My summer trip in Australia

As a woman who really loves to travel all around the world, I am already planning my next summer trip to Sidney, Australia. In fact, I intend to save some money on this trip as well as getting some extra freedom in order to discover the city…

Keeping this in mind, I have been looking for Cheap car hire deals in Australia so that I can save some extra money for some other trips that I am already planning.

So, if you would also like to know where to find the best deals on car hire anywhere in Australia, then you definitely need to visit the user-friendly and extremely interactive website to which I have linked just above.

"Exotic" restaurants in Las Vegas

You don't really need to be a man to go to Las Vegas and enjoy the best food in the city but you probably need to be one if you plan to go to the "special" restaurants that are available in the city and where you may find it difficult to pay attention to what you are eating... Below you may read another interesting msnbc.com article where you may read more about these restaurants:

"

Most of America knows the strip mall as that random and anonymous assortment of chain stores, outlets, and fast food joints given cohesion by its giant parking lot, and anchored by its Starbucks. Rarely do we think of it as a natural cache for a city’s culinary genius.

Yet strip malls are precisely where you’ll find some of the most surprising—and best—cuisine in Las Vegas.

The gastronomes and food critics who now glut Las Vegas—all fiercely proud of their knowledge of the city’s "locals only" restaurants—will advise you to forget the big-name chefs for at least a few meals during your visit. Sure, the big names are all here; you can sample their food both on the Strip and from the trademarked boxes in the frozen foods section of your local grocery.

But head off the Strip, and you’re more likely to find chefs actually in their kitchens and changing Las Vegas from a town that relies on its chefs’ marquee names to a city that really cooks.

Still, as eager as Las Vegans are to impart their dining secrets, you should expect nearly every recommendation to be prefaced with the caveat, "Don’t let the fact that it’s in a strip mall put you off." Is it some kind of cosmic coincidence that the city’s best places happen to land on this side of a giant parking lot from a busy thoroughfare? No. It’s because most of Las Vegas is a strip mall.

You can grouse about these restaurants’ lack of atmosphere, or embrace them as an even more delicious secret for being shoehorned in between Old Navy and Dillard’s.

But often, the seedier or more generic the strip mall, the better the surprise. For example, Commercial Center, a 50-year-old whitewashed collision of disparate storefronts on the fringes of downtown, holds Lotus of Siam, a Thai restaurant with a nationwide cult following (that may or may not look past its neighbors, some of whom practice a profession even older than cooking).

Sometimes these great restaurants require a short drive—and some sharp eyes. On the other side of town in Las Vegas’s Summerlin neighborhood is Rosemary’s. You might pass it several times before you spot it next door to the Stein Mart.

But this is where you’ll find some of the Strip’s most renowned chefs on their nights off, digging into carefully crafted Creole and Midwest-influenced American dishes. Others, like French bistro Marche Bacchus, hold an entire secret landscape beyond their storefront portals.

Bon appétit.

"

Grandfather clocks for our home

While most women tend to ignore the beauty and familiar appeal of grandfather clocks, the truth is that I am not one of those women and I do love grandfather clocks and the entire mystic and magic around them and their story.

As a matter of fact, I have recently read this interesting article about Howard Miller clocks and I felt that I should also get some space in my house so that I can place one of these amazing clocks in my main wall. Moreover, after having a look at the website to which I have linked in the first paragraph, I realized that Howard Miller’s clocks are affordable if you buy them on a dedicated online store such as that one. In fact, see the picture below and confirm how incredibly charming this clock is and how it could easily be placed in carpeted floors to give extra beauty to any room that we may have at home:

So, would you also like to buy a new grandfather clock but you didn’t know where to search for them? If that’s the case, then I am more than sure that you will be delighted as soon as you take some time to visit the websites to which I have linked above and where you will be able to find the most incredible grandfather clocks for the best prices ever!

