Soooo....WE'RE GOING TO VEGAS!

Ana, what type of things are you looking to do on your trip? Animals, Nature, Rock Formations, Shopping, Relaxation, Snorkeling / Diving, Boat Tours or Fishing, Energetic stuff, Night life, Sports, Food and Wine?

I mean, if you wanna get super energetic you could book a hike up over the Sydney Harbour Bridge....but it's fucking hard. Like OMG I'm going to die hard. And if you do it at night, it's scary as fuck. Do you have a fear of heights?

In Sydney, there's a bunch of stuff to do. Like the Taronga zoo. It's unfortunately a tad expensive (because everything in Sydney is seriously overpriced) but it's probably the best zoo Australia's got. And you can catch a ferry from Circula Quay (that's where the Opera House is) to get there, which is kinda neat if you don't get sea sick. Although, if you have a fear of spiders or bats and you go to the zoo.....do yourself a favour, and don't look up. And they've also got the Sydney Skytower, the revolving restaurant and the aquarium. Sydney-siders also seem to be obsessed with Bondi and Manley, so you might want to visit there. I don't see why they're so special, the beaches are okay, but nothing compared to what you can get on the Gold or Sunshine Coasts in QLD.

I would absolutely recommend that you go to an AFL game. Preferably an Essendon or St Kilda match, if there's one within your time frame, as they are the most civilised spectators. Although, if you want to see the worst type of Aussie Bogan, then pick a Collingwood game. Is it this year you're going, or next year?
The best AFL experience is in Melbourne, but if it's this year and you're still in Brisbane on the 16th of May, there's a Brisbane vs Collingwood match at the Gabba (which is in Brisbane).

While you're in Brisbane, they'll try to discourage you from going to an AFL game and telling you to go to a Rugby League game instead. Don't let them, that's typical of Brisbane people. The rugby players aren't pretty like the AFL players, but if you've ever wondered what would happen to an American Football player if they didn't wear all that padding......Rugby League will show you. Games for Rugby League are best experienced in NSW, but you should also be able to catch a game in Brisbane.

And if you're into horse racing, there'll be a race meet somewhere. You could go to a race meet in QLD or even Sydney, but it's best experienced in Melbourne.

Melbourne's got an aquarium, but it's not as good as Sydney. And we've got Crown Casino, which is more than just a Casino. It's got a full shopping complex, restaurants, night clubs, bars but it's predominantly a gambling establishment. The towers shoot fire every night at around 7pm, 9pm and I think midnight. It's pretty. It's also got this water show thing, but it's far more entertaining when you're drunk......until it makes you need to pee then it's not so fun anymore.

We've also got the Eureka Tower. Essentially, everything that Sydney's got, Melbourne's got and vice versa. There's a lot of rivalry between the cities, so they always copy each other. Most of the time, Sydney's stuff is better than Melbourne because Sydney's state government invests more money into stuff. Melbourne makes up for it by hosting a bunch of yearly international events.

All 3 major cities have great shopping. Brisbane has this complex in Chermside. It's pretty big, not quite as big as the one near where I live (called Chadstone), but it's still pretty huge. But for the more boutique-y shops, Surfers is your best bet. All three also have markets which are great for both produce and shopping. The Sydney Markets at Homebush is the biggest and pretty full on, there's always heaps of people and it's divided into sections for produce, flowers, and other crap. The Queen Vic Market in Melbourne is smaller, but the people are friendlier also. The Brisbane markets aren't bad, but in Brizzy the best ones are the little suburban ones instead. Like the Eumundi Markets on a Wednesday, but that's about an hour and a halfs drive north of Brisbane. If you're going to go up there, you might as well check out Noosa Heads. And Mooloolaba. And if you're going to Mooloolaba, you might as well go to Underwater World and book yourself in for a swim with the sharks. No? Well, there's also a swim with the seals thing that you can do from the Mooloolaba wharf.

There's the gold rush stuff in Ballarat in Victoria, but I'm not sure how interested you'd be in that. There's a lot of history there, mostly about how atrociously horrid human beings can be when gold is involved, and the kiddies seem to enjoy it more than the adults.

Only a month, huh? And you don't want to be exhausted at the end? That could be problematic.

Claudius Templesmith wrote:

The Star Trek Show is closed, so I don't know what to do except for troll the strip for Prince impersonators.

that is exactly what you should do.

Claudius Templesmith wrote:

Tell me how to go there cheaply!

You need to invite a poker playing fiend to go with you. Most casinos give a great rate (like half) if everyone in the room plays 3 hours of poker a day. Notice I mentioned fiend? I have some friends that will sit down and play poker for 20 hours straight upon arriving in Vegas. My room has always been totally comped.

Something I never wondered about until just now, but how do the casinos make money on poker? There is no "house," right, as everyone at the table is in it for themselves. So at what point does the house take a cut?

