My
Vega$ Experience
Day 1
A lot of thought and preparation had gone into this trip.
You see, I had dreamt about visiting Las Vegas ever since I was a
youngster. The image I always had was of a town full of fun
and excess. My trip helped to confirm all my
expectations. The day started out just fine. My
traveling companion and I woke up early and drove to the Park 'N
Fly. From there a shuttle bus to us to Terminal 2 at Pearson Airport
(Toronto). I was eager to start snapping some pictures
right away, this being the first vacation where I ever brought
along a camera. However, I was too sleepy so I decided to
save the film for Vegas. The airport check-in was smooth
and effortless. I remember to ask for, and got, exit row
seats. In case you don't know what these are, they are the
choice seats by the exit doors (duh). The benefit is
usually twofold. You can exit as soon as the plane arrives
at your destination, and more importantly, you get tons of leg
room. Anyhow, this time they didn't even ask me if I would
be willing to help in the event of a crash or even what kind of
physical shape I was in.
The in-flight movie must've been very boring 'cause I already forgot what it was. The airline we chose also makes you pay for headphones. If you're a cheap ass like me, you'll bring along your own and jiggle them in the receptacle 'til sound almost comes out from both ears. The food that they served was equally forgettable. Wait, its coming back to me, the movie had Vanessa L Williams in it and some guy with a one word name. I just remember a bunch of frenzied dancing.
Here is a picture of me preparing for the trip. I took
out Fodors Las Vegas
from the local library. A very good book with lots of
helpful travel tips and hints. More importantly, they have
sections devoted to doing stuff cheap. Throughout your
reading of this page, you'll soon come to realize that I didn't
want to spend much money on this trip. 
As you can see, I also dug up an old copy of a classic software
program, Beat the House. It is DOS based and the graphics
are quite crude but it still has many different play options for
most of the typical games that you'll find in a Vegas
casino. The included Avery Cardosa guide is also quite
helpful for novice gamers.
We arrived at the Las Vegas Airport , otherwise know as McCarran, in the late morning. The day was beautiful and sunny with a temperature around 20 degree Celsius. The travel agency had arranged it so that our luggage was automatically transferred to the hotel for us. We had decided on the Imperial Palace . After reading many positive reviews from lots of different guests, we felt it would be the right choice for a first trip.
Here is the view from the arrivals area of the airport. I had heard lots of stories about the surreal Vegas landscape and I consider myself sufficiently jaded. Yet, upon seeing the shimmering gold of Mandalay Bay (hadn't opened yet), the glistening black pyramid of the Luxor , and the recreated NY skyline of New York hotel and casino , my jaw just dropped. It just seemed so odd to see these disparate architectural works all jammed along the same stretch of lonesome desert.
My heart was already pounding and we hadn't even left the
airport. Ahh, what a town. Ok, now we found our tour
representative and she guided us to the appropriate shuttle
bus. I suffered a moment of temporary panic when I realized
that I had misplaced certain documents that offered us a free day
trip to Laughlin and also contained our hotel information.
My partner assured me that everything would be fine. This
coupled with the fact that we had bought the most expensive
travel insurance, put my mind at ease. We arrived on a
Sunday and a pseudo holiday (Valentines) so I expected some
traffic. Vegas did not disappoint. It was very busy
on the strip. I was floored by the amount of stretch limos
all over the place. I was also very impressed by the taxi
vehicles. Brand new Ford Explorers and Chrysler
Concordes dotted the landscape. The limos were primarily
Lincolns but I saw a beautiful Chrysler 300M limousine that I
truly regret not having photographed.
I'm now going to include some pictures of our hotel. The beautiful Imperial Palace located right on the heart of the strip. It is centrally oriented and walking distance from many of the great resorts ( Caesars , Bellagio ,etc). The hotel staff is wonderful. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome. They are even above being bought. I had heard that tips could secure almost anything in Vegas. Well, I tried to bribe a lovely girl named Misty into giving us a Luv Tub room by slipping her $20. To her credit, she never once touched the cash and despite the fact that we couldn't get that kind of room, she did give us one with a great view of the pool. As you can see, the hotel is has a definite asian theme that even carries over to the food offered in one of its dining rooms. At night, the building is lit up with a subdued blue light that looks stunning and has a calming effect unlike many other facades in this town that assault your senses.
