This is the start of my my travelblog. Click Read More below for the inside scoop...
The day started out a bit ominously, as my son seemed to have come down with the flu after breakfast. He seemed to snap out of it after lunch time, but I always hate leaving home when a family member is sick. My wife and I managed to make it to the new Detroit Metro Airport McNamara Terminal on time. I definitely need to say thank you to Wayne County for finally giving Metro Detroit a real terminal! The old terminal was horrible, and typically required you to walk for miles on end from one end of the terminal to the other. I ran into one DNP member, Michael Golden, while bording. We spoke briefly while in transit. He's been to several Advisor conferences since '99. He hasn't been to one in Las Vegas before, so it will be a new experience for us both.

I managed to watch about 45 minutes of Fitzcarraldo before my laptop battery died. That's even after changing the power settings to DVD Movie. I read some more of Neil Gaiman's third Sandman compilation, Dream Country, and a New Yorker magazine from June 6. (I never throw anything away, expecially reading material!)

We had to wait on the runway at least ten minutes for a Delta airplane to get out of our parking spot. Then, when we finally arrived, the pilot informed us that the air conditioning was out in the terminal. Whew, 115° inside an airport terminal. It definitely made waiting for my luggage more fun:



It turns out that the JW Marriot is a good 30-45 minutes away from the airport and the strip. The cabbie who drove me over here said that I should wait until at least 9:00 PM before heading to the strip on a weekday. On top of that, my cab ride was $45! I guess it will be easy for me to stay out of trouble this week!

The cab ride to the hotel did give me the opportunity to see some of the more noteworthy hotels from a relative distance, including the MGM Grand, the Excalibur, the Luxor (the pyramid) and the Mandalay Bay. They are huge! The Excalibur looks ridiculous, though, like something out of Disneyworld.



The hotel looks very nice, though. It has five restaurants and its own casino. Outside, it has a magnificent pool. I even spotted a quail! I ate dinner at an Irish pub called J.C. Wooloughan's. The Beef and Guinnes Pie was very good. I wandered back to the casino after dinner and watched people throw their money away on three card poker, roulette and dice. The overall atmosphere was very dull. What fun is it to throw your money away if there's no excitement involved??? I finally got back to my room at 8:30 PM Vegas time. I wanted to leave a message for my buddy Frank Neugebauer, so he would know what room I'm in, and wound up calling him after he'd already turned in! Sorry, Frank! And here I thought he'd be up late partying with the other presenters...The conference starts tomorrow, which should be cool!

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