Results tagged “Las Vegas” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Katie Beddingfield recently popped back home to Washington, DC, for a quick break in her month-long All-You-Can-Jet (AYCJ) adventure on JetBlue. The half-time score:

Number of flights: 9
Cities visited: 5
Window seats scored (with empty middle seat, no less): 7
Airport floors slept on: 1 (JFK. Not as bad as you think)
Items lost: 1 (driver's license--returned 24 hours later. Crisis averted)
Desired flights sold out: 0

Yep. Priceless. I've been having such a blast since I set off September 8, for Oakland, that I actually haven't made much time to jot extensive musings. Suffice it to say, the AYCJ pass has not yet let me down. All of my JetBlue flights have been perfectly uneventful, on-time--and most importantly, bookable. My fear with such a bold offer was that the airline would collect its $599 from eager passengers and then make the pass all but impossible to fully use. Not so for me. I booked my recent western swing several days before departure (the pass requires 3-day advance booking), but then pushed to the limit booking my upcoming southern swing to Bogota, Colombia and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. With those legs pretty full, the JetBlue reservation agent apologized for being unable to assign a seat in advance, but assured me that I would indeed have a seat. "JetBlue does not oversell its flights," Rose said, "You'll be fine." (I can only hope we see another AYCJ pass offer once JetBlue's recently approved codeshare agreement with Lufthansa is cemented.)

I'm a huge sucker for 50's kitsch, so I loved the recent post on the L.A.Times travel blog about how you can now camp out in an Airstream trailer in Vegas.

The folks at Airstream have sold 25 of the giant silver Twinkies to the KOA RV campground near the Circus Circus hotel, and they'll be renting them out for about $45 dollars a night. The 25-foot-long Vegas Airstreams sleep up to four people on one queen bed and two twins. The units feature bathrooms, kitchen, plates and linens. They're also renting Airstreams in Sugarloaf Key, Florida, and plan to open a few more this spring in Bar Harbor, Maine. The iconic campervans cost about $65,000 a pop, making them an tough buy in these current times, and it's an interesting partnership idea between Airstream and KOA. 

Photo: The AP via Yahoo! News

I never quite understood why Vegas ever became Wedding Central. It could be the city's "What Happens in Vegas..." mantra. Or maybe all the bright lights and special effects just get to people's heads. But whatever the reason, the desire to wed on the Strip is fizzling out. In 2008, Clark County--where Las Vegas resides--issued only 95,888 marriage licenses, the lowest in 15 years. Meanwhile, the Big Apple is looking to take Vegas's place as the number one place to get hitched. In 2008, the city issued some 70,000 licenses, and it has just re-vamped its marriage bureau. NBC reports:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given City Hall's famously gritty marriage bureau a gleaming makeover, with fewer lines, more space to take photographs, video screens to monitor wait times and wedding chapels with gauzy curtains and walls painted in muted tones.

And in case the newlyweds-to-be forget any essentials, the space features a small shop that sells fresh flowers, disposable cameras, tissues, hairspray and sparkly fake diamond rings for $9 each.

The sleek 24,000-square-foot space officially opens Monday, replacing a grubby, cramped, poorly lit office. It is designed to put some glamour into City Hall weddings while bringing more tourism dollars to the city.

The facility also has iPod hook-ups (so the bride and groom can play their own music), elaborate restrooms, and marble floors original to the 1929 building. Bloomberg hopes to market the bureau to tourists and offer inclusive wedding packages with local hotels and restaurants. Tying the knot in New York might also have certain financial benefits as well--currently, the fee for a marriage license in Clark County, Nevada, is $55. New York's is $35 (plus another $25 to use the new facility).

Do you think New York will ever replace Vegas as America's number one wedding destination?