estination: Las Vegas, Nevada
It is my fourth time here in Sin City, I consider this town close to my heart, this is the same town where we chose to get married. The city has the reputation for drive-thru weddings where you can conveniently get a marriage license at 3 am on a Saturday morning and be married before noon time. Unfortunately, we took the traditional route of having a garden wedding on one of the major casino in the area.
It was a good idea at the time to spend New Year's eve in Las Vegas. The idea of getting away from the harsh winter in the East Coast to a warmer climate is always a given. A week before we leave New Jersey, the news was showing a clip of snowy Las Vegas. To the locals, its almost equivalent to hell freezes over.
New Year's Eve celebration in Las Vegas had been a tradition similar of going over to New York City to participate on the countdown celebration. This is the time where the casinos are charging astronomical rates for a hotel room, if it is cheap, you are required to book 3 days minimum. As for us, we stayed at my in-laws house in suburbia about 30 minutes aways from the LV strip.
We were able to found parking in Harrah's casino. As we started to find a spot before the countdown, we stumbled upon an event in front of the Mirage casino. It is the daredevil, Knievel (the son) would be jumping on top of the miniature volcano. The fire seem to be legit, we can feel the heat whenever that volcano starts erupting. The jump was uneventful, I barely saw him cross that ledge, its short to nothing spectacular.
They close off the street for the stupid jump.
The strip closes at 5 pm to open up for the pedestrians. Most of casino sidewalks are barricaded. The news was estimating that there were 30,000 tourists that are staying in the city for the celebration. The street are so crowded, almost 3/4 of all those tourists are drunk. The city has a policy on opened liquor bottles, you are not allowed to drink those in public. Most of the time, you see those crowds holding some huge plastic containers of alcohol they drink on a straw. Also, a couple of hours before midnight, it is policy that the casinos are not allowing anyone to bring any beverage with glass containers. Prepare to be searched.
It is my fourth time here in Sin City, I consider this town close to my heart, this is the same town where we chose to get married. The city has the reputation for drive-thru weddings where you can conveniently get a marriage license at 3 am on a Saturday morning and be married before noon time. Unfortunately, we took the traditional route of having a garden wedding on one of the major casino in the area.
It was a good idea at the time to spend New Year's eve in Las Vegas. The idea of getting away from the harsh winter in the East Coast to a warmer climate is always a given. A week before we leave New Jersey, the news was showing a clip of snowy Las Vegas. To the locals, its almost equivalent to hell freezes over.
New Year's Eve celebration in Las Vegas had been a tradition similar of going over to New York City to participate on the countdown celebration. This is the time where the casinos are charging astronomical rates for a hotel room, if it is cheap, you are required to book 3 days minimum. As for us, we stayed at my in-laws house in suburbia about 30 minutes aways from the LV strip.
We were able to found parking in Harrah's casino. As we started to find a spot before the countdown, we stumbled upon an event in front of the Mirage casino. It is the daredevil, Knievel (the son) would be jumping on top of the miniature volcano. The fire seem to be legit, we can feel the heat whenever that volcano starts erupting. The jump was uneventful, I barely saw him cross that ledge, its short to nothing spectacular.
They close off the street for the stupid jump.
The strip closes at 5 pm to open up for the pedestrians. Most of casino sidewalks are barricaded. The news was estimating that there were 30,000 tourists that are staying in the city for the celebration. The street are so crowded, almost 3/4 of all those tourists are drunk. The city has a policy on opened liquor bottles, you are not allowed to drink those in public. Most of the time, you see those crowds holding some huge plastic containers of alcohol they drink on a straw. Also, a couple of hours before midnight, it is policy that the casinos are not allowing anyone to bring any beverage with glass containers. Prepare to be searched.
About 15 minutes before the countdown, we decided to settle on the intersection in Las Vegas Blvd. which we thought was a good location since we can see the giant screen for the countdown. Everyone was excited (did I mentioned drunk?) with anticipation. At the end of the countdown, we were expecting fireworks that didn't happened. We are so baffled wondering what we have missed. Everyone around us seem to expect the same thing. The following day, we overheard some locals talking about the celebration party, they have mentioned that due to the new building fire codes, casinos are not allowed to have fireworks. Earlier the year, the Monte Carlo casino was on fire and had evacuated everyone on the 3,000 room casino.
Nothing great about this countdown.
After a disappointing "celebration" and its time to leave the crowd, we suddenly realized we are on a crowd that is going for a stampede. The crowd seem to get tighter that we weren't able to get away. Suddenly, we are being swayed and moved to all directions. The cops even closed the walkways, its just impossible for us to get across 2 blocks. After it seem to be an eternity getting away with the crowds, we finally got to our car. We were stuck for another hour in traffic, at least its a bit comfortable in the car instead of crawling your way out of the mob.
Nothing great about this countdown.After a disappointing "celebration" and its time to leave the crowd, we suddenly realized we are on a crowd that is going for a stampede. The crowd seem to get tighter that we weren't able to get away. Suddenly, we are being swayed and moved to all directions. The cops even closed the walkways, its just impossible for us to get across 2 blocks. After it seem to be an eternity getting away with the crowds, we finally got to our car. We were stuck for another hour in traffic, at least its a bit comfortable in the car instead of crawling your way out of the mob.
So, what is lesson learned here dear friends? You won't see me on this crowd again. Now, I understand why most people go to a party inside the casino instead of joining the outside crowd. Ask the locals, the people on the strip for the celebration were tourists. And yes, they do know better.
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