Month: October 2015
Location: Las Vegas
Yeah. I went to Vegas
and you know “What happens in Vegas…”
Well, ok I suppose I must document, since this is after all
a part of my travels. But we must
first go back a few years. When I was in
graduate school, I made lifelong friends.
People who are my closest family and over the years there have been
several occasions where we have gotten together for parties, birthday’s and
have even gone on vacations together.
Recently those trips have included families and as can be expected, most
of the activities were geared towards kids.
But now it was my buddy Som’s birthday and all the guys had received
permission to travel for a “boys only”
weekend in Vegas. After months of
planning – well, the talking took months, actual planning much less - we were on our way.
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| Vegas! |
Som, who lives in Connecticut, and I had planned our travel
such that his flight from Hartford would connect at Chicago, where I would join
him and then we could fly out to Vegas together. I arrived at the gate to see that my buddy
was already there and he suggested that we start our expedition at the airport
bar. Why not? After all we were headed to Vegas! That which started at the airport, continued
on the plane and about 4 hours later, we found ourselves staring down at the
bright neon light of the Las Vegas strip. As soon as you exit the plane, you are greeted
by ‘Slot Machines’ right at the gate
area. I do not know what compels someone
to start gambling as soon as they get off a plane or right up to when they get
on one, but whatever. It is Vegas after
all.
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| Our hotel lobby |
The ride from the airport to the strip isn’t long and our
cab driver made it shorter with his maniacal driving. We were headed towards ‘Aria Resorts’, which would be our hotel for the next 3 days. Now, this is a huge place. It took us the same time to get around the
property to the drop-off point, as it took to get there and once off the cab,
the valet whisked our luggage away, saying that it will be delivered to our
room. We checked-in and met up with our
2 other buddies who had arrived earlier that day. I have had my share of travels and hotels,
but nothing compared to this one in size.
The walk from the elevators to our room was a hike and our
room itself was more modern than any other that I have been in, complete with
remote controlled drapes and other such devices. But if there one place in Vegas that people
spend least time in, it is the hotel room. We would not be too different.
It was close to 11 pm local time – 1 pm my time – when we
went to one of the dozen restaurants in our hotel for dinner and it was well past
midnight when we hit the strip. I have always imagined that being
on the Las Vegas strip is like being at a 24 hour carnival. There are flashing lights all around – no
matter whether day or night – and sidewalks are crowded at all hours. Plus there is “stuff” happening everywhere – at minimum street performers and the
famous “Vegas Showgirls”. One definitely loses a sense of time and so
did we. It was almost 5 am when we got
back and we capped off the night by having breakfast before bed. Yeah, it can only happen in Vegas.
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| The Chocolate Fountain... |
As expected, we got a late start the next day and after some
much needed coffee, we found the hotel buffet.
Now, visiting the buffet in Vegas is some sort of “rite of passage”, though for the life of me I don’t know why. People overeat for the sake of doing it and
the inevitable lethargy sets in. That’s exactly what happened to us and we
found ourselves spending better part of the afternoon in our room. We had been joined by another one of our
buddies and in the early evening the 5 of us took the shuttle train
from our hotel to one of the crown jewels of Las Vegas strip, ‘Bellagio’. Our hotel, ‘Aria’ was very modern and as good as it gets. But walking down the hallways of 'Bellagio', one of my
buddies pointed out how this place just screams of old world opulence. We came across a big area which had been
decorated in Fall colors, with giant Pumpkins and all things that make Autumn
great. However, I was soon distracted
when I saw a pastry shop with “Chocolate
Fountains” in the display window. The
place was called ‘Jean-Philippe
Patisserie’ and over there, I had what in my opinion, is one of the best ‘Crème Brule’ that I have ever
tasted. Now, I have had a lot of those
in my time and this one could handily beat many of the restaurant made versions
of the dessert.
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| ...and the real one |
No trip to the ‘Bellagio’
is complete without a stop to watch the magnificent fountains at the front of
the hotel. This is a world-renowned
attraction that draws millions to see the spectacular show every 30 minutes or
so. We found a good spot and thoroughly
enjoyed a rendition of Elvis’ “Viva Las
Vegas” set to the dancing fountains and light show. The evening had just set in and the strip was
coming alive. While a few of my buddies
went over to some other attractions, Som and I made our way back to our hotel
since the final member of our squad had arrived. We met him in the lobby and for the next
couple of hours he introduced me to new flavors of ‘Whiskey’ and ways of tasting it!
He also proposed that we try and get into one of the exclusive Vegas
clubs, which is much easier said than done; but he asked us to leave it to him.
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| We were headed to a club in "Paris'...hotel that is |
After a Chinese dinner, which was way too expensive than it
should have been, we went over to ‘Chateau’,
a nightclub in 'Paris’ hotel. Our buddy’s idea of getting us in was
ordering an outrageously expensive bottle service and I was reminded of the
famous saying that if you are ever paying for bottle service, then you probably
do not deserve it. It was a decent club
and we got good seats, but after a couple of hours I was ready to leave…as
were a few others. We still had a better
part of the bottle to get through and thankfully no one proposed that we finish
it in the next 5 minutes, though someone did try! We took a cab back to our hotel and after a
night cap, grabbed another breakfast before bed. These outings were wearing me down.
The next day all of us lined up for another round of buffet
– this time at a different hotel. There
was a big line to get in and we amused ourselves by wagering on how long our
wait would entail…a bit sad really, when you consider that we were losing precious
minutes of our lives, that we would never get back. After lunch we split into different groups
and 3 of us went over to ‘Caesar’s
Palace’ hotel and found a cocktail lounge to spend the rest of our
afternoon. In all of my travels, I have
never considered visiting different restaurants, hotels and bars as “sightseeing”, but I suppose Vegas is an
exception.
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| The magnificent 'Cirque du Soleil' |
We came back to the hotel to get ready for our main
attraction of the evening – a visit to see ‘Cirque
du Soleil – Zarkana’. If anyone
knows how to put on a show, it is these guys and this was spectacular. I have seen several of their shows and they
continue to amaze. After the show the
boys wanted to go back to the buffet, but by now I had enough of it. Plus I was running on fumes. So after a relaxing dinner at a French
restaurant named ‘Bardot Brasserie’,
I called it a night and went straight back to the room for my first decent
night’s sleep since arriving here. The
next day folks had their flights starting early in the morning and a couple of
them had already left before breakfast.
The rest of us departed around lunch time and Som and I found ourselves
back at the airport amongst slot machines.
He asked me what the best part of the trip had been and while I could
have said being with my boys, there was something better than that. Vegas is a unique place, unlike any other in
the world. It is an unwavering spotlight
on decadence and even though I had not spent a single dollar on gambling, I
felt that I had been complacent in contributing towards that. Vegas is as artificial a life as can be
imagined and nothing seems real, even a smile.
I was the only person of the 6 who did not have a family to go back
to. But without a doubt I knew what the
best part of being in Vegas had been. I
looked at Som and replied, “Leaving for home”.
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