www.uk-2-usa.com Newsletter 10

September 2003

 Welcome to the 10th www.uk-2-usa.com monthly newsletter.

Wow! the 10th newsletter, we got into double figures ! This newsletter will update you with any recent USA travel information I have come across and uk-2-usa.com web site changes that have occurred in the last month. All feedback is gratefully received about style or content. Click here to send me suggestions for improvements, additions or even things to avoid in future newsletters. This newsletter will be available via e-mail, on the web site or via the associated online uk-2-usa travel discussion group

Last month I said in this edition I would have a feature on Las Vegas and I called on the readers to submit their anecdotes / tips / questions. I got a few replies and so as promissed this edition includes the Las Vegas feature.

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Feature Destination

Las Vegas

Las Vegas is such a unique place, its hard to know where to start. It is of course based on gambling and wherever you go, there is the incessant chinking of coins and bleeping and ringing of slot machines. But its much more than just that. In recent years there has been an explosion of building the biggest and the best most ourageous casino resorts. Each of these is really like a small town with hundreds usually thousands of hotel rooms, shopping malls, resturants galore, magnificent pools and of course the casinos. Row upon row of slot machine, ranks of Blackjack (Pontoon) tables, Craps tables (2 dice, no idea how to play it) and Roulette tables.

These resort hotels are strung out along Las Vegas Boulevard, better known as The Strip. You can walk from a giant Pyramid (Luxor) to a fairy tale castle (Excalibur) over a bridge to New York. Further up you can visit Ceasars Palace then see a full sized battle of Pirate ships at Treasure Island before crossing the road and being punted along a replica of the Grand Canal in a gondola inside the Venetian Hotel. I'm not being exhaustive here, I haven't mentioned going up a 1/3 scale copy of the Eiffel Tower at Paris or going around a bazaar in Alladins. There is too much more to mention here.

A large part of the market for Las Vegas is people jetting in for the weekend. Consequently there is a large price break for hotal rooms with Mon - Thurs nights being far cheaper than Fri- Sun. The flight prices, particularly internal flights also follow this trend with arrivals Mon - Thurs and departures Tue - Sat normally being much cheaper.

You can see the uk-2-usa.com Las Vegas page here.

Now for some comments from newsletter readers

"Do not miss the free shows in Vegas. The water fountain show outside Bellagios, the pirate ships outside Treasure Island and the volcano outside the Mirage".
Paul
"Its a must see place even if you dont gamble there is still plenty to do. Try the Buffets, all you can eat for a very reasonable price and excellent quality food".
Sharon
"We are 'Trekkies' go to the Las Vegas Hilton and visit Star Trek the Experience- marvelous."
Simon
"The free circus shows in Circus Circus are exellent and in the indoor theme park at the back is superb. For the brave, try the Big Shot ride or High Roller on top of the Stratosphere tower".
Brian

Just to explain Brians comment. The Stratosphere is way up at the top of the strip and is a huge tower 1,100 feet tall. On the very top is the big shot which is a ride that accelerates you 160 feet upwards before letting you freefall back down. I've done it and its unbelievable. Around the base of that ride is the high roller a relatively tame roller coaster positioned in an anything but tame place ! Slung out over the side of the tower you can look down to the floor hundreds of feet below ! it has to be ridden to be understood just how high you feel.

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Current deals / ideas

Driveaways
Here is an idea for a cheap way to drive one way in the USA. Take a driveaway.

When the owner of a car pays for a driver to take it somewhere, it's called a driveaway. Driveaways save money for the driver because it pays for the transportation. The agreement can also save the owner a substantial amount over the cost of shipping.

The arrangement typically has the driver paying for the fuel, tolls, food and lodging. The driver usually is authorized to pay for and claim reimbursement for minor repairs -- under $50, say -- but must get telephone authorization for others. The driver may carry passengers, but must tell the company about them and accept no payment except a share of the expenses.

Owners are usually asked to make arrangements at least two weeks in advance. The owner is usually permitted to fill the trunk with personal belongings but not to leave anything in the passenger area. Sometimes the owner pays for the first tank of gas.

For much more information, checkout the full article here.

