Something about this trip to Las Vegas made me feel that I was getting out of touch with the lifestyle of today. While the pandemic made travel difficult, we have been on three cruises during the past year or so, with a couple of international trips. So what made this more recent experience particularly humbling?
To begin, on the flight from Honolulu to San Francisco, everyone in business class seemed to be prepared with bluetooth earphones to listen to their TV screen. Never occurred to me to bring something like that. It took a couple of hours to gently inquire about the audio options. The steward said, oh, here is an earphone, and this is where you connect. Plus, they did not retrieve this ear plug device, so I had one for the next flight to Las Vegas, and back home.
There were 100 channels linked to DIRECTV, close to being the equivalent of what is available at home. There were also at least a hundred films available.
When I got to the Circa Resort, after check-in, getting to my room was an adventure. There is a sequence of steps you need to follow to use the elevator, for once you are in it, there are no floor numbers. After a while, you get used to this future of all elevators.
In the room, there is no phone. There was supposed to be some kind of electronic pad to conduct all your communications, but they failed to tell me that the one in this room was being repaired, so it was not there. I had to call the front desk, but only had my iPhone, so it was with a lot difficulty that I was eventually able to talk to the front desk. Connecting my computer for the internet was also a challenge.
Then you add the thumping of music, which rattled the entire west side of the Circa (coming from entertainment around their pool area), this was all so unsettling. I felt very inadequate and unhappy.
About Las Vegas, the traffic is a mess. The unofficial city flower is the orange traffic cone. While roadwork on roads, especially Las Vegas Boulevard, also known as the Strip, stalled traffic, the freeway too was painful, for there were three major projects causing problems. The $305 million Interstate 15 / Tropicana interchange was impossible, but the $74 million widening of I-15 South was also a factor, and there was a third area on the I-15.
All that made it difficult to choose between an expensive taxi and the more economical Bell Trans. I took the latter for $20 with tip, and glad I did for one reason. While it was around 10PM, there was no rush to my hotel. The van I caught had five passengers to drop off along the way to town at three Strip hotels. It took us until almost midnight to get to the Circa, but I enjoyed taking photos of all the Strip attractions.
If you want to get from downtown Las Vegas to the airport, and can't afford to miss the flight, take a taxi. For two people, this would be the preferred way, for while Bell Trans can cost about a third the cost, if you are so unlucky as to have other passengers to be picked up along the Strip, this could take two hours on a bad day, maybe longer.
But the most important thing was that I came to visit an ailing brother, and found that he was off life support and back to almost being normal. It was nice to see him so well.
As a test, I was able to lose $100 in ten minutes on a poker machine, but ended up losing only perhaps $100 more in four gambling days. I really don't gamble much. I usually go to the sportsbook room, but for some reason, never got to the huge one at the Circa. Too busy doing nothing.
The food was good at the California Hotel, but if you're from Hawaii, you can get the same local food for a cheaper price in Hawaii. However, their prime rib was exceptionally outstanding. The food at the Circa was very expensive. If you wanted to buy a 12-ounce can of beer in their snack shop, the cost was close to $8. A local newspaper costs $3. But the drinks are essentially free when you are gambling.
The Fremont Street Experience should be a must stop for you. Now that I've seen it, I might step through it to go to the ABC Store, or buy a Subway, but too many people just walking around there seem to be too weird, crazy and potentially a problem for me.
Much of the above repeats next month when my brother's family has a reunion. Probably get a cheaper room at the California Hotel, but their casino is awfully smoky. If their rooms too are a problem, maybe the Strip.
Astrud Gilberto,
The Girl From Ipanema, passed away at the age of 83. It was in 1963 that her husband João Gilberto, at a recording session in New York with Stan Getz, talked her into doing the song. Getz/Gilberto won four Grammys for their production. Guitarist Paul Ricci said,
Astrud was the first pop radio voice to sing in that soft, intimate, sensual fashion that engineered everything.
Oh well....How to cut fruits and vegetables.
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Something about this trip to Las Vegas made me feel that I was getting out of touch with the lifestyle of today. While the pandemic made travel difficult, we have been on three cruises during the past year or so, with a couple of international trips. So what made this more recent experience particularly humbling?
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