We just spent a week in Vegas split between two hits and three hotels.
This is my 6th time in Vegas, my fiancé’s 3rd time, and my friend’s 2nd time. We love the city. It is the only place like it on Earth. I love it, but this massive adult theme-park needs to be treated with respect and best approached with experience. So, I hope this report will help others.
We were here last year, and although we had an amazing time, we did make some mistakes. This year’s trip was refined to near perfection.
Flights (UK to Vegas).
We’re from the UK. We flew direct with Virgin Atlantic. As far as I know VA are the only airline that flies direct from UK to Vegas. We used 80,000 airmiles to upgrade to Premium seats. When you’re sat on your arse for 11 and a half hours, the extra comfort, space, and legroom are well worth it. It also means the actual cost for the flight was super low compared to booking Premium seats without miles (£400 compared to around £1500).
As it's a 747, I would recommend getting seats on the upper deck. As it is the top bulge of the plane, it only holds around 70 passengers. It feels exclusive, with faster service from the staff, shorter lines for the bathroom, and far less chance a child or baby will be sat near you.
Jetlag.
Something I didn’t take into account last time was the effect of jet lag. We paid for it. With the West Coast being 8 hours behind the UK, we tried a different tactic this time around. As soon as asses touched seats on the plane, we adjusted clocks to Vegas time. We respected the need to sleep by front-loading the flight with lots of booze and soon got our heads down. With those few hours of sleep, we were much better adjusted when we landed.
ESTA.
Immigration into the US can be a pain, but here’s a tip; if you’ve travelled to the US before with the same ESTA, you can use the automated passport scanners and skip the massive line.
Food.
We’re foodies. We’ve traveled the world and eaten at many Michelin Star restaurants. It’s our thing. It’s our passion. We had high hopes for Vegas food last year, but we came to the quick realisation Vegas can’t do quality. It's not surprising. The sheer volume of people that pound the strip means restaurants don’t really need to try to turn a profit. As I said above, Vegas is a theme-park. It supplies the fake and gaudy like no other, but on the flip side it can’t really do genuine or authentic. Last year we had to pay truly spectacular amounts of money before we got a properly impressive meal at é by José Andrés in the Cosmo. I can’t afford to do that again. So, this year we did things differently. We embraced the brash, the massive, and the crappy and ate like the locals.
Finances.
Vacations are my opportunity to live large. I look forward to them all year, and save for them with the intention to experience things way beyond my normal life. I want luxury. I want finery. I want to be treated like a rockstar, because these things just don’t exist in my day to day life. I spent a lot on this holiday, but that’s because I saved for it and budgeted hard for it. If you’re doing Vegas, then you have to do it right!
Hotel 1: The Vdara.
After the flight and immigration we got a cab to our first hotel; the Vdara. What a brilliant hotel. It doesn’t have a casino attached, so is less Vegas and less insane than many strip hotels, but I’ve been there and done that - so this was a beautiful, calm hotel for the start of our trip.
We went for a Lake View Suite. Sounds fancy, and it was, but so much cheaper than an equivalent at one of the other big hotels. The room was massive, and modern. It also had a microwave and food preparation area with fridge separate to the mini bar.
The Vdara also has a nifty room service robot that can deliver snacks and drinks to you autonomously. It is a novelty now, but it worked well and I can see it being rolled out to other hotels soon.
As for location, the Vdara is right behind the Aria and the Bellagio. There’s a sneaky walkway to the Bellagio, or a short walk across the valet to the Aria. From either of these hotels you are straight onto the strip.
Adventures.
Day 1.
First port of call was a walk down the strip to In-n-Out burger next to the High Roller. We don’t have In-n-Out in the UK so its a real treat.
We walked the strip until well after dark, visiting Caesars, the Bellagio for coffee, and finally back to the Vice Versa bar at the Vdara. It is a quiet lobby bar with a calm outside section. We had a few drinks there and then off to bed.
Day 2.
Breakfast at Eggslut at the Cosmo. Expensive, but very tasty. Get the cookie. I has just the right amount of gooey inside and salt crust to make the perfect pud.
Back to the Vdara for a workout at their OK gym and then relaxing at the pool. They do a bag check, but we just had water and coke so let us in. I think they were looking for booze.
After our fill of the sun (still 30^o C + in October) we made our way back to the Cosmo for a late lunch at Block 16. This is their new “street food” area with an excellent selection. We went for the sushi rolls at Tekka. Really good, and bigger than expected. They also have Asahi on draft. Again, a little expensive for the type of food but nice.
Hopped in a taxi for a walk around the canals at the Venetian, then over the the Wynn for drinks at Parasol Down. We like drinking outside, and it was really relaxing sipping cocktails by the waterfall. I had a crab cheesy dip thing with breads that was surprisingly tasty.
We headed back to the Vdara to get ready for our evening at the Luxor. It started with drinks at an Irish bar I forget the name of. It actually had genuine Irish staff and live music, so the fakery was better than most. A few pints later we went to see the Blue Man Group. Hilarious and a lot of fun. Well recommended.
After BMG we wandered to the Mandalay looking for food, but their restaurants were all taken over by a massive convention. We hopped into a cab and made our way back to the Cosmo to Beauty and Essex for food. The restaurant was very cool. You enter through a secret door in a cheesy gift shop. You’re then lead to a dimly lit, intimate table by a pretty server lady. Food was only OK, but definitely not up to scratch for the price. However, the atmosphere was amazing.
Day 3.
Breakfast was a 15 inch pizza slice from Pin Up Pizza at Planet Hollywood. Horrible, greasy pizza, but the novelty was fun. We checked out and picked up our car from our Turo host, a Tesla Model X for the next leg of our trip; a week in San Diego. Amazing city. Go.
Vegas Day 4.
Hotel 2: The SLS.
It was fight night. Hotels were stupidly expensive because of McGregor vs Khabib, so we stayed for one cheap night at the SLS. When we booked it it was still the W, but the SLS since took it over. The room was a Fabulous King, but I’m not sure that name is relevant anymore. Anyway, the hotel is still in a state of flux. The W side was dead. The bar was closed and the few remaining staff seemed to just be milling around. It was odd.
The room was spacious, and had an interesting theme, but seemed a little empty given its square footage. It did have a mirror above the bed, though. Very Vegas. After the long drive from SD, we freshened up and got dinner at Bazaar Meats by José Andrés. This was my favorite meal in Vegas. José Andrés can actually be counted on for a great theme and good food. It wasn’t quite good enough for the price, but it was closer than any other restaurant we visited on this trip.
The atmosphere and decor were incredible. A massive industrial fire pit grilling many meats greets you as you enter. The entire room is bordered by the various kitchens and preparation areas, and produce is proudly on show. There were some freakishly huge vegetables and a vast array of meat slabs all around. Of all the Vegas restaurants I’ve visited, the theming here was on point.
After dinner, we stayed at the SLS for drinks around the casino watching the fight in the sports bar.
Vegas Day 5.
Hotel 3: The Cosmopolitan.
We checked out of the SLS quickly, glad to be away from its strangeness. As if to confirm our ikky intuition, we passed a crime scene investigation outside, little orange cones all over indicating spent bullet casings. Welcome to America, motherfucker!
We headed to our next and final hotel - the Cosmo. What an incredible place. By far and away my fave hotel on the Stip. In addition to the hotels this trip, I’ve stayed at the Stratosphere, Luxor, Aria, and Bellagio. This was better than them all.
Even though it was around midday when we hit the check in desk, the concierge sorted us out with a room upgrade to an immediately available room. With three of us sleeping in one room, he wanted to ensure we were comfortable, so booked us into an unlisted suite with two bathrooms, a japanese soaking tub, and a massive balcony on the 55th floor overlooking the Bellagio fountains and the strip.
