Travel USA travel tips and tricks

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alex_is_on_fire said:
Ha ha, no. We stayed at the Excalibur. We were doing the Sports exhibition at the Luxor but it looks very nice.



I had no trouble either but by day 12, I think I'd had enough. It was out last day and it was cold, freezing in fact and I was pissed off. Somehow, but don't ask me - we got suckered into doing one of those time share property presentations with the lure of getting $200 in gambling chips and a free show. We even said to each other before we stepped foot on the strip, we will not do a time share presentation as e know they are crap and a load of crap. However, in the end the free show ended up costing us a $25 x 2 ($50) upgrade and the gambling credits were non pay out promotional chips. So I was ready to get the hell out of dodge and just move on.

So I was cold, tired, pissed off and ready to move on but Vegas is still a very cool place.
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You should try Vegas in the middle of summer. :( I would rather put up with the cold instead of walking down the strip in a furnace.

While you are in NYC, I would definitely do the trip to Niagara Falls. It just blew me away. No comparison between the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.

Not sure if you can do a day trip from NYC to Niagara Falls (we stayed in Toronto and did a day trip which was only 1 1/2 hr drive).

Actually come to think of it, it might be easier to do a day trip from Boston?
 
LAX is a disorganised, chaotic shithole to be honest. Worst airport I've been to. I overheard some of the locals who were there talking about how embarrassing it was for LA.
 
Nelso said:
You should try Vegas in the middle of summer. :( I would rather put up with the cold instead of walking down the strip in a furnace.
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October was just nice.

While you are in NYC, I would definitely do the trip to Niagara Falls. It just blew me away. No comparison between the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.

Not sure if you can do a day trip from NYC to Niagara Falls (we stayed in Toronto and did a day trip which was only 1 1/2 hr drive).

Actually come to think of it, it might be easier to do a day trip from Boston?
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We flew from NYC to Buffalo, had a car pick us up and take us to Niagara Falls, got there around lunch time. Straight to Maid of the Mist, dinner at a half decent place, up the next morning, went behind the falls, car picked us up in plenty of time to get back across the border (takes longer going back in to US than leaving). 24 hours in Niagara Falls, beautiful. The Canadian side is very clean and beautiful. You could do the day trip but I would find room for a night.

Oh, this was our first view of the falls, from our hotel room.

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The Old Dark Navy's said:
October was just nice.



We flew from NYC to Buffalo, had a car pick us up and take us to Niagara Falls, got there around lunch time. Straight to Maid of the Mist, dinner at a half decent place, up the next morning, went behind the falls, car picked us up in plenty of time to get back across the border (takes longer going back in to US than leaving). 24 hours in Niagara Falls, beautiful. The Canadian side is very clean and beautiful. You could do the day trip but I would find room for a night.

Oh, this was our first view of the falls, from our hotel room.

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Great photos :thumbsu:

Yep the Canadian side of the falls is a must. The Maid of the Mist was awesome. Just the noise of the water coming down and the mist going everywhere.
 
Nelso said:
Great photos :thumbsu:

Yep the Canadian side of the falls is a must. The Maid of the Mist was awesome. Just the noise of the water coming down and the mist going everywhere.
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Awe inspiring.

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I went there in October, the day after they closed the Maid of the Mist tour for the winter. I was so mad. Made a little bit better by the fact that the day I went ( I took a day trip from Toronto) it was about 24 degrees celcius and one of the warmest October days on record in that part of the world. Niagara Falls is a lovely town, however the falls can be done in about 45 minutes. The rest of the time you are just wandering around. That's what I did anyway. Went up the Skylon Tower, which was ok. Didn't do the behind the falls, because we were told it was shite. Seems we were misinformed.

Overall though, it was pretty awesome.
 
TheStinger said:
I went there in October, the day after they closed the Maid of the Mist tour for the winter. I was so mad.
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They light up the falls every night with coloured lights but at different times of the year, they have fireworks over the falls. I reworked and reworked my itinerary to be there for the last fireworks night of the year. I had researched everything. Midnight over the falls, should be awesome. So we went to dinner at My Cousin Vinnys. Sitting there having a nice meal, good ambience, I hear loud bangs. This was 9pm. What's that, I ask the waitress. Fireworks over the falls she says. My heart sank. Is there like a kids display and the main one at midnight? No, that's the only one. ****, this was a pivotal part of the trip and I missed it.
 
Nelso said:
You should try Vegas in the middle of summer. :( I would rather put up with the cold instead of walking down the strip in a furnace.
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I can imagine. The desert in the middle of summer, no thanks.

While you are in NYC, I would definitely do the trip to Niagara Falls. It just blew me away. No comparison between the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.

Not sure if you can do a day trip from NYC to Niagara Falls (we stayed in Toronto and did a day trip which was only 1 1/2 hr drive).

Actually come to think of it, it might be easier to do a day trip from Boston?
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7 1/2 hours from Boston. I feel it maybe a bit far for a day trip.

