Las Vegas is an exciting, vibrant place to visit and to most people the main reason for travelling here is to visit the casino’s and all they have to offer. The Las Vegas strip which is the most famous part of Las Vegas is home to many casinos where you can gamble and enjoy yourself.
Many people think of a casino as just somewhere to gamble, but of course there’s a lot more to the casinos of Vegas than just gambling. Most are hotel complexes where you can enjoy an evening show of dancing ladies (or men), musicals, magic shows, and broadway style shows too.

They all want to draw you in, and so if you walk down the strip you can see spectacular shows designed to entertain you like at the Bellagio where they have a fountain which through the evening at regular intervals has a show of water, music and lights, or at the Mirage where they have an artificial volcano that ‘erupts’ through the evening spilling pina colada scented smoke out into the vicinity.

Las Vegas is home to the tallest free standing observation tower in America. Stratosphere towers (a regular casino and hotel on its lower levels), has a high up observation tower where you can see far out over Vegas and the surrounding area. There’s also a revolving restaurant up there called ‘Top of the World’ where you can eat whilst slowly revolving round to enjoy the views of city, desert and mountains, as well as several rides – The Big shot, a reverse bungee jump shooting you 160 feet up in the air at 45 miles per hour. Sky jump which is a controlled descent bungee jump style ride that plummets down 855 feet before landing you safely at the bottom, and Insanity, where you’re dangled off the edge of the tower and then spun in a circle while the ground revolves waaaay below you.

Although most of the activity is on the Las Vegas Strip, there are other places in and around Las Vegas worth visiting. There’s Madame Tussauds with its famous waxworks. The Shark Reef Aquarium with 15 different types of shark as well as many other animals. And away from the buzz of the city, out in the dessert, you can visit the El Dorado Canyon Mine where you can take a tour of a real gold mine and find out what it was like back when mining was the main industry for the area. If you’ve got the money to spend, or have a big win at the casinos, you could also take a Las Vegas Space flight. It’s not quite a space ship, but the Boeing 727’s that go up here, go high enough that they can perform a series of moves that give passengers the chance to experience true weightlessness, even if it’s only for a very brief period.

I have always dreamed of going to New York….the thought of walking around one of the most famous cities in the world and seeing where my favouite series ‘Friends’ was filmed is just a dream come true.

When I managed to find cheap flights to New York, I obviously jumped at the chance and booked straight away….and so I was halfway to fulfilling my dream. The time went by and I found myself at the airport waiting to board my United Airlines flight to New York JFK. I don’t like flying very much and it was my first long haul journey, but it wasn‘t that bad. The flight took about 8 hours and I was impressed with the service. I wore flight socks and went well prepared with earplugs and a sleeping mask…so I managed to sleep during the whole trip. Arrival at JFK International Airport was quite daunting, but after all the immigration procedures I was loose in New York. Yellow cabs, bright lights and skyscrapers surrounded me. I loved it. It was just like what you see at the cinema.

I stayed in a hostel, Hotel The Pod, and it wasn’t bad at all. The location is excellent and I had my own private room, but had to share a bathroom. I would highly recommend it to anyone travelling to New York on a budget. The rooms are spotless, comfortable and the hostel is within walking distance of the Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Central Park, Madison Avenue Shops and the Empire State Building.

I had planned my trip well and read up on the city, transport, restaurants and nightlife before I left. I think that it is really important because it helped me make best use of my time in the city. Some of the highlights during my stay in New York were taking a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry and seeing the Statue of Liberty, and going for an early morning run around Central Park.

I really felt the need for a little relaxation and had heard some really good things about a long weekend in the Bahamas. The price for round-trip airline travel from our home to the Bahamas, coupled with the hotel and tour costs once we go there, turned out to be just a little too much strain on our family budget. I thought I’d have to settle for a weekend at a beach motel, until I found out that cruises to the Bahamas were available out of Charleston, South Carolina. I had never before taken a cruise, and were a bit apprehensive. As it turned out, the cost of the cruise was cheaper than the round trip airline flight to the Bahamas and the hotel accommodations.

I got to Charleston, and the boat, sorry ship, was my home for the trip, and all the food I could eat was included in the cost of the cruise. It turned out to be one of the best vacations I had. After only one full day and night on the cruise ship, a separate but delightful story, we arrived refreshed to experience our Bahamian adventure.

Freeport, our first stop, is a paradise for golfers with one of the most truly impressive golf courses in the world. Freeport is a pit of temptation for shoppers interested in electronics and fine jewelry. Fortunately, our ship’s departure warning whistle saved us from spending too much before we resumed our cruise to Nassau.

Nassau became my home base for two days of strolling, shopping, eating, and touring. I took a horse drawn carriage tour of the city and its suburbs, visited an old Spanish fortress. A stopover on the highest hill on the island offered a spectacular view of the integration of lush beauty of the land and its white sandy beaches with the crystal blue water that embraced it. During the second day of my visit we toured the adjacent waters in a glass bottomed boat to enjoy watching the colorful and exotic sea life.

Despite the abundance of food available on the ship, I managed to spend considerable time enjoying my hobby of sampling new foods. It was only the short duration of our trip that saved me from a lifetime of obesity. The cruise back to Charleston was an enjoyable mirror of the trip to the Bahamas, but flavored with the sadness or returning instead of the anticipated joy of arrival. In memory, the cruise and visit to the Bahamas was a delight which we hope to someday repeat.

After 50 years of marriage my life had settled into a comfortable groove. Iíve been lucky enough to find a person who craves the peace and security I love. Unfortunately, our lifestyle has stagnated a little recently and I got the impression that my wife needed a break from the monotony of everyday life. What she hadn’t realized was that for years I’ve been sneaking money into a holiday fund and planned on surprising her on the anniversary of our first date. I’d even chosen our destination: New York.

When you imagine New York you see lights, glamor and shopping. Living the Sex and City high life was exactly what my wife needed to bring a bit of spark back. I must admit, I was a little apprehensive about the costs of flights as my experience with transatlantic travel was pretty limited and I wanted a good price. To my surprise the flight deals were reasonable and very easy to book and when we were actually on the plane we were made very comfortable.

We explored Downtown and Midtown Manhattan for awhile then hopped into a world famous yellow cab and experienced some of the world famous New York gridlock. The driver was friendly though and actually ended up giving us an unofficial tour on our way to the hotel. Now, having worked in hotels for many years I know that it can be a bit of a lottery finding a decent hotel abroad and especially in large cities. We had booked into a hotel opposite Madison square gardens as it was cheap and we wanted to save our money for shopping, after all we didn’t plan on spending time there except for sleeping. I was pretty shocked by the standard of the hotel. We were expecting a Holiday Inn style place but the hotels in New York are renowned for grandeur and this was no exception!

I was a little nervous arriving in the room. This was the most vital part of my plan. I had secretly stuffed 2 of our suitcases with shredded newspaper and hidden a present in each. My wife’s passion (except for me of course) is the theater. We regularly go to the West End in London to see our favorite plays and musicals. So she was thrilled at the theatre tickets she found in the first case. It took her longer to find the other present but when she opened the box to find a diamond ring she had tears in her eyes. Now I’m no writer but I’d like to see Sex and the City top that!

-From my work friend John