I tried several methods of getting the "best rate". Notably: hotels.com, orbitz.com, vegas.com, aaa.com, and many more. Believe it or not, I found the best rate booking my hotel and round trip airflight from Southwest airlines. I booked two roundtrip flight tickets from Sacramento to Las Vegas and four days/three nights in a suite at the Rio hotel for around $600. Not bad at all.
TRAVEL TO VEGAS:
We left Wednesday which afforded us the luxury of a smooth airport security check. Although I hate flying, the flight in was pleasant and uneventful...oh yeah, and short. A mere one and one half hours at most.
Upon arrival, we quickly retrieved our luggage and found a shuttle which took us to our hotel. The price was $12 each roundtrip (as opposed to $6.50 each, each way). The shuttle ride was around 15 minutes from the airport to the entrance with stops at other hotels to drop off passengers along the way.
HOTEL:
The Rio was a little bit confusing to navigate, but we soon found the check in area, and once again did not have to wait because it was a weekday. (I highly recommend weekday visits as the waiting is limited, prices are better, and everything flows smoothly).
We went up to our room which was a suite. The Rio is an "all-suite" hotel, so the suite was simple, but a suite nonetheless. Located on the fourth floor, we had a view of the Palms and the Gold Coast across the way. The room had a 36" CRT television (a bit antiquated for Vegas), a sofa, chair, desk, coffee table, two telephones, King size bed, nightstands, dual bathroom sinks, refrigerator, full closet, and a full shower bath combination. I would give it 3.5 stars out of 5 possible. Housekeeping was friendly and impeccable (No unfriendly knocks early in the morning, as the housekeepers did heed the Do Not Disturb sign...big plus for my wife and I who love to sleep in together).
DINING:
Notable places where we ate:
RIO
RUBs (Real Urban BBQ)- Excellent grilled food/decent value. The staff was friendly, and the bartender was excellent and personable. I personally ate there twice. The first time I had a pulled chicken sandwich (white meat) $13 which was fantastic. They have a couple of homemade barbecue sauces which are both excellent. The second meal I had was a turkey sandwich $13 which was once again fabulous. The side dish I had with both meals were bbq beans...wow. I actually want some right now while writing this. They were great.
Seafood Buffet- The Rio's seafood buffet is claimed by many to be one of the best in Vegas. We went there for our last night as a "special treat". The price was $40 per person, so I was expecting a fabulous meal. Although the all you can eat lobster was decent, the quality just wasn't there. There were some rude people, one imparticular cut in line (pet peeve of mine). It was worth trying, but I would not go back. My wife and I could have had a much better dinner for $80, and if we would shell out another $40, we could have top of the line cuisine. It was an experience nonetheless.
CAESAR'S PALACE
Mesa Grill- Bobby Flay's restaurant. Usually when there is a wait I leave, but we were told the wait would only be five minutes, so we stuck around. Good move. As we waited in the lounge, Bobby Flay walked right past us. As he approached, I hit my wife and said, "Honey, Bobby Flay." Being the prankster I am, she initially did not believe me until I told her "Quick! Look, you are going to miss him!" Sure enough, she looked and there he was. We are big fans of Bobby Flay, but he seemed busy and focused, so I did not bother him as we knew he was going to have a book signing tomorrow and I was hoping to catch him there. The food was a little pricey, but still fantastic. I had a Pressed Cuban Hamburger $16 which included garlic dijonaisse, ham, cheese, red onions, and is pressed together on a bun. Very satisfying.
PALM'S
Seven Twenty Four- Reasonably priced and decent food. This is a twenty four our seven day per week cafe, but I did have a notable meal there. A Monte Cristo sandwich. If you do not know what a Monte Cristo is, it is french toast with ham turkey and cheese made together as a sandwich. Phenomenal. I usually put strawberry jam on mine, making it absolutely delicious. Try it sometime...you'll like it.
DRINKS:
Some of the places had astronomically priced drinks. For instance, the iBar in the Rio charged $10 for a bloody mary. Outrageous. McFaddens Irish Pub in the Rio put their bloody mary's in a small plastic solo cup (12 ounce) and those were $8.95...ludicrous.
The top of the list for bad values on drinks goes to a restaurant in the Las Vegas Airport:
Jose Cuervo's Taqueleria (Not a misspelling, that is how they spelled it). They served me a bloody mary and charged a whopping $12.95. I could not believe it. I was stunned. The food was less than adequate as the Fresca portion of Taco Bell would be much more preferable than anything they served us. Horrible. I recommend avoiding this place.
Recognize, that Starbucks is typically 1.5x (about) the cost in Vegas as opposed to most people's hometown prices. For instance, I ordered a Banana Chocolate Vivanno, and it was $5.65. Here in Sacramento, California I believe it goes for around $3.95.
ENTERTAINMENT/SHOWS:
As my wife unfortunately used all of her gambling money by the second day of our vacation, I elected to save my money and use it for our trip together. Unfortunately because of this, I missed my opportunity to play in some poker tournaments, but hey Vegas will be there next year. I also wanted to make sure we had enough money for enjoyable meals as opposed to fast food.
Just sightseeing together was fun. An interesting place to check out is the top (51st floor) of the Rio. There is a club called the Voodoo lounge. Phenomenal view. Here is a picture of us from the patio of the Voodoo lounge:
The highlight of our trip, for me, was meeting Bobby Flay. Unfortunately my wife was very tired and sore from walking the strip the day before, so I went alone. She must have been really bad off because I know she is a big fan, and was disappointed to miss Bobby Flay a second time. I purchased two books, one for myself, and one for my wife as it was her birthday. I went to check out the line about an hour before signing, and there were at least one hundred people in line already. I decided to get in line immediately. Before all was said and done there were between 750 and 1,000 people in line. There even was a Guy Fiery look-a-like who was removed by security. I kind of felt sorry for the guy, as he said all he wanted was his book autographed. As I got closer in line, his staff approached and said they wanted the name the autograph should be personalized. I said "Robert King", and they said "First names only." I then said, "The second book is for my wife's birthday, can you have him Mr.Flay write Happy Birthday Allison?" They were adamant with their first names only policy.
As I got up to Mr.Flay and had my picture taken, Bobby greeted me, and I said "Mr. Flay, you don't have to sign my book, but can you please personalize the book for my wife because it's here birthday." He did, and that made my day. Although he seems serious and all business, at least he honored my request, and to the best of my knowledge my wife was the only one who had a customized signature on her book. Oh yeah, and he also signed my book. Really cool.RETURN TRIP:
The return trip was also fairly easy. Leaving on Saturday, we took the shuttle back to the airport. The shuttle personnel are all so helpful and friendly. We sped through the security checkpoint in Vegas. It was really smooth and effortless. The flight back was a little turbulent, but the landing was smooth, and, although the vacation was awesome, it was good to be home.
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