That view was breathtaking, and the room was stunning. Only one minor issue - we found a diaper behind the sofa that housekeeping had missed from the last guest. We complained to the front desk and they sorted it with a $75 credit and resort fees refunded. Score!
Lunch was at Secret Pizza. A good slice. Be aware they have more slices available than is on display.
We went to Walmart to pick up booze and snacks. And a kettle. I’m English. I need my tea. Vegas hotels don’t have tea and coffee making facilities in the room, so a $15 kettle and some tea was a must. For the cost of three drinks at Starbucks, this is a good move for us Brits. The Cosmo room also had a little bar with additional fridge to the mini bar, so we packed that bitch with booze, mixers and fruit.
After Walmart we picked our friend up at the airport and got her showered and dressed ready for dinner. A few drinks at the Chandelier bar in the Cosmo, then over to Jaleo by José Andrés. I’m sure you’re seeing a theme with our booked restaurant choices, but José is consistently good. Jaleo was no exception. The paella was a touch disappointing this time, but the other dishes were amazing.
We drank a bit too much sangria, so kept the party going with drinks in Beauty and Essex. It may be a restaurant, but the little bar area also has seating for drinkers to watch the patrons come and go (and the pretty front of house ladies). It proved a great spot to people watch and enjoy their amazing cocktails.
After too many drinks, we retired to the room and enjoyed the view with more drinks and snacks on the balcony. That experience was priceless. The twinkling view of the Vegas madness far below our own intimate little party felt very special. We got pretty messy loving that very special moment, and eventually found the bed. After all, our friend had been up for nearly 35 hours. Hardcore!
Day 6.
To work off the punishment to our livers the night before, we hit the Cosmo gym. It is OK, and actually has a good number of heavy dumbbells. Many hotel gyms I’ve been to stop at around 60lbs but the Cosmo went way up to 100lbs weights. There were only two benches though, so I can see it being a problem when busy.
We got brunch at Lardo in the Cosmo Block 16 street food thingy. Great food, but three sandwiches, a coke, and one fries cost nearly $75! Fucking ridiculous. Street food prices these are not.
After nursing my abused credit card, we headed to The Range 702. We’d booked the Triple Threat package where you get to pick three guns of your choice with 25 rounds each. I shot a Colt, a P90 and an M4. The girls both opted for two handguns and an AK47. The automatic rifles were quite an experience. Loud and violent.
I have shot at The Strip Gun Club before and they were very attentive and let us take our time. Our shooting at 702 felt a little rushed in comparison. They have you shoot all your guns back to back, so for the girls especially they were a little beaten up after their sessions. It would be better to alternate shooters with each gun to give the wrists a rest, but hey, it was a noisy, blasty, shooty good time anyway.
After the blasting we went back to the Cosmo to get ready for our evening. This is where we again paid for wanting to wing it and not book too many things. All dressed up, we headed to the Bellagio because we wanted some drinks at Hyde to watch the fountains as the sun went down. It was booked out by a conference party. So we went to try at Spago. Same story. Booked out by conference weenies. We tried back at the Cosmo at the Chinese Mexican called China Poblano, but again the same fucking story! Booked out by conference weenies.
We said fuck it, went to the room, threw on our shorts and sneakers, and hit the strip for a dirty night. We walked the craziness with slushy margaritas and ended up at In-n-Out again. We had a burger and then went on a drunk hunt for pudding.
Ok. Let me make one thing clear. If you cover a cupcake or doughnut or cookie in enough frosting to choke a donkey, then it will just taste like frosting. And it seems like that’s all you can get at the quick and easy places on the Strip. Our failed pud-hunt brought us to Caesars. I remembered the Gordon Ramsey restaurant did a sticky toffee pudding. Somehow we got seating for three, even though we looked like we’d just been kicked out of a pool party.
I say somehow, but when we entered we could see why.
Gordon Ramsay’s Pub and Grill is the perfect metaphor for Vegas. I’ve eaten at two of Gordon's Michelin starred restaurants in London and one that didn’t have a star. They are all exquisite. Decor, food, service and the general experience all live up to his reputation for perfection. London is possibly the best place on earth for fine food. Gordon has to be on top of his game to make it there. And he does. Vegas he does not. Vegas is about churning out vaguely thematically relevant crap to the clueless for huge profit. Gordon’s Pub and Grill is hilarious. The theme is old English pub in the middle of a Roman themed casino. With TVs. Lots of TVs. It’s as if someone described a pub down the phone to the designer it’s that bad.
We had the corned beef poutine (not an English pub dish) and and the sticky toffee pudding (better). The poutine was terrible. Just fries with pastrami meat (not corned beef) and bad cheese. There was hardly any gravy. The pud was good though, but maybe that was because of a few sunk pints. It hit the spot and the size of it caused comment from the table beside us (who were eating burgers - sigh).
Anyway, after done there, back to the room for more balcony drinks and that view.
Day 7.
A quiet one today. Using the room credit we got a daybed at the Cosmo pool. The cabana bed thing is a $200 minimum spend. The $200 lasted us all day. We managed to eat well, with breakfast, other nibbles, and a few drinks reaching $200.
The pool is gorgeous and the attendants were very attentive (hence the name, I suppose).
By the time we’d spent our credit, it was nearly dinner o’clock.
Dressed up pretty, we headed to New York New York and got Shake Shack burgers. Tasty. Not quite In-n-Out good, but still better than anything in the UK. We played some giant jenga with some random people at one of the outside bars, then went to the Zumanity show.
Zumanity was great fun. Very naughty, funny, and the acrobatics were impressive. Well recommended. The boobies on show and the sexy theme got us ready for our next stop - the Palomino Strip Club.
My fiance and I had been to the Palomino the year before and we loved it. It is the only club in Vegas that does full nude and booze so it is a no-brainer to be number 1. Our friend had never been to strip club before, so that night was a special treat. We got a bottle service table at the runway with champagne and a stack of ones. It was spectacular pervy fun drinking, watching the girls, and chatting with them as they visited our table. We all got a few sofa dances and had a brilliant night. The girls were super attentive, really looked after my friend as it was her first time, and made us feel very special.
We got a drunk burger at In-n-Out (our last - I promise) and somehow made it back to the room alive
Day 8.
Our last full day. After the craziness of the night before, we slept in.
Brunch was at Mon Ami Gabi. Much like Gordon’s Pub, this place was a hilarious parody of a Parisian café. It was nice to sit outside and watch the Strip go by as I munched my lunch, but the food was pretty bad for the price.
After brunch we walked up the Strip past the Mirage and then over to the Venetian. The girls did some hard-core shopping while I made stupid comments, made their lives difficult, and generally didn’t help. I don’t like shopping, OK. Because I’m a child, they soon gave up. Back to the room for our last bookings of the trip. Yay.
After getting pretty, we hit the Skybar at the Waldorf Astoria (previously the Mandarin Oriental). Gorgeous views and really tasty cocktails.
We hit up Lemongrass for dinner without a booking because the Aria was next to the Waldorf. We ordered way too much food, so got most of it boxed up. We dumped it at the room, and then grabbed a cab to the Wynn for our last big destination.
We were on the guest list to see Afrojack at Intrigue. Great club. The line wasn’t too bad. About 30 minutes as they checked on everyone. My friend had a bit of an issue with her ID as it is an English driver's license, but she found a picture of her passport on her phone to confirm it was her. The girls both got two free drink vouchers and I got one (am I not pretty enough?).
The club was just my thing. It was not massive, but still big. The large outside area around the fire fountains and the waterfall was perfect to escape the heat and craziness of the dance-floor. We stayed for far too long given we had a 9 hour flight to catch the next day, but it was worth it. An amazing last night in an amazing city. Of course when we got back in we ate the rest of the Chinese food on the balcony.
Day 9.
One last (expensive-ass) Eggslut, and we were on our way home.
Thank you Vegas.

I know that there is posts for making vault ideas already, but i wanted to list some of my own
comment on them if you want and please suggest some ideas for new ones.

Background to my Vaults

One of the great minds of vault-tec is Alexander Markusburg, who created a lot more gecks then vault-tec ever said they made. Including 5 'Super Gecks', powerful enough to make the others Alexander made worthless. Afraid and worried for the world, he went and with numerous allies created many more vaults all over the world, known as the A-G vaults. He placed his super gecks in 5 special vaults under 5 certain cities. Soon he went into his private vault under the Berlin wall, known as the Berlin Vault. Inside is him, who created tons of bodies for himself and froze his old one, His head scientists who also have a few clone bodies, and numerous people brought in to help test his ideas, creations, and more. However one more thing,....due to the idea of magic from the dunwich locations in fallout, he was both a scientist, and a mage.
Note: Alexander is not op because, well....you could disable all of his clones and then kill him easily so....yea, he is still human, just a smart one who made things he couldn't trust in anyone's hands. Also unlike Vault Tec, Alexander didn't want to experiment too much, and thus only the F and G vaults are the ones where more experiments take place, due how they were made by some scientists that joined him from Vault Tec, not trusting them either.
Note 2: The Gun Runners are in a sense a company in the wasteland, thus if there is a base, and there is traders, you can still get companies.
Note 3: Vaults A-E all are mostly harmless, with more less chaotic situations and experiments
Note 4: I may not fit all of them here, so the most i will go to is to the 90th or 100th vault
Note 5: There is a lot of character i will make for each vault, if you want a character to be featured in one of the A-G vaults say so
Note 6: A mini geck is bascally a smaller portable geck with a few strong yet hard to recharge charges, once it's all used up, it breaks down.

