ABC of Vegas

A is for arrivals. I do find that Vegas is a pleasant place to land into the US. The immigration and customs there are friendlier than anywhere else, in my experience. You actually get the impression they are there to help speed you to the tables as soon as possible.

The flight itself went well - we caught up some time that was lost to a late departure slot - and approached the city just 15mins behind schedule. It was a good landing but I wish they wouldn't do that thing where they bank the plane in a series of sharp turns - they feel like 270degree turns at 45degrees to the perpendicular. To me it always seems like we're about to drop out of the sky at any moment.

At least we got a good view of the strip - the hotels look like toytown from this perspective. When you drive past them, however, they appear larger than life. And of course if you try to walk all the way through one, you have to cross 3 timezones.

Once on the ground, the immigration queue is a pretty happy place. Apart from 3 guys from Circus Casino, Stoke (pink polo shirts and pink tinsel cowboy hats), the only other obvious poker player I spot is Steve Davis in a very understated black and white Team Ladbrokes top.

Steve (unlike Shane Warne and Boris Becker) doesn't have a big sporting clash with the WSOP, I guess. As we know, he's got a pretty decent record in Vegas.


B is for Baggage. The first of the Vegas attractions is of course the comedy baggage carousel, which stops and emits loud buzzing sounds at 30second intervals, and is split into 2 separate belts for no apparent reason. My two (!) suitcases appear one from each belt (a bit of a mystery) and in a bit of a clue to the outside weather they are noticeably hot to the touch.

After that, I had to declare my cash at customs (a first for me: the well-documented hassle of turning internet $$ into cash in Vegas at the moment has forced me to go for the option of just bringing a load of actual folding stuff). If any of you ever need to do this (> $10k is reportable) I can tell you it's very easy so I wouldn't be concerned about it.

Apparently you have to declare on the way back as well but the customs guy gave me the impression that they didn't have a lot of need for those forms ...


C is for Cabs/Check-in. There's never a problem getting a taxi from the airport. As usual, however, the route taken by the driver appeared to bear little relationship to the actual distance or direction from A to B. Nonetheless, we got there $30 later and a short while later I was checked into the Masquerade Tower at The Rio.

I have stayed at the Rio before and played there a lot but even so I have never been to the other wing of the hotel, having always been in the Ipanema Tower (it's only 100meters away mind you!) and I got lost 2 or 3 times before finding my way to the elevators.

I did resist the urge to play before I even unpacked, but after wasting as much time as I reasonably could getting settled in, I was drawn to the Amazon room to register for the $1,500 and of course to play a little cash, of which more next post ...