Vegas, Baby.

Dear Readers,

I've fully recovered from my trip to Vegas over Memorial Day weekend.  Sadly, it wasn't because I had wild time--it's just that my flight out there was delayed, and instead of landing at 10PM local time, I got in around 4:30AM local time.

I flew from Boston to JFK where flights were delayed due to weather west of us (this was not long after the Joplin, MO, tornado, so needless to say, heavy weather was not something anyone wanted to deal with).  We got on the plane, we taxied a bit, but then we hit that FAA rule that says you can't be on the tarmac for more than three hours, so we headed back to the gate.  Waited some more.  Had to get more fuel.  Around 11:30 PM, we finally pushed off, and after a bit of taxiing, heard some words you never want to hear from your pilot:  We're 40th in line for take-off.

40th in line means you taxi for another hour.

I only got a couple of hours of real sleep that night, and acted like a zombie for a good chunk of the first morning.  Plus, like many conferences, you're so busy doing stuff, that you really don't get enough sleep the entire time you're there.  Having a bad start to the weekend didn't help.

The conference itself was great.  I learned a ton and met a lot of people.  Vegas, on the other hand, wasn't so great.  I know Vegas is supposed to be all cool and exciting, but it's really overwhelming, and if you don't really love Vegas--or you're with a group of people who don't really like Vegas--you're in a horrible place.  Enormous gaudy casinos.  Lights and noise.  Girls walking around in the shortest dresses you've ever seen.  Pools that don't stay open--I'm serious about this.  Our hotel's pool stayed open until either 7 or 8PM.  We saw pools that were closed by 6PM.  When you're at a conference, there's simply no time for hanging out by the pool, and when you can't participate in one of the major draws, it's a big letdown.

Instead, friends and I wandered around the Strip, gawking, and not gambling. Yeah, I didn't bother--even with the penny slots that were in our hotel.  The fear of losing what little money I did have outweighed the possibility of winning a couple of bucks.  I did spend crazy amounts of money on other things--I bought some bulk candy that was something like $12.99/pound -- I about fell over when my small bag cost over $9.  But then, I didn't have to learn the hard way that this same store sold $25 lollipops.

Cheap buffets?  Where?  My friends and I tried to go to the Wynn buffet because the vegan among us heard they had vegan options.  They did--but the buffet was $45.  No, thank you.  On our last day, we broke down and had the hotel buffet for lunch ($17).  The unlimited bubbly was a bonus, but I don't think there was enough of it to make me eat the worst bacon I've ever tasted in my life--and that's when you think that $17 was a little too much money for a buffet.

Needless to say, I don't feel the urge to go back anytime soon.  Not even on a hot day when I've got nothing to do but lounge by the pool--because at some point I'd still have to experience everything I don't like about Vegas.  In my book, what happens in Vegas can stay there--because it's not quite worth writing home about.  Or is it?  You tell me.

Your pal,
Jill