Las Vegas Day 1: Finally got the car and drove to Las Vegas Strip to the Venetian!

Despite landing at McCarran Airport at 12:30 pm, we only managed to drive out with our rental car at 2:30 pm. (Please read my previous blog for the confusion at the Thrifty car rental). The drive from the airport to our the Venetian was pretty smooth at 2:30 pm. It took less than 15 mins.

My last trip to Las Vegas was in 1997. The strip looks so different. I only remembered the Flamingo Hotel. The sun, crowd and energy just make us look forward to our 5-day trip!

M&M Store

Coke Store

Purple Classic Car

Driving to Venetian was easy.Once we got there, we had to decide between valet and self-parking for the hotel check-in. The hotel layout, especially how to get from the self-parking garage to the hotel lobby was pretty confusing to first time visitors. If you have many luggages, young children and/or elderly in the party, I would highly recommend the valet parking. At least for the check-in. It was just the two of us and we only had one bag, so we decided to do the self-park.

The self parking garage was HUGE. Oversized vehicle parking was on the ground floor while all others were from level 5 to 9. It was pretty crowded on a Saturday afternoon when we arrived but we still managed to get a spot on level 6. It took us quite a while to find the lobby from the garage.

First, we had to take the garage elevator to Casino level, walk past the first entrance to the 1st Canal Shoppe Entrance, take the elevator down to the Casino level, walk on the left side of the Casino past an eating area before we reached the lobby. It should take at least 10 minutes but we took 20 minutes since we got lost half way before we asked a hotel staff for directions. Save yourself the time and effort and ask if it is your first time there.