Travel Gripes: Homegrown Travel, Las Vegas Edition (Pt. 3 of 3)

I've heard the expression ‘everything's bigger in Texas’ but after my most recent trip to celebrate a friend's birthday, I think it should rightfully be changed to 'everything’s bigger in Las Vegas.' Truly! I used to marvel at the fact that Macy's at Herald Square stretched all the way from 6th to 7th avenue and across two city blocks. But after witnessing the magnificence of the resorts in Vegas— miles and miles of hotel and casino real estate big enough to house roller coasters, theaters, nightclubs, restaurants, and more— I haven’t looked at Macy’s the same way again. While planning this first visit to Las Vegas, N. and I were not wise to the layout. We foolishly thought that one block in our respective cities was equivalent to one city block in Las Vegas and that our hotel, Mandalay Bay, would be well within walking distance of at least mid-strip, although it was located at the south end of the strip. After all, everything looked to be so close together on the maps. How wrong we were! Most resorts stretched upwards and spanned well over a mile. On the plus side, we got plenty of exercise on our daily jaunts. On the other hand, unless one of us had a burning desire to visit another casino, say Treasure Island, we often limited out late-night excursions to casinos that were easily traversed to and from Mandalay Bay on foot.










Our first night in Vegas was…a snooze, but a well-needed one. The plan was to drop off our luggage, freshen up and go down to the casino and/or one of the lounges. Of course, we neglected to take into account that we’d both be working a full day before boarding our flights and that when we arrived, we would have lost three hours with the time change. So what actually happened is that my flight landed just after 10 pm and we arrived exhausted at our hotel just before midnight. Instead of freshening up, we rested up…and woke early the next morning. Sadly, we weren’t quite over our jetlag from that first night because the next night, we again laid down for a rest just after 10 pm and woke up much later than the hour we had planned for that would have had us out the door and flashing our VIP wristbands before the midnight deadline. But while we were catching up on sleep and adjusting to the current time zone those first two nights, we managed to pack a lot into our days.











For breakfast we didn’t stray too far from Mandalay Bay. Our hotel was home to three cafes/buffets and we were content to start our mornings off in a leisurely manner before heading out to explore each day. By chance, we spent a good portion of our time at the MGM Grand (ironically, this was my first choice for accommodations). Since we were situated at one end, MGM Grand seemed to be our connecting point to the rest of strip and each day found us there either gambling (low-risk) and indulging in the free drinks, taking in the Cirque Du Soleil show, Ka, eating what would be our best meal for the entire weekend at Fiamma Trattoria, and patronizing the ultra lounge, Tabu where a group of bachelors tried to convince us to dance on their table. Of course, we also popped into New York New York, Cesar’s Palace and a few other casinos, made time for shopping at the Miracle Mile Shops, took in a low-budget but entertaining variety show, V, and based on the recommendation of a local, ate a truly horribly dinner at Planet Dailies in Planet Hollywood. The Eiffel Tower observation deck was a must-do because it offered amazing views of the entire strip and parts of downtown. We also had a bird’s eye view of the water show in front of the Bellagio and as good as it was up high, it was even more spectacular when we stopped by the posh resort to get a more close-up view. Finally, at N.’ s request, we spent our last day learning about one of the man-made wonders close by, the Hoover Dam. We lucked out with a knowledgeable tour guide who also tacked on stops to the welcome sign, through parts of the downtown area, and across the entire strip, all accompanied with factual tidbits. Quite a bargain! Although we would have loved to have seen it, making it to the Grand Canyon required more time than we had to spare but it really would have been a shame to get so close and not see at least one of the United States’ great accomplishments.











Unfortunately, while we managed to do and see a lot, there were a couple things on our must-do list that we missed out on. After our all-day trip to the Hoover Dam, we had little time in which to eat a quick, overpriced dinner at Border Grill before taking the tram to Excalibur and trekking over to MGM Grand, where we would catch the monorail across the strip near Casino Royale, the closest stop for our ultimate destination, Treasure Island. We burned a fair amount of calories in our attempt to get there before the Sirens of the Cove show started. Only, when we got there, rather than performing the pirates and sirens were posing for pictures! Apparently, because of high winds and inclement weather, the 8:30 pm show had been cancelled. Yes, Vegas was cold and windy! We had the option to check back around 10 pm on the off chance that the next show would go on. Or not! Since we’d already planned to stop by the Flamingo to catch the George Wallace comedy special, we decided against staying and headed southward, bypassing the volcano show at the Mirage. Other than temporarily sheltering us from the cold, the outdated bright pink confection that is the Flamingo was a bust. The comedy show was close to being sold out except for two tables in the back of the room. For N. and I, that just wouldn’t do. We’d luxuriated in the orchestra section when we saw Ka and just couldn’t bring ourselves to pay good money for bad seats. So, we took the only option left to us: headed back to our hotel to get club-ready. Although we had early flights the next morning, we made the most of our last night, flashing our VIP passes at the Foundation Room, the Cathouse, and grooving at a couple of the open area lounges. None could be considered the best clubs I’ve ever been to but I dare say that they made for a fitting end to a trip to fabulous Las Vegas.

