Viva Las Vegas!

With this horrid recession digging in for what looks like a long stay (would not be surprised at all, darlings, to see unemployment reach 10.5% in six-seven months), I have been reading article after article about the big hit that Las Vegas has taken -- tourists aren't visiting! Well, hell, who has the money? This is worrying to me, though, because our Goddesschess partner Isis and, of course, our fabulous friends the Las Vegas Showgirls (Bambi Darlin and Candy Kane), live in Las Vegas. Hotels and casinos have been cutting hours and staff. Tips are way down (dealers in many of the hotels make mininum wage, relying on tips to earn a living wage, the same holds true for housekeeping help and other hotel staff). Building projects have sputtered to a halt; large condos have gone off the board and those underway are being pummeled by worried buyers demanding back their downpayments. Because of the credit freeze, commercial project financing is more scarce than water on the Sun. The Wall Street suits (and criminals - one in the same if you ask me) who run the mega-conglomerates that now own most of Las Vegas and BIG gambling all around the world are actually worried! Of course, they are mostly insulated - suits don't generally lay off other suits - and they inflict the most pain on those far down the economic ladder from where they perch. When I practiced law these types of people were called New York snakes. Gave snakes a bad name. delion and I last visited Las Vegas in November, 2003. We were planning a trip to visit our friends NEXT November (2009). But after being bombarded the past couple of weeks with emails from Travelocity advertising cheap airfares and hotel deals to LV, I spent most of last night checking out hotel room rates and "last minute" airfares to Las Vegas. I started at Travelocity but soon moved to Kayak to check out the airfares, and then direct-shopped the hotels on the Strip to see what rates were being offered. The upshot is that dondelion and I will be headed to Vegas, Baby, for Christmas, arriving on 12/24 and departing on 12/26. We'll visit our friends Isis and Michelle and check out the latest changes since our 2003 visit. At least three major new hotels/resorts have opened up along the Strip since our last visit - plenty to see and do and cram into our short time in LV. We're not gamblers, we may plug some nickles into the slots if we can find nickle slots anywhere on-Strip (the last time we played nickle slots was at the Westward Ho in November, 2003, now torn down and replaced by an expensive mega resort). Unbelievable room rate for a "deluxe" (i.e., standard room with two queen sized beds) obtained at the Imperial Palace of $35 and $39 special online rate a night for the two nights we'll be in town. Also got a decent round trip airfare on AirTran (but I would not consider it "fantastically cheap") although AirTran did charge me $6 extra for each seat for selecting online seat assignments for dondelion and I! RIP OFF! That added $24 to our round trip fare total. Yeah, I'm a cheapskate! Times are tough! Money is tight! You know things must really be tough in LV when the reservations clerk at a giant hotel (Imperial Palace is part of the Harrah's franchise) chats you up like you're a long-lost friend! I do have to say that she was very sweet and friendly, and I enjoyed talking with her a lot. So, I envision dondelion and I sharing a quiet steak and turkey dinner at the Sahara steak house with Isis and Michelle on Christmas day, and driving their neighborhood nuts by going around singing Christmas carols off-key while dressed in shorts (where we're coming from, 50 degrees in LV will feel positively tropical!) Viva Las Vegas, Baby! I just love that city. It energizes me just like New York does.