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LAS VEGAS |
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Vacation Rentals in Las Vegas |
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Shimmering from the desert haze of Nevada like a latter-day El
Dorado, Las Vegas is the most dynamic, spectacular city
on earth. At the start of the twentieth century, it didn't even
exist; at the start of the twenty-first, it's home to well over
one million people, with enough newcomers arriving to need a new
school every month.
Las Vegas is not like other cities. No city in history has so
explicitly valued the needs of visitors above those of its own
population. All its growth has been fueled by tourism, but the
tourists haven't spoiled the "real" city; there is no real city.
Las Vegas doesn't have fascinating little-known neighborhoods,
and it's not a place where visitors can go off the beaten track
to have more authentic experiences. Instead, the whole thing is
completely self-referential; the reason Las Vegas boasts the
vast majority of the world's largest hotels is that around
thirty-seven million tourists each year come to see the hotels
themselves.
The telephone area code for all phone numbers in the text,
unless otherwise indicated, is 702.
Each of these monsters is much more than a mere hotel, and more too
than the casino that invariably lies at its core. They're
extraordinary places, self-contained fantasylands of high camp
and genuine excitement that can stretch as much as a mile from
end to end. Each holds its own flamboyant permutation of
showrooms and swimming pools, luxurious guest quarters and
restaurants, high-tech rides and attractions.
The casinos want you to gamble, and they'll do almost
anything to lure you in; thus the huge moving walkways that
pluck you from the Strip sidewalk, almost against your will, and
sweep you into places like Caesars Palace . Once you're
inside, on the other hand, the last thing they want is for you
to leave. Whatever you came in for, you won't be able to do it
without crisscrossing the casino floor innumerable times; as for
finding your way out, that can be virtually impossible. The
action keeps going day and night, and in this windowless - and
clock-free - environment you rapidly lose track of which is
which.
"Little emphasis is placed on the gambling clubs No cheap
and easily parodied slogans have been adopted to publicize Las
Vegas, no attempt has been made to introduce pseudo-romantic
architectural themes or to give artificial glamour or gaiety."
- WPA Guidebook to Nevada, 1940
Las Vegas never dares to rest on its laurels, so the basic
concept of the Strip casino has been endlessly refined since the
Western-themed resorts and ranches of the 1940s. In the 1950s
and 1960s, when most visitors arrived by car , the
casinos presented themselves as lush tropical oases at the end
of the long desert drive. Once air travel took over, Las
Vegas opted for Disneyesque fantasy, a process that started in
the late 1960s with Caesars Palace and culminated with
Excalibur and Luxor in the early 1990s.
These days, after six decades of capitalism run riot, the
Strip is locked into a hyperactive craving for thrills and
glamour. First-time visitors tend to expect Las Vegas to be a
repository of kitsch , but the casino owners are far too
canny to be sentimental about the old days. Yes, there are a few
Elvis impersonators around, but what characterizes the city far
more is its endless quest for novelty . Long before they
lose their sparkle, yesterday's showpieces are blasted into
rubble, to make way for ever more extravagant replacements. The
Disney model has now been discarded in favor of more adult
themes, and Las Vegas demands nothing less than entire cities
. Replicas of New York, Paris, Monte Carlo and Venice now jostle
for space on the Strip.
The customer is king in Las Vegas. What the visitor
wants, the city provides. If you come in search of the cheapest
destination in America, you'll enjoy paying rock-bottom rates
for accommodation and hunting out the best buffet bargains. If
it's style and opulence you're after, by contrast, you can dine
in the finest restaurants, shop in the most chic stores, and
watch world-class entertainment; it'll cost you, but not as much
as it would anywhere else. The same guidelines apply to
gambling . The Strip giants cater to those who want
sophisticated high-roller heavens, where tuxedoed James Bond
lookalikes toss insouciant bankrolls onto the roulette tables.
Others prefer their casinos to be sinful and seedy, inhabited by
hard-bitten heavy-smoking low-lifes; there is no shortage of
that type of joint either, especially downtown.
On the face of it, the city is supremely democratic. However
you may be dressed, however affluent or otherwise you may
appear, you'll be welcomed in its stores, restaurants, and above
all its casinos. The one thing you almost certainly won't get,
however, is the last laugh ; all that seductive deference
comes at a price. It would be nice to imagine that perhaps half
of your fellow visitors are skilful gamblers, raking in the
profits at the tables, while the other half are losing, but the
bottom line is that almost nobody's winning. In the words of
Steve Wynn, who built Bellagio and the Mirage ,
"The only way to make money in a casino is to own one";
according to the latest figures, 85 percent of visitors gamble,
and they lose an average of $665 each. On top of that, most
swiftly come to see that virtually any other activity works out
cheaper than gambling, so end up spending their money on all
sorts of other things as well. What's so clever about Las Vegas
is that it makes absolutely certain that you have such a good
time that you don't mind losing a bit of money along the way;
that's why they don't even call it "gambling" anymore, but
"gaming."
