Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, has been a destination I’ve yearned to see for many years.  I can tell you now that it really is unlike any other place in the world and one that you must experience to truly appreciate the enormity of its dominating structures, super casinos, vast shopping malls and the nocturnal way of life for many of its population.

I stayed at the Mandalay Bay adjacent to Las Vegas airport at the end of the ‘strip’. As with everything in Vegas the hotel was huge. It took ten minutes to walk from the hotel suite through the casino, past numerous restaurants, through a shopping mall to the conference centre without stopping to get the ID badge I needed for the consumer electronics show, the primary reason for my trip.

Having worked my way round CES in a single day I was free for a further six to explore ‘sin city’. One of the most noticeable things about this place is that it lives up to one of many nicknames, ‘the city that never sleeps’. Every casino is pumped with fresh, oxygen rich air to keep you awake for as long as possible. Once inside, time stands still, there are no windows and no clocks. One of my nights began with a meal followed by a trip to the Excalibur where I unknowingly began a mammoth 10 hour blackjack session culminating at the Mandalay Bay when I reached my hotel bed at 7:00AM the following day!

Everywhere you look there are structures under development.  The most impressive, ’City Centre’, commenced building work a little over two years ago. It will be finished by November 2009 offering tens of thousands of hotels rooms, huge shopping malls and casinos to the masses. This development covers an area capable of housing a small town in the UK, it is huge!

The attractions were breathtaking and the shopping exuberant, Las Vegas really is an amazing place to visit, so if you like to gamble, shop, and revel all day and all night this really is the place for you!