First day in Las Vegas for the New Media Expo
I arrived in Las Vegas about 3PM Tuesday afternoon, springing from my cattle-like seat on the plane to pick up my suitcase from the baggage claim, and then find that, despite what I’d been told by previous travelers, The Las Vegas Hilton does not maintain a shuttle to and from the airport. I paid $6.95 for a Grey Line shuttle and got totally turned around as far as directions are concerned, before being delivered to the front door of my hotel.
Check-in was a breeze, and although I got a little confused as to which elevator to take and where they were located, I entered my room on the 24th floor looking out the West side of the hotel. From my window I can see the Rivera, the Wynn Encore and Trump Tower. The room is spacious and has a nice work desk with sufficient power outlets directly in front of the bay window.
I can’t say I’m altogether pleased with the accommodations, though. The large-screen television has all the usual channels you’d expect at a hotel: CNN, Fox News, The Weather Channel, ESPN, all the local channel, and a few you’d expect at a Las Vegas casino: channels touting the performers appearing nightly, advertisements for the restaurants, even a local interview show and lessons on the casino games. Missing, however, is a single movie channel! No HBO, no Showtime, no Cinemax, no nuthin! Clearly, they want you to either get out of your room and gamble or pay the $12.99 to watch what you could rent at Blockbuster for $4.
There is no mini-fridge… there is no mini-bar… there isn’t even a complimentary basket of water, fruit and pretzels. There are only two 1 quart bottles of Deja Blue bottled water that’ll cost you $4 each, should you decide to partake.
I go downstairs for dinner… there’s a Mexican restaurant there and I have two very bland chicken enchiladas and a Coke for $20 (including tip). Breakfast this morning cost me nearly $17 (including tip).
I reconsider getting money from the available ATM in the lobby after realizing they’ll charge me $4.99 for the privilege. They charge me $12.99/day for WiFi access!
I went to sleep about 6PM local time (8PM on my internal clock back home) and sleep wonderfully, thanks in no small part I’m sure to the 24 hours previous where I’d been unable to sleep.I awoke this morning at 3AM, got showered and dressed, and ready to start the day. Jason and Melanie are expecting to drive down here today and we’ll probably meet up later and do something. The bulk of my day will be spent finishing my slides and going over my session for the start of the expo tomorrow morning.
Comments
Hi Charles: I just included your blog post in my blog post about the blog convention:
http://www.lasvegasun.com/blogs/joe-brown/2008/aug/13/bloggers-podcasters-and-carrot-top-swarm-vegas
Joe
Wow, so far it sounds like Vegas is purely for the high rollers. I’m glad you got a nice big comfy bed though.
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