Las vegas: a land of unbelivable events

Even if you have never been to Las Vegas before, the truth is that you simply can't denny that you have already heard some great stories about amazing events that took place in Las Vegas. In fact, if you would like to know more about another great event taking place in Las Vegas, then I would personally advise you to take some time to read the msnbc.com article just below:

"

LAS VEGAS - The New York-New York Hotel & Casino has its winning Vinny.

The Las Vegas Strip hotel announced the winner of its Vinny vs. Vinny spokesVinny competition on Monday, declaring Vinny Blue "the ultimate go-to guy for all things New York-New York."

His real name is Thomas Cassell, and he's originally from New York but now he lives in Las Vegas. Voters cast ballots at the hotel and online.

The battle to be The Vinny included a Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest, an ESPN Zone arcade challenge and an Irish jig showdown at Nine Fine Irishmen.

Cynthia Kiser Murphey, New York-New York's president and chief operating officer, said Vinny's job is to give guests an idea where to go, what to do, what's hot, and what's not — all in a New York kind of way.

New York-New York is a subsidiary of MGM Mirage.

"

The best online pharmacies

As you probably know, our jobs can get extremely demanding and may make it extremely hard for us to keep up with all the stress and effort that comes with any job. Keeping this in mind, I often find it extremely important that I search for the best medicine products online so that I can fight any headache or similar problem that comes with my job.

Having this said, if you tend to buy tramadol online or if you would like to know which the best websites for buying tramadol are, then I would personally say that you definitely need to have a look at this tramadol hcl 50 mg tablets bluebook so that you may also order tramadol online with the confidence that you will be getting authentic and effective products that will surely come in handy when you need to recover from a difficult day in your own company or simply in those days when you tend to feel some pain in any particular areas of your body and you tend to need a pain relief solution. In fact, tramadol is one of the most effective and recommended pain relief solutions from doctors worldwide, showing you how you can easily trust this product in order to find a solution for any pain problem that you may be facing.

So, if you have always wanted to find the best deals on tramadol online and if you never managed to discover a good website where you could compare the prices of online pharmacies on this product, then you definitely need to take some of your time to visit the website to which I have linked just above and see with your own eyes how incredibly helpful and user-friendly that website is! Finally, start ordering and see how tramadol can really boost your lifestyle and change the way that you tend to face your problems.

Taking the most out of Bahamas trips

Even if you are not a fan of paradisiacal destinations, the truth is that you simply can't denny the beauty of some destinations all across the world such as Bahamas! In fact, if you plan to enjoy a summer vacation there with your family, then I would personally advise you to take some time to read the msnbc.com article just below and see how incredibly helpful it will be for you:

"

Great surf, great sun, great people ... the Bahamas is made for families.

For the sporty family
If your clan's idea of a good time involves swimming, spelunking, or anything that works up a sweat, pack your gear and head to Andros's Small Hope Bay Lodge, a rustic resort hidden in acres of mangrove and Andros pine. This unpretentious charmer feels like tropical summer camp but is actually a world-class diving destination—and the best place for kids to get their first taste of scuba diving.

The string of simple coral-rock cottages is anchored by a lodge with batik-covered daybeds and a bar fashioned from the hull of an old sailboat—but has no phones or TV. You don't miss them, though, with all the kayaking, snorkeling, nature trails, shelling, and diving.

At night, kids eat in the ramshackle rec room, stocked with board games and coloring supplies, while adults mingle with staff members over conch fritters in the lounge. Communal tables and ample portions of home-style food—think cracked conch, freshly baked orange cake—give things an easygoing dinner party feel; hey, even sports fans need some downtime (242-368-2014; smallhope.com; doubles, $470, all-inclusive).

For the laid-back family
Admit it: You hate planning. (We understand.) Non-type A families will love Hope Town on Elbow Cay, an islet that's a short ferry ride from Great Abaco. With a low-key vibe and an easily navigable layout, it brings to mind a tropical Nantucket.

