It's Not A Bender, It's A Lifestyle.

Presser with Gov Sisolak today. He opened bars in three NV counties (not the right one), but intimated that if data doesn't go sideways they may open statewide next week under increased monitoring. I'm fine with that. I've always maintained since the bar shut down that if *a* bar is shown to be flouting the distancing and mask rules, by all means shut it down. What's not fair, and never has been, is to paint an entire industry with the same brush as the few who offend. That would mean a bar reopen date of 8/3. Less than 3 weeks from my arrival date and 1 week to the day before my self-imposed go/no go date to take the trip or not. Cutting it close. If they DO reopen on the 3rd, that's enough time for the bars to get their shit together and be running nominally by the time I get there on the 22nd.  Still a lot of ifs and maybes, but still a better situation than we were in an hour ago. I've been leaning in recent days toward taking the trip regardless; when it c...

Finagled about the best flight deal possible for Xmas week, so assuming Vegas is still a working city in December, Xmas Vegas is booked, for better or for worse. Used up the $50+ of flight credit I had on Alaska for one of their many past flight fuck ups. Going in at around 1:30p arrival on Sunday. Then used up some miles for the out trip also on Alaska on Friday, leaving at 9:45a which is a little early but it gets me back here earlier, which is what I'm after on fly-out day. Used 5000 miles and paid just $6 so my round trip for both flights is...$6.  A little wrinkle this year is I also had some flight credit on Allegiant that was going to expire on the 29th of December, so I said fuck it and booked a flight out on the Sunday, the 28th. It cost me not a single dime and if I don't end up using it it's no skin off my ass. So I can decide to stay an extra night if I'm feeling it. So, we keep throwing shit against the Vegas wall in the face of this fucking virus hoping th...

No closer to knowing the fate of my next Vegas trip, a month out. Bars have been closed in Vegas for a couple weeks now. There's no indication that they are getting any closer to opening. If anything, cases seem to be continuing to rise, so unless some outside pressures come to bear on the Gov of Nevada, prospects aren't looking good. I'm fine with the shows being closed. I'm fine with every other slot or VP machine being turned off. I'm even fine with 1/3 of the strip resorts still being closed. I'm not fine with bars being seemingly arbitrarily shut down. I've been more or less supportive of the mask and shutdown orders both here and in Nevada, but the "leave the casinos and restaurants open but pick on the poor bars" strategy in Nevada makes little sense to me. There's just as much congregation at a booth in a restaurant or a craps table in a casino as there is in a bar. Vegas is a city of "vice", why single out one vice as seeming...

6 1/2 years of this self-serving bullshit. Does anyone read it? Stats say yes. Over 3000 total views, supposedly. That's a hilariously small number in the age of social media, but I make no attempt to promote or publicize this thing. I wouldn't want to. This is for all intents and purposes a personal travel diary, for my own amusement and shame. I'm sure most of the "readers" showed up due to a key word search, saw what this was and immediately left. Which is fine.  I make no bones about what it is: a personal blog of my own ramblings and obsessions concerning Vegas. It's not a news site, it's not a commentary or opinion site, it's mostly just me either planning or recapping my own, personal Vegas visits. I've often wondered if I should even be publishing it to the web, but I figure if some other solo traveler gets some useful ideas from the blog, then so be it. I don't seek out such readers but if they're out there and they get some value ...

Great. Bars in casinos and restaurants have been closed down again in Nevada. You can be served at a table in a restaurant but not at a bar. Thus taking away one of the major motivations for me to go to Vegas in the first place. I'm a month and a half away from the next trip and I may have to cancel it, unless the order is reversed before then. Can I have one, just one trip go as planned and scheduled this year, please? I can't imagine going to Vegas without bars. No VP on the bartop. No lounges, no Dorsey, no Electra, no Vesper, none of the other countless bars I frequent every time I go to town. I literally would have no desire to go and have to be seated at a table in a restaurant, alone, to drink. No bartender to talk to. No girls to flirt with at the bar. Maybe no views of sports on the TV's. Plus, 90% of the time I eat at the bar, too. It's just easier and less awkward than doing the table for one thing. YES, YES, I know why Nevada's Gov is doing it, to save l...

Some worrying rumors coming out of the Vegas-sphere that there may be another round of closures coming up for some strip properties. @vitalvegas, the singular Vegas news authority whose Twitter feed (and to a lesser extent, blog) is required reading for we strip-hounds, reports that there's a good chance Venetian and possibly Caesars Palace may close down again after the 4th of July weekend, voluntarily. COVID cases are spiking in Nevada (as they are everywhere) and that could be a reason for the short term closures, or I'm theorizing it could have something to do with minimal room demand after the holiday. COVID's a great excuse to shut down in lean times if you're not going to cover your overhead in visitor intake. Whatever the reason, it's clear that it's not "business as usual" or anything like it on the strip yet. That being the case, I have given myself a little insurance on the August trip by keeping my booking at The Cosmopolitan, and also book...