Great time to go to Vegas

Have plans for a summer vacation yet? Why not Las Vegas?!? You're probably thinking, "it's too expensive, and I can't afford to lose money gambling." Well, consider this: Las Vegas is a lot more than gambling, and a trip to Sin City can offer you free entertainment, great restaurants at great prices, and lots of other ways to save you money while you enjoy your time away from "the real world."

And, to make matters even better, room rates are very reasonable. Check out the Las Vegas Advisor's Room Rate Survey. Also, be sure to stay tuned to their Question of the Day. I am currently working on a new one about booking a trip to Las Vegas, including a lot of money-saving ideas.
You'll probably find some great bargains for the rest of this year, but particularly between now and Labor Day. Think about it. You’ve probably been working hard all year. When was the last time you got away from it all?

Don’t you deserve it?

I’m already planning my next trip. It won’t be this year (I’ve already been), but it won’t be long after we ring in 2009. That’s right, I like to plan ahead. Saves me $$, too, planning in advance. I know what I like when I go to Vegas, so planning my trip simply means checking out a few travel and airline websites to see who can give me the best price.
How do I know what to look for? I’ve been to Las Vegas enough to know what kind of vacation I want when I get there. Before I book my trip, I ask myself a few essential questions, and then once I have the answers I can easily start hunting for the best prices. I discuss these essential questions in great detail in my book, and in fact I refer to my book and my website a lot when I’m getting ready to plan a trip to my favorite city.

The great thing about Vegas is I never have the same experience twice. So even if I plan ahead, I’m going to have a different kind of fun each time I go. When the plane makes its final decent into Vegas, I see the Strip, downtown, and the outskirts from the little window. Then I step off the plane and hear all that noise in the airport. Somehow, I know I’m where I’m supposed to be even if I don't know what lies ahead. There’s nothing like it!

Viva,
Mike

Coming Attractions

Before I get into the exciting news, I wanted to mention that I read where Spamalot had its last performance at the Wynn this week. I never got a chance to see it there, unfortunately, because I heard it was a good show. So, the Wynn's only show right now is La Reve ("The Dream"), which is a cirque-like aquatics production.

Ok now for the exciting news. Coming soon, I'll be giving away one cool Las Vegas-themed luggage tag every month to a lucky winner! "What will I have to do to win one" you ask? Simple. Go to my site and log in as a member. Fill out the survey on the Members page, and you will be able to enter your name for the free drawing. I will be putting the picture of the luggage tag up on the site soon, and once I have the luggage tags in hand, I'll set up the survey so that you can enter your name to win. But until I have that done, please poke around on the website and feel free to take the survey now (you can take it again later to win the luggage tag) and comment on the site/book/blog.

Thanks and good luck!
Viva,
Mike

News n' Notes

Hi Vegas fans,

After a brief respite (well, not respite, really, as I was feverishly responding to questions about my book/website as a result of answering the Las Vegas Advisor Question of the Day on July 3rd... more on that in a minute), I'm back.

In the "News" department, look for the Bodies and Titanic exhibits to move from the Tropicana to the Luxor in early August. The Luxor has a press release about the Bodies exhibit, and I'm sure they'll have one soon about Titanic, too.
Ticket prices at the Tropicana are currently $31 for Bodies and $27 for Titanic. Both shows are open 10 am to 10 pm.

In the "Notes" department, I was really proud and honored to answer a Question of the Day on the Las Vegas Advisor. For those of you who don't know, the QoD is a great, free feature of the LVA, which is an awesome website that has everything from soup to nuts about Vegas. The QoD changes every day, and every week they also have a new reader poll. The July 3rd QoD was about sports and sporting venues, and I provided some links and info regarding the city's best bets and the most popular events.

The response was terrific. First, a lot of people wrote to the LVA and commented, and some mentioned that I left out a few things. As a result, I updated my response, and it will be posted as another QoD later this month. Stay tuned.

Second, I had a lot more traffic on the website that day, of course, and a bunch of folks filled out the Questionnaire for a Free Itinerary. I personalize these itineraries, and so this took me a little while. Of course, I was happy to do it and will continue to do it for anyone who submits the form on the website. I was also fortunate enough to sell a few books (PDFs from the website), which was cool. And more Kindle owners are looking at SLV on Amazon.com, too. Very cool!

I'm so excited about the website, the blog, the book(s), and all things Vegas. I'm definitely getting more interest... but still not as much feedback as I'd like. Here's where you come in!! Please comment on the blog, fill out the survey regarding the website, or talk about anything regarding Las Vegas. If you don't want to do it in a public forum, feel free to email me. I encourage all comments, criticisms, complaints, etc., so please send me your thoughts. I'm all ears.

Thanks and have a great week!

Viva,
Mike