Well I have resurfaced. Las Vegas was indeed fabulous. I am thinking they say that everything is bigger in Texas so I can only imagine what that is like if Las Vegas is so GRAND! Everything is far!! I have to take a tram from my hotel (Luxor) to the neighboring hotel where the conference was hosted (Mandalay Bay) and then it was quite the hike to get to the conference centre.
Mandalay Bay has a special section called “The Hotel” and it really is THE Hotel. Plasma screens in every room. Top of the notch service. Maybe next time I am in Vegas I can spring for a night for US$500 and be treated well. LOL I think not! But it was nice to see how the other half lives.
At the Luxor where I stayed the hotel is actually in the shape of a pyramid. Great architecture! They had a Fear Factor episode there once where people had to slide down the side grabbing flags as one of their fearful challenges. Neat huh?
I think I had my first lesbian encounter with a woman hitting on me… literally! LOL On the night when we had our regional dinner (Caribbean & Latin America) at the Rum Jungle with a whole bunch of Spanish speaking persons! Imagine my coworker and I clinging to the one very bilingual person we met in that group. The Rum Jungle was nice though – LOTS of different kinds of rum even though I scoured the shelf and didn’t see any Jamaican Overproof. I tried their specialty drink with Butterscotch Rum… yum! Jungle Punch.
After dinner (seven courses with LOTS of meat – very Spanish inspired) the restaurant transforms in to a dance club. Scantily clad women dance on swings in the ceilings and levels above in glow-in-the-dark bikinis, etc. I took a seat after – ahem – dancing a bit, and this woman holds on to my shoulder while passing. So I took it was nothing. I looked at her when she did it and she said sorry and smiled. But after the second, third and fourth time of doing it and smiling and staring at me I got the hint and went to find some nice men to chill with. LOL
On my last day I really burnt out myself though. I decided to walk down the strip and probably catch a cab back. But then there was stuff on the other side of the road that I wanted to do so I braved it back by foot. This entire trip from the Luxor down to Caesars Palace is a 2 mile walk ONE WAY!
Imagine this… to cross the road you need to go up an escalator, across a overhead walkway and down another escalator. Plus, if the escalator wasn’t working you had to haul your @$$ up the stairs. Aye! And so I rushed back to my hotel to shower and prepare for the beach party, which I ended up being late for. Not to mention that my dogs were howling from the 4 mile trek and that does not include the detours off from the main road to see stuff. Oy!
So after the beach party I decided I was NOT going to leave without seeing the Bellagio waterfall at night! I glimpsed it in the day as a little side stop on my walk down the strip. But I could only imagine how magnificent it would have been at night. SO, being the masochist that I am (clearly there is no other explanation) I decided to go back out after the Beach Party.
I got the brilliant idea that I would take the MonoRail from the MGM Grand Hotel, which would stop at Ballys, which is just across from the Bellagio. At the time it seemed like a GREAT idea. Only to discover that the trek to get to the Monorail was at the opposite end of this major hotel which would terminate at the other end of Bally which means that the walk through the hotels themselves could have gotten me to the Bellagio in much shorter a journey had I just walked straight down the strip!
So anyway, I got there barely. I did my research and know for sure that there is a show every 15 minutes after 6pm until 12am. I got there a little before 10:45pm only to hear that the water show is experiencing technical difficulties. WHAT THE $%@#?!?!? I plopped my fat ass down on the sidewalk and said I am going to wait on this thing because I could not have tortured myself like that to end up with seeing nothing. I waited, 11pm came, then 11:15pm and then at 11:30pm after an almost 45 minute wait it began.
The water show was gorgeous. I filmed it but the video doesn’t do it much justice as seeing it. It’s amazing what hydro technicians (any such thing?) can do to coordinate such a wonderful movement and lighting of water!! They made up for the delay too cuz I saw about 4 different shows in the 30 minute period. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even though my adventurous streak made me do all of this alone I wanted to share this moment with someone special. Ah well! I made the best of it.
I almost got a henna tattoo too. I think I was just too tired to decide on what pattern to get. I mean… what would I want to be looking at for the next 3 weeks. Such a hard decision. LOL
I had no intention of walking all the way back so I tried hailing a cab. Not like it is in Jamaica. LOL I finally caught up with a cab driver that was off duty on a break parked at a CVS I went in to get me some refreshment. I overpaid him (only way I was going to get going NOW) and he took me to my hotel. I didn’t care. I just needed to get to the Luxor to rest, pack and be back up at 4am.
Thank GOD for wake up calls. My flight was at 7am and even though we’re not far from the airport, getting through security is such a hassle – long lines, and of course, the walk through the airport is another feat. I was this close to asking for wheelchair assistance. I felt so pop down it wasn’t funny. But guess what? All of that wasn’t me being unfit – I was coming down with some flu/sinus infestation. Great, huh?
I made it back despite the pain. I slept all the way to Miami and only woke up for a sip of drink to ease my dry throat. Thank God in Denver the gates were beside each other. But after I got some walk I had another little trek through the Miami terminal. LOL It never rains but it pours! *smile*
So on my things to do list I didn’t do so badly.
- I did the Bellagio (barely)
- I went shopping at the Aladdin (not the Outlet Center like I wanted to though)
- I went to Caesars Palace
- Saw the Eiffel Tower
- Didn’t do an IMAX Theatre but not feeling too bad about that cuz they’re everywhere – there was even one in my hotel
- No Cyber Speedway
- Of course there was gambling – you couldn’t escape it, even at the airport terminal!
I made it. I am the better for it. And oh yeh… I learnt some good stuff at conference and made some good contacts. LOL That *was* the purpose of this trip after all! I enjoyed it. I would do it all over again. There was so much FOOD! We had a big breakfast, then there was lunch, a break with snacks and a huge dinner with tons of alcohol! Plus there were always beverages in between. I burnt off all the extra calories from the walking. LOL
Next year? Conference in Nashville TN. My fingers are crossed that I will get to go. If not then maybe some other time… Politics *smile*
Pictures will be posted soon and videos too! I am working on it… The ones above are borrowed goods for now. But I tried to make sure they were as close to what I saw as possible (except the arial view which I didn't see everything at that level). Anyway... you get my point.
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