"Las Vegas Love it or Hate it..... " a Las Vegas Travel Page by RAINBOWWINGS

In January 2000 with my brother,sister and brother-in-law we set off on our first States trip together. WeŽd all visited California separately over the years but this was to be our first time in the Big Apple, flying onto LA and ending up in Vegas. Not being big gamblers, other than a yearly flutter on the Grand National, we wondered if weŽd chosen the right place to end our big trip. All I can say is Viva Las Vegas!!! Although the four of us cover three different decades, we absolutely loved every minute of it. Its big, its brash and its beautiful and I wont have a word said against it. We flew into McCarran airport just as the town was putting on her baubles and lighting up, and it was a sight I shall never forget. The hotels couldnt possibly be as big as they looked, but oh yes they were. The MGM with its shimmering green glass overcoat dwarfed the airport. The Luxor called us with its laser beam reaching out into the dark night and all their neighbours shouted "Welcome". We were to stay in the Luxor, the huge black glass pyramid almost at the southern end of The Strip, and couldnt believe our eyes at the 8 lane entrance drive under the Sphinx and up into the reception area. Bell boys took our luggage and directed us to the check-in. With dropped mouths and raised eyebrows we approached the 22 check-in desks. Our rooms were in the West Tower on the 7th floor. No real views but not such a long walk from the entrance of the hotel. We knew weŽd made the right choice to come to Vegas and have been back every year since! Vegas has so much to offer and of our 6 visits the shortest stay was 6 days. We stayed for 10 days on one trip and the taxi drivers thought us mad....as one said "you can lose an awful lotta money in 10 days", so as novices we stuck with the quarter slots and had great fun, and at the end of the holiday we actually came away winning!

Yep this is me winning $20,000 on a slot machine and Id only put $6 dollars in!! WeŽre not great gamblers but will always have a few dollars on the slots.....normally the quarters, but this time I went on a dollar slot and hit the Jackpot! Now believe this if you want but three weeks prior I dreamt of this win, the day 21st June, the hotel, Aladdin, and where abouts in the Aladdin, under the big horses! My family had been told of the dream but really didnt think it was actually going to happen....So a dream come true and I didnt have to rub any lamp!!

Ive just come back after my umpteenth visit and its left me feeling a little sad.
I love Vegas, I adore it but the greedy investors are ruining the fun and glamour just to be bigger and better than their neighbours.
The Strip now resembles the shoreline of Dubai with hundreds of huge cranes filling the skyline. Each one putting together the next hotel or condo or shopping mall which will have more luxurious suites and rooms, more floors for thse rooms, bigger, flashier restaurants, much more casino floor space, so where will it all end? The beautiful Venetian is halfway thru its new tower...the Palazzo, Wynn has almost finished his second tower which resembles another slice of chocolate cake, and the complex being erected next to the Bellagio is astounding with condos, hotels and a shopping mall with airconditioning units bigger than yours or my house!
How big can you build an hotel? What attraction can it have that no-one else does? Perhaps we will soon be blasting off to the moon from a launchpad ontop of the MGM, or feeding a pod of whales in the depths of an artificial ocean.
I liked it as it was....probably its second generation, not the old crumbly casino/hotels on Freemont, but the bright lights of the Luxor which is about to have its Egyptian theme and all its artefacts removed to make it a modern hotel! Leave it! I think the statues and the mummies are great, and theres always a surprise waiting for you round the corner or in the lifts.
I know life goes on and things evolve but please dont spoil it too much....and leave the Luxor alone!!