Think of me what you will, but a friend and I traveled to Las Vegas this past weekend. After getting a few nights comped at the Palazzo at the Venetian complex, we decided to take advantage. Normally, he and I go as part of a bigger group every summer. No one else was interested and able to come with us this time, and I guess its understandable.
On a side note, my wife decided to dive headfirst into potty training (no more diapers!) while I was gone. Now I need to spend more time closely observing our son the next few weeks. Blog posts may be a little off the typical schedule.
This was the third time I've flown over the past six+ weeks and I thought I'd share my experiences overall, though I'll mostly stick to Vegas as it's easily the most populated place I've seen during the #VID. Real quickly... For the most part, airports are expectedly dead with lots of shops closed. Security lines are essentially non-existent, even with limited checkpoints. MSP Terminal 2 was an exception here. Sun Country, at least around Independence Day, seemed to be operating quite a few flights and the ones we took to and from Alaska were either full or mostly so. The Southwest flights I took to Vegas were both just under 2/3 full, as that's the limit while keeping middle seats open. Alaska was the only place that had entry regulations. If you didn't have a negative (or pending) Covid test within three days of departure you either took one at the airport or committed to quarantining after entry. They directed everyone into a roped area, had you fill out a form on your phone, then generate a QR code and present it to a state agent. If there had been a bunch of flights arriving in Alaska this would've been miserable but it wasn't in reality.
In Minnesota, things were less crazy than home in Maryland. Masks had just been mandated when we visited but that was old news to us. I was surprised to see so much local sports, mostly baseball/softball, going on. If that's happening here in the DMV, I've missed it.
As for masks, flying with one on is definitely annoying. I run hot and inhaling my own warm breath over and over makes me feel somewhat sick, not what you want right now. My glasses fog up a lot too. On the first two trips I switched between a neck gaiter, which made my neck sweat, and a cloth mask, which was too tight on my ears. Because I knew I'd need something in the casinos I got a couple different options for Vegas. I then learned that the masks with vents aren't allowed by Southwest, and the one I purchased wasn't all that comfortable anyway. In the end the cheap and lightweight ones I got at Target worked best. On all the flights I didn't see anyone object to wearing a mask, just some some lax usage. For the most part though, nearly everyone put them on and kept them on the entire flight.
Let's get to Vegas. Both the airport and most of the open casinos (Mirage, PH, and others are closed) were relatively busy. It felt kind of normal, though weird and a little slow overall. Table games have limited capacity, such as three to a side for craps. Every complex had temperature cameras/sensors at the entrances, where you didn't need to stop unless, presumably, you showed as having a fever. Being sanitary has become a big part of all the processes, where dice, markers and other gambling accessories are cleaned repeatedly, though it was funny to see the differences between casinos. The Venetian had a whole brand, 'Venetian Clean' and you received a bag of things (wipes, masks, hand sanitizer) in your room. If someone left a table, they'd put a little tile in that space and wipe it down before letting someone fill in. They, however, did not have glass between table spaces like at Wynn and Bellagio. Tables at restaurants, slot machines, and other various things were blocked off for distancing. Hand sanitizer was provided everywhere. Bellagio had hand washing stations on the casino floor. Free masks were always available to anyone who lacked one. A mask was required on the pool deck too, at least at the Venetian, unless in the pool itself. Enforcing all this is certainly not a problem in Vegas, with lots of rules anyway (21+ in casinos etc.) and tons of employees to do it.
It's August, and even for the desert it's extremely hot right now. The highs were 110-115 and it felt like an oven. The overnight lows were in the 90s. Combining this with Covid regulations you had two choices: wear a mask inside, or go bake. I was often happy to do the other one. It was nice on Saturday to spend an hour in the room and take a break. I will say, having to wear a mask for the majority of the weekend resulted in getting somewhat used to it, but I still was happy to whip it off whenever I could.
As with everywhere else, attempts to maintain social distancing often backfire. The rule was only four people could be in an elevator at a time at Palazzo and employees were there to hit the up button and direct people. This caused a total bottleneck repeatedly in the hallway connecting the casino floor and the elevator lobbies, where people closely lined up for a chunk of time.
As always, people watching is one of the best parts of visiting Vegas. A few observations from this trip. For whatever reason, a huge percentage of people on the Strip this weekend were black, probably over 50%. I don't know what to make of that, but it was noticeably a larger proportion than I've ever seen before. I'd recommend to operators that more slushie places be opened asap, as the only one we saw (a tight space in front of Casino Royale) constantly had a huge line like 200 people deep. This confounded us, though they aren't our thing. Lastly, seemingly completely unrelated to Covid, a ton of people were riding around on mobility scooters, almost all young and healthy and usually in groups as many as 10. It must be a booming business outfitting people who don't want to walk.
There were a number of things I liked under these strange conditions. Gambling at tables with plenty of room was quite nice. With fewer casinos open and those operating not at capacity, the limits at tables were increased everywhere. We go to play craps mostly, and there were almost no $10 tables, including at generally cheaper places like Paris, Flamingo and Harrahs. So we played $15s and it was a fun, and rewarding, challenge. Some mask incorporation was charming, like the Venetian gondola boatman and the statues of Caesar. Most dealers were friendly too, maybe they're just happy to be working. Finally we came home up on the trip and that was best part of all, besides spending time with my friend.
Another time I'll have to write about Vegas more generally, our trips there and what we do, going into craps. I have a plethora of opinions on places to stay, where to gamble, how to get around, shows to see and more. Next year probably.
It was really nice getting out and living a little bit, and having the time away. Parents need that me-time and I enjoyed mine. Now, back to potty-training diligence.
Comments