LA and Las Vegas

Magda

New member
Yes, I have been there twice, and it never seemed very far when driving from Vegas. It probably depends on the amount of traffic on the road. You may be able to find tours that take you to the Grand Canyon and arrange for you to stay one night so you don't have to rush. When you arrive in Vegas, I would check with the hotel you are staying in to see if they can refer you to any tours. If you can't do Grand Canyon, you can definitely find a ton of other stuff to do.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
I'm going to stay at MGM Grand for 5 nights. I would think they'd have plenty of tours coming out from there and shows as well.
 

roundshort

Active member
MGM has KA, a cirque du Soleil, which like all cirque shows is awesome! If you like the Beatles (one of the greatest bands ever, Check out LOVE at The Mirage, it is Killer. Mystere at TI (Treasure Island) is still very cool. But the two best are Blue Man Group and Phantom both at the Venetian. These are all quailty shows, but they all cost a lot!

Vegas is some of the best people watching you can do anywhere in the world. You have everything! Eurotrash, Rednecks, Latin "Ganstas" we will sit and just watcht he people go by! You will h ave a lot of fun in Vegas.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Thanks for the advice everybody. :whip: I'm on the plane in 2 days. So this might be the last time I post for 3 weeks. So behave for the mods while I'm gone. :p
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Comfortable walking shoes! The most important thing your whole family needs to bring to Vegas. Spend a day walking the strip, wandering into casinos. They all kinda smell like ashtrays (except maybe the Wynn), but the decor gambling revenue can buy is awesome.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Yep, did that Modered. Just thanking everyone for their advice and I'm now back home safe and sound. (y) Had a great time, would have been better if it weren't for the food being soooooooo bad in America. I got food poisoning from the MGM Grand. :(
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Anyone miss me????

Yep. VI is back!!! I just got off the plane yesterday. Recovering today. Film school tomorrow. (y) :whip: It's all good. Man, I bought loads of stuff back. I bought two Indy shirts (one Raiders, one Mickey as Indy), an Indy mug (for me to drink my favourite tea, chamomile), an Mickey as Indy baseball, an Temple of Forbidden Eye map and two Indy postcards and a Mickey as Indy riding the ride pin. That was just at the Indy outpost. I also went to Planet Hollywood and found "Snake Surprise" and "Monkey Brains." At Downtown Disney, I found the Grail Knight's sword (no photos of that unfortunately). But, yeah a great adventure that even Indy would have been proud to go on. (y)
 

Kill Cavalry

New member
Heck, I live only a couple hours south of the Indy outpost and I still haven't been there in years...Glad to hear you had a good time!
 

VP

Moderator Emeritus
Miss you? Well not really, since it was only such a short trip. If you had been away for months then perhaps.
 

IndyBuff

Well-known member
I'm glad to hear you had a good trip and got back safely! Those Indy stores are definately addictive.(y)
 

Canyon

Well-known member
Of course!!! :D

Violet, sounds like you had a blast!!! I wish I could have been there! (y)

I bought five Indy tee shirts when I went to Disney in California last year and went on the Indy ride also. :D
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Nice to know I was missed. ;)

@ Jay: Duh!!!

@ VP: You'd actually miss me after a few months.... I'm touched. :p

@ Indybuff: Yeah, they are. I wish they had some down here. It was soooooo hard to choose what to bring home. (y)

@ Canyon: Your kind comments always make me feel at home at the Raven. :hat:
 

Gustav

New member
Welcome back, Violet. Yes, you were missed. I admit it.