Finally, while Las Vegas has certainly cleaned up its act
since the early days of Mob domination, there's little truth in
the notion that it's become a family destination. In
fact, for kids, it's doesn't begin to compare to somewhere like
Orlando. Several casinos have added theme parks or fun rides to
fill those odd nongambling moments, but only ten percent of
visitors bring children, and the crowds that cluster around the
exploding volcanoes and pirate battles along the Strip remain
almost exclusively adult.
Neighborhoods and orientation
It doesn't take long to come to grips with the physical layout
of Las Vegas. Downtown , slightly southeast of the intersection
of I-15 and US-95, may stand at the center of an urban sprawl
that stretches fifteen miles in all directions, but...
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Travel: New York Hotels |
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NEW YORK CITY |
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The most beguiling city in the world, New York is an
adrenaline-charged, history-laden place that holds
immense romantic appeal for visitors. Wandering the
streets here, you'll cut between buildings that are
icons to the modern age - and whether gazing at the
flickering lights of the midtown skyscrapers as you
speed across the Queensboro bridge, experiencing the
4am half-life downtown, or just wasting the morning
on the Staten Island ferry, you really would have to
be made of stone not to be moved by it all. There's
no place quite like it.
While the events of September 11, 2001, which
demolished the World Trade Center, shook New York to
its core, the populace responded resiliently under
the composed aegis of then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Until the attacks, many New Yorkers loved to hate
Giuliani, partly because they saw him as committed
to making their city too much like everyone else's.
To some extent he succeeded, and during the late
Nineties New York seemed cleaner, safer, and more
liveable, as the city took on a truly international
allure and shook off the more notorious aspects to
its reputation. However, the maverick quality of New
York and its people still shines as brightly as it
ever did. Even in the aftermath of the World Trade
Center's collapse, New York remains a unique and
fascinating city - and one you'll want to return to
again and again.
You could spend weeks in New York and still
barely scratch the surface, but there are some key
attractions - and some pleasures - that you won't
want to miss. There are the different ethnic
neighborhoods , like lower Manhattan's Chinatown
and the traditionally Jewish Lower East Side (not so
much anymore); and the more artsy concentrations of
SoHo, TriBeCa, and the East and West Villages. Of
course, there is the celebrated architecture
of corporate Manhattan, with the skyscrapers in
downtown and midtown forming the most indelible
images. There are the museums , not just the
Metropolitan and MoMA, but countless other smaller
collections that afford weeks of happy wandering. In
between sights, you can eat just about
anything, at any time, cooked in any style; you can
drink in any kind of company; and sit through
any number of obscure movies . The more
established arts - dance, theater, music -
are superbly catered for; and New York's clubs
are as varied and exciting as you might expect. And
for the avid consumer, the choice of shops is
vast, almost numbingly exhaustive in this heartland
of the great capitalist dream.
Orientation and highlights
New York City comprises the central island of
Manhattan along with four outer boroughs - Brooklyn,
Queens, the Bronx , and Staten Island . Manhattan,
to many, is New York - whatever your interests, it's
here...
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ENGLAND:
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ENGLAND |
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London is the place to start. Nowhere in the
country can match the scope and innovation of the
metropolis, a colossal, frenetic city, perhaps not
as immediately attractive as its European
counterparts, but with so much variety that the only
obstacle to a great time is the shockingly high cost
of everything. It's here that you'll find Britain's
best spread of nightlife, cultural events, museums,
galleries, pubs and restaurants. The other large
cities, such as Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds
or Liverpool each have their strengths:
Birmingham has a resurgent arts scene, for example,
while people travel for miles to sample Newcastle's
nightlife. These days Manchester can match
the capital for glamour in cafés and clubs, and also
boasts the inimitable draw of the world's best-known
football team.
England's ancient cathedral cities, such as
Lincoln, York, Salisbury, Durham and
Winchester , cannot be equalled for sheer
physical beauty. Wherever you're based, you're never
more than a few miles from a ruined castle, a
majestic country house, a secluded chapel or a
monastery. In the southwest there are remnants of a
Celtic culture that was all but eradicated elsewhere
by the Romans, and everywhere you can find traces of
prehistoric settlers - most famously the megalithic
circles of Stonehenge and Avebury .
Most beguiling of all are the long-established
villages of England, hundreds of which amount to
nothing more than a pub, a shop, a gaggle of
cottages and a farmhouse offering bed and breakfast.
Devon, Cornwall , the Cotswolds and
the Yorkshire Dales harbour some especially
picturesque specimens, but every county can boast a
decent showing. Then, of course, there's the English
countryside, an extraordinarily diverse terrain from
which Constable, Turner, Wordsworth, Emily Brontë
and a host of other writers and artists took
inspiration. Exmoor, Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor ,
the North York Moors and the Lake District
are the most dramatic and best known of the national
parks, each offering an array of landscapes
crisscrossed with walking routes.
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