Las Vegas Insights: Accessible Travel

Ouch!  What a tough town for mobility challenges.  What have a learned so far? Ask for a room near the elevator:  We did, got a room near the elevator, and I'm so glad.  These hallways are about four miles long!

Be prepared to walk.  A lot.  Or bring a wheelchair:  I knew the casinos were big.  But they're huge!  Costco parking-lot, three city-blocks huge.  It takes twenty minutes to walk to the pool because it's across the casino floor.  Exploring the strip, or getting to the interior mall section of a casino, is a hike in itself.  As for exploring the strip, forget it.  The strip is miles long.  Target one or two casinos a day.

The monorail helps.  A little: The monorail winds behind the casinos.  We got passes after I wore myself out walking from one casino to the other.  The hard part is that it stops behind the casinos, and the walkways leading to the casinos are long and getting through the casino is long so by the time you find the street, you're exhausted.

Valet Parking is free:  At least at Bally's, where we're staying.  I hear most of the other casinos are free, too.  Tip the driver a couple of bucks when you pick up the car.  It's worth it to avoid the long walk from self parking.

Pictures on a map are not true-to-scale: Just because a casino looks like it's across the street, or just down the block, or even if you can see a giant flashing sign, that doesn't mean it's nearby.  You may walk and walk and walk to find the sign right by the parking lot which is still half a mile from the casino doors.  Did I mention these places are huge?

I'll add more insights as we go along.  I'm hitting up against a lot of personal trigger-emotions as I want to do things that are no longer practical for me.  The hardest part is that I can do a lot.  I just have to figure out how much pain I can handle.  Not a fun bargain.  So I'll keep you all posted.

We are having a great time.  The pools are awesome.  Adventures everywhere.  We're off to find more!