So what did you think of Americans? Obviously you experienced a lot of liberty and justice. But tell us about it. What did you think of the way Americans drive, talk, dispense justice, eat fast food? Were there more nice ones than mean ones? That kind of stuff. Compare with Australia.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Sure, glad to. Unfortunately, I met more Americans with bad attitudes rather than nice ones. A lot of people particularly in LA seemed really peeved off all the time. Don't know why. People would hate it when you try to ask for directions, what a certain dish contains in it, etc. For example, when we were walking around Sunset Blvd, we were looking for the Hollywood sign. We had walked for about a hour and Dad decided to ask for directions. So he asked a fellow who was locking his car. My Dad asks him where it is, the guy simply points and gets back to trying to ignore us. My Dad then asks how far. The guys says "oh, six miles." We realise at this point that it is too far to walk. Now in Australia, busy or not, an Aussie would have said in the first place, "Don't bother walking. You're better off catching a cab in six miles in that direction." Believe or not, I do that all the time on the train to film school everyday. There's always tourists from around the world, asking me that stuff, but I'm happy to help. I could be bothered and in a huff about it but it isn't really that big a deal.


Americans, I have found to be rather rough drivers. You guys, can turn into the line of traffic when the lights are red. In Australia, this is illegal. Americans will run you over asnd the crossings' timing really doesn't last long enough for the amount of people who use the crossings. I'd hate to be disable crossing the street in America. Or a little old lady for that matter.

The food is bad. I ended up with food poisoning in Vegas near the end of the trip. The food portions are larger. In fact, your small McDonalds combos are our large combos. However, the American apple pies from MacD's are better than Australia's. There are more Italian restaurants in America (that's a plus). There is way too many hot dogs and burgers for my liking. Aussies eat way less and personally, I think better food. And the sodas in America, have a strong aftertaste, ours don't. Ours is much more subtle.

Showmanship in America is phenomenonal. I have never seen such effort and detail in the Vegas shows, in Disneyland's rides and in particular, the regal beauty of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. We don't have such a grand scale.

Tipping is really what Americans live on. In Australia, there is no tipping, however our wages are much bigger so we earn better money than we would with tipping and low wages. We have a national health system, so if you do get sick you're not thrown into the gutters like in the US. We can reach doctors and we can get medicine for a decent price. Our university's are cheaper and fairer. For example, US film school you paying what about 100 000 bucks at the end of it and you don't touch a camera til 3rd year or so I've heard. In Australia, at the end it totals up to 15 000 bucks, plus you touch a camera in your first week and right up til graduation.

One last thing... the Pollution.... I shudder at it. The smog that never dies in LA and black rain in Las Vegas. I've never seen anything like that. Australia have deep blue skies, no smog and clean fresh air, even in Sydney, the busiest city. And United Airlines doesn't clean their planes at all. Our planes are always cleaned, even before a half hour flight.

I know I've written a lot but these were my observations. I'm sorry if I have offended, but this is what I've seen.
 

Violet

Moderator Emeritus
Actually, it was the Room Service hot dog.:sick: No, didn't see Ka. I'm not a huge fan of Cirque Du Soliel. They come to Australia a lot anyway. However, I did see Phantom at the Venetian. That was amazing!!!!! I also saw Celine Dion at Ceasar's and Lance Burton at Monte Carlo (that wasn't good). I also saw Tourney of Kings at Excalibur (that was awesome, one of the best meals in Vegas too).
 

Magda

New member
If you are going to eat in America, it's better to stay away from the fast food. No wonder you think it's bad.
 

intergamer

New member
Violet Indy said:
I know I've written a lot but these were my observations. I'm sorry if I have offended, but this is what I've seen.

Your observations are mostly off-base. Please note, America certainly has the best university system (how many Aussie schools are ranked in the top 20 world wide?); especially in that most colleges offer need-blind admission and pay financial aid to the full extent necessary. This thing about "not touching a camera until 3rd year", where did you get it from - it's completely FUD. Come to MIT and tell me US universities don't give you your money's worth.

You're basing all of your judgments off of singularities: "Americans don't clean their planes"? wtf? And I dare you to produce one statistic that suggests that aussie waiters get higher all in pay on average (hint, it's not true). Also, you went to some trashy parts of LA, and Las Vegas - not at representative of anything. And the national health system just comes out of your taxes..
you seem to be turned off because you met one guy that's not as nice as you (think you) are. well that's why this country is a melting pot. Next time try San Fransisco, Boston, Chicago, New York.
 
Last edited:
Top