Need a last minute break? Vegas awaits you on the cheap!

by Scott Carmichael on

Is the cold weather already getting to you? How about a nice getaway to Vegas?

If you are able to find a decent airfare (good luck with that), then you can stay at the Monte Carlo starting at just $44. The deal even includes 2 buffet vouchers per night and $10 in slot play.

The $44 rate is of course only available on select dates, but when you check their availability overview, you’ll be able to find plenty of reasonably priced nights.

Of course, the period starting on January 7th goes way up, thanks to the International CES being held in Vegas that week.

Vegas has always had its fair share of good deals, but those often involve places off the strip, or places you could not be paid enough to stay at. Monte Carlo is a very nice property, and has enough on location to keep you entertained for the duration of your stay.

The deal can be found here, just click on “view available dates” to see when you’ll be able to snag one of the best prices.

Tips for hotel fire safety

by Catherine Bodry on

My mom was a flight attendant and spent a lot of time in hotels. On one such stay, a fire broke out where she was staying and ever since then she’s been very aware of evacuation routes in hotels. When I left for my round-the-world trip, her advice to me was to make sure that my guesthouses, many of which weren’t likely held to any fire codes and/or didn’t have smoke detectors, had more than one way out. She also suggested getting rooms on floors near the ground so I could escape through a window on my own. I had never even considered fire safety before, but her advice made sense and I think it was sound information to send me on my way with.

I thought of her advice in a hotel on Phuket, Thailand. I stayed on the top floor, the 6th, and my room had tiny slits for windows up near the ceiling. I laughed to my friend, “My mom would kill me if she saw this room.” Days later the tsunami hit and although I had left by then, had I stayed it’s possible that being on the 6th floor would’ve saved my life. Nevertheless, fires are much more common than tsunamis, and with the Vegas Monte Carlo fire yesterday, now is a good time for travelers to look around and check out their hotels’ escape routes. Here are some more tips from the L.A. Times:

  • Make sure your room’s smoke detector is working.
  • If a fire breaks out outside your room, feel your door before opening it to make sure it isn’t warm.
  • If you can’t leave your room, call the hotel operator or fire department (this works better if you’re in a room with phones!)
  • Wet sheets and towels and place them under your door to keep smoke out.
  • Hang a sheet from your window to alert rescuers where you are.

Do you have any tips to share?

Top 10 gambling destinations

by Martha Edwards on

I’ve never been much of a gambler. Maybe it’s because I’m cheap and parting with money that I’m probably not going to get back just doesn’t seem like a good idea, or maybe it’s because I’m not much of a risk taker. Nonetheless, lots of people love to gamble and as long as they’re not sending themselves into serious debt, all the power to them. But where does one go to gamble? The casino down the road is a bit boring .. and smelly. You could head to Vegas, but everyone does that. According to MSNBC, here are the top 10 gambling destinations in the world:

  • Aruba
  • Atlantic city
  • Goa, India
  • Macau, just off the coast of China (It’s just like Vegas, apparently)
  • Mississippi Gulf Coast
  • Monte Carlo
  • Nassau and Paradise Island
  • Niagara Falls
  • Sun City, just outside of Johannesburg in South Africa

I guess it shows how much of a gambler I am — I’ve never been to any of these places, other than Niagara Falls (but I went there for Maid of the Mist, not the slots)

The Worst Place to Be Poor

by Iva Skoch on

Not that there is a particularly good place to be poor, but there are places that just rub it in. Take Monaco, for example. The country of 32,000 people (the world’s most densely populated country) boasts more millionaires per capita than any other country.

They like backpackers there about as much as insects, and let’s face it, in Monaco there is no place to hide flip-flops and a backpack no matter how hard one tries.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful. It’s just that you would have to be a masochist to try to stay here on a budget. Even the casino in Monte Carlo charges an entrance fee. Thankfully, it’s small enough (not even one mile across) that you can see most of it, or at least the parts accessible to the public, in a couple of hours. But that’s exactly the problem with “doing” Monaco: while you can see it, you cannot “do” it.