L-"Hi, I'm Lauren Presley for howdini.com. Today we're talking with Pauline Fromer, the creater of the Pauline Fromer travel guides, and today we're going to Vegas! Hi Pauline"
P-"Hi"
L-"What's the expression, 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas'?"
P-"Right"
L-"But you're bringing Vegas to us, and we really appreciate that.
It's an exciting place to travel, but I'm not sure I should bring my kids. What are your thoughts on that?"
P-"I don't think it's a very family friendly destination. Although you can take kids there. There are amusement parks, and kid friendly shows, and of course the desert outside of Vegas is spectacular and really great for kids."
L-"Oh, I'd love to touch on that a little bit, places to go besides the city and the casinos. Is Hoover Dam still a great place to day trip to?"
P-"Hoover dam is a great place, the Valley of Fire is, is fabulous to see - filled with ancient hieroglyphs by the Native Americans who lived there. There's also red rock canyon, which is one of the top rock climbing destinations in the world, and believe it or not Vegas now has some very good museums. If you're a culture maven you can go to the Atomic Testing Museum, which is an offshoot of the Smithsonian, and tells the fascinating story of all the atomic bomb testing that was done in the vicinity of Vegas. You can also go to the Guggenheim at the Venetian which has wonderful exhibits. There's also a terrific contemporary art museum. There's a spectacular museum devoted to the history of the area. It's not all gambling there."
L-"Well there's also eating. Tell us about the great package deals. You always hear about Vegas has these wonderful deals where you get free food as well as housing and gambling money, do they exist?"
P-"I'm not that big a fan of the food in Vegas, I may be a New York snob, but I find it overpriced and not all that good all the time. There are some excellent food values in Vegas, but they tend to be where the locals eat - off the strip. On the strip, it's getting harder and harder to eat for less than thirty dollars per meal and because everything has to be flown in there - you're in the middle of the desert - in terms of freshness and quality I don't think it's worth that pricing."
L-"There are so many great deals out there for Vegas that you told us about. How can we save on our housing? The best way?"
P-"Well you know, believe it or not, you can often bargain for your rooms in Vegas and get the price down. Three percent of all the rooms in the United States are in Las Vegas and so at quiet times of the year, prices plummet and the savvy traveler who asks the right questions can really get a good deal. So how to know how much to say you want your room for? There's a great website called biddingfortravel.com it's where people who bid on Priceline go and spill the beans about how much they paid and what hotel they got. So you go there, you find out, 'Oh, Harrah's is only going for forty-nine dollars.' Call the hotel, ask to speak to a manager, and say, 'I know that you're giving it to Priceline for forty-nine dollars, will you give it to me for forty dollars a night?'"
L-"In your Las Vegas guide, Pauline, you mention the shows and how you can get around to the best ones the least expensive way. Tell us a little bit about the shows in Vegas"
P-"Well, every type of show you can imagine is available in Vegas from the circus spectaculars of Cirque du Soleil to the headliners, such as Wayne Newton - who still has it - I have to say, to Celine Dion to small magic shows to striptease shows. Any interest you have it's going to be fulfilled in Vegas. Because there are so many shows, it's actually pretty easy to get a discount on shows in Vegas. There are several booths along the strip called 'Tix for Tonight' which sell half-price tickets the day of shows. If that makes you nervous, you can go to such websites as broadwaybox.com and get discount codes in advance that allow you to call the box office and get a discount that way."
L-"Good to know. So we've talked about a few things from Vegas: The gambling, the food, the side-trips, the shows. If I were to budget my vacation to Vegas, where would you suggest I focus the most of my money on?"
P-"You know what? It's not where you focus most of your money on, it's when you go. If you can be flexible in when you go to Vegas, you can save literally hundreds of dollars. Vegas is the largest convention destination in the world now. And there are times when literally 50,000 conventioneers will pour into town and prices will spike. So if you go to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Bureau website, you'll find a list of every single convention. I'd say if there are more than 10,000 people coming - and they will list those numbers - stay out of town; prices will rise. And the difference can be between, say, getting a $69 room at the Paris to a $249 room the next week - exact same room."
L-"Well thank you so much Pauline, it's been nice going to Vegas with you"
P-"Thank you."