Book at the cheery Hope Town Harbour Lodge; the ferry will drop you right at the hotel's pier, and the staff will carry your gear—bodyboards, strollers, and all—up to your room. Oceanfront cottages have decks so you can keep an eye on the sand-castle construction from above (242-366-0095; hopetownlodge.com; doubles, $175-$225). The tiny town is best explored on foot or bike, and because it's closed to motor vehicles, kids can run free.

Sun Dried-T's, a harborside kiosk, rents bikes with big baskets for beach gear (242-366-0616; bike rentals, $10 a day). The more ambitious should call Froggie's, which can arrange daylong snorkel trips to nearby Abaco National Park (242-366-0431; froggiesabaco.com; day-trips, $70). At night, hit the beloved Harbour's Edge—kids will scarf down conch fritters before scampering off to raid the board game collection, leaving adults to watch the sunset (242-366-0087; entrées, $20-$32).

For the multi-generational family
There's Grandma. And the teenagers. And your sister and her toddler. Luckily, Grand Bahama has something to satisfy every constituency. There's no need to rent a car; simply base the crew in Lucaya, a self-­contained resort area just beyond Freeport with both ocean and intracoastal marina access.

The beach side is dominated by the sprawling Our Lucaya complex, which has two resorts, four pools, and 13 restaurants linked by paths. Book the older generations at Reef Village, where the tranquil lanai suites have their own private beach (242-373-1333; lanai suites from $700). Closer to the action (and the water slides), the ten-story Radisson has two-bedroom suites with kitchens (242-373-1333; ourlucaya.com; suites, $589). If Our Lucaya is a bit too Disney, try the marinaside Pelican Bay Hotel, where the friendly staff will track down beach reads and DVDs for movie night (242-373-9550; pelicanbayhotel.com; suites, $189-$209).

By day, the more active family members can trot over to UNEXSO, a spit-and-polish dive operation with its own pool for beginning scuba lessons (242-373-1244; intro lessons, $109), or explore the rest of the island on a day-trip with Grand Bahama Nature Tours (242-373-2485; grandbahamanaturetours.com; day tours, $79). For something less rigorous, sign up with Paradise Cove, a modest family-owned beach club on the island's western end. They'll transport you to their sandy stretch, where you can snorkel out to Deadman's Reef or lounge on the beach (242-349-2677; deadmansreef.com; snorkel day-trip, $35 for adults, $20 for children).

At night, everyone can regroup at Iries, a stylized Caribbean joint inside Our Lucaya; there are dishes like roasted grouper with papaya chutney, as well as a kids' menu (242-373-1333; entrées, $21-$35). On the marina side, the Port Lucaya Marketplace is kitschy but convenient, with plenty of eating options. Grab a table at Pisces, a quirky Italian spot with delicious conch pizza (242-373-5192; pizzas, $12-$30).

And watch the horizon for ...
Another reason to go to Andros. We're predicting that the island's improved Tiamo Resort will become an instant fave among families when it reopens this October. Major renovations will add more solar panels and a bio-diesel generator. But what really makes it family friendly is the variety of outdoor activities, from sailing to up-close encounters with rock iguanas. Thanksgiving break in the Bahamas, anyone?

"

Learning how to play poker

English review:

Even considering the fact that I am a woman, the truth is that I love card games such as Poker and which tend to be extremely interesting and challenging when we decide to play these games with our friends or simply play poker online. In fact, by playing poker online we will have the chance to both to get some extra entertainment from the game but also the possibility of earning some extra money that we can spend on something that we really love or need.

Still, it is extremely important that before we start playing poker with our friends or online, that we know the basic rules and combinations that will be able to help us achieve victory on this game, making sure that we don’t end up losing a lot of money just because we didn’t know how to plan our own strategy. Keeping this in mind, I would strongly advise you all to take some time to visit the websites to which I have linked just above and where you will be able to find all the important information about poker that you will need in order to play the game with all the confidence that it requires. Moreover, you may even download some poker content (in Spanish people would say “descargar poker” ) so that you can already start practicing at the same time that you read the rules and get the basic ideas on how to plan your games.