The 5 Super Geck Vaults

• The White House Vault: A vault under the white house in Washington DC. A secret from even the president, containing a super geck, a few other extra gecks, and tons of instructions, recreations of World Heritage sites and american locations, Armories, food storage, labs meant for the geck, 3 reactors, and a hall of Presidents and other Disney world like locations. The only person there is a Mr. Handy programmed to help who ever came learn how to control the super geck, he also is much stronger then other Mr. Handys.
• The Great New York Vault: A vault under the statue of liberty in New York City. Filled with more labs, the super geck, other world heritage site locations recreated, libraries, 5 armories, some reactors, and more. Inside their lives a cult of female synths who all see the statue of liberty as a goddess, a powerful one. They are kind however some left and became the New York City cult known as the Daughters of The Lady. There is also of cruse instructions, and also some arcane rooms, meant for more.....mystical uses. Also it has a church in it, 2 to be correct, one for the synths, the other, for Christians.
• The Rome Vault: A vault under the Roman Colosseum in rome. Like the others it has several rooms relating to gecks, LOTS of weapons, food, a few churchs, hertiage sites, instructions, The Super Geck, etc. However there is more, such as a room like the president's hall but with popes. The Oven of Eden, a machine that creates any food afther a card is scanned by it. The Arcaum of The New Templar, a massive church like room with tons of books and various labs, mystical rooms, and some rooms with Knight stuff. Finally, the Room of Culture, filled with all kinds of culture, with instructions on how to bring them back, as well as fake and fantasy ones, and few based on 60's to 2000's culture. The vault only has synths based on roman warriors and characters, as well as a large Dragon bot that tells people how to create fantasy creatures with the Super Geck.
• The Saint Petersburg Vault: A vault under the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. It has it's Super Geck and various rooms that are common to the other mega vaults expect for a few. A room with all Tsars and Rulers of The Russian Empire, A series of rooms based on seasons, A terraforming test room with ideas on how to terra form some planets if earth got too bad, and a Room with every piece of Mythologies and all fantasy novels and comics. Another room there is a massive comic book room and a room with a punching bag with Stalin's face on it. Inside the only things there are 5 Synths styled after Russian Mythical Heros and 2 synth ladies in a strange tea room talking about some ideas based on the UK and Scandinavia coming together to defeat Russia.
• The Tokyo Vault: A vault under Tokyo, in you guess it, Japan. It has all the commons of the other vaults, and like all the others has unique rooms to it. All are based on Japan, Asia, Oceania, and Recreating the Republic of China. One of the more note worthy rooms is a massive room filled with copies of every movie, video game, anime, tv show, and manga in the world. The only robot here is a kind AI called Ms. Nature-San, who controls a Synth to water the peaceful greenhouse within the vault.

The A Vaults (Scattered all over the world, and Alexander Jokes he placed one on the moon)