The only complaint that I had heard about this place concerned the height of the shower heads. I'm not too tall at 5'9" but I still found that the shower head was positioned quite low. This can be either good or bad. I always try to look on the bright side. For me, I didn't always want to wash my hair so it was perfect. Also, the cleaning crew was very good about providing us with fresh towels, soap, shampoo. They even gave us a type of skin lotion was was very soothing for me 'cause I had forgotten to bring my after shave balm. The welcome package with hotel information also states that the IP strives to employ people with disabilities. It goes on to say that 13% of the hotel's employees have some kind of disability. I was very impressed by that aspect.
Got lots of free stuff by signing up with the hotel's slot club
program. They gave us complimentary gloves, key chains, car
show admission tickets, and plastic sun visors. That night
we went to O'Shea's next door and I started to get into a Vegas
frame of mind. The sign outside advertised well drinks for
just $1.75. Even with our weak dollar, that was a pretty
tempting offer. We headed inside and slid on over to the
bar. We met some friendly people whilst sitting there
drinking. The bartenders were also quick and seemed content
with our tips. One of them wasn't quite sure how to make a
killer kool-aid but she consulted with a co-worker and we were
soon slamming back some strong beverages. I also had Long Island
ice teas and pina coladas. The bartenders were forced to
wear some pretty hideous patterned shirts but in Vegas it all
goes with the territory and they didn't seem to mind them much.
Part of our preparations for the trip involved watching a lot of
Vegas themed movies. We saw Lost in America, Leaving Las
Vegas, Vegas Vacation, Honeymoon In Vegas, Showgirls, and
Casino. I was pretty drunk when I started talking to a
gentleman named Ralph and his wife. They were both from
North Dakota. We somehow started to talk about Linux versus
Microsoft and fortunately my travel companion is a network
support specialist so she was able to keep the conversation
lively whenever I slowed down. Anyhow, I mentioned to Ralph
that I wanted to cause a ruckus at a casino such that they had no
choice but to exit me using my head to open the door (a classic
line uttered by DeNiro in Casino). His wife sounded aghast
and asked him if I was serious? My companion told her that
is was the booze talking. I must admit, I was feeling pretty
brave with all that liquid courage. Fortunately, those
events did not transpire. Here is a picture of Ralph
wondering why the hell he is talking to this drunken Canadian
guy.
We also found out that a female had passed out in one of the
bathrooms. I headed over with camera in hand but she wasn't
in the men's room and I wasn't about to risk getting caught in
the ladies room just for one classic picture. Also, I heard
one of the bartenders saying that a guy had been 86ed (banned)
but she had seen him around. She called security but I
missed another photo-op because I had neglected to bring my radio
scanner so I didn't know whereabouts to find this action.
Soon, one of Ralphs companions started talking to an elderly man
who happened by. He sat down with us and we soon started to
chat. I already forgot the content of our conversations but
I do remember one key fact. He kept telling us how people
always refer to him as Harry Carey. Take a look at the
following picture and make up your own mind. I really wish
that I had a better recollection of our talk but my memory is a
little hazy.
The bartender was kind enough to snap a picture of me as I
headed towards total intoxication. That's me in the picture
below this text. That is NOT me in the picture above
this text. Ha ha.
I had tons more fun on the first day. However, I realize that some people may have already lost interest by this point. Or maybe they have to go away to do some real work. Finally, I should point out that this is my first attempt at a web page so I'm not all that clear on proper formatting techniques. To find out more about my first day in Vegas click on the link below. There you'll read all about my trip to the Forum shops at Caesars, a big cheese dog, and even my attempts to get comped (get free stuff like tickets and food).