My Trip to Vegas
On arrival, I sent my sister photos of the slot machines at the airport. She replied, “These people [the airport] must hate humanity.” I always look forward to her delightful analyses of the bizarre.
First stop? Whole Foods. I needed lemons for electrolytes, some low-sugar chocolates, and of course, lots of water!
I stayed at Wynn’s Encore. When I arrived, my room wasn’t ready yet so I walked around the hotel for a little while. The property was gorgeous.
Room is ready! After inspection, I realized there was no coffee maker or fridge! These people are absolutely diabolical. No fridge would mean my leftovers would spoil and I’d have no choice but to eat at their restaurants more than I planned. I always drink tea before bed and no coffee maker meant I would have to get hot water from their cafés!
No worries. I’ll be prepared for them the next time (googles “travel-sized coffee maker”…)
After setting my things down, I took a walk through the hotel and ventured outside, where I could see the famous Sphere a few blocks down.
Jeff Koons’ balloons bought by Steve Wynn for $33M.
I’m a bit of a thrill seeker so flying down the Fremont Street zip line in the “superman” pose was a must. I didn’t realize the zip line started about 3 stories up. As the elevator ascended, I started getting nervous…
They strapped me in (squishing my precious Max Mara coat in the process) and sent me down the line. The ride turned out not to be as thrilling as I’d hoped. All is well. Next time, I just have to seek out more dangerous thrills.
The people to my right were two other thrill-seeking souls who were also flying on the zip line alone. It was kismet and we all enjoyed each other’s company through to the end and had lots of laughs. I joked with them that a pile of pulleys next to the ride had been discarded because they busted during other passengers’ journeys down the line… Well, I thought it was funny…
After the Slotzilla zip line, I walked through Fremont Street. There were at least three different sets of speakers blaring hip hop and dancehall reggae for drunk people to dance to unabashedly in the streets. I was so curious and stimulated that I made myself 20 minutes late for a stage hypnosis show!
This photo was actually taken from the hypnotists’s website since cell phones weren’t allowed during the performance.
I got to the show late but not much had transpired, thankfully.
I have a lot of thoughts about this show. It wasn’t what I expected. Although, in my research, I found out that not everyone is “suggestible”. Some are more suggestible than others. So, I wasn’t surprised when one of the volunteers was escorted off the stage by the hypnotist. This was also a hypnosis comedy show but I found the volunteers’ behavior more interesting than funny. I wanted to know what was going on in the their heads.
I’m actually inspired to incorporate hypnosis into my fetish practice. Some types of BDSM scenes really lend themselves to hypnosis. It would take my power play up to the next level!
An end to a successful day 1!
Day 2, I had breakfast at Jardin at Encore and then walked through the Wynn and then through the Venetian next door. The Venetian was filled with conventioneers. The hotel was even busier than the Wynn. After my vigorous walk, I came back to my hotel room, took a nap, and woke up to take some very cute photos, one of which you’ll see above.
A while later, it was time to get dressed for dinner at Cipriani. I love getting dressed up. I’d been pining after this burgundy blazer/dress for over a year. It’s simply exquisite. It costs a little over $800 and Vegas gave me the perfect reason to finally buy it.
I was a little worried about eating at a restaurant with a lot of carbs on the menu. Thankfully, they had at least one gluten-free pasta choice.
After dinner, I stopped by one of the lounges to listening to dueling pianos. I like live music but I couldn’t stay long because I had tickets to a girly show…
I went to Luxor to see Fantasy. I’d done enough research on Reddit to realize all the “burlesque” shows were just topless girls dancing on stage. The girls were in incredible shape, though. Everyone had natural breasts and they were trained dancers. The host - a comedienne with a great voice - was also a hoot and kept the crowd entertained in between acts with her jokes.
But the entire experience made me realize I was looking for something much raunchier. I’ll just have to get up the nerve to go to a strip club next time I’m in Vegas. It will be nice to support my fellow comrades but, more importantly, I need to have some real sexy fun.
After the girly show, I bought my aching, Manolo-clad feet back to the hotel and got into my leftovers while watching Family Guy.
The next morning, I took the 45 minute walk from Encore to the Bellagio. This was another crowded hotel, this time, filled more tourists than conventioneers. I stopped in at Alo to buy a sweater and then took an Uber back to my hotel for another nap.
Time for dinner! This is one of my favorite dresses but, boy, did those shoes hurt! And they weren’t even high heels!
SW Steakhouse.
I went to the main event after dinner...
Like most everyone, I was mesmerized by David Blaine’s street magic special on ABC from many years ago. I still think he’s the greatest but the show was different than I expected. He’s quite a showman, though. My one gripe is that he swallowed a frog on stage. That registered as animal abuse to me. I didn’t like watching that.
The next morning, I was headed back to the airport in an Uber, oddly decorated on the inside with rhinestone sticker panels and American flag decals. I reflected on my trip during the ride…
When I come back to Vegas, I definitely want to stay at Encore again even though the rate is prohibitive. I may try to avoid huge convention weeks.
I am bringing my own coffee maker into that hotel come hell or high water… Possibly a hot plate, too.
I need to start researching Vegas strip clubs now.
I will probably make time for a daytime excursion on my next trip. I wanted to do a sniper rifle experience on this trip but didn’t like the idea of spending 4-5 hours away from the hotel when my time there was so limited. It’s either that or a day trip to Arizona.
If you’d like to see the video version of these blog posts, click here for my Vegas Instagram highlight.
In the meantime, if you feel so obliged, Delta Airlines gift cards are always appreciated (email them to isisvegaatl@gmail.com).