Interterminal Issues

<—–Previous Vegas Post

So I’ve decided to sporadically write my posts about Vegas whenever I feel like it, in between posts about various other things.  At this rate, I’ll still be writing them in the winter.  But whatever.  That works for me.  Bloggers in Sin City was just full of so much stuff that I feel like I need to write like ten posts about it at least.

When I arrived at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas in May, I was supposed to meet up with Jessica, a fellow blogger who I had never met, because our flights arrived ten minutes apart.  So it made sense that we could just meet up, and make our way to the Flamingo together.  Simple, right?  Or so we thought.

I picked up my luggage at baggage claim 26.  Jessica was at baggage claim 10.  This is where the confusion began, because wherever Jessica was, the numbers only went up to 16.  How was this possible?  I was clearly at baggage claim 26.  Had I entered some magical world like how Harry Potter goes to platform 1 and 3/4?  I didn’t recall having ran through any walls or anything, so that couldn’t be it.

And that’s when we realized that we were at different terminals.  Curse the Las Vegas airport for being so damn big.  So we brilliantly decided to take the interterminal shuttles to meet each other.  So we both went to the shuttles and got on them.  At the same time.  Going in opposite directions.  It was too late to turn back.  So I believe Jessica simply stayed on her shuttle and took a round trip to meet me back at terminal 1.  Or was it 3?  I don’t even know anymore.  And yes, this was all as confusing as it sounds, possibly more so.

We wandered a bit and eventually had to go ask someone where the hell the hotel shuttles were.  Upon finding them, we patiently waited until it came time to board.  And then patiently waited while it drove oh so very slowly around the strip, proceeding to drop off every other passenger but us.  Not only were we the last to get to our hotel, the driver even stopped to pick up people to take back to the airport before finally dropping us off at The Flamingo.  Actually, she dropped us off a block away from the Flamingo because of “construction” or whatever.  We hoped that this experience would not be indicative of the rest of our time in Vegas.  It was unfortunate that our shuttle ride took so long, but if I was going to have to spend a ridiculous amount of time getting from the airport to the hotel, I’m sure as hell glad that time spent was with Jessica because she made it awesome.

Next Vegas Post—–>

Bloggers in Sin City 2013

Last year, I came across a post on Laura’s blog Red Lips and Academics.  I had never met Laura, but I enjoyed reading her blog.  In this particular post, she had mentioned going to Vegas for a blogging conference.  I thought that sounded pretty cool, so I decided to look into it further.  And then I forgot about it.  And then months went by and I saw stuff about it again popping up on my Twitter feed.  And I began to debate as to whether or not I should sign up.

The event was called Bloggers in Sin City.  Essentially, 68 strangers meet up in Vegas for three days.  Did I want to be one of them?  I did.  I really did.  But then I thought about my finances and whether or not it was for me.  I’ve never been the type of person to be all social and join things.  I hate being forced to bond with people.  Whenever it happens, I always tend to rebel.  But this would be different.  No one was forcing me to go.  If I decided to go, it would be my own decision.  I looked through the registration page to see who the attendees were.  And they all seemed pretty cool. They blogged, they loved social media, they seemed to share my sense of humour, and they just all sounded like really nice people.  Why would I not go?  I love Vegas, so why not?

And so I registered.  Well, I tried to register.  And somehow failed.  So I emailed Nicole, who’s been organizing the event for five years, and we figured out my payment method and it was done.  I wrote up my bio, looked through the itinerary, and then spent several months in eager anticipation.  And then freaked out trying to figure out my flight and all those fun details.  This was my first time trip traveling alone.  As an adult, anyway.  When I was like 11 or something, I went to visit my aunt and uncle in Halifax, and I had to wear a sign around my neck that said “unaccompanied minor” so that people would help me out.  But this time, I was going it alone.

It was a mix of excitement and confusion when I told people that I was going.  Some people would be like “Wow, that’s so brave of you to go to this on your own.” and others would be like “Wait, you don’t know anyone there?  Why are you going?”  I don’t really expect most people to understand.  And that’s okay.  It’s not like I went because I’m so Vegas obsessed and couldn’t find anyone to go with me.  There are people I could have gone with.  But this was more than just a Vegas trip.  It was an experience and I got to meet a bunch of cool people who I wouldn’t otherwise know existed.  And I’m really glad I did.

I spent five nights in Vegas on this trip.  Which seems like a lot.  For Vegas.  I mean I suppose there’s only so much day drinking, overeating, and partying that a person can take.  But the time just went by and I enjoyed every minute of it.  It was filled with all sorts of epic things that I will never forget.  We spent the first day drinking at the Flamingo and meeting people as they arrived.  The next day, we got VIP bags and lanyards and played an awesome game of Cards Against Humanity.  We had a welcome mixer at Serendipity 3, complete with food, drinks, 8 second hugs, and the most intense staring contest I have ever participated in.  We drank and danced at Margaritaville to a band playing 80’s music.  One of the best Thursday nights I’ve had.

On Friday, we had a pool party at the Flamingo.  I don’t even know how to describe it other than it was awesome.  For dinner, we went to the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood, where there was so much food I could hardly contain myself.  Then we went to see “O” by Cirque du Soleil, which had a lot of crazy diving stunts by amazingly talented performers.  After that, some of us went out and danced at a shitty club but at least it was a shitty club in Vegas.

