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During the vacation I got to see many of the wonders that Amsterdam has to offer. One of the first things I went to see was the Van Gogh Museum. Having just gotten off the plane I was tired, but some of his art is just amazing to see, and I did not want to wait to see them.

After going to the museum I headed into the city center to look around, maybe do some shopping and get some food.

I had herd many things about Amsterdam and just thought that many of them were blow out of proportion, well I am here to tell you that they are all true. The first thing that hits you is the strong smell of Marijuana, and then you start to see the almost completely naked girls in the windows.

As if the prostitutes in the windows were not enough there are live sex shows and sex shops selling every imaginable sex toy known to man on every street, but this was not what interested me.

Then as I continued walking around I started to notice something besides pot, and naked females, I saw casinos.

I grew up in New Jersey, just about 2 hours from Atlantic City, and after my 18th birthday I spend a good amount of time in the casinos. So I decided to go in and check some of them out.

Well I wound up spending most of the rest of my time in those casinos. The first one I went to was Video Gaming machines only, but they had video poker, video blackjack and Video Slot machines as well, I did not really do well her in this place so I only spent about an hour, and about 100 Euro, then left.

The next place I found was a nicer place. Unlike in New Jersey, in these casinos people are dressed up in their nice clothes instead of jeans, sneakers and T-Shirts. This casino had actual table games so I tried to play some Blackjack, but there was a player at the table that either had no idea on how to play or he was somehow involved in cheating with another player, but I am inclined to think he just did not know how to play blackjack.

So I started playing at the Roulette table, and I was doing really well, at one point I was up about 400 Euro before I started losing. So I decided to leave this casino and go walking around for a while.

The next day I found myself in another casino, and I decided to see if my luck was back, I went to a slot machine and put in some money and on the third spin I won another 200 Euro, so feeling lucky I decided to enter the poker room, and that is when things got really interesting. I got into a game and boy were these guys good, but I was winning just as much as I was losing, and in the end I may have even walked away with a few Euros more then when I walked in.

After playing for about 5 hours I decided to go outside and walk around a bit to stretch my legs. I would up deciding to sit down and have a cup of coffee, but I did not know the difference between a coffee shop and a caf?.

In Amsterdam a caf? is a place to sit and have a coffee, but a coffee shop is a place to purchase and smoke Marijuana. So as I was sitting there drinking my coffee I noticed several people rolling joints. Now I have herd about this and I hade smelled plenty of pot while I was there, but I did not realize it was sold out in the open like this. So I decided to buy some pot and try it.

I went to the counter where I saw others buying their weed and the guy behind the counter was very nice and showed me a menu of what they had for sale. I wound up buying a joint of white widow. The man behind the counter told me his was very strong stuff, but I was not prepared for this.

I managed to smoke about half of the joint, before I was hit with this feeling. I have been a drinker for many years, but even in my college days I was never out of my head like this.

Eventually I managed to get out of there and get some fresh air, and some waffles. I decided, this was the time to back into the casino and win my money back, and in the end I lost another 600 Euro, and wound up falling off my chair in the casino and needed to be helped out.

So if you are going to be going to Amsterdam, be careful the grass is really strong.

Las Vegas was for a long time the adults playground. Las Vegas was and is the gambling and drinking capitol of the world, and it was just about as Wild West as you could get in the twentieth century. But in the last 20 years Las Vegas has changed into a large amusement park for the whole family. There is such a wide variety of things to do inside and outside of Las Vegas apart from gambling, that it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to see some of the beautiful sites around the area.

1) Think location. A hotel that is located directly on the strip will end up being much higher in price than a hotel just off the strip. Really, glamour is nice, but saving a couple of extra hundred dollars in the long run will allow you the opportunity to do some great things that had not been originally accounted for.

2) Outside of Las Vegas are some very nice deserts and mountains. Easy to get to and very close, it is nice to take a break from the gambling and partying to get out and visit a bit of nature. Finding a hotel that is close to the Strip but also close to all the nature reserves is a big bonus when you are not having a good time at the casino tables.

3) Las Vegas is huge, and continues to grow, so trying to visit an amusement park on the outskirts from the Strip, may tend to be a bit difficult, so try to aim to be a little farther from all the traffic if you are not just gambling and are doing other fun things.

4) When searching for a place to stay in Las Vegas, you will find that in just about any direction there will be hotels in which to stay, offering a drive of less than 10 minutes to the Strip plus there is free parking at most casinos on the Strip for when you are going to gamble.

5) Think Entertainment! Check out the available shows during the time you are in Vegas. If you are lucky, you might get to see some of the greatest entertainers such as Jay Leno, Edwin Murphy, Sting, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Jeniffer Lopez, Shakira, Madonna and many many more for just a few dollars. Sometimes, you might get a ticket dirt-cheap if you only look around and ask. Since Vegas is relatively small, its worth your while to check out not just the shows that your hotel (however grand it is!) is planning for its customers, but also to check out those offered by the rest of the hotels in Las Vegas.

These are just a few things to keep in mind when traveling to Las Vegas.