Spanish review:

Aun considerando el hecho de que soy una mujer, la verdad es que me encantan los juegos de cartas como el poker y que tienden a ser sumamente interesantes y desafiantes cuando decidimos jugar estos juegos con nuestros amigos o simplemente jugar poker online. De hecho, jugando al poker online, tendremos la oportunidad de conseguir tirar alguno entretenimiento extra del juego, pero también la posibilidad de ganar algún dinero extra que podremos gastar en algo que realmente necesitemos.

Sin embargo, es muy importante que antes de empezar a jugar al poker con los amigos o online, que nosotros nos informemos sobre las reglas básicas del juego y las combinaciones que pueden ayudarnos a lograr la victoria en este juego, asegurándose que nosotros no acabamos perdiendo dinero simplemente porque no sabíamos cómo planificar nuestra propia estrategia de juego. Teniendo esto en cuenta, yo les recomiendo vivamente a todos a tomar algún tiempo para visitar los sitios web a los que he conectado justo encima y donde usted podrá encontrar toda la información importante sobre el poker que necesitará para jugar el juego con toda la confianza que se requiere. Además, puedes incluso descargar poker de modo que ya puedes empezar a practicar al mismo tiempo que lee las reglas para que puedas tener las ideas básicas sobre cómo planificar tus juegos.

Do you love gourmet? Tokyo is your destination!

People tend to love to eat the best and most incredible plates all around the world. Still, you probably don't know where you should go in order to find the most incredible ones, right? If that's the case and if you would like to know where you will find the most famous dishes, then I would advise you to take some time to read the msnbc.com article just below:

"

TOKYO - The Epicurean king who oversees the Michelin Guide fears he may be banished from France.

His shocking crime?

Awarding Tokyo more three-star restaurant ratings than Paris, thereby crowning the Japanese metropolis the new gastronomic capital of the world.

"Trust me, they'll wait for me at customs there," Jean-Luc Naret, director general of the famed guide to exceptional eateries, joked Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. "Because they'll say how dare could you have more three-stars in Tokyo than in Paris?"

Michelin's latest Tokyo edition goes on sale in Japan on Friday, and Naret has been in town this week promoting what many consider to be the bible of culinary skill. This time, Michelin's undercover team of inspectors has bestowed its highest three-star rating to 11 restaurants in Tokyo, one more than in Paris.

Tokyo also beats Paris in the total number of stars received — 261 awarded to 197 establishments.

That's 34 more than when the venerable guide made its Asian debut in Japan in 2007.

Michelin's ranking system considers the quality, consistency and value of a restaurant's food, with three stars designating "exceptional cuisine, and worth the journey," without taking into account the service or ambiance, according to the guide.

The first Tokyo edition sold 300,000 copies — 150,000 of which were snapped up in the first 24 hours. Since then, Michelin has released guides for Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Osaka and Kyoto in western Japan.

Not everyone in Japan was pleased that Michelin had landed in Tokyo. Critics attacked its culinary selections. Some chefs said they didn't want to be in the book. Others questioned how a group of foreigners could judge Japanese food.

To mollify naysayers, the company used only Japanese inspectors for the 2010 Tokyo edition, Naret said.

Placating his fellow Frenchman may be another matter.

"Forget everything that you know about Japanese food," Naret said he would like to tell Parisians. "Just go to the other side of the world, and you will understand what Japanese food is all about."

Naret added that statistically speaking, it's not really a fair contest. Tokyo is home to 160,000 restaurants, compared to 60,000 in Paris.

And France still wins the country count with 25 three-star establishments nationwide to Japan's 18.

"

Finding the best postcard templates

As a woman, I know how sentimental and incredibly important postcards may be for our emotional stability or the expression of any message to someone else no matter which is the nature of that message.

Keeping this in mind, if you are looking for the best postcard templates so that you can create your own postcards to send to your friends or anyone special, then I am more than sure that you will be able to find all the templates that you will ever need on the website to which I have linked just above. Furthermore, the website is so incredibly user-friendly and easy to navigate that you will find what you are looking for in just a few seconds!

Las Vegas: luxury is just a few miles away from us

Have you ever been to Las Vegas before? Would you say that it is one of your favorite destinations? Well, if you believe that Las Vegas doesn't have much to offer you, then you definitely need to read the msnbc.com article just below and discover a new world for you as I am sure that you will be surprised with what you will find in Las Vegas:

"

By Andrew Lincoln


We sent intrepid writer Andrew Lincoln on a mission to see just how low some of the world's most over-the-top hotels would go. Turns out that, with a little ingenuity, these days you can get it all for a lot less.

A man who works at a casino was sitting next to me in a restaurant not long ago. He had a watch that looked like a hubcap from a Bentley, except that it had diamonds on it. He'd worked for Bellagio, the hotel-casino that helped reinvent Las Vegas as a luxury destination for the masses in 1998. He'd worked for MGM Grand.

He'd worked for Wynn. He would be going to Las Vegas in a week, he said, and he would be staying in a room that was 900 square feet, where you could talk on the phone and watch a flat-screen TV while you were in the Jacuzzi.

The kind of room that even on discount Web sites goes for $900. Only he would be paying, if things went according to his plan, no more than $200 a night. And what was his secret? I asked. Because people who tell you stuff like this are usually dying for you to ask what their secret is.

"The thing people don't realize," he said, lifting his glass of pinot noir, "is that if you want a better price on a room in Vegas, all you have to do is ask. So I'm planning to negotiate. In Las Vegas, you just can't be afraid to ask."

Las Vegas has always been the place where Joe Six-pack could live like a high roller for a weekend. If you couldn't afford to go to Paris and stay at the Hôtel de Crillon, you could at least go to the Paris hotel in Vegas and have men in French sailor hats open the door for you.

But in 2009, those of us on this side of the check-in counter find that the math is even more in our favor. Last year, Las Vegas added close to 9,000 hotel rooms to the existing 133,000. And in 2009, 14,000 more hotel rooms are scheduled to open.

Meanwhile, you've got slumping demand: Last year tourism was down 4 percent compared with the previous year, and this year's numbers are expected to be even lower. That's why you hear about extreme measures. We're talking rooms going for $40 a weeknight at places like the Excalibur.

These days, there are simply too many ridiculous rooms with hot tubs and wet bars and views of the bright, gleaming desert floor to go around—and I consider it part of my patriotic duty to not let all those marble baths go to waste.

So I will accept The Budget Travel Challenge: Spend three days in Las Vegas seeking out the most extreme luxury for as little money as possible, using any sort of bargaining techniques that don't require identity theft and can be reproduced by savvy travelers.

Having been to Vegas several times, I have identified what I believe are the six best luxury hotels: the Bellagio, the Venetian, the Palazzo, the Wynn, the Encore, and the Trump (there's the Ritz, too, but it's miles from the Strip, so it doesn't count for me). I want to stay exclusively in those hotels—and in the high-roller rooms at that. And that's just the beginning. I was going to test the man with the watch's theory and find how much you can get in Vegas simply by asking (and asking, and asking).

Method one: The Internet

The air just smells different in the Wynn Las Vegas. They pump in a fragrance that makes it feel like stepping inside the lint trap of a large, well-maintained dryer. The smell hits you as soon as you enter the atrium and make your way to the front desk, hidden, as all things in Las Vegas are, somewhere beyond the casino floor.

A woman dressed like a flight attendant from a superior society greets me at the front desk with a smile. I wait for her to see that I reserved my room through Priceline and realize that she doesn't have to kiss my butt. It's one of the 2,063 Resort rooms, the lowest grade. The rate for it on Expedia was $200, so I called the Wynn directly. The agent said she could do $189. I called back and told them I gambled a lot and wasn't very good at it. I told them I was going to stay at the Bellagio if they didn't give me a better price.