• A1: Located under New York City, the vault is divided into 5 areas. The Blue Section, The Red Section, The Yellow Section, The Green Section, and the Center White section. Each area had special vault uniforms for them and petting zoos for animals. They had teams that would fight in the Center's Sports Arena, in 3 different sports, Baseball, Soccer, and Foot Ball. Each section has a different team for each, and the petting zoo has tamed animals of each team with in. The Vault is peaceful and is run by a council of 5 overseers, who are elected each year, where the main person meant to keep peace, is the overseer in white. It also has 5 Goliath droids who help defend the vault from attackers. Today it is a part of the Growing New New York City nation started by Vault A2.
• A2: A vault filled with only scientists, and a massive library of all of the books on earth, even of religions, and one occult book of a made up goat based monster made by Alexander. Everyone there is very smart and raised to value the body and to grow the mind. However the outcasts of the vault, who had trouble keeping up with knowledge due to forgetful mindsets had found the occult book, and started a cult known as The Goatmen. Sadly when they tried to take over the smarter side of the vault created powerful robots that chased them out. The cult is still around but now the vault has created the New New York City nation with towns, and have worked to rebuild the city.
• A3: A vault south of a little town in Alberta, Canada. This vault was made to have numerous cloth and armor making machines in it, as well as a few forges, and was filled with people who were either blacksmiths or tailors in some way. The vault's jumpsuits were so bad looking in design that it lead to the tailors making tons of outfits while the blacksmiths made both armor and weapons to keep them selves busy. Soon when the vault opened the Blacksmiths stayed in the vault turning it into Samson Works Co., named after the biblical judge. The tailors went to create a settlement that had the base of the new Spider's Silk Clothing Inc. another new business for the wasteland. With new towns and settlement cropping up, traders went to these two businesses and bought items from them sold them and gave them money back. The one issue is that the blacksmiths and tailors were always uneven at any point in time, only a few times were they equal in number.
• A4: A vault near New Mexico city in New Mexico. This vault had a total of 3 areas in the vault that were simulation rooms, where the dwellers were given orders to have any kids believe this was real, and had to play along to the point of forgetting that it was fake. Only the Overseer and scientists knew the truth and keep the vault running in the background, each room having set up a special medical response incase any death had nearly come. The 1st of the rooms was the Old Sliver West, a western styled one that takes place during a sliver rush, a Mexican revolution, and the arrival of Gatling Guns to the west. The 2nd of the rooms was the Good Old Days~, a town like the simulation of tranquility lane in the sense that it's greatly like a 50's sitcom place and gives people nostalgia, with a sense of a war going on in the far far east in China, that could lead to the return of the republic. The last room was the Kingdom of Davoman, a fantasy and medieval land with 3 main rich families and everyone else being soldiers or just workers in various jobs around, with synths and robots acting as monsters and enemy kingdom soldiers. The main issue with the vault is how when found the simulation is still running, the overseer's family worried about things, due to how many of the others who knew the truth died. This leads to were the vault now having a total of 4 or so generations leading many people to not know the truth, but the scientists and overseer's family.
• A5-a and A5-b: A pair vaults in North Eastern Brazil. The a section was filled with only women, while the b side only men. The two vaults had only two ways to get to each other, the reactor rooms or a single pair of doors that only the overseers could unlock. The two vaults each month had 5 days or so where the vaults opened up and the men and woman got together. Most of the time on some of these days there would be pairs of men and women who....well....made out and a lot of times had 'intercourse'. This led to love slowly fadeing away, between the two genders, only the overseers were around each other enough to know what love was. Whoever finds the vaults teaches the two about what real love is, leading to some going off in various groups to build relationships and love while some stayed at the vault, which was eventually abandoned when the last pair got together and left.
• A6: A vault about 12 miles north east of Las Vegas Nevada, or in this case New Vegas. This vault was filled with mechanics and various new types of Mr. Handies, Ms. Nannies, Protectrons, and other bot types. The mechanics would creation new robots based on the tons of parts and spare supplies around the vault, which had several garages with in for the robots. Some of them broke off, and made a large garage nearby the vault called 'Red Hot Hot Rods' Garage, where they made cars and other modes of transportation. The ones that stayed turned the vault and the area around it into a city, like Vault 8. Known as The Roboyard, a massive city of robots, mechanics, and more stood to rival new Vegas, and thus many securtrons can be found in the city, reprogrammed by the mechanics there.
• A7: A vault under a small city in Queensland Australia. This vault was not only filled with 1040 Australians and Aboriginals, but also 40 Dogs, 40 cats, 67 goldfish, and 55 koi. The vault's Scientists tested with the dogs, cats, and fish, using the vault's bio dome with in it to test them, and soon created several new speices of Dogs, Cats, and Goldfish/Koi. However due to the cloneing used to help create the new speices, the animals were started to outnumber the humans, so the scientists put the vault into 'GREEN HOUSE' mode which made the bio sphere grow it's self out and transform the vault into a underground jungle and lake, with the large hill it was built into's top to crack open like a crater showing the massive paradise of dogs, cats, and fish below. Now a days more animals found their way in and the animals either eat plants (the fish do this) or the Rats, Wild Pigs, and wild chickens. The People who left live nearby in a town called Merrybrook, as they live by several brooks.
• A8: A vault in North most Scotland, noted for it's mostly isolated location, until 500 people flocked there to live in the vault. This vault was made to have it to were the scientists tested Brain science on humans who wanted to, most humans that did were made into Synth Cyborgs, which most were ok with. The Vault soon become free to open 100 years after the bombs droped, however...like a certain other vault, the 500 people where split into what to do now. The 5 Groups were, The New Scots, People who wanted to rebuild scotland and make it a kingdom greater then the Uk, The Loyal Brits, English and Scots who wanted to help rebuild the UK and grow it into europe, The White Knights, a group of various Christians and Jews who wanted to help people, and thus went on to make Knight based armors and weapons to become the saviors of Europe. The last 2 were the Spring Heeled Gang, a group of thugs and punks who became a raider like group and based themselves in a nearby Mill, turning it into a factory, and The Vault Loyalists, who simply stayed in the vault to keep working on enchanceing humans and working on the future of brain science. Most Synth-Human Hybrids stayed at the vault with a chunk of scientists.
• A9: A vault in North eastern New Mexico, USA. The vault is made with an AI that has made 100,000+ Radio Stations of all kinds. The People in the vault are very peaceful and many of theme style themselves after their favorite radio station, leading to Music Genres creating cultures in the vault. The AI also seeked to make many items based on the more story radio stations and such, leading to suits and collectables being pumped out. When the doors opened the Vault was uncovered by a swarm of wandering Builders known as the 'Hammer 99'ers' who helped turn old Vault A9 into a capital building for a new city with the wandering group's Geck working with this vault's geck. When the Swarm of builders left, the Vault dwellers went and made a city of Radio Stations, Music, and so many cultures and mindsets, called Radio Tower City, noted for the massive radio tower in the city's center. They also walled off the city for protection, but the radio signals travel very far, due to the AI's love for people to hear music, stories, and ideas.
• A10:

The B Vaults (Mostly North America, and the Caribbean)

• B1: A vault under a large Donut Cafe in Seattle, Washington. This vault was filled with mostly Bakers and gardeners. The Vault was filled with tons of sweet making machines and ovens, and a massive garden filled with the ingredients required for it. Over time, the craft of sweets, Donuts, Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, and even Soda all became mastered by the people of the vault. They soon left and make a fortress of the Donut Cafe and turned it into the headquarters of the Happy Sweets Bakery and Cafe business. As well as a home for the former vault Dwellers. Most people have build a settlement around here called Donutberg, after the town's favorite pastry. The vault was to test if time would make certain food items more loved then others as well as a way to keep tons of snack foods alive.
• B2: A vault in northern Nevada, not too far from the Mojave. This vault was kind of like Vault 21 from New Vegas, but instead of gambling, every major choice for the Vault was settled on Pool Games and Air Hockey. Overtime the dwellers grew to love the simple vault life, but soon the time came to leave and make a new town. The Overseer was a vert ambitious man, and bet that when they leave they could make their own Reno, their own Vegas. It was staked with the voice of the other dwellers, and for the overseer, this meant the future. However, he won and they left, and used their smaller, less powerful Mini-Geck to help build the city. The City was called Tamdon, City of Games. The city became nearly as popular as New Vegas, as the city had several arcades, casinos, and tons of restaurants and hotels.

The C Vaults (Mostly in Asia and Oceania)

• C1:

The D Vaults (Mostly in South and Centural America as well as Africa and the Middle East)

• D1: A vault located in Cairo Egypt, a little near the city's outer areas. This vault is meant to keep Egyptian Culture and Islam alive. However overtime, some less kind Muslims and Egyptian Pagans had a dispute that divided the large vault in two. One side contains mostly Muslims, with a couple of Christians and Jews, who all get along well, the Christians have a small church as do the Jews with the synagogue. The Muslims have a large Mosque in their side of the vault and tend to be peaceful, unless it's with the Pagans. The Pagans have styled their side after classical Egyptian styles, patterns, art, and more and worship old Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. They do however have a roman group that left a few years after the vault doors unlocked, and went to start fixing the city. Although they don't all get a long, the Muslims, Christians, Jews, Pagans, and Roman styled people all left and started building a large settlement in the ruins of Cairo. The town is known as simply Neo Cairo, and is well loved by the people who live there. Currently the Town's mayor ending up being a Christian from the growing group of said Christians who wants to keep the peace between all the groups. The vault was noted for 5 Unique suits of Power Armor that were based on the following Egyptian Gods, Ra, Anubis, Set, Horus, and Bastet.
• D2: (Idea is Octson's on Discord) This Brazilian vault idea of Octson's would be big but half of it became inhabitable with that inhabitable side having humanoid zombie like monsters with baby Limbs around their body. How these monsters were there in the first place is because of a series of experiments the vault has of artificial pregnancy with the intent of using the serum to recover the Brazilian population easily. The serum for artificial pregnancy was supposed to work on both genders and when the experiments start it shows that it dose work on women but the men that bravely participated in the experiment? They slowly died and came back mutated because of the different sex organs. This would be located in Rio, and is near a small town made by survivors near it, of Scientists who wish to spread the working pregnancy medicine to other women in the world, and is strongly trying to keep the women alive at all costs.
• D3: (Octson's idea) This vault is in Kenya, 53 miles from the largest city in Kenya. Well Octson thinks Africa wouldn't look drastically different in fallout due to it mostly being a desert. But he thinks the radiation would've made the place a little cold along with mutating some of the animals. What's the African vaults solution? Mix lion/lioness DNA with the inhabitants of the vault so they could be able to survive the outside cold. This results in the vault being inhabited by anthro lion/lionesses, they still have 5 fingers and toes along with stronger immunity to some sicknesses but they are now vulnerable to lion based sicknesses, they are a bit physically stronger then regular humans but they have been decided into 3 groups, People who want a Kenyan republic, people who want a communist union, and a Stratocray made from former guards and soldiers. The Groups split off into 3 large settlements. New Nairobi, for the republicans, Mji Mkuu Mpya, for the communists, and Upanga, for the Stratocrats. Each group has different ways to rebuild Kenya, with the Republicans trying to also fix the environment and trying to help Nomads from the north (all the way to europe). The communists are trying to contact china to try to get help to build a new Communist union, and want to destory and conquer the other groups. The Stratocrats simply want a world were the Military rules but have a alliance with the democrats to help beat the Commies.

The E Vaults (Mostly in Europe)

• E1: A vault apart of a series of vaults in Europe, this one being seen and located in Eastern Greece near the boarder of Turkey. This vault was made to be filled with tons of Greek culture and even had many weapons, power armor suits, and items made in Greek mythology and cultural styles. The inside even has columns, fig farms, and the guards wear Greek like armor. In this vault, instead of a overseer, there was a council called Olympus, who lived in a large office with rooms themed after each member. The council by the time the vault opened became the typical rulers of these people who grew so used to it, they saw Greek culture and style as the future. They went to create New Athens a massive mega city in Europe. Still ruled by a council and making various more medieval/middle ages in terms of weapons, like swords, bows and arrows, etc. They do still use high tech, yet have their own versions of it styled in a very ancient Greece or Greek mythology fashion. Such as plasma rifles called Zeus Rifles, and shooting blue more electric bolts of plasma instead of the normal green. The Vault is current being turned into a Museum of Greece's history, as well as lifestyles of New Greece. The vault also houses many advanced tech, which have been used to make more normal versions of mutated animals, it being called a Geck Lite, a weak yet very useful geck.

The F Vaults (aka when Alexander's vaults ended, and his fellow scientists vaults started afther these, alexander pulled the plug fully on vault building but 32 more scientists still went out and made some. All are near the water)

• F1: A vault near the coast of Finland, noted for part of it being under water. This vault was set up to contain 400 humans, and multiple finish animals. The dwellers were told to treat everyone with respect, but also to obey the vault's 'Grandfather' with out question. The Grandfather overtime had the people become more in touch with finish culture and history, some left the vault over time and made the small settlement of New Karsa, a very viking styled town that is filled with both christians, and pagans. However inside, the Grandfather became more insane, like a certain overseer from Fallout 3. He soon started training some of the animals to be his guard, the others were protected by him as he soon dawned a viking styled power armor he made over the years. Soon he convince multiple people to follow him, and then the vault dwellers were killed by Grandfather 'Yuro' as he called himself now, his animals, and his followers. The ones who lived sealed the vault and escaped to New Karsa. They used some tech to build a few turrets incase Yuro ever got out.
• F2: Located on the northern coast of Finland, 500 miles from Vault F3. Unlike F1, the vault had more of a mix of people instead of mostly Finnish people. The Vault had a special FEV strain known as the 'YFEV' aka the Yeti Forced Evolutionary virus. Over time it was pumped to everyone in the vault expect for the scientists. The virus kept genders and sexes unlike the FEV, and made both special in different ways. The males can take a lot more damage and are a bit faster, but the females, although shorter, are immune to more sicknesses and tend to have much higher stamina. Soon after the pumping stopped, the Yetis were tricked into allowing the scientists to control them, creating the Finnish Yeti Horde controlled by the scientists until they were killed by Yuro, then the yetis made different tribes based on what they though was best.

The G Vaults (only 32, made in the last few years before the bombs started falling across the world, made by the Lucky 32 scientists, as each made one of the vaults. All are under a existing building)

• G1: The Vault's location is right under Google Headquarters. A vault like the one in Van Buren, where it's controled by an AI. However, the vault is massive and divided into 10 sections based on the AI there who brainwash and change the dwellers who end up in their part of the vault and make sure any children born in their areas remain loyal to the AI. Made by code name Dr. Seven Clovers, to test how many times humans can be brainwashes before they break and try to die from the insanity of not knowing who they really are. The AI include Duchess Sliver, who is a fancy and somewhat kind woman who picks favorites and has the woman try to look like famous stars and have the men be 'butlers', which lead to men eventuality being seen as slaves in this section, only there to make more daughters by the time the player find them. The next AI is a much kinder AI called Mother Maria, personaitly wise she is kind of like Curie, in how she is kind, curious, and scientific, however she loves to test with her humans and treats them like kids, but knows her bountries with some. She made them mentally think all the tests are good, even if they get mutated. The next AI is a Patriotic AI known as President John Freedom, a Uncle Sam like figure who wants all the people there to be soldiers and strong patriots, basically the humans there are exteremly strong hyper patriots, and have grown to super mutant size. A creepier AI know as Der Nachtmensch, a AI who loves horror and thus makes his dwellers love horror movies, giving them kind yet very Morbid mindsets, however they hate it when people insult them, and hate anything that looks like one of John's Hyper Patriots. Chairman Mako is the next AI and is a Socialist-Communist based mind that has convinced everyone that they are either Australian or Chinese, and that America has fallen in to the USSR's hands. Warqueen Athena the next AI is a AI who thinks she is the greek goddess, her part of the vault is mostly greek styled and everyone man and woman dresses like so, and think they are in a underground town under their great kingdom of Greece. The Lion the one AI who took further steps in his transformations, making them all infused with African animal DNA, creating human animal hybrids, as the AI was of a Lion Man who wanted to bring a new Race, His section is sealed from the others and has 3 bio domes. Prime Minster Moonsworth a kind old britsh AI who wants to keep things prim and proper, and has his dwellers think that they are citizens of a Underground Mega London, which said Mega London he wishes to escape the vault to build. Viviana a Spanish lady with a kind heart but a lot of sass in her AI chip, she had her citizens become suit, dress, and cloth loving guys and gals, but also made them a little on the rage side of things. Saint Bolts a AI who is religious and meant to be a 'In Case the Catholics are all dead and we need a new pope AI' who made all of his dwellers become Zealots in Catholic Christianity, but they love peace and will fight for their religion, The Pope wishes for some of the other AIs to leave due to how they threaten his people.
• G2: A vault located in The Sunset Sarsaparilla Factory in the Mojave. The vault was filled with machines and plants to make sunset sarsaparilla, and lots of it. Simply when placed in slowly the vault workers mostly worked on making the drink, and they kept doing it. This was because the Overseer, over time was hypnotizing them to never stop working on the sarsaparilla, giving them few hours of sleep a day. He also killed anyone who didn't work for him, due to his own person securtrons his vault came with. He was hell bent to keep the drink alive, and no one was going to stop him, ever.

Hi all, hoping you can help me. I'm the best man for my friend and I'm organising his stag/bachelor party in June. We're looking at Hamburg and I'm hoping you might all be able to help.

1. We're expecting 16 guys, all from the UK. Can we expect a warm welcome in Hamburg? I've heard very nice things about the locals so far.
2. We're planning some sort of fancy dress and thinking about cheap lederhosen with the stag wearing the female equivalent. Will this offend anyone by having a load of drunk Brit's wearing cheap imitation lederhosen around town?
3. Where should I be looking for hotels? We're not a young group so two to a room is the maximum and we need to be close to bars/clubs/maybe a casino and we're happy.
4. How much is a taxi likely to be from the airport to wherever you recommend we stay?