I may have to look at the itinerary to see if we can fit it in. Saying that, if I don't get there, it will give us ry good a very good reason to return to the East Coast.
 
LOL but damn you ODNB ;) - wish you didn't post those pics as they look amazing and now that I've done some quick investigating that a day trip from New York is viable and relatively cheap ($500 per person for flights and pick and drop off and bus tour) over a 14 or 15 hour day makes it a must to do now.

:thumbsu: Looks like the itinerary will change many times again before settling on a set list of things.
 
When checking into your hotel in Vegas, hand a $20 note with your C/C and ID and ask if there are any complimentary upgrades available. It worked for me. Got upgraded to a awesome strip view room. If there are none available they will return your $20
 
Not sure about the 'returning the 20 if none available' part but can confirm that you have about a 80 per cent chance of it working. Worth a try, surely.
 

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I don't know about the need to hand over a $20 but during our trip to Vegas last year, we simply asked if they had any upgrades available and they moved us from a tower queen room to a tower queen suite room over New Years Eve. We were staying 7 nights.

We just asked for an Up grade and they said yes. We also got upgraded in Hawaii 3 weeks ago to a suite at the Marriott.

I've heard about the slipping them some cash but never done it or seen it. So I don't know if it works but getting an upgrade for asking does.
 
who and how much do you tip?
Maids
Busboy
Tour Guides
Waiters
Taxi
 
Dee Won said:
who and how much do you tip?
Maids
Busboy
Tour Guides
Waiters
Taxi
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How long is a piece of string?

Seriously, it depends on what city you are in, what hotel you are in, what the going rate is from locals and it varies between 10% and 25% depending on who you talk to. Anyone that says YOU MUST TIP X% is dreaming though. I always just did what I felt like and if someone got offended or something, well then that was their bad luck. Besides, if you are only going to be there the once, who really cares. Tipping is just a necessary evil in America unfortunately.
 
I was the same. Just winged it.

Taxis especially are easy because they just take whatever you give them and by the time they have counted it properly you are gone. Just don't give them too much. They wont give you change unless you specifically ask for it.
Busboys/guides/maids etc I just used to throw them a dollar or 2. Doesn't sound a lot but it all adds up for them.
Alcoholic drinks a dollar each put on the bar.
Meals are more of a percentage thing. I found this is the big killer. Some meals ended up being expensive after tip was added in. Sometimes they will say how much the tip is on the bill.

Also remember if the service is terrible you don't have to tip them anything.
 
TheStinger said:
How long is a piece of string?

Seriously, it depends on what city you are in, what hotel you are in, what the going rate is from locals and it varies between 10% and 25% depending on who you talk to. Anyone that says YOU MUST TIP X% is dreaming though. I always just did what I felt like and if someone got offended or something, well then that was their bad luck. Besides, if you are only going to be there the once, who really cares. Tipping is just a necessary evil in America unfortunately.
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Yeah agree with this, although I did like to have some basic knowledge before I went.

Maids: $2-3 on the pillow
Bellboys: $1 a bag
Tour Guides: 15-20%
Waiters: 15-20%
With the two above, obviously if service is horrible, tip less, if exceptional, feel free to tip more.
Taxis: 10-15%
 
A local in a bar said the general rule is 10% for poor service, 15% for decent service, and 20% for very good service. Anything above 20% is considered very generous. According to most bar tenders I spoke to, I was very generous with my tipping (mainly because I was blown away by how cheap it was compared to back home).

In a bar you'll generally be running up a tab instead of paying drink by drink, so it's fairly easy to tip.

A lot of bar tenders will give out some pints on the house as well. I tended to throw an extra $3/$4 onto their tip each time they did this. Generally when I came back and got the same bar tender they'd throw another freebie or two my way. Definitely is worth being generous if you plan on going back again, they look after you.
 
smiddaz123 said:
A lot of bar tenders will give out some pints on the house as well. I tended to throw an extra $3/$4 onto their tip each time they did this. Generally when I came back and got the same bar tender they'd throw another freebie or two my way. Definitely is worth being generous if you plan on going back again, they look after you.
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Exactly. It works out much more economical to be a generous tipper, cause they look after you in the end. In fact the bar scene was the only time I remotely enjoyed the tipping experience, every other time it was awkward and annoying.
 
Tipping sucks

Taxi - a few bucks
Bell Boys - $1 per bag
Dinner (waiters) 10-15% for the total bill
Tour guides - would just slip them a $20

I guess, as long as you give them something, they don't really care. Well they do, and will bitch about you once your gone but they will (most) be polite and just walk away. I didn't have any trouble with them and I'm not the most generous person when dealing with tipping.
 
smiddaz123 said:
It'd honestly take something like seeing a waiter spit in my food for me to not tip anything. That'd be a serious insult.
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Well that was what I was told by a local guide when I was there. Only once I tipped very low. Funnily enough was in McGees pub NY (the one that the How I met your mother pub is based off). Waitress was incredibly rude. Probably just having a bad day but still. People that I knew that were on another table thought the same and tipped nothing.
 

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