VEGAS BABY!!! In a city where pretty much anything goes except for being poor, the cheaper the deals you can find on your flight and hotel, the better off you'll be in the grand scheme of things. Now if you've never been to Vegas before, you might be intimidated by the stories of the high rollers and the celebrities that go there. But I am here to show you that you don't need to have an extra thousand bucks just to get yourself to Sin City!

Now, I'm sure everyone would love to be able to drop a few thousand bucks a night for a penthouse suite in a ritzy high-class casino/resort on the strip, like Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, etc. But what a lot of people don't know is you don't have to spend all of your money on where you stay! Let's be honest, unless you are going for the sole purpose of hanging out in your room the entire time you're there, a lot of us don't really care much what our rooms are like, as long as they are clean and the beds are comfortable, am I right?! So I am going to let you in on my favorite hidden gem, Imperial Palace. Located right in the heart of the strip, (we are talking dead center here!), across the street from the Forum Shops and Caesars Palace and a 5 minute walk away from the Bellagio Fountains, you have everything you need at your fingertips here. Imperial Palace is truly affordable for anyone's budget with basic rooms starting at $33.95 A NIGHT!!! Sound too good to be true, I thought so too, for that price you think "there must be a catch!" There's really not! Imperial Palace does an excellent job making you feel at home, the rooms are clean and relatively modern, of course you're not gonna have 45 inch LCD screens like at Mandalay Bay...but who comes to Vegas to watch TV?!?! Bottom line, if you want to be center-strip, in the middle of all the action and save your money for gambling and partying, then Imperial Palace is your spot! Now,  I wouldn't recommend it for people who prefer the plush luxurious treatment...you'll have to spend more money I'm afraid. But even stepping it up doesn't have to break the bank. Your best bet to find the cheapest hotel deals on the strip is to go to Vegas.com.

As far as flights to Vegas go, there are sites all over the internet and advertised on TV that claim to get you "the BEST deals"...I have personally found that most of these sites are bogus. Don't fall into the "package deal" trap! Even if you do the "name your own price" game, you are not guaranteed they will accept it, and if they do you are locked in with whatever flight time and date they give you and they are non-refundable. I don't know about anyone else, but I like keeping my options open. With that said, I am a die-hard SOUTHWEST flyer. My boyfriend introduced them to me last year and I have to say, they have some pretty amazing deals, and your first and SECOND checked bags are always FREE!! Free is good! One-Way flights start at $49 and you can sign up for a feature they have called "DING!" which is a nifty little service that you can program your favorite and most traveled to airports and cities into and they will alert you on your computer desktop or portable mobile device when there are special deals to and from those cities! I just got $99 one way tickets to Vegas non-stop and $109 one way tickets home non-stop! I looked around and NO ONE had flights that cheap, not even with 2 or 3 lay overs!

So for a 4 day, 3 night stay for my boyfriend and I in Vegas (over St. Patty's Day) I paid for our room, and our flights to and from for a little over $500! This was all done just by going straight to Imperial Palace's main website and booking through them directly. And then by going to southwest.com and booking through them directly. Just because I'm curious, I am going to use the oh-so-common "air+hotel package deal" sites and see if I can even come close to my own deal...

Expedia Results:
The cheapest deal they can give me for the same dates I am going for is $664.58. That isn't too bad. This includes two roundtrip plane tickets through US airlines (which I know nothing about) both ways having up to a 3-hour lay over in Phoenix. And the room is at Circus Circus, which is located on the very northern end of the Strip, not the center, but you can walk or take the tram.

Priceline Results:
WOW...I kind of had higher expectations for this site, because of all the commercials for it...but the cheapest deal they have for the dates I am going is $866.00. This includes two roundtrip tickets to Vegas the departing flight is through US airlines once again, with one stop, not listed. And the returning flight is with AmericanAirlines with a 2 hour lay over in St. Louis. The hotel room is at the Four Queens Hotel And Casino which is in "Old Vegas" on Fremont Street, while, this area is still popular, it is definately not the Vegas Strip. You would have to take a taxi, or walk a few miles...

Hotwire Results:
And Last but not least, this well-known "bargain site" lists the cheapest deal as $426.00 PER PERSON...SNEAKY! which brings thier grand total to $852.00. Flights are once again through US Airlines each with about an hour long layover in Phoenix. And the hotel they have a room in is called "Fiesta Rancho". I've never heard of it, but its listed as being 8 miles from the Vegas Strip. The picture shows a casino building with a large parking lot in front filled with cars. Not exactly how I picture Vegas...Again you'd have to take a taxi, or rent a car...

Okay, so I hope maybe you've learned something from this, or atleast I have maybe inspired you to go out and find your own deals instead of relying on some of the sites that claim to find you the best deals with no work. For a couple hours of your time, It is certain that you can save yourself hundreds of dollars! I think for most people, that is well worth the time! Plus, it's fun to know you are paying way less than other people for the same, if not better experience! 

NOW GO FIND SOME BARGAINS!!!