I spent most of last week in Las Vegas – all expenses paid. Well, most. I did spend a fair amount of gambling money. Was it worth it? It was fun.
I’ve been to Las Vegas seven times if you include the time (pictured above) I spent about 40 minutes there due to a canceled flight and a four hop flight across the United States on Southwest Airlines. Once for a wedding, once for a meeting, another time for a conference, twice with my ex-wife (once with friends from home and once with friends from the UK), and now a final time for another conference. The other six visits were more than 20 years ago. I’ve stayed in old Las Vegas (downtown, on Fremont Street), at Caesar’s (1980’s Las Vegas), off the strip at a generic hotel, and twice at the Luxor. This time I stayed at Mandalay Bay.
The Luxor is one of the first things you see when you land and leave the airport in Las Vegas. When it was brand new it was clean and shiny. Now it’s kind of dusty, but strangely inside it is clean and new, or at least new-ish. I spent a fair amount of time here as I was staying next door at Mandalay Bay and I felt it better to not be gambling in front of my colleagues.
This is a view of where I stayed – Mandalay Bay. I was actually here for a conference. Mandalay Bay has a fairly large conference center attached which is about 15 minutes walk (I should know, I did this walk about five times a day for five days) from the hotel tower.
I also did a fair amount of walking and running while in Vegas. I averaged about 16,000 steps a day last week including the weekends.
My view from the hotel included part of the airport and the Las Vegas Strip heading south. To the right, barely off camera, is this:
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada! Found on my morning run. Some people told me I would not enjoy running in Las Vegas as there are homeless people around, but on my inspection there was less hassle than running at home especially running south in this direction. I took the photo above just at sunrise on my first morning in Vegas. Two days later I ran to the north.
Heading north from Mandalay Bay two miles takes you to Caesar’s Palace, past Paris and The Bellagio and much of that madness. Compared to 25 years ago development is much more dense on the central part of the strip. The area around Excalibur, The Luxor, and Mandalay Bay feels to be practically abandoned in comparison.
There have always been wide pedestrian walkways along Las Vegas Boulevard but now there is street level development in front of most of the hotels where in the past there were open areas. This doesn’t mean you can pull over on the street – the street in most places has a barrier between it and the walkway. You walk perhaps half a mile between major intersections and for most of them you take an escalator to cross above street level. In the old days they still had many of these escalators but now there seem to be double as many and you simply cannot get to the street if you desire to cross at street level instead. This appears to be done for the purpose of reducing traffic queues. It also helps you, if you’re up at 7a.m., get extra fitness in by running up and down the stairs in addition to running on the street.
The ironic thing is the night before – about six hours before actually – I walked 40 minutes from the Bellagio to Mandalay Bay but then decided I needed to head out for more exercise!
The Bellagio fountains, as seen in Ocean’s Eleven, were beautiful as always.
Beautifully lit up at night.
Walking past the Luxor we thought we saw bats.
On closer inspection we did!
Or maybe they were giant pieces of confetti? We have videos so I’m certain they are bats.
We had some social time while in Vegas in addition to the conference. We actually had been at The Bellagio to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O” show.
The theater at The Bellagio is massive and deep as well. The stage itself opens up to a large pool where the acrobats and dancers continually launch themselves over the course of the 100 minutes show. There are trapezes, huge swings, a boat which floats in the water, and water platforms.
In addition to this, on the last night of the conference the sponsors hired The Goo Goo Dolls to put on a performance!
The Goo Goo Dolls put on an amazing show.
So, about the travels.
I flew out Monday morning at 7am to make the most of my week. This means I woke up at 4:15am. I had lounge access at Reagan National Airport – a choice of two lounges really but I visited the same Centurion lounge we visited back on January 6 for Antarctica. I had used points to upgrade my employer-paid flight to domestic first class so I would arrive fairly fresh – and this worked as I had a full meal, good movies, and a relatively comfortable flight. My baggage did indeed come out first but it didn’t come out until maybe 45 minutes after I landed.
I checked into the hotel at 10am as they had a room ready for me and I was able to unpack and do some conference calls. This reminds me – I have to expense the early check-in (yes, there was a charge).
I had what I think is called a “Dream Room” at Mandalay Bay – more than comfortable enough for two people to spend several days but I was alone.
I did not get a chance to use the large soaking tub. I wouldn’t have skipped it if it had a whirlpool!
Then I had some free time before my co-workers and business partners all showed up so I took a lengthy walk. I planned this in advance because I figured I’d be juggling conference, free time, and my day job and fitness all week.
My walk that day took me as far as Aria. As this is an MGM hotel (along with MGM Grand, The Luxor, and Mandalay Bay, and a handful of others) I went inside and played blackjack poorly for a while. I would have loved to explore the property more but at that point I needed to head back.
At this point my schedule for the next few days started to be dominated by work. Some of the work was fun – we had a few good meals with our sponsor for instance, one being Mexican and one being sushi, and we had an excellent happy hour where we had three shot bourbon pours! Half of my daytime hours were spent working with my team back home, though. And Thursday before the concert? I took a family therapy call with my 9th grader via Zoom on the lawn outside the conference center!
All in all it was a nice break even though half my hours were work. On the way home, again, I was upgraded, and this time I tried out the Priority Plus lounge at the airport. So far I prefer American Airlines’ Admirals Club lounges the most, but I don’t have access to them except when traveling internationally AND upgraded.
I had the opportunity to look for lounges at St. Louis as well when our flight diverted due to an air traffic control outage.
I also had the opportunity to try out Bandana’s Barbeque when we spent the night in St. Louis. For the record there are better hotels than the Airport Marriott in St. Louis.
I’m happy to be back home where the dog is though. It will be good to be home for a couple of months now.
Next up? Buffalo strangely enough! In two months!