So today is our travel day back home from Vegas, we had received a few emails/text messages saying that our flight is being delayed. I think the flight was originally supposed to leave the airport at 2pm but it’s been delayed to like 4:30pm now, due to what they say is “due to an operational decision for everyone’s safety.” which I have no idea what that means but either case I am beginning writing this post in the airport waiting cause why not.
One last view from our hotel window, not bad I say. The checkin guy said that if you don’t mind having a view of a brick wall, your suite is fine. I mean, that’s not entirely true, we were high enough to not see a brick wall and can see this ferris wheel, which is still pretty good to me.
Farewell good hotel room, you were probably the best hotel that I had visited in recent memory. Too bad all the shit inside of it costs money, they have a mini fridge fully stocked but they detect any missing items and the hotel will auto bill you which makes all this stuff and free water useless.
I got an email from the Venetian saying that I need to check out by 11am and to make it easy, just click on this link to check out to review the room charges and such which I did. They have a room key drop-off box on your way out of the hotel which makes checking out super easy, good shit.
Wow, the lobby check-in is super busy this Wednesday morning, glad that when we came I did pre-check in so all it was was just picking up our card key from a guy and telling us what room, they have another line just for pre-check in which is great.
Getting taxis from all hotels to the airport is super easy with a fixed rate, although it’s still kind of expensive. Either way, we made it in one piece, proof of existence, airport edition.
We came with one normal checked luggage, the red one but left with like a duffle bag carry on and a rolling carry on. The two other new carry ons we already had, they were inside the red luggage when we came, we brought lots of shit so it’s a good strat to prevent buying new bags or luggage.
Got our boarding passes printed, they show a somewhat updated depart date but it’s actually later now at 4:30pm as of this writing mann.
We did some exploring of the airport and we decided to eat some Carl’s Jr for lunch. I know that for a time we had them in Toronto but I never tried it then, so let’s see if they are worth it. They failed in Toronto as far as I remember and all locations are gone.
Their menu is pretty simple, at least for airport version because they want to keep things simple. Noice, I ended up ordering the Famous Star and my sister ended up getting the Big Carl, combos for both.
They are pretty slow in serving but we eventually got our burgers. Their fries are pretty good and tasty.
This is my burger the famous star, not bad, double patties and they are charcoal grilled thicker but honestly, it tasted like a burger king whopper but with thicker meat. Even the toppings and bread reminded me of BK whopper, which isn’t bad but I can understand now why they failed in Canada, they are just a slightly better burger king with good fries.
My sister’s burger, the Big Carl, which is basically their version of a big mac with lettuce and sauce. It was alright she said but she still prefers big macs more.
Checking the times for flights, looks like our flight is still going to be late after all.
With ample time to spare we made basecamp and explored the large Vegas airport. Even here they have slot machine so that until you leave your flight you can continue to lose money on slots.
In one of the many giftshops, gotta checkout those magazine stands. Yep, got those nice gun magazines still here.
Wow, they have a Quiznos! I I thought that they were all dead, looks like some are still alive I guess, noice.
Wow, they even have a game of thrones themed slot machine, still shit tho.
Well known food chain Chilis has a few locations in this Terminal 3, never tried it, probably never will.
Nice woodfired pizza is here too, cool. The prices are not so cool tho, I think for a personal sized margarita pizza it’s $20.
…
At this particular point in time we boarded and I stopped writing in the airport, from here on the writing is done a day after the fact.
Was about an hour or so before our flight so decided to pick up some dunkin which was near our gate.
Blueberry doughnut ice coffee and blueberry doughnut. Not bad, guess I was feeling like blueberry.
We arrived it was pretty empty but within the last half hour or so the gate really got busy. I’d like to think most of these people are heading home to Canada or where ever from Vegas.
Packing up those overhead storage. It’s gonna be a long 4 hour flight when it’s so cramped,
It’s not very often I get a flight in the night that flies so close to the ground and is also clear skies. Very nice. Not sure what town or city this is.
Flying over Toronto at night, looks pretty good. I can see the CN Tower, that’s the only way I knew for sure this was Toronto honestly lol.
Once we landed and got our luggage there was alot of lost/unclaimed luggage around, seemed like everyone just vanished or left them lol.
When I finally got home, it was almost 2am due to the delays from Westjet, ahwell. I just ate some frozen food and called it a night, I had work in the morning so yea, right back into the normal routine lol.
Let’s take a look at some of the merch and goods that I got in no particular order:
Some stuff I got from OmegaMart, nice hat, nice bottle of water, trinkets and some cans of Inevitability and Inspiration.
Coke store Vegas haul, lots of shirts and more hats. Yes, I intentionally brought the exact same kind of fridge magnets, keychains and bottle opener as I did in Atlanta because I can and I want consistency but with a different name/location lol.
Some fighting game clothes that I picked up at EVO, M.RAGE Ram windbreaker with a nice bag, EVO vegas shirt, a few shirts from Eighty Sixed and landyards/badge, EVO coasters from the event.
Sphere shirt because it may not exist in the future, Bubba Gump shrimp Vegas hat, Biden 2024 because it’s jokes/rare/historical artifact now. Souvenir coins because I like them. I am a collector of artifacts of ruin.
Some key-chains that I picked up from each of the southern most MGM grand hotel properties on the last full day + Venetian hotel and some generic Vegas key-chains and Hells Kitchen key-chain. In retrospect I should have gotten a key chain at also Caesars Palace, Bellagio, Paris, Flamingo and New York hotels since I did visit them but the idea of collecting key chains from each hotel came too late in the trip, literally last day but ahwell lol.
On the left some hololive shirts from Omocat on the right some clothes from a store called 10-0, which had official arc system and other EVO merch clothing. They also had a few trinkets like pins and collectable trading cards which was supposed to be gacha for $10-15 each. When I tried it I got Anji randomly but then the women asked if I had one in mind/liked what I got, then I said yea, do you have Ram, so she went and got one for me and swapped lol sure noice.
A bag I got for free when I brought from one of the artists, the one that I have brought from previously, the one that had hololive foil prints. If I buy over $60, they just give me the bag, noice. It’s really nice.
A collection of various keychains I got from artist alley. Considering EVO is a fighting game tournament, it certainly had quite a bit of artists for a artists alley with the best part being that they all mostly have fighting game stuff and art which is rare these days. As a result, I ended up picking alot of guilty gear stuff, mainly Ram, Elphelt and some Johnny/May. Really nice shit.
Hololive prints from that foil artist that resulted in my getting that nice hololive bag; Bijou, Kiara casual clothes.
Foil artist casual Ame, some nice Baiken print from someone else.
Another set of Valentine sisters/clones Elphelt and Ram.
Another Elphelt and Ram, but ram being her older/first design which I think is still pretty good.
So, apparently Starbucks is going to be slowly phasing out their Been There line of mugs and I had a hard time finding a Vegas one. All the ones I went to had the new replacement line called Discovery, which I think look cheap and shit. I brought the black one on the left cause at least it has the word Vegas on it and looks cool. At the airport they had a few remaining Been There mugs for Nevada; not Vegas but I’ll take it, good enough lol. But yea, maybe this is the end of the line for me collecting Starbucks mugs because the new ones look so shit in my opinion.
The art on this bag from M.Rage is too good to be on the bag. I think they use this art on their Baiken themed jacket/blazer but yea, this bag is so nice, would actually frame maybe lol.
Oh my what do we have here? It can’t be a trip to Vegas without picking up some ad cards for ladies of the night lol. At night on the strip there is always dudes and old Mexican women, yes old Mexican women passing out packs of these kind of cards, maybe three in a bunch to anyone that would accept them.
At first ignored them but once I realized what they were I made it a fun activity of mine to always pick them up wherever people drop them or accept them when they are handing them out lol. They are double sided with different women on each side for maximum affect. I have arranged them in the most tasteful way possible, or rather to try to let the imagination do it’s thing.
None of these cards show fully exposed boobs and such as they use little stars or the text to cover the nipples and whatnot but it’s somewhat pointless because the stars on these photos are so small and sometimes their areolas are huge lol, it’s like trying to cover the hole of a normal doughnut with a Timbit.
The selection of cards usually feature white women, although there are a handful of black and latino girls as well. No Asian, too bad. Vegas needs to increase their diversity of hoes available. Most of these photos have been heavily photo-shopped/manipulated, some more obvious than others (look at faces and butts) so I find it amusing. In the age of AI, I will not be surprized that most of these images in the future will be AI generated and these women even more fake. Either way I enjoyed collecting these trading cards of hoes, a bit too many dupes tho.
Final thoughts on Vegas and EVO, I really enjoyed my trip fully; I don’t think I could have done it any better other than maybe seeing some bait show or something but then again if you consider the Sphere a show, then I guess I did. I am quite impressed with EVO, I had always wanted to visit the event and now that I have, I can say that it’s a really hype fun experience for any fighting game fan or anyone who likes fighting game characters at the very least. Maybe one day I can try actually entering the tournament, and get knocked out for the full experience, but then again, it’s probably not worth it since I’ll be eliminated very early, if not the first pool stage lol. At this rate, EVO has become more or less a fighting game convention with vendors, artists and industry presence from all the companies that matter to fighting game fans, and I am happy that it has grown to such as size. I do hope they consider a location with a bigger arena for viewing as probably 30-40% of people were not able to attend the main stage for finals which is too bad.
As for Vegas the city itself, it largely has lived up to my expectations of grandeur and bling bling lifestyle or at least what it is portrayed in the movies like The Hangover. The strip is cool and full of partying and debauchery while at the same time has lots of things to do and see/ways to spend your money including gambling it all away if you choose. The hotels all vary with nice themes and such but at a certain point most end up being the same in regards to the casinos themselves as the slots machines are all the same. I can’t imagine some old folk spending their whole day just sitting there blowing thousands of dollars on a slot machine, it’s so mindless and non-interactive I can’t really believe it’s a thing, it’s so boring. The best games are craps and roulette, auto version because at least then you have some level of choice or interaction in the game being played, instead of literally pure gacha experience. The sphere was really cool and lived up to my expectations of spectacle, the show was good but missed it’s mark in its ending, leaving a confusing mixed message. I am glad I saw and experienced it before it blows up one day, because honestly I have no idea if they will ever make enough money back to justify building the thing in the first place, once you see it and it’s show, it’s basically done, there is no reason to go back to the Sphere unless for a concert or something which is rare and even then, it’s not the ideal place to have a music concert or show, it’s very steep and few would possibly make use of it’s capabilities fully. OmegaMart was very cool and lived up to my expectations, maybe exceed them a bit for an immersive experience, very polished and visually stunning with lots of lore and story narrative, if you want to dig deeper and add that extra layer to your visit. The food in Vegas is excellent but very expensive, I would recommend going to Hell’s Kitchen but maybe a one time thing, it’s so expensive it has to be a one time thing. The buffets in general were also impressive but in general are overpriced, it’s hard to make your money’s worth. Chinatown plaza’s 888 KBBQ I think had one of the best Korean BBQ experiences I ever had, it was so polished, professional, good quality meat, good cooking setup and affordable, it honestly makes ALL of the KBBQ and Japanese BBQ that we have in Toronto, even Gyubee look like shit in comparison in terms of quality and value but that’s maybe just me.
All in all would I visit Vegas again? Definitely, but only for a special event or convention like EVO, I would never come to Vegas just to gamble or explore walk around the strip just for fun, it’s insanely hot and a waste of you time and energy. I never used taxis so much in my life than I have in Vegas, just to go from one end of the strip to another nearby, it’s absolutely needed in the summer; I can only assume then that the fall, spring and winter are the best times to visit because it’s much milder. Even in the night, it’s still melting, the heat never dissipates even when the sun has set. Despite the hot weather, I still wouldn’t mind going back again; if only for EVO. At the end of EVO they showed a trailer showing that they are expanding their international events and are planning to have an EVO event in Nice, France next year and another one in Singapore in 2026, almost two years away. If anything, maybe EVO in Signapore would be a nice excuse to go to that country, but until then, EVO remains my good excuse to visit Vegas again, so we’ll see.