Many people have asked me this summer, what’s it like to live in Las Vegas? I’ve struggled to find a way to describe it. I think I would explain it like this.
Living in Las Vegas and being employed in the industry in Las Vegas is a completely different experience to being a customer here.
Things that happen in other industries happen here, too, but in an entirely different environment. I met a colleague for a coffee at Starbucks at 10 AM – just as you would if you worked at, say, Dunder-Mifflin – but in the line are families with young kids just getting their day started, drunk partiers taking a breather from the perpetual nightlife, and lingerie-clad go-go dancers whose shift just ended.
(Yes, they are kind of everywhere. Like I said, surreal.)
(No, we didn’t pick our table based on where they were sitting; it was just coincidence that those were the only available seats.)
(No, I really wouldn’t call it an “added bonus” or “perk”. Certainly not if you are Mrs. V. and you are reading this post!)
Another surreal sight: if I drive a couple of blocks west of the Strip, such as on my drive home from the Harrah’s gym across the street from the Palms, the streets become homogenous; I can’t tell one from the other and invariably drive past the one that I need to go on because the sign is shielded by the sun.
But you know what? I’m really enjoying living in Las Vegas. It has all of the amenities of a big city bar public transportation, but it still feels very small – especially as a resident.
Like New York, almost all of the Vegas nightlife is within walking distance or a short taxi ride; unlike New York, when you want a relaxed meal and time to decompress, you only have to drive a couple of blocks away.
Sure, all of the restaurants are imported from other places; but that does mean that the best restaurants of Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York are here, too, not to mention every major celebrity chef bar Gordon Ramsey.
Even the heat is bearable. I walked from my office to a meeting in another casino 15 minutes away, in a full suit, when the temperature outside was 120 deg F / 43 deg C – and felt far more comfortable than the 15-minute walk I did in a full suit to work in the summer in New York.
The sad thing, though, is that I’m already halfway through the internship, so the surreal experience will soon be at an end.
Or at least on hold. Touch wood!
-- Sreesha