July 18, 2014

Seven Days In Vegas

Seven Days In Vegas - SelfBinding Retrospect by Alanna Rusnak

I am untraveled. I have never owned a passport.  I am very happy at home but I do have a travel bucket list. Vegas is not on it. I want to see beauty - not hype. However, when opportunity knocks, should you not open the door?

My husband plays pool.  Every year the winning team is awarded a trip to Vegas. And this year his ship came in.  He gets a free flight and free hotel stay. For seven days in August. And I am going with him. Because Vegas. Because Sin City. Because we don't get enough time away together.

My ticket is purchased and my passport is on order. This will be our first real trip since our honeymoon in 1998.  We've had hotel stays here and there over the years but we've never really gone away, child-free, for honest-to-goodness grownup alone time.

For that I am excited.

For so many other reasons I am anxious...

1. This is a trip with other people.  Barf!  Not that I hate people - I don't - I love people.  But I view myself as a complete nerd traveler.  I want to go to museums and walk through nature and take photographs of the desert. I do not want to go to night clubs and hang out in casinos and SHARE A HOTEL ROOM WITH MY HUSBAND'S SINGLE MALE FRIEND!

2. Beggars can't be choosers.  If he wasn't getting this trip for free we would not be going anywhere farther than Niagara Falls. If we want a room to ourselves we have to pay for it and a seven-day hotel stay is not in our current budget.  {But we're going to try really hard to pay for our own room for at least one night or two.}

3. I'm trying but I can't think of one single thing that might make Vegas a romantic getaway.  I've seen The Hangover.  I know the truth.

4. This is a trip for a pool team. They are entered in a tournament. They will be playing pool. The better they do, the longer they play and the more time I'll have on my own.  This is good and bad.  How often do I get quiet time in which I have no obligations? I have full intentions of the using the pool tournament time to read and write and swim and NAP! But what if I'm lonely or resentful? I need to prepare myself right now, mentally and emotionally to get through it and enjoy it.

5. I have guilt regarding the children - not in leaving them behind for a week but in pawning them off on others because I worry that it's a huge inconvenience and that yeses were said out of duty and not a genuine desire to spend time with them.

6. I don't drink. Like not even a little bit. Not because I think it's evil or anything - it's just a choice I've made and I have no regrets surrounding it. I have gone into a bar and ordered a tea - I'm that weirdo {I also had to walk the bartender through how to make a cup of tea which was ridiculous and entertaining}.  Vegas is basically the party capital of the world.  But it's also probably the weirdo capital of the world so...

7. I don't gamble. Like not even a little bit. And I kind of think it's a bit evil - and sad - and annoying - and potentially destructive and the idea of hours among the whir and squeal of those machines makes me squirrely. 


I am a square. Not a prude but not the kind of girl who needs to say, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."  But I will vow to make the best of it in hopes that perhaps our next travel opportunity will not involve 8 of his party-hardy friends.

What about you? Have you ever traveled to Vegas? I'd love to hear some suggestions for sights to see and things to do!
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10 comments:

  1. http://www.yelp.com/list/las-vegas-for-the-non-gambler-las-vegas

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  2. I've been! and I loved it! make sure you go to old vegas! so cool and great photo ops there. Don't take any cards people hand you on the street. Go see menopause the musical! hilarious! Oh and I went to a Monet exhibit while I was there, that was cool and it was a very quiet, hip and square thing to do! have fun!

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    1. Awesome advice! Thanks!!! Hip and square - love that!

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  3. You know what to go see. I already told ya.

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  4. Red rock canyon. Blow your mind

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    1. Is that where you had some wedding pictures taken?

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  5. Jessica McQJuly 19, 2014

    Vegas is amazing! I went out to visit my mom before I turned 18 and then ended up staying there for 6 months the next summer! Its not totally a party city.

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  6. Go, enjoy, sight see. You don't have to gamble or drink to have a good time. Visit Freemont street. We didn't and I wish we had.

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