Escape to Las Vegas between Major Holidays

December 25-29 yields some of the most reasonable room rates I have ever seen (at reputable hotels) in Vegas. We were able to stay at the Las Vegas Hilton for three nights at , & 39 succesively, and get two free tickets to the Star Trek Experience--normally each--as well as various and sundry other discounts.

Quick Tips:

When looking for cheap, go corporate! (Odd but true.) If you visit ParkPlace.com and click on Las Vegas, you will be able to check package rates for both Hiltons (Flamingo and Las Vegas), as well as Bally's and Paris Las Vegas, more quickly and intuitively than if you went through each property's individual website.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you are staying on The Strip, and are planning on spending all your time there, walk or take taxis. If you stay off The Strip--or if you want to explore the outlying area--and are staying more than 36 hours, always get a car.

The regular guest rooms at this Hilton are spacious, well-kept and--perhaps because of its proximity to the Convention Center--quite geared to the business traveller with a dataport on each of the two phones, reasonable telephone charges, a great deal of dignity and very little romance. Rooms come with either two queen beds or one king; king rooms have a comfortable club chair with ottoman. Rooms also have work spaces by the windows allowing for some lovely views at night. Bathrooms are spacious, though the tubs are functional as opposed to luxurious. These rooms have personal safes but no refrigerator. These Hilton rooms have a superior lighting system. Unlike many hotels, enough different lights, lamps and fixtures are present so that the traveler can get her/his light "just so" for reading, working, etc. One caution: this Hilton has the driest air of any Las Vegas hotel/casino in which I have stayed. If you know that dry air causes you difficulty, I''d recommend staying at the Mirage instead. It was the perfect hotel for this trip because my husband and I were with my parents and they prefer quieter surroundings than most of the Strip properties allow. My parents stayed in the two queen room and we stayed in the king room. Each couple felt that we had enough space to live comfortably for three days.

Whenever I go to Las Vegas, I make sure to stop in and have a meal at Quark's at the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. The food, American with a touch of Asian fusion, is consistently quite good, plentiful, and reasonably priced. Furthermore, Ferengi and Klingons abound, and the bartenders mix up very fine "foofy drinks" with Trek-inspired names. The waitstaff appears to be human, but members of other alien races walk about the dining area making conversation (in character) with patrons. If you are worried about being allowed to eat in peace, don't be--the aliens have a very good sense of when they their company has grown "enough." I once had a perfectly productive casual business lunch at Quark's; after a two-minute chat about the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, the natives left us to work and enjoy the food. Alternately, I have seen alien-staff spend up to 15 minutes at a time entertaining young, enthusiastic tourists. The first time I visited Quark's, in 1996, I went because I wanted the full "Star Trek experience." Since, I've returned even without at stop at the exhibits because I love to eat the food--especially the Talaxian Turkey Wrap and the crab cakes appetizer. While I would not guide someone who hates the Star Trek shows to Quark's, don't let the name fool you--you're still eating at a Hilton. Further, Quark's is a very kid-friendly environment that has a much better grown-up menu than most other kid-friendly destinations in Las Vegas.

I was astonished that dinner at the Las Vegas Hilton buffet was only $10.95. Compared to some buffets on The Strip that clock in at about $20, this is an amazing deal. The food is delectable and the Hilton generally does not skimp--the meat in Beef Bourguignon was excellent, the vegetarian dishes were varied and plentiful, and the salad looked fresh in the dead of winter. I believe the overall quality of hot food was superior to the MGM's buffet. My one complaint was that the breaded shrimp, while delicious, were very scarce on actual shrimp meat...as I wrote above, they generally do not skimp...overall, $10.95 for this quality of food is a genuine deal.

The Spa at the Las Vegas Hilton is well-equipped and reasonably priced. The staff is cheerful and friendly and handles multiple questions from new visitors gracefully. It is much more luxurious than the standard business-class hotel exercise room and spa but less lush than the seasoned spa habituee will want. The Regis Salon (a ubiqutous chain in Vegas) at this Hilton has well-mannered desk staff an especially good hair stylist named Michael.

The Venetian's Guggenheims are actually two separate exhibits with two separate entry fees.

The Guggenheim-LV installation through June 2002 is The Art of the Motorcycle. This exhibit originally opened in New York in 1998; my brother, a motorcyclist, was so thoroughly blown away by it that I knew I needed to see it eventually. My parents, husband and I started with the Motorcycle exhibit. This is a LARGE exhibit, fascinating in varying degrees for different members of our party. My mother lost interest first; her interest in history was tickled by the very old bikes from the late 19th century and she was intrigued by the advances in paint and aerodynamics, but ultimately, she was not interested in scrutinizing each model. She went to relax by the computer stations on one side of the upper floor of the exhibit. My husband and I had equal interest in the technological developments. I found out that I really favor Indian bikes and my husband now wants a Harley. We felt ourselves fizzling by about 1986, agreeing that we didn't know enough about motorcycles to appreciate contemporary adjustments and subtle changes to styles. My father, being the most mechanically savvy of us all, went through the exhibit at a much more leisurely, contemplative pace. We did not feel strained waiting for him, however. We had each other, ample seating and a cool DVD system to putter around on until he caught up with us. If you are a true connoisseur of the motorcycle you might take well over two hours there. Maybe all day!

The Guggenheim Masterpieces and Master Collections is a laudable collection of Impressionistic through Early Modernist works. Currently, the rotating installation features the "Guggenheim Hermitage" a joint exhibit with works on loan from the Hermitage. We saw all 45 paintings in an hour or so. As we are used to the Met, and I have been to the actual Hermitage, it felt like an enjoyable mini-blip of a museum. This should not discourage frequent museum-goers; there were Chagall and Picasso there we had never before seen (and may never see again, truly.)

Unless you are going on a Monday or Tuesday during a non-convention week, I heartily recommend buying tickets in advance. You may buy online by navigating www.venetian.com, but I was unable to get the site to give me the $5.00 discount for buying tickets to both exhibits so I called: 866-GUGG-TIX. Each exhibit is $17.75 for adults without discount. The service charge for each reserved ticket is $2.75, basically, you almost break even and are assured of being able to enter the museum at your preferred time. Ultimately, we paid $152.50 for four double admissions, picking up our tickets at Will Call, bypassing the line. We reserved 2 pm entry for Motorcycle and 4 pm for Hermitage; that works out just right with a bite in between. With no snack, I'd put 90 minutes between entry times, if doing Motorcycle (casually) first.

Las Vegas is without question one of the easiest tourist desintations to visit on wheels, but since most of the hot spots have been built within the last decade and they are intended for visitors, I have very high standards for accessibility. There is no reason that new architecture should not be fully and conveniently accessible.

If you do a search for "accessibility Las Vegas" on most search engines, you will find a few pages whose writers assure you that it is no problem to visit as a tourist with wheels. After my first wheeled sojourn, I can report that overall it is quite possible and enjoyable, but it is truly more of a challenge to visit Las Vegas on wheels than to visit it on feet. A little preparation and some intestinal fortitude can really pay off.

McCarran airport, as with most airports, is possessed of corridors wide enough to accommodate my scooter. The tram from the United terminal to the is navigable, but be careful if the tramcar is full! Because the cars have floor-to-ceiling poles for passengers to hold, a wheelchair/scooter passenger must either park themselves in the middle of the aisle or in front of a door. Either can lead to being leaned on or bumped into. Also, I immediately gave up on the idea exiting through the door opposite the one through which I had entered, and instead positioned myself to exit through the next door ahead of me. This is a good strategy for subways/trams in general, but can confuse one's nonwheeled companions, as they will be accustomed to leaving through the counterpart to the entry door. The elevators at McCarran have a lot of signs announcing that there ARE elevators: this is different from elevators being "well-marked." Keep your head up and look for shiny doors. The elevators themselves are of an excellent size.

Each taxi company in Las Vegas is required to have a couple of wheelchair-accessible vehicles. If you are able to get out of your chair, there are also a great many vans and Ford Explorers that can hold the mobility equipment in the cargo area. In three days, I ran into only one cabbie who did not want to "deal with it." Aside from this brute, I found the cabbies very professional and willing to help my husband lift my scooter into their vehicles. However, nothing beats a taxi equipped with a lift...if you can plan a few minutes ahead and have the taxi valet at your hotel call for one of these, I absolutely recommend it. The lift changes the pleasant taxi experience from a bit of a gamble to a sure thing.

The Las Vegas Hilton is well-equipped with completely accessible rooms, but I try to stay in regular rooms, leaving the others available to guests who have greater mobility problems than I do. If you stay in a standard room at this Hilton with a scooter/wheelchair, I recommend a room with one king bed. This configuration has a great deal of floor space in which to zoom around. It is possible to get a scooter into the two queen bed room (where my parents stayed) but it necessary to park somewhere by the wall, as the second bed is taking up a majority of zooming-space. The elevator in this Hilton are just fine and the layout of the casino is very nice; the ramps are in plain sight and most of the slot machines have unattached seating, so it is possible to scootch the casino's chair out of the way to wheel up to them.

The Venetian is another matter. The best way I can describe it is to say that the property's two parts, hotel and casino, have very different personalities. The elevators in the residential section are extremely easy to find and large enough to accommodate a wheelchair/scooter plus family members. The rooms, which I have visited but not stayed in, are capacious and well-suited to traveling with mobility equipment. The Guggenheims, which I discuss generally in another entry, have excellent access. Timed reservations to the exhibits ensure that the wheeled patron is not stuck behind a gaggle of standing people. The casino is more of a challenge. Elevators in this section are few and far between, forcing one's companions on foot to slog long distances, and the Grand Canal shops are true-to-life in that it is impossible to wheel in a straight line; a bench, person, curve in the path, or little statue is bound to pop up every few feet. Additionally, the railing to the canal itself, where gondoliers are singing to floating tourists, is just about at head-height for the seated tourist. I am not at all claustrophobic but I noticed that the combined noise, obstructions, and visual cut-off made me tired very quickly and we left after about ten minutes--no shopping done there, the Venetian's loss. Sincerely, if your desire to is to shop Burberry and Mikimoto at the Venetian on wheels, do yourself a favor and book your room there so you have someplace close to decompress afterwards. (That, or stay at Ceasar's and shop the Forum which I find a lot less tiring, believe it or not.)

So, keep some Chex Mix or a candy bar in your bag and a screw-top bottle of your favorite drink in your basket, remember to ALWAYS bring a sweater, attach your sense of humor firmly to your chin, and hit Vegas on wheels. A few barriers aside, I had a lot of fun without being a burden on my non-wheeled family members.