Also, Jon, you need to keep this board around until I'm finally able to go to Australia. I know I'm gonna want to look back at Lady Shyka's posts when I'm planning my trip!

s l i t h y wrote:

Something I never wondered about until just now, but how do the casinos make money on poker? There is no "house," right, as everyone at the table is in it for themselves. So at what point does the house take a cut?

There is a rake on every hand.

s l i t h y wrote:

Something I never wondered about until just now, but how do the casinos make money on poker? There is no "house," right, as everyone at the table is in it for themselves. So at what point does the house take a cut?

They used to charge for the seat (either every 30 minutes or every hour).

Now they just take a percentage of every hand. At rip off casinos, like Harrahs in New Orleans (no competition), it can be as high as 10% of the pot. Its usually less, and capped at a certain $$ amount.

Between the rake, tipping the dealer, and tipping the waitress......online poker can be much more lucrative.

Stick to craps, everyone!

Ah, the rake.

Thanks guys!

Oh my lord, Penny, you're freakin AMAZING! I expected a handful of suggestions, and instead got a couple of essays! I asked the friend I'll be staying with what he thinks I should see and got a "I dunno, what do you like?" Which I get, cause that's kinda my reaction when people come to L.A. for the first time and ask me where they should go.

Yes, I'll be there May of this year. I leave in 6.5 weeks. I've been pretty excited about the trip, but your post just made me even more so!

Oh, and I'm definitely into the nature thing, but have to avoid strenuous hikes cause I've got a bad ankle. I can walk for a while, but too much leaves me limping and whimpering. I'm not really a sports fan, but now you've got me curious to at least check it out. And yes, even a month isn't really enough time to see everything.

Oh and sorry I've turned this into the "We're going to Vegas and Australia" thread.

Ana wrote:

Oh and sorry I've turned this into the "We're going to Vegas and Australia" thread.

Here, we call Brisbane "Brisvegas", so the title still works.

Lady Shyka wrote:

Here, we call Brisbane "Brisvegas", so the title still works.

Heh that totally works!

what hotel are you at? we stayed at the desert rose resort, and it was a 2 room 2 bath suite for really cheap. gorgeous, too.

there was a number to text that gave off good discounts. i need to look and see. the murder mystery tour in vegas (not the dinner, the tour) was so so much fun if youre into that kind of thing.

I just actually started to look into things to do in Vegas and I am overwhelmed. I seriously had no idea there was so much going on there. I really thought there were a few casinos inside big hotels, some shows that are over priced, naked girls everywhere and booze. They have all that and so much more. I want the everything is cheap and/or free fairy to grab me by the hand and take me to the classy and fun places so I can say I had a fun time on a budget.

I think Excalibur is on the affordable side?

Really, I need Jon to look at it all with me so he can tell me what he likes and doesn't like. I can find a million things to do, but it is his birthday so I'm trying to be accommodating.

I like everything!

Especially naked girls!

Then we will only go places where we can find cheap naked girls?

new bird wrote:

Then we will only go places where we can find cheap naked girls?

Then we should just hang out in our high school theatre green room, right? ZING!

(who wants to tell them about the card snappers?)

NOT IT

kelly wrote:

(who wants to tell them about the card snappers?)

NOT IT

tell them to cover their faces. those cards are sharp.

What??!

You guys are supposed to tell us everything about Vegas!!! Including sharp card snappers! It really doesn't help that I am pretty ignorant to the ways of the world, so I need all the good and the bad. I may even take off my rose colored glasses.

So, in front of every single open square inch of space that exists on the Las Vegas strip are ... card snappers. They want to hand you a card with a semi-naked or full on naked lady on it with details on how to call her.

Back a while back, they would just stick the card out and hope you would think it was a coupon and just take it. Well, folks wised up and would ignore them. NOW, they are usually Asian oldish women and you think "aw, this is sweet", and to get even MORE attention, they SNAP the cards really loud on their stack of cards and pretty much DEMAND you take it.

Here is a (poor) example of how annoying it is:

Ok, I knew about the hand outs. Didn't know they were pushers... rude. Has anyone ever tried to call said girls? Does it really work? How do these people get paid? What do they write on their resumes? I'm so curious.

Oh yeah. That was my favorite. I remember being like 16 and getting bombarded by those guys.

They probably write "marketing and promotions" on their resume like those free cigarette girls at concerts.

there are a few, more than a few really, who toss them into your face. and they are sharp.

it is worth getting the weekly pass on the rail if you plan on going all over. the sushi is not that great.

we made a short list of what everyone in the party wanted to do. we all did at least one thing on the list, making it a better trip i think. bellagio water show, it really is lovely. 15 mins out of your day. the pirate show is pretty cool. seeing the lions, cool.

http://www.restaurants.com/ is a great deal.