Last week I took a four-day, five-night jaunt to Las Vegas. My best friend from college joined me for the girls’ getaway. The last time I had visited Vegas, I was about 10 or 11, and it was one of many stops along a cross-country family road trip. Needless to say, I had yet to experience true “Las Vegas.”

After an uneventful flight, we landed, grabbed our bags and a shuttle and headed over to the Wyndham Grand Desert. McCarran International Airport is literally a hop, skip and a jump from the city center — a convenient feature. We were not staying on the Strip, but we were only a few blocks away. Once we settled into our room, we walked up to the Strip to grab some lunch and wander about. That night we took in our first Vegas show, Australia’s male revue, The Thunder from Down Under. The corny Excalibur show was good for a few laughs.

Having checked the weather, we knew our only day of sun would be Thursday, so we decided to take the morning and relax by the pool. We followed up a morning of sun with lunch and a manicure, then we headed over to the Fremont Street Experience. Fremont Street, the “original” Las Vegas strip, has been reinvented as a sort of street fair experience. The world’s largest TV screen, canopied over the several city blocks of the Experience, plays shows every hour on the hour. Spray paint artists and street musicians, as well as other entertainers, line the streets; and casinos, eateries and more abound. We followed up Fremont Street with dinner on the modern-day Strip.

Friday, we began the day with a visit to the Las Vegas sign and then went in search of bingo. No casinos on the Strip offer the game because, as we were instructed, having a bingo room simply takes up too much room. We decided to play bingo at Palace Station casino. Sadly, we lost — both times. For dinner, we headed over to the Venetian, where we enjoyed Italian at Canaletto. After dinner, we took in La Reve, the Wynn’s Cirque du Soleil show. We chose this show based on the glowing recommendations we received from everyone we asked. Even concierges and staff who were not fans of the Cirque series highly recommended La Reve. It did not disappoint, and I would highly recommend it for any of you in the Vegas area. Our Las Vegas night on the town was capped off by cocktails and dancing at Blush, the Wynn’s boutique nightclub.

Saturday was our last full day in Las Vegas. We started off with a delicious brunch buffet at Paris. Despite the long entrance line, the overwhelming selection of food was well worth the wait. We enjoyed afternoon massages at Mandara Spa at the Paris and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring the Strip. We wandered around all the major casinos, including Caesar’s Palace; caught the Bellagio’s fountain show; grabbed dinner at Bally’s; checked out the Mirage; admired the lion habitat at the MGM Grand; and played some slots at Planet Hollywood. We wandered a lot and got a good taste of the famed Las Vegas strip.

Thankfully, we were scheduled to fly home Sunday, so we avoided the flight cancellations caused by the big snowstorm that hit the East Coast last weekend. We arrived home on time and ready for the work week — and another snowstorm. There is so much to see and do in Las Vegas; it’s overwhelming, but I think we sampled a bit of what the city is known for — we gambled (a little bit), ate at a buffet, enjoyed shows, relaxed in a spa, explored and much more. Viva Las Vegas!

– Kimberly Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive

No matter how busy I am on a business trip, I always make it a point to enjoy at least one meal that is authentic to the city I am visiting. Unfortunately, sometimes that means room service in front of the computer, but nonetheless, it’s a great way to test the hotel’s kitchen.

There are many great cities around the world that bring authentic cuisine to people’s front doors. New York, my hometown, is known to do it best. There are countless restaurants where, as soon as you walk inside, you are transported from the busy streets of the city outside. Great Italian places transport you to Tuscany, wonderful Chinese restaurants take you to the street stands of China, a cozy French bistro makes you feel like you are in the French countryside, and so on.

But in my book, there is still nothing better than sampling a local cuisine on the local streets. Today I enjoyed some phenomenal chicken schwarma, hummus and mixed grill on the Jumeirah Beach Walk in Dubai. While I know I can get the food at home, the taste of the food in its local setting is so much better. There is nothing quite like being surrounded by locals, enjoying local fare and taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the city in which it was created.

Hotels in the UAE are sprouting up overnight. They all continue to innovate the dining experience. I love checking out new chefs. When I am in the region, I recommend the buffet breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Shangri-la Abu Dhabi or the classic seafood restaurant at the Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel and Resort.

Locals can’t even keep up with the new openings in Dubai! The Fairmont offers a range of dining options, including a great steak restaurant,The Exchange, that recently underwent a renovation. There are five new Address Hotels in the city. Or you can take in a view from the world’s tallest tower while enjoying a trendy Chinese dinner at the Address Burj Dubai. There’s tons more to experience, and I would love to hear of your favorite restaurants around the world.

– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher

I thought you would all be interested in an update on the Hotel Bel-Air. As you know, Global Traveler held many events at the property, and it become our home-away-from-home. It closed this past October for massive renovations, including the completion of the spa.

The Hotel Bel-Air refurbishment is still in the design phase, and I am told it will be spectacular. The owners are bringing the property up to the standards of today’s guest while still maintaining the residential feel for which the HBA has been known for many years. Those of us who frequented the property are anticipating the changes as well as looking forward to what will remain the same.

The swans are still on property and are very happy to be home throughout the refurbishment. As those who have been to the Hotel Bel-Air know, the swans are a signature of the property. They make their home in the little pond over which guests cross to enter the hotel.

Alexandra Champalimaud, the famed designer of other Dorchester Collection properties as well as Boston’s Liberty Hotel and the American Airlines Arena skyboxes, is the interior designer. She just won an award for “Interior Designer of the Year.” David Rockwell, the HBA restaurant designer, was just awarded, for the second year, the opportunity to do the 82nd Academy Awards production. The Hotel Bel-Air definitely has the top people on this project!

The Bar will be also be upgraded, yet the area’s illustrious history will be maintained, which I think is very important. Overall, I am told the process is going well, with an anticipated completion date in mid-2011. That might be a bit optimistic, but one never knows.

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

I visited family this weekend just outside of Washington, D.C. Our nation’s capital is truly a remarkable place, and I am amazed every time I visit. It is within fairly close proximity to New York City. It is about a six-hour car ride (with stops), a three-hour Amtrak trip and only a 35-minute flight.

While it was great to visit with my family, I also enjoyed a visit with a friend in Arlington, Va., as well. It was great to see him and visit a part of the D.C. area I had never been to before. I definitely got to know the areas surrounding Washington, D.C.; they are being re-urbanized as people rediscover the value of building in those areas. The rebuilding also helps diminish the awful commute from the farther-out areas.

I visited the Clarendale area of Arlington, which has easy access to Northern Virginia and downtown D.C. via the Metro. We compared Clarendale with Brooklyn — the community is strong and there is a mix of urban and suburban areas. From this New Yorker’s point of view, no place is like Manhattan by any means, but I found Arlington and its many neighborhoods to be a welcoming place to live and work. I was impressed with its close proximity to the city, the Pentagon, the Capitol and other landmarks. Not to mention, the perfect 70-degree weather we were fortunate enough to experience in mid-November!

– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher

A couple of weeks ago Harry and I finally visited one of Oregon’s well-known tourist attractions. We’ve been talking about stopping by ever since we moved here over a year ago but somehow just never took the time to do so. With the dry weather coming to an end and winter on its way, we knew if we were going to do it this year, we’d better get going. So, on a lovely, sunny afternoon we embarked . . . Crater Lake, you’re thinking? The Oregon Caves? The Shakespeare Festival? All good guesses, but no, we took a short trek up I-5 to Gold Hill and the amazing Oregon Vortex and its House of Mystery (cue eerie, ominous music)!

This roadside attraction has been drawing ‘em in and confounding folks since 1930, with an estimated 20 to 30 thousand visitors a year. I know there are such places all around the country, though since the advent of the interstate highway system, I imagine attendance has fallen off for many of those located along the old U.S. routes. (See the world’s largest ball of string! Alligator wrestling! The Corn Palace! And on and on.) The Vortex has found its way into Ripley’s Believe It or Not and Unsolved Mysteries, You Asked for It and even The X-Files. According to a pin-dotted map in the souvenir shop, just this year alone it’s drawn (magnetically/mystically/magically?) visitors in from as far away as Siberia, the Philippines and Rio de Janeiro.

What is the attraction? According to the proprietors and John Litster, the Scottish physicist who started studying the place in 1914 and first opened it up to tourists, it is centered on a 165-foot-diameter circle (or actually, a sphere) which creates some unusual phenomena “where the improbable is commonplace and everyday physical facts are reversed.” Golf balls roll uphill, people grow or shrink depending on where they are standing, and folks naturally tilt towards magnetic north seven degrees or so off of straight plumb. It is claimed that long before settlers and gold miners arrived, Native Americans called it “The Forbidden Ground” and their horses wouldn’t enter the area, and that birds and other critters don’t long remain there if they venture in.

We plunked down our nine dollars each and joined the 45-minute tour, bombarded by the rapid patter of our guide (it was amusing to see how, after her rehearsed speech was interrupted, she visibly rewound the track in her head until she found her spot and released the “pause” button and was off again) as she tried to explain what she told us was not yet explainable. We got theories and demonstrations using levels and surveyors’ rods and plumb bobs. We stood on level planks and noted how, moving from one end to the other, we “grew” on the south end and “shrunk” on the north end. We were invited to take pictures (still, only), and the guide addressed skeptics’ arguments (”It’s not just background angles creating an illusion; digitally ‘cut out’ the background and leave just the two figures, and you’ll still note the change in height!”) and sneered at “pretenders” at other attractions around the country who try to re-create the Vortex with such illusions.

I entered as a skeptic, but I was entertained and impressed with the demonstrations. I definitely felt some odd sensations in my head and stomach as I entered the House of Mystery, but I ascribed that less to the vortex’s mysterious powers and more to the visual confusion of so many odd and extreme angles and the steeply pitched floor. I’ve read through Litster’s Notes and Data, and though I am no science wiz, I can see some logical arguments against and big holes in his presentation of “facts.” A rather entertaining article by Oregonians for Science & Reason helped me understand a little of the smoke and mirrors used to play up the site, but in the end I didn’t mind. 

I really didn’t visit the Oregon Vortex to be convinced it represents some unusual, unexplained natural phenomena involving electromagnetic fields, or whatever. I went to be entertained, to see a little bit of Americana in a long-standing roadside attraction and to spend a lovely fall day outdoors. The site and its House of Mystery delivered on all counts.

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader