A Few Days as Common Royalty

My first recollections of Las Vegas were the annual drives from San Diego to the desert oasis for my Mom’s birthday. These trips always fell sometime around Thanksgiving. I used to always get excited about these trips (despite the pre-iPod/cassette/CD player road trips). What was there to NOT be excited about?

Vegas meant getting off of school early on a Thursday or Friday. Las Vegas meant we got to stay at a hotel – it didn’t matter it was a La Quinta off the strip. A trip to Vegas meant eating at a restaurant or buffet every night! Las Vegas was the bucket of endless quarters we received from my grandparent’s slot winnings. Best of all, EVERYONE wanted to make sure you were having a good time. Even in my pre-teen years, Vegas meant being treated better than normal.

That exciting, tingling, I’m-going-to-get-everything-I-want feeling I used to get as a kid is alive and kicking in the adult version of Lily White whenever I think about Las Vegas. Why do I love going to Las Vegas? It’s not the gambling or seeing the sights. It’s the way that the town makes you feel.

For a few days, I can say, “It’s good to be a queen.”

Las Vegas is the town that customer service built. Everywhere you turn, people are wanting to do things for you. Of course, there is a nominal fee or a tip – but who can actually put a price on service? You can put a budget for sure! But never a price. I believe I live a full and complete life daily…but there are just some things in this world I reserve strictly for Vegas.

One of my favorite things is valet parking. I spend most of the year driving my car and schlepping to the entrance of wherever I am. In Vegas, they encourage you not to with valet parking. It doesn’t matter what kind of car you happen to be driving, they will open your door and greet you just the same. When I come back out, they always make sure I’m in before they open Lenny’s door. Sitting there waiting for your car to come back to you just makes you understand for a little bit what the rich have at their beck and call.

Shopping in Vegas is a not so little thing, but it certainly is an adventure for a middle class shopaholic like me. Because you have these huge mega-casino resorts, the only stores that can actually afford the rent in their shopping venues are high end retailers like Chanel, Gucci, Nanette Lepore, Thomas Pink, etc. But once again, Vegas makes you do strange things. You want to be a part of the frenzy. Somehow Vegas makes it all accessible. For instance, my prized shopping possession this time around was a black, signature Coach wristlet purse. Retails at about $100 at the Coach location here in Arizona. I’ve wanted one but kept balking at the price. I got to Vegas with Orchid…found it for the smallest discount…and bought it without flinching.

I paid around the neighborhood of $60 for a 6-inch by 6-inch wallet. It’s so economically wrong…but it felt so emotionally GOOD.

You know what else I wouldn’t normally do if I was at home here in AZ? I don’t do spas. Sure I get my massages, but spa visits in Vegas are different. I don’t just go for the massage…I treat myself when I get there. Who can’t enjoy themselves when wrapped up in an extra fluffy cotton robe and slippers? Then using the facilities themselves! Long soaks in the Jacuzzi, European facial scrub, chatting with others in the steam room. For a few hours, you don’t have to worry about anything but your own well being. Everyone deserves to treat themselves to that.

I notice that Lenny and I tend to eat better in Vegas too. We try things that we’ve never had before. Las Vegas is the site of my first taste of fois gras at Michael Mina. I learned to appreciate venison at the Bellagio buffet. Lenny cleaned off what I believe was two pounds of peel and eat shrimp one time at lunch. I finally found a risotto I liked at Emeril Lagasse’s Delmonico Steakhouse. And while dining with Lenny’s family at Lotus of Siam, we enjoyed an excellent bottle of 2001 Riesling.

Is it shallow and materialistic that I enjoy Las Vegas for what it has to offer? I certainly don’t think so. Vegas was built for, and will always be about hedonism. A majority of us spend our lives working for someone else and giving most of our paycheck away. What’s wrong with taking some of that money and living it up every once in awhile?

Enjoy it. You deserve it! Don’t even feel a shred of guilt when you’re doing it. No one ever has to know. Because what happens in Vegas…well, you get the picture.