Every time I called, I got a different rate: $209, $179, $129. But they wouldn't go under $109 (9 is apparently their lucky number). Then I went on Priceline and started the bidding at $60. I kept going up by $5 increments and ultimately scored at $90—a day before checking in.

I'm pretty psyched about the rate, but the thing is, once I'm at the front desk, I want to ask for more; after all, I'm just getting started with this challenge, and I have lots of tricks.

My plan is to call downstairs when I get to my room and tell them something inventive—my room smells bad?—and see where that gets me. But the woman preempts me: "It looks like we're all sold out of our Resort rooms. You've been upgraded to the Tower Suites." My new room would have gone for $350 at full price. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. It's that easy?

The Tower Suites section of the hotel, with about 300 rooms, has its own entrance and front desk and is even more elaborately marble-paneled, gilded, and flowered than the main section. And the room? Is it really better? Well, yeah, it's better. It's about 650 square feet, with cranberry-colored walls, remote control drapery, Warhol prints, and a phone in the bathroom (hurrah!). But the feature you'd be paying the extra $150 for is the view; my room overlooks the mossy puzzle pieces of the vaunted Wynn golf course, and beyond that the Las Vegas basin.

Besides the high-end hotel room glut, there's another high-end glut in the food scene. Ever since the Bellagio opened its doors and introduced America to Le Cirque, casinos have been all about signing up name-brand chefs to open name-brand restaurants.

In the Venetian alone, you will find Mario Batali's B&B Ristorante, David Burke's eponymous restaurant, Emeril Lagasse's Delmonico Steakhouse, and Wolfgang Puck's Postrio—and that's not counting the seven other fine-dining outposts whose chefs I do not immediately recognize. So what happens during a downturn? You get the tasting menu at Daniel Boulud Brasserie, in the Wynn, for $48 if you eat before 7 p.m.

It's actually not so bad eating at 6:50, which is when I'm seated on my first night and served a tasty glass of viognier. The meal starts with an amuse-bouche (a lobster knuckle on a cracker, topped with green-tea cream) and ends with a plate of petits fours. There's also a very fine piece of skate served with a brown-butter sauce over pureed potatoes and roasted cauliflower. I take a not insignificant pleasure in knowing how much money I'm saving on all of these delicious things—in this case, about $20.

Method two: The walk-up

It's Thursday. Tomorrow is the weekend, when Las Vegas will get more expensive, but for now the dream of the "Scarface" suite for $14 lives on. Today I'm going to test out the cash-in-hand theory. You may be able to negotiate on the phone from your hometown. But, logically, you should have more pull when you're standing there with your bills.

My strategy is to start with the Expedia rates so I know what I've got to beat. Then I'll go to all the hotels and see if I can do better at the front desk.

First stop is the Encore, twin sister to the Wynn, which I want bad. There's no real reason, except that it's newer than the 4-year-old Wynn (it opened last year)—and the prices are generally higher online. Today, the rate is $239 on Expedia, and the woman at the front desk says she can give me a room for $219. Upgrading to a Tower suite is an additional $100.

"But I got the identical thing at the Wynn last night for $90!" I toss back.

Still, I am denied.

I'm quoted a great deal at The Palazzo Resort—$179 for the basic room, and the upgrade to the Siena Suite is only $100. That's $279 for a 1,283-square-foot room with a Jacuzzi, two bathrooms, and a living room that could very well be sunken, the agent says, if I am lucky. I try the Bellagio last. But when the deal isn't as good, I call the Palazzo from the Bellagio's lobby on my cell phone.

"That'll be $469 for the Siena Suite," the woman on the phone says.

"I was just there," I say. "The guy at the front desk told me to be sure to say I wanted the walk-up rate. It was $179 plus $100 for the upgrade."

"It's $469," she says flatly.