Any other suggestions or advice will be most welcome.
Cheers

Off the back of a previous post I made in /empirelrp, I thought I would go through my experiences of Running an IC bar at a Larp festival.
Background I play a system called Empire run by [Profound Decisions](www.profounddecisions.co.uk) in the UK. There are typically 1000+ people at each event, although this rises and falls with weather, University exam schedules etc. The world is divided into 9 nations - Each is inspired by something that can be related to for costume and customs, although there is a really extensive wiki on the site. The game uses it's own currency with metal coinage and resources that can be traded. The company provide phys-reps of these resources, so they are a standard look and feel.
In this game, I run a bar called 'The Hammer'. I went into this blind, and made all the mistakes along the way!
Group Up First of all, this is going to cost a lot of money. My 1st piece of advice would be to find a really solid group, who are all cool with throwing some money into the bucket to make this happen. also have a gentlemans agreement that no-one will IC 'Defect' and rob all your money and run off. Although it might be 'What their character would do' it is such a massive dick move for them to do, bearing in mind how much OC work goes into getting this thing running.
So you have a solid group. Get your characters all sorted, and bear in mind that the bar will need to be manned the whole time (pretty much), so make sure they take that into account.
Concept Lets think about the bar itself. What sort of place do you want it to be? A bawdy tavern for all the sea-fairing privateers? (Alehouse) A calm getaway for the thinkers? (Wine bar) A resting stop where a tired traveller can get out of the rain, have a beer and relax? (Inn) A posh place for the foppish to be all foppy? (Cocktail bar) A place where people can game, drink and be merry? (Casino)
Obviously your bar will not fit directly into one of these boxes, but it will give you an idea of the type of atmosphere you are looking to generate, aswell as the type of drinks you'll want to be serving.
So you have settled on what sort of place you want, and what sort of clientele you are serving to. Now ask, What do you want out of the bar? Money? Fame? A place on the Traders Council?
This is a VERY important step. Have a reason to run the bar, and also have an End-Game. What will need to happen for you to say 'I'm done, I have achieved this' and move on? This end-game can and will change during the course of the game, but have it there. If its just that you want to provide the people of the world with greats booze and nothing more contents you, that's awesome although it may get a bit boring after a couple of years.
Get a nice backstory for the bar and the people in it - Makes a nice conversation piece.
Stuff This is the hard bit. To have a bar in a tent you will need:
A Tent - Big enough for everybody - Canvas ones are awesome. Empire Rents them out, so we lucked out there Tables - Long table(s) for the bar itself, and maybe a few smaller ones for the punters Seats - Get a bench or chairs for behind the bar. Trust me. Also benches for customers - again PD supplied some of these for Empire, which was cool. Set Dressing - Make the place look good. We used fancy curtains from a charity shop as tablecloths and big candlesticks Drinks - We will talk about that in a bit Glasses/Cups - best option is plastic. You can get plastic wine glasses but they can get pricey, so I use cheap white plastic cups that are only a few quid for a hundred. Its SO MUCH easier to just throw them away than to wash them up in a sub-zero field. You want to be getting a few hundred if this is your play. If you are washing up, you can cut that number down, but allow for breakages/glasses walking out the door. A water butt - I use a spare 25L brewing container that has a tap on the bottom. It's also worth bringing (Or sourcing) a way to carry it from the standpipe when full Lighting - See below Cashbox - Cool looking box from an antique shop. a lock is cool aswell Bottle opener - Even if you don't sell beer bottles, its useful to have one. Pen and Pad - People will tell you stuff Refuse sacks - Always needed Chalkboards - Very useful. Piece of wood and chalkboard paint Chalk - Guess what I forgot for event 1 Bar sign - a nice big sign identifying your bar to the outside world A clock - Never can keep track of the time
For extra-ness I have a fire-pit outside too for the smokers and after hours chilling.
Drinks The best option is homebrewing. It's cost effective and will make your bar unique. This will take a bit of planning as you want stuff to be nice and ready for the event.
Personally I do wines and half-strength flavoured spirits. I sometimes have a cider or beer with me, nd my co-owner does wines aswell. When we rock up to a long event (Friday night Monday morning) would would have 25ish bottles of wines, and about the same in different flavoured spirits. The beer or cider I'd normally bring a small plastic keg or two. We also buy some really cheap stubby beers from tesco, just for anyone who isn't into the sweet drinks. We also stocked some stuff that a friend brewed, and sold it separately giving them a share. We took 2/3rds, and they got 1 - Our justification was that we were doing all the work in the event :p That was as simple as having a plastic baggy in the cashbox. That booze was labelled as 'Imported' from the other nation which was nice.
Non-Booze is important to have. Cola, lemonade, Apple juice and orange Juice. I even made some 'Virgin' drinks using the Sodastream flavours Cosmo and Mojito mixed with the lemonade - they went down really well, as the kids could be involved with the drinking, and teetotalers could join in too. My stipulation was that IC it is alcoholic, so you will need to roleplay accordingly.
I mentioned water above, but its so important I'll say it again. WATER. When people are roasting in the sun, they will head to the nearest bar looking for water - Its for the best if you have some there. I even face the water butt forwards so they can help themselves
Lighting This has its own section because it it the most overlooked and pain in the arse bit. It will be dark the the field, and you bar will be darker. You need light. There are a few solutions, and to be honest, I'm still coming up with some. Storm lanterns are great, but they don't light up a large area very well, same as candles. I'm next looking at picking up some 'Festoon' lights and a car battery - If anyone on here has any lights they want to donate, please PM! You'll want at least 2 lights on the bar.. one your side, one on theirs for counting money and identifying drinks, and the rest lighting the place up.
So - you have your bits, You've gone to the event.. What next?
On The Day After you are all arrived, Get the bar tent set up. Luckily PD do this for me - Well did last year, havn't got it booked this year by mistake - Ideally you want to face the entrance into a camp, and be near-ish the entrance. That means that wanderers will not have to walk all the way through a foreign camp to get into the bar. It also makes your place a standard meeting spot for anyone in the camp. Get everything set up and ready to roll. Pop a chalkboard on the bar with the selection and prices - saves a LOT of repetition. with prices, you can judge based on the economy. Cheaper drinks will sell more especially if you are cheaper than the others. Have a think about what the average player will have in their purse, but then have a price that you can discount. Here is my example:
A standard player starts each event with 18 'Rings' and their resources (sometimes their resources is more 'rings', sometimes is it metal/wood/gems). This is what they have made during their downtime. So I figured if i charge 3 rings, its low enough that it can be justified to part with n a whim, but high enough that you can knock a ring off for 'Mates Rates' or when you strike a deal.
Pop another chalkboard outside with what's happening on it. If you book a bard to sing, or a burlesque dancers to perform - Keep this one updated through the event and make sure people have a reason to visit.
Learn the currency and its denominations, and learn how each of the coins feel - It will be dark, and you will have to do it by feel at some point. If it comes to it, write the denominations and leave it next to the cashbox.
Is it worth it? Yes, It can be. Plot comes to you so easily and as a barman people expect gossip. You get to hear of many trade deals that are happening, and trading is simple aswell, as they always know where to find you. You will find that you will end up being in the top few% of richest people on the field. There is no need to flaunt this for obvious reasons, but that cash CAN create a lot of game. You can buy the expensive stuff that no-one else can. You can outbid most people at an auction.
Having a solid group concept comes into it's own here, as you then have emissarys and people to cover the bar while you head out for adventure. You get people trying your booze, and getting the yays and nays. Its worth having a USP (Unique Selling point) - For me, It's my Chocolate Mint liqueur. I upsell the hell out of it because its really nice, and I have people requesting it. Your USP could be a small bottle of something really strong what you charge lots for. Some bravado will come in asking for the strongest thing you do. I've seen chilli vodkas, Angel delight drinks - You name it, but get your bar on the map. Make it 'Home of the '
So, What I'd say is - Work out the actual overall cost to yourself - Including ticket for the game, Travel to the game, Your own food while there, all the bits listed above, and see if it's doable in your group. I was flying with just my wingman, so we came up with a Tab system - Members of the group we affiliated with could pay £10 and they could have a 'Large IC tab' for the weekend. Basically unlimited, but with the caveat of 'Don't take the piss' - i.e sitting at the bar necking the spirits. That went a ways to cover the brewing cost. As far as licencing is concerned, it is a bit grey, but you are not 'Selling' the drink, you are swapping it for metal discs/fake money. Have some common sense aswell, and do cut people off if they have had a bit much, don't serve it to anyone underage.
I hope I covered everything, If you have any Q's or anything please just comment!