Las Vegas: Days 1-2

We landed in Las Vegas yesterday just after 8:00am (oh the joys of a 6:00am flight!) and made our way together to the Palms where we would be spending the next couple days.


Having been to Las Vegas before (and watching my fair share of reality tv!), I was somewhat familiar with this particular casino/hotel and knew it was known as one of the nicer ones with an amazing pool area. This is also Hugh Hefner's home in Las Vegas, and he owns the penthouse in the hotel. We were all famished by the time we got checked in so made a quick decision to drop off all our bags and then meet back in the lobby to walk to Palms Place and eat breakfast at the high-end restaurant a few of the guys had been to before called Simon. Palms Place is connected to the main Palms hotel and casino by a very long combination of escalators, elevators and corridors. Palms Place is the residential tower, and I definitely noticed more families in this area. Simon looked out over a small, very quiet pool, much different than most of the wild pool scenes I think of when I think of Las Vegas. Our breakfast was delicious (I had a Belgian waffle with mixed berries). Simon at Palms Place:


By this time it was going on 11:00am, and I was anxious not to miss any rays of sun out by the pool, so I hurried back to my room and changed into my swimsuit. It was at this moment that I had the horrible realization all those items taken out of my bag at the Seattle security checkpoint had not been returned. I was missing my sunscreen, contact solution, and numerous other items I use on a daily basis. This upset me SO much. I had already been upset about going through the entire situation to begin with, but now to discover I had checked my bag for no reason and the TSA employee had not even returned my items back into my bag was just crushing to me. I had just bought that sunscreen, and the other things being essentially stolen from me right under my nose were just a hassle...it's not like there are drugstores inside the casino where I could replenish everything. So with complete disappointment, I headed out to the pool and found a stand where I could buy some over-priced $20 sunscreen, lathered up, and spotted an empty chair in a sea of people who looked like they'd been laying out at this pool all summer. With the temperature making this one of the hottest days of the summer at almost 115 degrees and the complete frustration of my morning, I more than deserved a drink at this point, so I ordered a banana daiquiri from the cocktail waitress. Considering the fact that she looked like a really tan model, she was surprisingly pleasant and attentive, fetching me a drink menu and coming around every 10 minutes or so to make sure I was good. I wasn't able to get a great photo of the pool, so here's one I grabbed off the Palms website:


It really was unbearably hot, and without a cloud in the sky, I was a little concerned that even with all the sunscreen I'd put on, my skin might be roasting away. This was pretty much the first sun my body had seen since last summer, so it's not like I had some great base coat to make me think I wasn't going to burn to death out there. I hopped in the pool to cool off for about an hour, staying mostly in the shade. There were blackjack tables in the water, which I thought was pretty fun. A DJ was also setting up, and the pool was getting more and more crowded. I really just wanted to sleep, but again, I was afraid falling asleep in that scorching sun would be a terrible idea, so after only about two and a half hours by the pool, I decided to call it a day. My skin felt really hot, and I just prayed that I wouldn't wake up with blisters all over my body.

I returned to my room (which provided a great view of Las Vegas Boulevard ("The Strip"), took a shower, and passed out in my bed. A few hours later I woke up really wanting to get out to the Strip and maybe find somewhere to eat and explore. Because I had my laptop with me, I was able to do some quick research and discovered the only way to the Strip was a cab that would cost me $20 each way or the Palms shuttle, which was making its last run in about half an hour and would not be making a return trip, so I'd be on my own to get back to the hotel. I also looked up some horseback riding tours outside of Las Vegas I might be able to get to, but discovered I was also too late for any of those. I really could just kick myself - I wish I'd looked at some of those horseback riding tours before I'd gotten to Las Vegas because I absolutely would have spent as much as a couple hundred dollars to take one of those desert horseback rides! I guess that's what I get for not planning out my trip as well as I normally do, but in my defense, I had thought I'd be out by the pool all day. The one productive thing I did get done was I made my car service reservation with Carmel for my JFK arrival. So suffering from complete boredom with nowhere to go, I decided to take a walk through the Palms casino from one end to the other. There really wasn't a whole lot to see, and being a non-gambler, I must say that Las Vegas is perhaps the worst city in the world to be in by myself! The view of the mountains and casinos from my room:


