One of the only benefits of working at Nortel is the week-long company-wide shutdown at the end of the year. 7 days of pure vacation time which doesn't even intrude into your Paid-Time-Off bank. How cool is that? And being the magnanimous company that Nortel is, they gave us an extra day off to compensate for the horror of their stock price and plummeting revenues. With the US economy at its pathetic nadir, where else would you spend your vacation hours? Las Vegas, of course.

And what is Vegas without their big corporate theme-park style casino-hotels? So we decided to sample one casino-hotel each day. New-York, New-York on the 24th, MGM Grand on the 25th, Harrah's on the 26th, and Paris on the 27th. In short, this is what I gathered at the end of the day (all the standard disclaimers apply).

• Its a great idea to hotel-hop if you travel light. You don't get bored staying at the same stuffy room every day. If you have stuff or have kids, don't ever try it.


• Always take your car to the valet. Its cheap and very very convenient. The parking lots at these casinos are in a different zip code altogether.


• Stay away from Alamo's car rentals. They have screwed me twice with really bad cars. Maybe its my luck, or maybe its the San Jose center.


• Priceline is a great way to book hotel stays. They provide very reasonable rates for some excellent hotels. Both, the Sheraton and the Westin (at LAX), are incredible stopover choices. As for the casino-hotels in Las Vegas:

New York, New York Good service, decent rooms, though a bit dull and gloomy. MGM Grand Really bad service. The manager kept badmouthing online travel agencies like Travelocity/Yahoo! and Expedia. Was literally pimping for MGM's own web site. Would never ever stay there. Harrah's Excellent value for the money. In the middle of the strip, close to every major attraction. Decent service. Paris Excellent service. Very good experience.

Enough corporate kissing/bashing already. Lets get on with the trip and rush through the boring I-5 stretch to Los Angeles, California. The Sheraton near LAX gave us a runway facing view on request from Rachna. Wise decision, since LAX is one of the better looking airports that I have seen in this country. Maybe it was due to Christmas.

The next morning (24th), we woke up early to get an early start and maybe take a short detour of the Mojave desert. Breakfast, lunch and some shopping for basics, and before we knew it, it was high noon. And then there was the notorious Los Angeles traffic. Being a workday, and moreover, being Christmas eve, I-110 was crawling into the mountains. It didn't take us long to realize that the Mojave detour was out of the question.

I-15 to Las Vegas is quite boring, slightly better than the I-5 drive to Los Angeles. The only interesting stretch was Shadow Valley. The hills straddling the valley are extremely dark on top and fade to golden yellow towards the bottom, giving it an eerie reverse shadow effect.

At the California-Nevada border, we chanced upon a few Vegas lookalike towns such as , whose casino businesses probably boom primarily due to hungry motorists or empty fuel-tanks. At 4:30pm, Las Vegas is as unimpressive as Reno. Quite disappointing. I'll remember to time it properly the next time and enter at dusk. Even then, personally I feel that the approach to Vegas from I-15 east, coming from Arizona, is exceptional.

First impressions on entering the Strip - lots and lots of people and a Disneyland-like theme park atmosphere. The blazingly bright neon signs and message boards, the cheap blaring sound from The Fountains of Bellagio (bet those were Bose speakers), the impeccable pavements lined with hordes of tourists, and the traffic. Last impressions - people, neon lights, traffic and the Bose speakers at Bellagio.

Notable experiences on the Strip were the canals at The Venetian, the Fountains of Bellagio (with the Bose speakers), and The Eiffel at Paris. Notable non-experiences were the pirate fight at Treasure Island (the inter-show durations are huge), the belly dancers at Alladin, and some gizmo-ic showdown at Caesers Palace.

If you are sick from the boredom of the theme park experience, you should head over to downtown Las Vegas (which contrary to popular belief, is not the Strip). The Fremont Street Experience is a flashy 30 minute show built to resurrect some of the oldest casinos in Vegas. Set at the 4th and Fremont street intersection, the show consists of synchronized images projected on an overhead canopy. Old-time casinos such as Binions and dreamt up this show as a means to attract tourists away from the glitz of corporate Vegas. The result - people flocking to experience the show, hanging around for a while and then driving back, lured by the glamor of the Strip.

Over the next three days I walked, stuffed myself with food (the French buffet in Paris is highly recommended), and watched a couple of incredibly expensive shows. The highlight of the whole trip was Bryce Canyon National Park. Did I gamble? Not really. I merely entertained myself at a few slot machines while waiting in the mile-long buffet queues. In conclusion, it was nice while it lasted, but could get boring very quickly if you don't gamble.