So many Vegas visits, still so few for fun

Landing at Dulles Wednesday evening closed out my 45th work trip to Las Vegas. That number alone is not something to take pride in and probably constitutes evidence of some character defect, but what’s even more disturbing is that since my first trip to Vegas in 1998–for CES, of course–I have still only been there three times for fun.

This lifestyle long ago rendered me incapable of dealing with that city however normal people do. Instead, having the event formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show dominate my experience of Vegas–I’m now at 28 trips there just for the Consumer Technology Association’s convention, still one of the most important events on my work calendar–keeps subjecting me to the place at its most expensive and least efficient.

Even smaller-scale conferences like Black Hat (with six trips so far, it’s become about as essential as CES but easier to monetize) and the NAB Show (where I moderated a panel this week, with the National Association of Broadcasters covering airfare and lodging) leave me happier to take off from LAS than to land there.

It’s not that I can’t enjoy a little time in the glitziest corner of Nevada. You can eat exceedingly well there, and Vegas service-industry folks are some of the best in the world. Blackjack can be fun, as long as you remember that you should at least try to lose slowly.

If you drive far enough off the Strip, you can see some striking natural scenery. It took CES to remind me of that last bit, in the form of an outing in 2025 to Lake Mead to experience an electric sport boat.

And there is some exceptional lodging in Vegas, although I’ve also stayed at some of the crummier ones. I started trying to inventory the hotels I’ve stayed at from the Strip up to the convention center (thus excluding off-strip properties like the Palms and a few places in downtown Las Vegas as well as two Airbnbs) and quickly realized they exceed the number of ballparks I’ve visited.

From south to north: Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, MGM Grand, Monte Carlo (today Park MGM), Cosmopolitan, Hilton Grand Vacations, Bally’s (now the Horseshoe), Aladdin (now Planet Hollywood), Palms, Flamingo, Westin, Imperial Palace (the worst among the lot, fortunately now the Linq), Harrah’s, Mirage (demolished, being replaced by a Hard Rock Hotel in the shape of a guitar), Treasure Island, Wynn, Renaissance, Westgate, Fontainebleau (I’d rank that the best). 

But however nice the hotel may have been, there’s no getting around how much I dislike the auto-centric, pedestrian-hostile nature of the streets outside. Unless you can start and end a conference commute on the monorail–this week’s trip, unlike most, allowed that–you will sit in traffic.

The only improvements to Vegas transportation since 1998 have been on the margins: the monorail, Uber and Lyft liberating visitors from taxis that charge $3 extra for credit-card payment, the Vegas Loop’s tunnels, and the advent of autonomous vehicles from Zoox and, soon, Waymo.

Even walking up and down the Strip is less efficient than it should be once you enter a building, since casino floors are where readable layouts and clear signage go to die.

I grew up someplace where you had to drive everywhere; I never want to live like that again and don’t enjoy visiting places that seem intent on making that a perpetual default. I am much happier to have my travel destination be a more human-scaled city where it’s normal and enjoyable to get around by walking and transit; the contrast between CES in Vegas and MWC in Barcelona is glaring and entirely in Spain’s favor.

I think of that every time one industry-analyst friend who moved from the Bay Area to a Vegas suburb tries to sell me on the same move. My response is always some version of “there is nothing you could say to make me ever want to do that.”

And yet work keeps pulling me to Vegas anyway. This week’s trip was my third this year, with one more planned, and I already know next year will feature at least three. I should probably seek treatment for this condition at some point.

My town of #ChicoCA is screwing the pooch (again). We need to tear up our #downtown streets to replace aging sewer lines. When we rebuild, #CA offers a grant to make those streets more #walkable & #bike friendly.

Last night, the City Council failed to approve a plan that would meet those goals & allow us to apply for that grant.

Currently, we have three lanes running through downtown, on two parallel streets. It's the *only* place in town with three-lane roads. Disappointed.

#BikeTooter