So I have just returned from a Business trip to Las Vegas. A rather interesting place I must say - albeit only for a short time.
I arrived on Saturday the 19th after a long journey. I had to get up at 6:30 am (on a saturday!!!), catch a taxi (was actually a really nice mercedes) to gatwick airport. The flight was due to takeoff at 10:30 but of course it ended up being delayed 2 hours. So myself and my Aussie boss David, went and found a sports bar so we could watch the Rugby. Much to our bitter dissapointment, we found out that the game had actually started at 6:30 our time and we had missed it completely. After some drinks, breakfast, long lines and shoe removals (yay for extra security), we finally made it on board our flight. 10 Hours later we touched down in Las Vegas around 4pm local time (Midnight UK time). We promptly found a Limo and cruised on over to the Monte Carlo Resort. After being stung $55 for the limo ride we checked-in and agreed to meet downstairs for some drinks. We decided we should try and make the most of our short stay so we headed out for some Dinner and more drinks. We found an Italian restaurant across the road at New York New York ( A New York themed Hotel). To say we were dissapointed with the service would be an understatement. We were seated, a group came in 15 mins after us, were served about 20 mins later, and 20 mins after that we still hadn’t received our food. On top of all this they still expect a tip!! We decided to go and wash the bitter taste from our mouths, so we headed on over to a Vodka Bar we saw advertised in a Tourism video. The bar mas very overrated as were their prices ($12 for a Vodka. Yikes!!!). At around 10:30 we called it quits and headed home (6:30am UK time).
Sunday was largely uneventful. I managed to head down the strip a couple of miles to the Las Vegas Outlet Center to do some shopping. I picked up a shirt for myself and a shirt for Jasmin (which turned out to be too small for her!). Upon returning to the Hotel I figured I was due for a nap, so I headed back to my room. Although my body was ready for some rest, my mind was not. I decided to head down to the bar and get a drink so as to expediate the sleeping process. I ordered a beer and then the bartender asked me for ID! Talk about a slap in the face. I can’t even remember the last time I was asked for ID. Of course I didn’t have any ID on me so that made it even worse. I figured I might have just gotten an anal bartender so headed out the pool-side bar to get my drink. SLAP! Again I got asked for ID. I had enough of that so I went back to my room rather grumpily and watched TV all afternoon. Sunday night was rather tame too. A few drinks and dinner and then back to my room for more sleep.
Monday was a day of meetings. We finished around 5:00 and I headed back to my room for a powernap before the evenings festivities. We met down in the bar (I brought my passport with me this time) around 6:30 for drinking and socialising. An american guy called Steve, asked me if I wanted to go grab some dinner with him and a couple of girls who he obviously knew quite well. So we headed over to Mandalay Bay to find this restaurant that the girls wanted to go to. We ended up in the Four Seasons (a hotel within a hotel), at this uber posh restaurant. By the time we were done we had spent $500 between the four of us. After all that we headed back to the Monte Carlo and I called it a night.
Tuesday was again reserved for meetings. We finished a bit earlier though at around 4, so I decided to get my Rollercoaster ride in. I popped across the road to New York New York and proceeded to get lost trying to find the rollercoaster. Not only doeas New York New York have this scaled down version of New York from the outside. They also have a miniature Ney York on the inside. So after 10 minutes of navigating my way through the streets of mini New York, I finially found the rollercoaster. The ride was pretty good. It was pretty damn fast and had lots of cool parts to it. The only downside was that it was pretty violent too. Definitely not good for the neck. I went back to my room, got changed, and headed back downstairs to meet up with everyone. Despite our efforts at trying to get a group activity going for the night, it became evident that it just wasn’t going to happen. We all split up into our groups and headed off. As this was our last night in Vegas I was determined to see more of it. We walked down to the Luxor (a big pyramid with an egyptian theme) where we had dinner (the worst of the trip). A bunch of us then hopped in some taxis and headed up the strip to the Belagio. We got there just in time to see the big fountain show outside. Im glad I saw it but it could have done with some coloured lights to spice it up a bit. After the Belagio a few of us wandered over to Ceasars Palace. Now Ceasars Palace is easily the most impressive Hotel in Vegas just becuase of the sheer scale of it. The place is huge. It has massive courtyards (all roman themed of course) and even larger casinos. After a couple of hours of wandering the floors and drinking at bars, we sort of realised this was going no where, so we called it quits and went home. I crashed out about 2am only to be woken up by some idiot (unknown idiot at that) calling me at 4am. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I chucked on some clothes and headed down to the casino (what else are you going to do?). I found Mark still going at one of the Blackjack tables. I chucked down some money and joined in. I started off pretty well and doubled my money in rather quick fashion, only to then throw it all away even faster. Oh well. Thats Vegas. I went back to my room for some more sleep, satisfied that I had scratched my Blackjack itch.
Wednesday was a last chance for people to get in some shopping. I had already done mine so I played poker all afternoon. I had a rather up and down time at the table and finished down $20 by the time I had to leave and go catch my plane. We got out to the airport, check in, and made it to our gate. Sitting at the gate were a big line of slot machines, so I decided to use my last $1 i had sitting in my wallet. I chucked it in a 25 cent machine (which gave me 4 credits), bet 1 credit, and won 6 credits. I couldn’t be arsed playing it 1 credit at a time so I hit max bet and ended up with 20 credits. I thought what the heck, and hit max bet again. Ding Ding! 80 Credits! So I cashed out and got $21. A good ending to Vegas.
Im glad I went there. It was like a huge theme park. Quite a thing to behold. I can’t say I would want to go again though.
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