A New Start and a New Year in Las Vegas, USA

After a few days relaxing in some of the nicest spots in Mexico for the holidays it was time to once again continue travelling and start up my blog writing again.

As my flight from Mexico City was due at 7am I chose instead of risk taking a taxi early in the morning or sleeping in the airport over night, instead I chose to take the Metro to the airport and then walk about a bit til I found a hotel.

In the end I found a couple which were within walking distance and chose one that was about 1,216 pesos a night, a lot less than advertised but then I was already there half way through the day and was in no desperate rush so could pick and chose.

For the last time in Mexico I stayed in my room and tried to sort out my stuff and belongings and after ditching a few unessentials I was able to do up my both main and secondary bags, with the bulk of the clothes in one and the small and electrical bits in the other, with my laptop seperate again.

I had always thought that my precautions were being a bit over-paranoid but I learned the following day that this was not the case.

Mexico City airport was very busy, even at before 5am and thankfully there were enough people on duty that spoke English, or American, that checking in it was not a problem, despite the hotel free shuttle dropping me off at the wrong gate.

The flight to Denver was one of the roughest that I have ever had, with it dropping repeatedly in turbulence for a few minutes which made me almost lose my breakfast.

At Denver I had to recheck my luggage and go through customs, as I had just arrived from another country, and I was so tempted on just tying it all up and checking it all onboard, but something still told me that it was a bad idea and so once again I checked only my clothes in the main bag.

When I had arrived in New York last year they had taken a thumb print, but this time around they were requesting all fingers and thumbs from both hands, which was a real surprise, yet for some strange reason it all happened a lot quicker than it had in NY and before I knew it I was collecting my luggage and rechecking it onboard.

The flight to Las Vegas was breathtaking, with beautiful sights and scenery all around, with the many reds and browns of the mountains all laid out beneath me and the pale bleaching tide mark that clung to most of the shores of the great lakes.

I was sat next to a couple of Americans strangers who soon enough got chatting about medical problems, marathon races and their kids while I just gazed out of the window and wondered where it all way leading.

As we can in to land I could see all the big named hotels all lined up along the strip, huge buildings that stuck out like sore thumbs against the backdrop of so many other tiny small shops and houses, and I was reminded that all of the truly big hotels have in excess of one thousands rooms available.

Touchdown was longer than I had expected, mainly due to the fact that I had forgotten that the clocks had to go back 2 hours from leaving Mexico City and so both the flights were an hour longer than I had imagined, but the good news was as it was a national flight I did not have the fuss going through immigration again.

I had already booked a bus shuttle service to my hotel, but although I checked it in myself, my main luggage did not arrive and so I had to make a claim and find out what had happened to it at the lost property office.

The smug buggers no longer call it lost, as it happens so frequently, instead they call it "delayed" and happily told me that it was still in Denver, arriving on the next flight and I can have it delivered direct to my hotel at no charge sometime after 6pm the same day.

No mention of it being a total cockup, of compensation or even much of an apology, and I get the feeling that they lost or rather "delay" many more bags each day than I care to imagine.

The airport itself was a hint at what was to come, as it was very tidy and modern, stuck in the middle of a strip of desert and you had to pass more than a dozen slot machines just going from the arrivals gate to the first of the toilets.

Anyway, I jumped in the bus shuttle and pootled off down to my hotel, on the way asking the driver what was the best show to go and see and was pleasantly surprised when he admitted than in the 12 years he had lived in Vegas he had never wanted to see any show.

Being early January the desert was not anywhere near as hot as it could be, and as the day drew in it got chilly, enough for me to need a jacket.

The hotel I have is on Fremont Street, where about six of the downtown hotels all got together and agreed to rig up a roof right across the street, calling the whole thing the Fremont Street Experience, and there you can find just about anything you want, asuming it can be sold in a shop, bar or hotel.

I have never been much of a gambler, so the slot did not interest me, however the young pretty girls they got working on most of the blackjack tables were wearing little pink frilly skirts and showing enough cleavage to make Dolly Parton proud, such is the attraction that is Las Vegas to many a busty girl looking to make a good living.

The hotel itself was more set up for gamblers than anything else, and I didnt even see it have any advertising for tours, but with so many neon lights and huge billboards I was well aware of what was on offer ever since I set foot off the plane on landing.

I had always had a liking for the way Penn & Teller reveal some of the more elaborate magic tricks and so when I found out that they were putting on a show tonight in the Rio Hotel I was all up for it, despite not having any luggage and still being dressed as I was when I woke up this morning.

The taxi to the Rio, which is just off the strip was $20, almost half the cost of the show ticket, and I began thinking again that perhaps owning a car while travelling isnt such a bad idea, but then I had already paid for the tickets and I did not want to miss it now.

After the cab ride I had a little time to kill and not much place to use it outside of the Rio, so I stopped off at a burger joint inside the complex and was entertained by two pianists who played some old rock and roll, billy joel and requests, only if they were submitted with a presidential seal of approval, which was any note bigger than a $1.

During their intermission one of them almost came up and talked to me two or three times, but he either didnt like the look of me or the table of middle aged women looked more appealing, and each time he ended up returning to them to smile, glad hand and kiss them and take more requests for the show.

Night time brought out more people as the city seemed to come alive like never before, and by the time I was sitting down in my seat waiting for the show to start there was a long queue of people all happily lining up to sign an envelope that would be used by P & T a little later during the show.

I was a little disappointed with the fact they chose to focus on plenty of slight of hand and paid assistant in the crowd gag, as I prefer the old glorious smoke and daggers, excape from water, etc, etc, kind of magic show, but it was still great to watch and will be one of the highlights of my trip to Las Vegas.

I tried to walk back to the hotel but my legs got tired half way, and without a clear map I did not want to end up lost so I grabbed a taxi and was inwardly fuming when the first thing he did as turn around and go right back to where I had just come from as it also had a "quicker" main highway that would take you from the strip to the downtown area.

However, lets not forget that the taxis charge by the 1/12 of a mile and not by the time it takes and so in the end I paid more to get back than I did than to get there, even though I was only half the distance away to start with.

Back in my hotel I managed to retrieve my lost luggage, as it had been delivered about 9pm, just when the show was starting, and despite it being Vegas I still had to get my clothes cleaned and so I asked the hotel receptionist to do it for me, and I have a feel from the receipt slip that my laundry bill will be bigger than my accommodation charge for 3 days.

After having seen the best of Las Vegas I began to get the feel that it is all very fake, more so than I first imagined, and that indeed behind every smile, every billboard or poster the truth is about a million miles away from what they were letting me see from street level.

Las Vegas is a place where people go to spend money, lose money gambling and watch entertaining shows of one variety or another, everyone knows this, but still they could at least be a little more grateful when you do hand over your hard earned cash, as so far all I seem to be getting is shafted every which way except the one I'd normally want.

I could still hear the music from the street outside as early as 2am, due to the single glazing and poor sound proofing that the room had, and indeed being a smoking room I noticed more than a few fag burns on the bedspread and such, evident that the hotel was not a 4 or 5 star one, but never-the-less it was cheap, large and in a central location so perhaps I shouldn’t complain too much.

I finally drifted off to spleep to the sounds of the German rock group Scorpions still ringing in my ears.