r v l . c o m

There is only one word to descibe this place: HUGE!!!

Everything is just insanely over proportioned, the buildings, the people, the food, everything! So far my favourite incident was over hearing the conversation between two fat, slot-machine-playing americans, which went as follows:

Fat man: "Wow, I just won 10!"
Fat woman: "Awsome! Whats 10 x 25?!"

O.M.G. 

Anyway, enough mocking of the locals. Our hotel (MGM Grand) is unbelievable - it's big enough to take a week to explore fully, including the lion enclosure. It has one of the biggest and most glamourous lobbys I've ever seen. Once you get up to the rooms, each wing of the hotel is so long you cant actaully see to the end (2nd photo below) - and there are THREE wings on each floor! 

 I arrived yesterday, after a VERY long and very delayed flight from NY, expecting to see Dean and Zemeel waiting at the gate for me as they were scheduled to arrrive (from LA) about 1hr before me. There was noone at the gate, so the emotional outburst I had ready for our big airport reunion was totally wasted. I was going to drop my suitcases and run and jump into the arms and everything. Thanks for nothing guys.

Turns out they missed their connecting flight at LAX because the security queues were loooong (something like a 2hr wait to get through DOMESTIC security checks). Then their seats to Vegas were sold to someone else and they had to wait list for another flight to vegas, which they eventually got, but then had to get off because there was a problem with the planes wheels.  

Anyway, they eventually arrived, after lying about having a wedding to attend in order to get pushed up the wait list queue (love it). It was so good to finally see them both! Nothing has changed much, with friends like these its like slipping back into a comfortable pair of (expensive) shoes, easy and familiar and just very very nice.

This is us just a few hours ago, having coctails and swimming in the way-too-warm 'aduts only' pool with deckside DJs and $2 jelly shots. Mmmm… classy. 

This morning Dean and Zemeel went on a helicopter ride (/death ride) over the Grand Canyon, which I decided to sit out, so went for a walk up and down The Strip. In 40 degree desert heat, even just walking is exhausting, so I actually just went from casino to department store to starbucks to and tried not to pass out in between. It was surreal seeing the Eifel Tower and Arc de Triumph, having just been to the real ones only 2 weeks ago! 

I havent had time to put comments or titles on them all yet, but here are all my pics to date:

[My Vegas Pics] 

Tomorrow we're out of here and back to NYC. I've had to buy another suitcase as I somehow overpacked the one I have brought with me, which has resulted in having to pay 'excess luggage fees' up till now, which kind of sucks. Fortunately, this morning I found a nice French Connection bag reduced from $85 to $25, so am just about to go and repack things now.

Oh the joys of air travel!