Go ahead, scream it from the rooftops!

I got a kick out of these buildings when I spotted them in Downtown Los Angeles.

They are side by side, and quite obviously from the same era and builder. What I get a kick out of, is the giant neon sign that states "New Million Dollar Hotel Rosslyn." Just had to add that "million dollar" status eh?  Nothing like making the original Rosslyn feel cheap!

Where would you rather stay? The old Rosslyn, or the New Million Dollar Rosslyn? Makes me imagine that they were built by siblings still trying to one-up each other in adulthood.

I enjoyed this. It adds character to Downtown Los Angeles, and made me smile and chuckle. It was a nice change from the other areas of Downtown LA that made me turn and run for the hills. (Stories to come!)

Sun, Surf and Savings in California

Doesn't this look like fun?A 70s motel taken over by the Coast Hotel (They're Canadian) chain.

This price includes flights, taxes and hotel for 4 nights.  The flight is by Air Canada from Winnipeg to Los Angeles. (YWG to LAX.) WIFI and a FREE airport shuttle transfer is included with your price.

The dates from this sample are October 6th to 10th, 2015. Looks like there are several dates in October, but back to normal prices (over $500) in November.

Vegas AND MORE, from Brandon

For as little as $391 taxes included, you can fly from Brandon's little airport and be in Vegas that night.

There are still very few travel search sites that acknowledge the Brandon airport code of YBR. One of the few is www.redtag.ca which is shown here.  The great thing about Red Tag is that they also give you a lowest price calendar (as shown above). This means you can see at a glance which dates are cheapest. If it doesn't really matter to you whether you fly on a Tuesday or a Thursday, sometimes it can mean a $300 difference or more.

Red Tag does have its shortcomings though. You can't search all destinations. For example, you may not know that you can fly from YBR to Los Angeles (LAX) or Palm Springs (PSP) on a same-day trip as well.

The trick I have found is that you search the cheapest Vegas trip out, then go to the Westjet Vacations site, and plug in those same dates, but use the destination of your choice. (Like LAX, PSP, YVR, PHX) and then search. Logically, you should be then getting the best price for those trips as well, because 50% of your flight is identical. (the Brandon to Calgary part never changes)

See how CHEAP & convenient it is? 

The other way to go, is to use one of the big travel sites to search out the cheapest current vacations from Calgary (but only provided by Westjet) and then use those same dates, but plug in the YBR code when you get back to the Westjet Vacations site. Often the "Calgary package" but converted to a Brandon airport origin adds just $100 or less. This is much better than booking yourself a cheap Calgary package and then a separate flight to/from Brandon. This is the best and most effective way I have found to find a package to Hawaii. There are "a million" flights from Calgary and Vancouver heading to all the Hawaiian islands.

So, in closing. Yes, you can almost always find a cheap getaway from home to Las Vegas, but your world is bigger than Vegas, if you just know how to search it out.

If you like this tip, or are looking for a particular vacation, do let me know in the comments!