On Saturday, we had a breakfast buffet at the Flamingo, and then I went to Minus 5 Ice Bar at the Monte Carlo.  We had another buffet that night at Paris and the night ended with a rooftop party on top of Pure nightclub.  Actually the night didn’t end there, it ended after following that up with clubbing at Act at the Venetian, and then getting lost trying to find our way out of the Venetian.

On Sunday, we had our fourth and final buffet and started saying our goodbyes.  There were strong bonds and friendships made that weekend and no one wanted it to end.  I went to In-N-Out Burger for the first time.  I had a cheese plate at Otto at the Venetian.  That day was filled with a lot of food and a lot of feelings.

I’m really glad I went and that I got to meet so many great people.  This was the fifth and final year of the event, which I’m really sad about.  I should have found out about it sooner.  But some of us were talking about how there’s no reason we can’t just all end up in Vegas together at the same time next year, even if it’s not officially for Bloggers in Sin City.  I will post more later about specific things that happened in Vegas.  Because I can.  Because I want to relive them.  Because what happens in Vegas ends up getting blogged about.  And now I’m sitting here in my post-Vegas depression.  I’m not sure how long it will last but I’m beginning to think that the only cure is to go back to Vegas.

Next Vegas Post—–>

I’m going to Vegas tomorrow

Enough said.

Blogging in the summer

It’s hard. I don’t know why. It shouldn’t require any more effort than blogging throughout the rest of the year. But it feels like it does. Which is unfortunate because there are so many blog worthy things to write about in the summer if we only had the time. I don’t think it’s just me who feels this way. There are blogs that I follow that have also been lacking in their amount of posts lately. It’s good to know I’m not alone.

It’s annoying because I’ll have all these great ideas and then by the time I go to write about them, too much time has passed and they may no longer be relevant. Not that they’re relevant to begin with. Even more irrelevant than they once were I guess? And so I wonder whether or not I should even bother posting them. And then even more time passes. And then I have a better blog post idea but I don’t want to post that one until I post about the thing that happened before that because I need to have some sense of order. And why not chronological? And then everything’s backed up. What’s a blogger to do?

There’s a reason there’s no school in the summer. I mean unless you failed something and have to take summer school. That’s just unfortunate. Or if you decide to take a course in the summer to lighten your load in the fall. Also unfortunate. But it’s just really hard to focus. More so than during the other seasons. Plus it’s hot. Okay maybe not always and maybe not overly. But a lot of the time it is. And then to have more heat emanating from your computer screen while you try to put together coherent thoughts, that’s just not ideal.

One thing that’s helped me keep up with my blogging is my phone and the ability to blog from it. But it’s not the same. Posts from my phone are sometimes lacking. In pictures, in quality, in depth. But sometimes it’s the only way. I think it’ll probably be another week until I write another blog post. Or maybe a week and a day? I know that probably doesn’t seem long but for me it is. There are still things that happened last month or even two months ago that I haven’t got around to writing about. There’s also stuff from years ago, but in my defense, I didn’t have a blog back then.

Perhaps in the fall, I shall resume a more frequent blogging schedule. Or perhaps not. No one knows really. I just know that right now, it’s not happening. And why should it? People are on vacation, going places, doing things, and then feeling exhausted after having done them. Who even has time to read a blog post, let alone write one? In that sense, my lack of frequent posts is probably in the best interest of my readers. You deserve a break. It’s nice to get a break from me every so often. Not that I would know. I’m with myself 24/7. Consider yourselves lucky.

I want to go to a blogging conference

So apparently there is such a thing as a blogging conference.  Who knew?  I certainly didn’t.  But they exist.  Or at least one does.  I was reading Red Lips and Academics, one of the blogs I follow, and the author, Laura, wrote a post where she mentioned she attended the Bloggers in Sin City conference this year.  It sounds fascinating.

I’m really glad I stumbled across her blog post, because otherwise I would have no idea.  Not that I’m necessarily going to go.  But I will definitely think about it, since it seems like a great opportunity.  And a lot of people I know don’t really understand my obsession with blogging or how I can blog as much as I do.  I was talking to this guy the other day and I told him I blogged and he asked me what I blogged about.  I said I blogged about my life.  And he asked me if my life was really interesting.  And I said no.  And he was left confused and I didn’t feel like explaining myself.  It would be cool to meet people who shared that passion, who just understood and didn’t judge.

There’s a contest held by Lucky Bloke where you can win entry to the conference next year.  That would really cool, since the expenses are what would prevent me from going.  The event is capped at only 60 people, and apparently some register super early.  It’s in May, so maybe I’ll forget about it by then.  But right now, it seems like an amazing opportunity.  Lucky Bloke is a condom subscription service which donates 10% of its sales to urgent humanitarian causes, which is pretty cool.  Anyone in need of condoms should check out their site, because as your needs are met, the needs of others will be met too.  The tagline on there is “Have more sex and save the world”, which I thought was pretty clever.  They offer other things too, like aphrodisiac chocolates and massage oils.  How very fitting that the conference takes place in Vegas.  And how awesome that Lucky Bloke is giving away one of the limited spots at the conference.

I’ve been wanting to go back to Vegas, it’s been a while since the one and only time that I went.  This would be a good excuse to do so.  And then I could tell people that I was attending a conference, like it was for some important business meeting.  Or you know, I could just plan a trip there anyway.  You don’t really need an excuse for Vegas, do you?  But it would be very cool if I had one, and even cooler if I obtained it by helping to promote condoms.