The "walk-up" rate seems to require just that. Because once I'm back at the front desk at the Palazzo in person, I'm quoted the $179 rate again—or $279 for the whole-shebang suite, which I go for, naturally. Having checked in, I seek out the fourth floor of the hotel, where, spanning the expanse between the Palazzo and the Venetian, is Canyon Ranch SpaClub, one of the largest known spas in the universe. I got nowhere bargaining with the folks at the Wynn's spa or the one at the Bellagio. Some of them are doing 20-percent-off deals for locals, but I think getting a counterfeit driver's license stretches the journalistic boundaries of this story.

But Canyon Ranch is running an online special: $280 for a 50-minute massage, a 50-minute facial, access to the gym for the day, and a $20 gift certificate for lunch at Canyon Ranch's grill or café. All told, you're saving about $60. And, since I was able to convince the staff to tack on gym and spa access for the next day (normally it runs $40), it's closer to $100 I'm not paying. After three hours of hands-on services and pan-flute music, I emerge from Canyon Ranch in as relaxed a state as I've ever been in Las Vegas. Which lasts about 17 minutes.

Method three: The gamble

And that brings us to what is perhaps the craziest glut in Las Vegas: four separate shows of Cirque du Soleil. There is "O, Love", and "Zumanity", and the act I get tickets for, Kà. How are there that many people on earth who can put their own foot in their ear while bungee jumping through a flaming hoop?

Saving money in Vegas involves an awful lot of taxiing. A concierge at the Wynn tipped me off that the best ticket prices in town are found at the discounter Tix4Tonight, which has an outpost across from my hotel in the Fashion Show mall. I end up paying $100 for a voucher good for a seat that usually costs up to $150.

To be issued the actual ticket, I have to haul myself back to the MGM, where Kà is performed, but the payoff, a 10th-row-center seat, makes the extra effort worth it.

After picking up my ticket, it's back to the Palazzo for my free day at Canyon Ranch. I do everything—the steam room, the Finnish sauna, some kind of herbal hot room that has a rock crystal fixed to the ceiling—and then I fall asleep in one of the relaxing chairs next to a naked guy reading a Martha Stewart magazine.

At dinner the night before—the $60 prix fixe at Craftsteak in the MGM Grand—I met a man who told me he works as a pit boss at the Bellagio. The pit boss is the guy who oversees blackjack dealers and the like, making sure everything is kosher and identifying high rollers in order to give them perks to keep them in the casino.

We were both eating at the bar, having the winter tasting menu, which is a beautifully obscene amount of food: four appetizers, two kinds of steak, scallops, three side dishes (including a copper pot filled with Yukon gold potatoes pureed with at least 17 sticks of butter) and a cranberry crisp with vanilla ice cream. The pit boss told me that the best time to get a deal on rooms is at 8 p.m. At that point, all the rooms the pit bosses haven't doled out to high rollers are turned back over to the salespeople, who are deputized to sell them cheap.

I make the rounds of all my target hotels, step up to the front desks, and ask for deals. It's Friday night, so the prices have soared. The Encore is $750 online, and the staff won't go below $279 at the front desk. The Bellagio's best walk-up rate is $199 (about $50 less than the phone rate), but the woman at the front desk says there's no chance for an upgrade. At the Trump, though, the man on duty quotes me $169.

I pause and see if he'll take the bait.

"Sir, we can go to $129 if you want the best possible rate," he says, poker-faced. "Or we can do our 900-square-foot suite for $169."

"Sir," I say, taking out my credit card, "I am a 900-square-foot kind of guy."

I go to my room—a view of the pool and the Strip beyond, high-thread-count white sheets, and a kitchen with a Sub-Zero refrigerator. Then it's off to Kà, which basically blows my mind. I sit in my seat and mouth "holy crap" over and over (I am not exaggerating, sadly).

Before the show, the couple next to me tell me they paid $150 each for their tickets. I give them the card for Tix4Tonight. Then I start boring them with all the ways I have learned to get luxury on the cheap. The man is polite for a while, but there's an exciting explosion on the stage that indicates showtime is approaching.

"Fireball!" he says, meaning "let's not talk any more." "Fireball!" I say. I refrain from telling him how much I'm paying for my hotel room.

"