Michael Las Vegas is a must-see for German tourists, but for us, it is a special place because we met in Las Vegas for the first time, ages ago. We go there from time to time to refresh our memories and to see what has changed in this city of madness since our last visit. And there is always something going on.

And of course, Las Vegas is a tourist trap like no other, but our trick is to move like locals. This starts right after landing at the airport, when tourists stand in line for hours at the Alamo or Budget counters to get a rental car, while we simply jump into our Hertz car and drive off. Then, we don't head straight to the booked hotel on the Strip, but instead go directly to a large supermarket where we buy bottled mineral water and other drinks in bulk. Casino hotels only sell drinks in the minibar or small shops at exorbitant prices; you can't get bottled water there for less than five or six dollars. Leaving the casino is extremely annoying, as you have to walk miles to the nearest store.

When parking the rental car, we prefer so-called self-parking in hotel garages like those at the Encore or Vdara. Valet parking, where a hotel attendant parks the car, is a completely idiotic concept, even if the hotel offers it for free. When you need the car again, you end up standing around dumbly at the entrance until the attendant finally retrieves the rental car from the garage, and you have to tip him for it! We simply roll our rolling luggage from the self-parking garage to the hotel reception, check in, and that's it. When we need the car, we just get in and drive off. By the way, if you're only staying within city limits, there's no need to book a rental car at all; you're better off using Uber and Lyft. But we like to drive around in nearby areas.

When dining out, the rule is: People who have traveled from all over America don't care at all about the cost, because those who only have a diner at home, where people sit with baseball caps on, are happy to spend a construction worker's weekly wage on a rather mediocre dinner, as long as it's served on expensive linen and bustling waiters are hovering between the tables. Restaurants in casinos on the Strip are generally about twice as expensive as in a city with a wide selection of restaurants. Those looking for a better price/performance ratio are better off in one of the trendy restaurants west of the Strip, although the more established places there are also charging quite hefty prices nowadays.

When it comes to hotel prices, it should be noted that practically all major hotels on the Strip add an absurd rip-off fee of about $45 per day, which they call "Resort Fee" (Rundbrief 10/2016). No upright person can justify it without bursting into laughter. Classic rip-off, you just have to add it to the room price. It's astonishing that this criminal behavior hasn't been prosecuted yet, but maybe in ten years there will be a class action lawsuit, and all those who were ripped off will get their money back from the casino criminals, one can only hope. It's also important to note that the nights from Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday are about twice as expensive as all the others. So, if you can postpone your visit by a day, you might save some real money.

It should be noted, however, that the casino tricksters are very cunning and always come up with new ways to take people's hard-earned money. On the next visit, everything will definitely be even more expensive again!

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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Rent cars from private owners: Turo
  	Valley of Fire
  	Video Poker
  	Las Vegas Neon Museum
  	Drinking water at SFO airport
  	Trump's re-election 2020