The hotel had provided me with complimentary meals at Bistro Buffet for the duration of my stay, so I finally gave up trying to find anything more appealing and headed to the buffet. I noticed the price on the buffet was pretty outrageous ($20+), so I decided I was getting a pretty good deal and decided to take advantage of this as many times as I could in the next 24 hours. It turned out to be my lucky day because the buffet at the Palms includes free beer and wine. The wine was mediocre at best, but it had been a long, frustrating day and I gladly accepted her multiple refills. Also on the menu at the buffet this Saturday night was shrimp. So I basically gorged on red wine and shrimp cocktails. It didn't really occur to me until well after the fact how disgusting eating seafood in Las Vegas actually is. When I was ready to leave, my waitress filled up a big Styrofoam cup with wine and sent me on my way. Now that's service! It was before 9:00pm and I was feeling particularly lame, especially with this being the Saturday of a holiday weekend (4th of July), and me being in one of the supposedly most exciting, wild cities in the country - and yet here I was, drinking my wine out of a Styrofoam cup and watching a Piers Morgan interview on TV in my room. I decided to quit feeling sorry for myself, so I finished the wine, turned the TV off and went to sleep. Ha! :)

Sunday morning, I was able to sleep until I woke up - much needed! I was also disappointed to see that not only had the color of my skin not changed (I guess there is such a thing as too much sunscreen!), but the sky was overcast and the weather forecast indicated there were going to be some really bad storms rolling through later in the day. Seriously? I got gorgeous, sunny weather in the rainy Pacific Northwest, and now I'm going to get poured on in the middle of the desert? Weird luck, huh? I decided there was only one thing left to do - eat breakfast at the buffet! I stuffed myself (although I wasn't that impressed with the selection and basically made a meal out of hashbrowns and sausage), then came back up to the room to get cleaned up and ready for the show. I headed down to the venue, the Pearl Theater, which was just around the corner from the hotel's elevator bank, before noon to meet with some of the people I'd been emailing and calling for the past few months and do a quick run-through of the venue. Casinos are always so much easier to have shows in - for one, my room is never far away so I don't have to pack a bag of everything I'll need for the entire day! And things just always feel more organized in casinos - room service handles all the backstage catering rather than a third-party company coming in; things like that just make my day and the amount of people I am having to coordinate with infinitely more simple.


After my run-through, I met up with one of the comedians and had a quick salad with him at the 24/7 Cafe in the casino (sorry for ditching you, buffet!). When I headed back down to the venue to finish up some of the prep work, we could all hear the rain pelting what sounded like an aluminum roof above the stage. I headed up stairs to the back entrance of the venue to check out the rain - the wind was blowing hard and the rain was intense - what a rare sight to see in Las Vegas! Fortunately, the rain tapered off before the show started - that would have been incredibly distracting for a comedy show! We had another great show and another late night with me trudging back to my hotel room - that seems to be the norm these days!

This morning, July 4, we all had 7:00am flights back to New York - another early wake up call! I slept like a baby for the duration of the flight except for maybe an hour where I connected to the Delta in-flight wifi and fooled around on my laptop. I landed back at JFK at 2:30pm, and a few minutes later received a call from my driver asking me what I was wearing and that he would be pulling up at the baggage claim doors in about 10 minutes. This sure was less painful than standing in a taxi line that might have taken 30 minutes! We zipped back to my apartment in the city, and I promptly unpacked and went to bed. Another work weekend in the books - and I am leaving with no desire to ever return to Las Vegas!

My trip:

"I'm Leaving Las Vegas
Lights so bright
Palm sweat, blackjack...
Leaving Las Vegas, I'm leaving for good." - Leaving Las Vegas, Sheryl Crow

Miles Traveled Today: 3,656
Total Miles Traveled: 22,655

Seattle: Day 2

Yesterday morning, I was able to sleep in a little bit (with the time change this ended up not making much of a difference unfortunately). I once again returned to the concierge for breakfast suggestions. And once again, there didn't seem to be a whole lot of options. However, she did tell me if I took a left out of the hotel and walked 10-15 minutes, I'd reach the Pike Place Market. I was very excited to hear this, as I hadn't really gone to any trouble to figure out where the market was, but I did know it was a tourist attraction and was happy I'd have the opportunity to check it out. The only other attraction that I wanted to see more than any of these others was the Experience Music Project, but because of the museum's hours of operation and my own schedule revolving around work, there just wasn't a chance for me to make it on this trip.

The EMP building's unusual architecture:


It was a gorgeous day to be out walking around (and walking toward the market was a much nicer, people-filled walk!). I was also overwhelmed with my weather luck in a city that is certainly famous for it's year-round gloom and rain. After passing maybe 50 Starbucks (just kidding...sort of), I reached the steep hill leading down to the market.


Famous "Public Market" sign:


I strolled through the fish market for a while hoping to catch a glimpse of some fish-throwing, but nothing was happening and the place was swarming with tourists, so I decided to just go ahead and locate the restaurant recommendation and get some food!

Street performers in the market:

The spot the concierge had suggested was called Lowell's, essentially a hole in the wall in a row of vendors, and it turned out to be an even more fantastic recommendation than I could have hoped for. Not only was the meal delicious (I had the Oregon Bay Shrimp Omelet), but after placing my order, I headed up to the third floor seating area, which had an amazing view overlooking Puget Sound. I fortunately was able to snag a table right at the window in the crowded upstairs, and after the server brought up my meal, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in complete peace looking out over the water. Toward the end of my meal, my phone started ringing off the hook with calls from the radio station and venue, so I decided it was time to head back to the hotel and get packed up for the long day ahead. Lowell's was such a lovely find, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a tasty omelet and a serene view:


Just a few blocks from the hotel was the Paramount Theatre where my show was being held later that night. The theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places, first opened in 1928 as a vaudeville theatre. It was beautiful inside, and the dressing rooms were definitely set up to accommodate a Broadway production rather than four comedians who don't need a wall-length vanity. It was a very long day at the theatre, but the people I worked with from the venue and radio station were probably my favorite I've dealt with thus far.


We had a 6:00am flight from Seattle to Las Vegas that came very early this morning. I also had my first TSA encounter and am still enraged about it. First, the security line was ridiculous. We easily waited half an hour to get up to the scanners. I very carefully had all my liquids/gels packed into the required 3 oz. containers in a plastic bag. I would dare say I have perfected traveling on even long trips with only a carry-on. The TSA employee, clearly just bored in his dead-end career and looking to exert some sort of fantasy authority, informed me my plastic bag was too large and I needed to take out enough items so that they would fit in the "correct" sized bag. When he showed me the size my items needed to fit in, I was horrified. I was going to have to take out a LOT. I argued with him for a good five minutes, but eventually I started taking out things I knew I'd be able to buy in Las Vegas - toothpaste, lotion, etc. I had my big perfume bottle, face sunscreen and some other items that I just had to get through because of how specific they are to my needs. In this whole process, somehow the things I was taking out of the bag got separated. When I finally realized this asshole of a TSA agent wasn't even going to be remotely lenient (it's not like I was wearing a turban, good God), I decided I would just let the airline win and pay the $25 checked baggage fee. (It should be noted that in all the times I have flown with this exact same set up, this has NEVER happened. The Seattle-Tacoma airport might want to chill out...no one important is coming in or out of your stupid airport). They were so kind to let me know I wouldn't have to wait in the security line again and could just come straight back up to the scanners once my bag had been checked.

In an effort to make this as painless as possible, I left my heavy purse with the comedians who had gotten through security with no problem, and retreated back to the check-in lines to check my bag. As I got closer to the front of the line, I became acutely aware that I did not have my wallet with me. It was in my purse, which I'd left with my traveling partners on the other side of security. So now I was going to have to mooch off of a complete stranger. It was at this moment I decided I'd never go to an airport again without washing my hair or doing my makeup. I spotted my victim, a younger guy probably a few years older than me whose ticket indicated he was on my same flight, and explained to him what had happened. I was pretty much near tears at this point, so I think he just felt really bad for me. He gave me the money, but the look in his face told me he didn't think he'd ever see me or that money again. With my bag checked and security clearance at last (with no lack of dirty looks shot at the TSA employee who gave me such a hassle), I met up with the comedians at the gate. I was completely frazzled, but I did finally locate the good Samaritan and paid him back the $25 plus a coffee I'd picked up for him.

