Gadling

Thanks Kelly for your kind, kind comments. That book really was a labor of love, a poem to my home town and though it was hard work, I had a blast digging up the information, meeting with curators of local museums for the write-ups, clubbing for about a month to pick the hottest dance spots, and gaining about 10 pounds eating out constantly to choose the finest cheap eats. One of the most interesting parts of the book was researching the "alternative accommodations". Unlike other guidebooks, I tell our readers how they can find inexpensive and BEAUTIFUL accommodations in private apartments (either by renting a room in an apartment or by renting the complete apartment). The truth is, NYC is too expensive even for the residents, so many of them periodically rent out their apartments or a room in their apartments to earn the rent money. I visited literally dozens of these apartments, and the vast majority were really nice, much larger than a hotel room yet much cheaper. I looked at the apartments being promoted by a number of agencies, but only included the best of the agencies in my book. You can actually read an excerpt from that part of the book at www.frommers.com/pauline

Another labor of love, Pauline Frommer's Las Vegas, just came out. I spent two months in Sin City researching that, staying in a different hotel every other night (with the exception of two weeks when my kids were with me; we rented a house then and I talk extensively about how to do that affordably); trying indoor skydiving; seeing all 82 (!) of the long running shows in town; gaining another 10 pounds, this time thanks to all the buffet meals; and generally not getting enough sleep (but hey, that's how it goes in Vegas).

So anyway, thanks again for the lovely review.

Best,

Pauline Frommer

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