I have archived all my coverage in the Travel Stories section. For now, keep using the drag-down menus, but if you start clicking around you will see that I am working on it – making it so, for example, you can click on “California” and go from there, and see some photos along the way. We’ll see how it goes.

I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that I did not get the “post-trip blues” upon my return from Vegas. Typically, it takes me days to recover, even though I come back to Santa Barbara, a paradise in its own right.

I think the thing about Vegas that really bothers me is how much it makes me think about money. And you meet people whose lives have been overtaken by the concept. For me, as a young man of twenty-six years, money is the bane of my existence, and the reason people spend their days doing things they wouldn’t do otherwise. The last thing I want when I’m on vacation is to be constantly reminded of something that sad and unfortunate. I am sure that others feel the same. Vegas takes the “pay to play” theory to a whole new level.

The best example I can give you is the Liquid Pool Lounge at Aria. The hotel has three other pools – all free to sit by, and they don’t check your bags (so you can bring your booze down from the room if you want). Yet, people pay a cover charge and $25 per drink to be on the other side of a wall. It’s literally set up that way – the pools are tightly grouped – the only difference the volume of the music.

Hey, to each their own, but I simply don’t mesh well with that personality. There is a major difference between paying a lot of money for a product and overpaying for a product. A lot of things are worth $25, however a vodka-juice concoction by the pool is not one of them, even if it is Grey Goose.

I’m not saying these concepts don’t apply elsewhere, but it is overly apparent in Las Vegas, at least to me. It sort of breaks my heart to see people get immersed by the flair of it all. Women dress in ways they would never admit to their fathers and we pay $98 (price of Zumanity ticket) for an hour and a half of entertainment.

For these reasons, I wouldn’t recommend staying any more than two or three nights. There is really not much else to do but spend money in Vegas – especially in the winter – and those high price tags start to become a thorn in the side by the third day. I believe that most people who visit Vegas are on some kind of budget – and I would suggest splurging for a short period of time rather than try to make it last a week. Vegas, to me, is a sprint, not a marathon, if you will.

Go hard, then go home. (Just don’t stay at Aria.)