Requirements from the TSA website, which I had followed very carefully:


At this point, I was still shaking from my unfortunate morning and was very happy to be on the plane out of that airport. I was seated next to one of the comedians on the plane by some strange coincidence, so we chatted for a while about his recent Wyoming vacation and then eventually passed out, catching up on at least a few hours of sleep I had missed.

I'll write about the rest of the trip picking up in Las Vegas when I get back to New York tomorrow. Viva Las Vegas!

"Catch the first plane in the morning
I won't be sleeping tonight
I won't be late for that flight
'Cause I'm sick of Seattle." - Sick of Seattle, The Smithereens (I actually liked Seattle a lot, but after that airport experience I was ready to get out!)

Seattle: Day 1

Just a couple weeks back in New York and I'm back out on the road for work again, this time to Seattle, Washington. I was particularly excited about this trip because this is a place I've never had the opportunity visit, and now I can finally check it off my list! My boss wanted me to book my flights on this trip through our company's travel agency, Journey Corp, which I was very much opposed to and grew even more so over the course of the process. The reason my boss wanted to use the agent was because I would be flying into Seattle-Tacoma from JFK, flying from Seattle to Las Vegas, and then making my return trip from Las Vegas to JFK. So basically three legs that would have to be booked separately from one another. I have never used a travel agent because I am very confident in my ability to plan out trip logistics and don't feel the need to pay someone a commission to find the same flights. Well, in this case, I actually ended up paying the travel agent a commission to find more expensive flights. I was so annoyed! I had found the flights I wanted to take on my go-to site, Travelocity.com, for the relatively reasonable price of just slightly under $700 for direct Delta flights. I wanted the agent to book these flights for me, but by the time she finally called me back, the price had already gone up. She ended up booking the same flights, tacking on her commission to the price, and charging me over $800 for the exact same trip I had found a week before and could have booked for $100+ cheaper. Lesson learned: I will never use a travel agent again! Although I did fight using the travel agent the whole time, the fact she couldn't even find something that cost the SAME as what I had found on my own made me lose all faith. Needless to say, I chose to book my own flight from Seattle to Las Vegas for $175 on Alaska Airlines, which is the same flight all the comics would be traveling on. Fortunately, Alaska has a deal with Delta so I was able to accrue more Skymiles for this entire trip.

Next, I decided to use a car service since I would be spending the morning at work and having to go straight to JFK Airport from the office. I decided to go with Carmel, referred to by New Yorkers as "The Sixes" because of its easy to remember phone number 212-666-6666. The car service picked me up a couple hours before my flight and ended up actually being cheaper than a taxi would have been going to the same destination. I'll definitely start considering Carmel as a mode of transportation, even when work isn't covering the expense, when I'm headed to boroughs outside of Manhattan (which makes the taxi meter go up exponentially). I also received a $5 coupon on my receipt, so instead of taking a taxi, which is what I was planning on doing, I think I will actually just reserve a car while I am still here in Las Vegas and have a car waiting to take me back home when I land back at JFK on Monday! Anyways, I am getting ahead of myself.

I took off from JFK at 3:45pm on Thursday and landed a little after 7pm. It sure was nice gaining back all that time flying through timezones so that I still had a few hours of daylight left to go do the one thing I'd been really looking forward to doing - seeing the Space Needle! I took a 25-minute cab ride from the airport to my hotel, the Grand Hyatt, on Pine Street. My cab driver made sure to point out the sports stadiums (the Seahawks' stadium in particular looked much smaller than I would have expected) as well as the Space Needle. I was shocked at how small the Space Needle was; I was definitely expecting something that would be towering over the rest of the skyline, but it wasn't like that at all - I really had to squint to find it in the midst of the other buildings. The cab ride was over $40 and totally wiped out my cash supply (I keep forgetting New York is the only city with credit card machines in its cabs!). I checked in quickly when I arrived at the hotel and raced upstairs to drop my bags off and hurry to the Space Needle. The Hyatt totally won me over with the plate of grapes, cheese and crackers waiting for me in the room! This was a very welcome, refreshing snack before I set out on my solo adventure. I'm still not positive whether this is normal for all guests, but assume I had been registered as some sort of VIP guest to get this little treat. It's good to be the boss! :)

