My first major flight delay preceded my first time to Las Vegas; a combination of evil fog and air traffic control in San Francisco made my plane late, 6 hours of lateness. The upside, is Las Vegas never really closes, so I when I finally got to my Imperial Palace smack in the middle of the strip, there were still hours to burn. The hotels here don't really have the large reception areas I'm used to. The reception and concierge in most of the Las Vegas hotels, even the large ones, are dwarfed by the hall of gambling pods and pokey machines only a few feet away. It's immediately dim once you enter a casino/hotel, and the mild stench of stale cigarette smoke creeps over your senses like a sleazy arm. Of course there's heaps of bright shiny lights emitting relentlessly from the gaggle of pokey machines that stretch as far as the eye can see.

I began with a room on the fourteenth floor with a great view of the strip, but after two hours of "entertainment" from the club at the front of the hotel, I migrated to the tenth floor to a room with a great view of the pool. It was great having a room and bathroom facilities to myself again! Seriously, I don't know how people can tolerate hostels for more than six or seven days.. EWwwwwwww!

I spent four nights in good 'ol Las Vegas. I ventured to the Grand Canyon which totally made the trip worthwhile, went to see Cirque Du Soleil's Ka at the MGM - I only wish the show was longer.. though I have to admit I did doze off in bits, got within about seven inches of a lion at the MGM and experienced downtown Las Vegas in the evening! Smiles all around.

On my trip, there's no where as opulent as Caesar's Palace, nothing as truly amazing as the small bit of the Grand Canyon (the scenery on the way there was ace too!), and nothing as silly as me running across four lanes of traffic just to get a photo with the "Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign.