1. Weather in November is pretty chilly. We went Thanksgiving weekend and the temperature was in the 50s. Day and night makes a huge difference though. In the daytime, you can get away with wearing jeans and a T-shirt. But at night, my light jacket was barely enough. I’m just glad I had brought a thick scarf too

2. Wear comfortable shoes. You’ll be doing a lot of walking. And I mean A LOT. Looking at the map, it looks like everything is close together. but the strip is actually three miles long. It’s also not a straight shot to get from one resort/casino to the next. There are a lot of stairs and pedestrian bridges involved. The strip was very cleverly designed in the sense that you actually have to go through some of the casinos if you want to get to a certain part of the strip

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3. Don’t forget about the resort fee. They all have one. When you’re researching hotels, all of the rates seem relatively cheap. Then you have to tack on $40 (and up) per night. This is for ‘use of the amenities’, which usually doesn’t even include parking, so if you’re driving, that will be another fee. We stayed at the Cosmopolitan, which was an extra $38 and Caesar’s Palace, which was an extra $45. Here is a quick glance of the resort fees in Vegas

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4. Treasure Island offers free parking. I believe this is only resort to do so. It’s free for guests of the hotel and casino. 

5. Food is expensive. I’m not just talking about the buffets, but pretty much anywhere on the strip – the prices will be hiked up, so expect to fork out a big chunk if you want to eat

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6. Get a loyalty card at the casinos to earn points. A lot of the casinos partner together, meaning you can use one loyalty card at multiple casinos and earn points more quickly

7. Marijuana is legal. I’ll just leave it at that

8. There are a few free trams you can take to get from one casino to the other. (Mirage-Treasure Island; Bellagio-CityCentre-Park MGM; Mandalay Bay-Excalibur). There’s also a monorail (not free) if you decide you want to take that. Check out this site for ticket prices/schedules

9. Download the MyVegas slots and you can play slots in the app for real rewards in Las Vegas. I have to admit, when my cousin first told me about this app, I thought it was some kind of pyramid scheme. But I tried it out for myself (sometimes just left the slots spinning on my phone while I did something else). You earn ‘loyalty points’, which you can exchange for experiences in Vegas, like BOGO buffets, or BOGO shows. You have to keep an eye out for the rewards because the good ones get snatched up quickly, but they refresh daily. I was able to get a BOGO to the Buffet at the Bellagio

10. Be mindful of which resort you pick. Some are at the end of one side of the strip, so you probably aren’t going to want to stray too far. As I mentioned, we stayed at the Cosmo and Caesar’s Palace, which I felt were pretty centrally located

11. If you have Priority Pass, there is a lounge at McCarran Airport. Not the best, but still beats waiting by the gate and having the last-minute temptation of the slot machines nearby