Travel Log

[theevilchemist]

Since I didn't get to go to WGT this year due to my mom's passing, I decided to take a proper vacation, well proper for me at least, but this time in the US. It just seemed to work well around the_siobhan andthe_axelshindig in vegas. A bunch of events just happened to materialize around the days of Aug 7th-15th. My confirmed Itinerary is

Comments

[greylock]

$968 for 5 segments, but they are all direct and the times I wanted. It's about what I would've paid to go to a coupla European cites.

Admittedly I do live in an empty land, but I could probably get to Melbourne and Sydney at that cost (return). So that seems moderately fair to me.
But those hotel rates are insanely cheap. I might be able to find a backpackers dorm for $38 a night, but an actual hotel? I'm stunned.

[theevilchemist]

The Luxor is actually one of the nicer hotels on the Strip IMO. It's a giant pyramid with a hug spotlight that goes straight into the sky at night. It's so cheap, b/c no one is going to Vegas, b/c no one has gambling money since the economy is in the shitty still.

Usually you only see rates like this in Vegas 2 weeks before X-mas, b/c, again people don't have money to go gambling.

jv

[greylock]

I know the Luxor well... by reputation. My partner stayed there when she went to Vegas.

I'm almost tempted to book a ticket. At those prices I'd be crazy not to.
And I found a flight for $1193.

My lack of passport and the 25 hr flight are the only things stopping me.

[kest]

oh come on, surely you can get a rush passport in a week? come to vegas. and convergence while you're at it. you know you want to.

[kest]

just fyi, I'm pretty sure unagothae stayed at the Moore once and thought it was kind of skanky and ended up going somewhere else after one night. The Luxor is a damn good deal but other times you get what you pay for. Please *don't* go for whatever's cheapest in Oakland! We have a lot of good hotels, but we also have a lot of crack whore ones (I had to have this conversation with my parents last time they were in town :/) One of these days you really have to come here when I am in town and have time to hang out.

Yeah well

[theevilchemist]

Give me some credit will ya? I've been to 105 cities in 22 countries. You'd think I know how to choose a hotel. I don't just look at the price. I look at what value it is to me.

I look at the price, location, how long i'll be staying, how long I'll be in the room. I look at dozens of reviews before I make a decision. I look at the good and bad, and what exactly people don't like about it. I look at trends not isolated incidents.

I don't care if someone whom I only know by name had a single bad experience compared to 268 other people which 80+% had a positive experience. That's the difference between anecdotal evidence and a statistical result.

In all my travels, I have never got up and checked into another hotel b/c of it's quality. So for me, I think I do a pretty good job at picking hotels.

jv

Re: Yeah well

[inulro]

I just checked out their web site (because I'm procrastinating) and it looks pretty much like every budget hotel I've stayed in over the years (better than some, even).

Re: Yeah well

[theevilchemist]

Yeah, it doesn't have A/C, but it's Seattle, so it's not a problem (it's 17C there right now) and it's a communal bath, which irks some americans, but my favorite B&B's in europe don't have en suite facilities.

I'm pretty much just dumping my crap there and running around for 18 or so hours. Don't want to pay $120/night for a storage locker.
jv

[inulro]

I look forward to seeing you in Vegas! I thought we did really well getting the Golden Nugget for $49/night.

I found out about that Audra gig after I'd booked all our Convergence stuff - I am, on occasion, somewhat tempted to blow off C16 and head out to LA instead, but that would be foolish , specially considering that almost everything is pre-paid, and I'd probably lose some friends.

Yea!

[theevilchemist]

Vegas will be fun. I'm looking forward to it. YEA!
jv