I've definitely become a fan of relying on the hotel concierge for physical maps, directions and food suggestions in these cities I am unfamiliar with. Although I'd done a little Googling and researching on these things prior to my trip, it's still nice to ask a local who knows what kind of area they are pointing in the direction of and if it's safe for a young female to be setting off on her own through it. The concierge at the Hyatt was helpful and indicated that while the Space Needle was walkable from the hotel, it was at least a 30-minute walk and a cab may be my best bet. I agreed and decided I would walk back to the hotel using the map she provided me after seeing the Needle, but I was in a potential time crunch to beat the sun setting (I really wanted some nice sunset photos) so needed to get there the quickest way possible. She also gave me directions on how to get to the nearest Wells Fargo ATM, which ended up being literally right behind the hotel, and also advised me that walking back from the Needle down 5th Avenue would be the best route for food.

I found a cab quickly after hitting the ATM, but I noticed there weren't many cabs around, so I think I just got lucky. I would probably have the hotel call for one ahead of time if I were going to do it again. The cab driver got completely lost which really annoyed me. Not only am I asking him to take me to the biggest (the only?) tourist attraction in Seattle, but the Needle was in our line of sight for the entire ride - all he had to do was just drive toward it! Anyways, after a lot of arguing I finally got him to shut off his meter, and I told him I'd just pay him $10 (the meter was at $7 when I realized he had no idea where he was going). We finally made it to the Space Needle and I walked right up to the ticket booth and bought my ticket ($18) for the observation deck. Doing some earlier research, I had learned there is also a $24 "Day & Night Pass," which allows a person onto the observation deck twice in a 24-hour period (so that one can view during both daylight and nighttime hours presumably). However, I felt like I'd probably timed my trip so that I'd get both of those with my general admission ticket, so I decided to save myself the money (and another potentially ridiculous cab ride). I then made the long, winding walk to the elevator that would take me the rest of the way (and of course the obligatory green-screen photo stop). When I reached the top of the jam-packed elevator, I was dumped off in the middle of a cafe/bar that went all the way around the top of the Needle. Had I not been flying solo, I may have grabbed a table and had a glass of wine, but I was really just there to get in, take some photos and get out!


I headed to the outdoor perimeter of the observation deck, which provided an excellent view of Puget Sound and the waterfront on one side and the city of Seattle on the other. It was incredibly windy, and with the sun going down it was getting a little chilly up there even with a light sweater jacket on, so I decided to go back inside and wander around a little. There were some really interesting computerized maps with information and zooming tools to get a better look and also some knowledge of what exactly you were seeing in front of you. Sunset is apparently a popular time for viewing and the indoor area was getting a little crowded, so I bid the Seattle skyline adieu and headed back down to the base where I took some photos looking up at the Needle.



I then got my bearings with the map the hotel had provided me and started walking back down 5th Avenue looking for somewhere to eat (it was past 9pm at this point and it had been hours since I'd had that little snack in my room). I was definitely disappointed at the nightlife I saw in Seattle on a Thursday night. I don't know if maybe the road that was suggested to me just wasn't the right one to be walking down, but to say the roads were deserted would be an understatement. I never really got nervous or felt unsafe, but I definitely didn't think it was the greatest position I could have put myself in...I was basically walking under an interstate on a sidewalk with no one in front of or behind me. The road was lined with shops, but at this hour nothing was open. Perhaps during the day this is a more lively area? I did eventually get to a stretch of 5th Avenue with a FEW restaurants, but not the back-to-back-to-back bars and restaurants with people spilling out of them the concierge had me think I'd be encountering. The restaurants I did pass were all very nice (i.e. expensive) and were not really what I was in the mood for. I finally stumbled upon the Taphouse Grill, which was the only place I passed that appeared to have any life inside of it. The bar and restaurant were pretty crowded, which was a welcome sight after my 30-minute walk in almost complete silence with not even a passerby to catch my attention. I settled into a seat near the end of the bar and had the lobster bisque and a Seattle sushi roll with tempura shrimp, both of which were delicious. And yes, the only reason I ordered the Seattle roll was because it was called the Seattle roll.

Taphouse Grill:


By the time I had finished up my meal, it was nearly 11pm, my eyes were droopy, and I knew I had a big day of work the next day. I was only a couple blocks from the Hyatt at this point, so headed back and was asleep in no time!

Miles Traveled Today: 2,852
Total Miles Traveled: 18,999