Travel Gripes: Homegrown Travel, New Orleans Edition (Pt. 2 of 3)

Independence Day found me smack dab in the middle of a weeklong trip to New Orleans. While G., C. and I had briefly discussed heading down for the Essence Festival in separate conversations last year, no plans were ever formed. This year, planning was quickly underway and everything came together beautifully to the point that months in advance, four of us had both flights and concert tickets in hand. G.’s family hosted and were the epitome of southern hospitality. We ate great local food (jambalaya, gumbo, po’boys), slept in comfortable beds, and basked in good company. While our main purpose for being in town was to attend the concerts and related events, we took full advantage of the opportunity to soak up the culture of a truly unique city.

Insisting that we wake up before 5am so that we could go watch the Steve Harvey Show as it broadcast live at the Convention Center was not one of my brighter ideas. On the occasion when my eyes try to open at such an hour, I usually force them close in my attempt to get another hour or two of sleep in before I have to get up and start my day. But since we were on vacation...We might have survived the morning if we hadn’t spent the previous night barhopping in the French Quarter but since we did, most of us were in crash mode for the better part of the morning. But it’s all about the experience right? Other than that first day, G., C., V., and I enjoyed leisurely mornings followed by days spent shopping, dropping in on the conferences at the Convention Center, people watching, taking the ferry, daiquiri runs, family barbeques, and checking out the changes around town since Hurricane Katrina.

By far, some of our best concert moments include second line dancing with some wanna-be pimps, getting up close and personal with Chrissette Michelle and Estelle in the super lounges, and watching the Mary J. Blige and Alicia Keys performances from the floor of the Superdome. How we got to the floor is a story in and of itself, one that includes a complete loss of dignity, crawling across entire rows of people so that we could get to the security entrance that would give us the best chance of gaining access to the floor where our hook-up was saving premium seats for us. Under normal circumstances I don’t like to beg. I abhor it. So having to beg and being rejected multiple times before the guards took pity on us and finally allowed us entrance left me feeling a bit like groupie that first night. It was more than I was willing to take so being questioned by security and asked to produce a floor ticket while my friends looked on was enough to send me over the edge. I was ready to bite someone's head off and would have surely been kicked out of the arena but thankfully our hook-up came by in the nick of time and helped salvage what could have been an embarrassing end to an interesting evening. Yet, it only took Mary J. walking out on stage to bring us all to our feet and help us forget just how precarious our position really was. Behold, the beauty of great music!

Coming up, highlights of my recent trip to fabulous Las Vegas!

Travel Gripes: Homegrown Travel, Chicago Edition (Pt. 1 of 3)

I love to travel! There’s nothing quite like the excitement I feel when I am getting ready to go off on another adventure. I am not so much a fan of the process of getting there (who wants to be bothered with long flights and airport security?) but once I am there, it’s all about hitting the ground running. I like to intersperse moments of relaxation into my travel but it is by no means my main goal. Rather, I like to fill my days seeing as much as possible and participating in as many local activities as I can before falling into bed from exhaustion each night. I get pretty good sleep at home so when I vacation, my focus is on being an active participant. Of course, if some of the activities are of a restful nature that’s fine too.

I've been fortunate to have taken a few great trips this year and as the time when I will start planning my next adventure abroad nears and as I feel the claws of wanderlust slowly sinking in, I’ve taken some time to reflect on some of the trips that contributed to making this year such a great one. I wrote extensively about my trip to Spain this past Spring and since that visit marked my first time in Europe, it's understandable that I would bask in remembrance. But I've been remiss in sharing some of the fun that I had right here on the home front. Hence, this series of posts with highlight my visits to Chicago, New Orleans, and Las Vegas.

Chicago

I kicked off New Years with an extended weekend in Chicago (by way of Milwaukee) and from the moment I arrived, sleep became a valuable commodity that I could ill afford. Just the way I like it! After my delayed flight finally touched down on a snow-covered runway, I had just enough time to drop my luggage off and eat a quick dinner before G. was shuffling us out the door to meet up with V. and hit the town. This set the tone for the long weekend in Chicago. Our days started late in the mornings at which point we'd eat a leisurely breakfast, head out for sightseeing and shopping, and return home early in the evening for a home-cooked meal, courtesy of G. We'd then relax for a bit before preparing ourselves for nights that ended in the wee hours of the morning, where we’d go from club to club and party to party. We didn’t waste time thinking about too much beyond the moment. So, it's only fitting that our last night in Chicago would have us returning home from a reggae club after 3am and waking up an hour or so later so that I could make my 6am flight home. I was very much awake and on the edge of my seat, watching the minutes fly by but I don’t think I would have changed much (the misadventures contribute to the fun but the cold was another thing altogether). That last night in Chicago was arguably our best one and when I finally made it home a few hours later, I had plenty of time to defrost and catch up on the sleep I'd missed over the past few days.

A fun time was had in Chicago but if I didn’t mention just how cold it was there, I’d be painting too rosy a picture. It was freezing cold! There were moments when I questioned why I was standing outside in the cold, waiting in line to get into a club. G. and I would huddle up to the other club-goers, trying to share our collective body warmth. Granted, unlike a lot of the other people, we at least were wearing our coats and scarves. But in bone-penetrating cold like that, nothing short of staying indoors is ever quite enough. I have never been a fan of extreme temps and although hard to avoid given where I live, I try to stay out of it as much as possible. So Chicago for New Years would seem like an odd choice. I can only chalk it up to invitation offer and acceptance, available vacation time, and impulse. I’ve found that my best trips were the ones that I either planned at the last minute or booked almost immediately. No chance for over-thinking to ruin well-laid plans!

Check back over the next few days for highlights (with pics) of my visits to New Orleans and Las Vegas.