TRAVEL
LAS VEGAS
March 3-9, 2018
For those of you who do not know, I work in healthcare tech, and every year there is a huge Healthcare IT Conference called HIMSS (don't ask me what it stands for) and, as Jacqueline Follet from The Devil Wears Prada would say, our company plans our entire year around it.
I normally don't get too excited about conferences (because it means I have to actually do work), but when I found out that this year HIMSS would be taking place in Las Vegas, my attitude quickly changed and I bombarded my boss' email until he agreed that I could go. And since the conference lasts a full week and my boyfriend, Joe, had never been to Vegas, I brought him along for a few days.
We flew out on Saturday, March 3rd on Jetblue and on the way to the airport, I had a genius idea: I tweeted at Jetblue to see if there was any way we could get our seats upgraded from the back of the plane to an Even More Space seat. Needless to say, I was pretty fuckin' lucky in my request.
*Sorry my Twitter profile picture is from 2012
**Do you see that in just 5 minutes, my battery went down5%? Thanks, Tim Cook.
Not only did we get Even More Space seats, but we also got TSA pre-check and a free glass of wine. Ah, to be betrothed. And I should probably state that no, this was not true, we did not get married. OK MOM?!
Anyways, we landed in Sin City around 9pm and headed straight to our hotel for the night: The Venetian. Since my work week didn't officially start until Sunday, we were on our own to find a place to stay for the one night. I picked the Venetian solely for the fact that my boyfriend is Italian and that he would feel like he was among his people. But in the 24 hours we were at the hotel, I did not see one person that worked there that was Italian. Except if you count the woman who brought me drinks in the casino - she was from Jersey and could have been Teresa Giudice's twin.
Even though by the time we made it down to the casino that night it was 3am EST, we got a sudden rush of energy by finding the most AMAZING slot machine. It was Titanic themed and it showed clips from the movie while you played. And if you got three heart of the oceans, you won anywhere between $10 - $100 AND "MY HEART WILL GO ON" PLAYS loudly from the machine, causing everyone in the at nearby the blackjack table to stare at you in awe (or sympathy).
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The next day, we checked out of The Venetian and headed to the hotel that my coworkers and I would be stating at for the next 5 days: Trump International. I know, I know. I wasn't thrilled either, but I have to say the hotel was really nice and elegant and the Jacuzzi bathtub made up for a lot of the racism and collusion.
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After we checked in and I did some “work”, Joe and I were free to roam around Vegas and do our own thing, which consisted of walking into every hotel on the strip, ordering a drink and playing $20 in a slot machine. Needless to say, by the time we reached our last hotel, I was drunk and poor.
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Aside from gambling and drinking, one of the other best things to do in Vegas is to eat, and I sure did that! I had the most delicious baked goat cheese from Mon Ami Gabi, pancetta pizza from Otto Enoteca, and of course, since I was on the West Coast, I needed to see what all the hype was about with In N' Out (I didn't like it and I don't get the hype. Sorry guys, but I think Wendy's is 1,000 times better.)
*To see more pictures of all the food I eat, follow @the_hungerjames on Instagram!
On Monday morning, the conference began and Joe headed back to NYC with more money in his pockets than he came with (Good for him!!!! I'm not mad!!!! ) The following three days, I had to stand at our booth and smile which, to be honest, was the hardest I've worked in about four years.
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On my last night in Vegas, my team and I were lucky enough to get tickets to a private party at the House of Blues where there was an open bar, a taco buffet, and a performance by the band Capital Cities. It was the perfect end to a great week in Vegas, even though eating tacos standing up with no table proved to be pretty difficult…
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I absolutely love Vegas, but do think that staying there any more than three days is a bit overkill. I’m not really a club-goer (shocking?) and I don’t particularly like celebrity-owned restaurants (thank God there was an Outback on the strip) , but I think Vegas is a city where anyone can go and have a great time – just as long as you don’t overstay your welcome.
Or lose $500.