to see the older hotels being torn down and the new ones going up in their place.
What really suprised me was how good it looked in daylight – I’d assumed it would look tacky and cheap without the neon but I actually liked it better. It didn’t hurt that it was gloriously sunny and warm in November!
If I go again, I’d want to stay in either the Luxor or the Venetian. Can’t imagine wanting to do more than a few days (unless you are into gambling seriously) and not really a lot for kids that I could see. Well worth a stop-over if you are going that way anyway though.

We went for just 1 week and didn’t manage to do all we wanted to (go past Mount Fuji on the Shinkansen for example).
There were places where it was difficult to tell you weren’t in any other overbuilt industrialised city. And then there were things that you would only expect to see in Tokyo and/or Japan.
We shopped for kimonos in Ginza and electricals in Akihabara, took the monorail out to Odaiba and looked back into Tokyo harbour as dusk fell, went up the Fuji observatory, rode the Ferris wheel in Palette Town. We watched the cosplay at Harajuku, saw two wedding parties at the Meiji Shrine, bought gashapon capsules from vending machines, tried Japanese green tea (and didn’t like it), ate fresh sashimi with the office workers, went up the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, and up the Mori Roppongi building. Visited the Edo-Tokyo Museum to learn more about the city. Woke up to open the blinds to either the Tokyo Tower or the Mori building (depending on the room). Shopped at Nissin foods, bought Japanese beer, cheered the Japanese national football squad as they prepared for the World Cup. Rode the subway with Salary-Man, talked to grandmothers (well as best we could between us). Learned to be treated as completely different. Learned to say please and thank-you in shops, learned not to pass money straight into people’s hands. Walked a lot, learned to change at Ginza for the Hibya line.
Would we go again? It grabs you like nowhere else I’ve been before. I’ll be devastated if we never go back.

I’ve been lucky enough to be able to visit Manhattan twice, once in summer and once in winter.
The 1st time we went I was worried about all the usual things (I’ve grown up on American TV same as most people my age) and whether there would be much to entertain the kids. We all loved it and found it to be safe, welcoming, quite European in feel and the residents were lovely.
The winter visit was over New Year and with the ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza as well as in Central Park it looked like an amazing film set. The weather was unseasonably mild (the kids were hoping for snow, so that was a slight disappointment for them!). Again, very safe, welcoming and friendly. The only ‘rudeness’ we encountered was in the diners where staff could be a little abrupt.
Would recommend to anyone, it’s great with kids of all ages and there’s something there for everyone. Do go up The Rock – the views are wonderful. The Statten Island ferry is free and the views, again, are fantastic. Central Park is great, the subway is really good once you get used to how it works. MoMA is well worth queuing or getting there early. Shop at Century 21 for some great bargains. Eat Ray’s Pizza and Junior’s cheesecake, drink Brooklyn beer!