Autumn (Fall) colours
Still fancy a trip to the USA this year ? Why not plan to see the spectacular colours of the foliage in New England this October ? Expedia are currently offering a return flight to Boston with 7 nights in a 3* hotel for £453.

Looking ahead to the festive season ?
Here are three ideas from North America Travel Services

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USA travel news and tips

A very quiet month for travel news.

Airline industry to recover in 2004
After three years of misery, the global airline industry should level out this year with Europe and North America enjoying a recovery before Asia, according to a report issued Monday

"Traffic development of both North American and European carriers is stabilizing, with an expected zero growth in 2003 before recovery gets fully under way in 2004 and 2005," the ICAO said in its forecast. Read more here.

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USA flight price survey

Once agains, when compared with the flight prices for the previous months you can clearly see the seasonal effect on prices with the total average return fare for June being £399.77, for July being £557.94 for August being £577, with September at £418 and October at £362

These prices are for a return adult fare including all taxes departing on 15th October, returning on 22nd October.

Honours even this time with Expedia, Ebookers and Travel4less each having 2 of the cheapest flights. Again the underlying message is still to shop around for the best bargain because the cheapest company for one route is probably not the cheapest company for a different route when you look at all of these surveys.


Route

 expedia prices
 e-bookers prices
 travel4less prices
 opodo prices
London
to
Orlando		 £ 296
Northwest		 £ 292
Northwest		 £ 307
Northwest		 £ 377
Delta
London
to
Denver		 £ 330
Northwest		 £ 327
Northwest		 £ 340
Northwest		 £ 331
Northwest
London
to
San Francisco		 £ 323
Continental		 £ 317
United Airlines		 £ 311
British Airways		 £ 330
British airways
Manchester
to
Orlando		 £ 388
Continental		 £ 426
American Airlines		 £ 390
Continental		 £ 422
American Airlines
Manchester
to
Denver		 £ 415
American Airlines		 £ 411
American Airlines		 £ 373
KLM		 £ 407
American Airlines
Manchester
to
San Francisco		 £ 385
KLM		 £ 388
British Midland		 £ 396
Continental		 £ 395
KLM
Totals for
all 6 flights		 £ 2,137 £ 2,161 £ 2,117 £ 2,262



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Web site updates/news


This list details the site changes in the last calendar month.

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Web site facts and figures

This section is getting a little tedious for me, never mind you ! I'll do this every few months now or if something dramatic happens.

In brief August was not surpisingly the lowest month for some time in terms of visitor numbers. I guess everybody is taking their holidays and not planning them.

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uk-2-usa.com Competition

Undeterred from the previous low turnouts, here goes again with the competition. Well its not really a competition, its a giveaway/free draw. Out of all qualifying entries I will draw the lucky winners name from my flat cap and announce it next month. The prize is another guidebook to the southwest USA.

To qualify for entry to the draw, you must e-mail in with either
1) Your favourite place in the USA and briefly why. Or
2) The place you would most like to see and why.

Assuming I get sufficient entries, I'll post them in next months newsletter and it will maybe give the readers some new ideas.

To enter click here. Good luck.

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Future Newsletters

Please give me your feedback about what you would like to see in future editions of this newsletter. I will develop the format based on feedback from readers. Click here to send me suggestions for improvements, additions or even things to avoid in future newsletters.

This is written in HTML format to make it more interactive than a simple text message. If this causes problems with your e-mail programme, please let me know by clicking here and including a brief description of the problem. This assumes that you can read this of course !

Well, thats it for the edition number 10. I look forwards to receiving comments to help me to develop based on your feedback.

Happy USA travelling

UK



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About uk-2-usa

www.uk-2-usa.com is a privately owned website. It was written to share the authors passion for travel to the USA. It is none commercial in nature with all information and advice being freely given. Although commission is made on any holidays sold through the site.

There is an associated online travel group which is also free to join where a message board allows members to share experiences, ask questions and also quiz some of our American members about their country. You may subscribe by clicking the link below.

Click to subscribe to uk2usa
Or you can look without joining by clicking here.

You can e-mail with any questions here.




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