Thursday, October 8 2026

I used to visit Las Vegas pretty regularly on my summer vacation trips when I was teaching as a good base for touring the southwest. Flights, car rental and hotels were very reasonably priced and you could visit the landmarks by walking or driving to other hotel/casinos with free parking.

Now the place is a relative nightmare. There is almost nobody to help in hotels and attractions, everything is done on the phone and, because this is a very suspicious town, it takes forever and you are constantly scanning QR codes so you can type your name, address, email, and credit card information into pages and wait for text confirmation codes. This had to be done in 98° F (37° C) heat and full sunshine just to pay for parking at the attraction I just visited. I love technology when it helps people achieve their objectives but, here, it seems it is used just to layoff employees and make the customer do their work.

Hotel rates are still reasonable but almost every place now charges $20 to park (flat rate for a few minutes or 24 hours) so driving around to see attractions gets expensive fast.

The attraction I was visiting is Area 15 a sort of shopping/arts/rides/experience place where the cheapest adult ticket is over $50 and to have free reign of the place is $250. Since there is just a list of experiences that are included I had no idea what to expect and simply wandered around. I’m sure there are some great things I would have enjoyed but I like to know what I’m buying before I do it, not after.

The other new attraction I would have liked to experience is the Sphere but the only show available during my stay here is an edited version of the 1939 Wizard of OZ movie with ticket prices ranging from $190 to $640. Thanks, but no thanks.

Sorry about the “old geezer” rant but, if this is a glimpse into the future of travel, I’m staying at home more.

After writing the above, I was able to get a ticket for the Blue Man Group show in my hotel for just $60. It was a very entertaining mix of music, humor, technology and illusion that brightened my mood but, on the ticket, at the entrance and announced before the show was the warning that “No photography or video recording is permitted in the theater” and that this was “strictly enforced”. Sorry, no clip of the fun.

Friday, October 9 2026

Road video and map

Today I was back on mission tracking the Colorado as it flows south towards Mexico. My intention was to leave around 10 AM, drive to Laughlin, NV, which is on the river and take a short riverside walk before continuing to my actual destination, Lake Havasu City. Of course, the horrible technology at the Luxor Hotel and Casino foiled that idea. Before going to breakfast I turned on the TV in my room and, as expected, found a list of my hotel charges and a button to check out. When I returned from breakfast and clicked the Check Out button it failed and told me to go to the front desk. This technology used to be flawless when I visited in the 80s and 90s. At the front desk I scanned the QR code for online checkout which, of course, failed. I had to wait in a line of at least 50 other guests to checkout manually which took about an hour and 10 minutes. I ended up leaving at 11:15.

When I arrived in Laughlin, since I was late (and the temperature was 102° F (39° C)), I decided to skip the walk and head directly to Lake Havasu City. This is the city that bought London Bridge in the late 1960s and paid for the outer stonework to be shipped to California, trucked to Arizona and then reconstructed over a reinforced concrete frame instead of the original solid stone.

The temperature in Lake Havasu City when I arrived was 106° F (41° C ) but tomorrow is expected to be significantly cooler as tropical storm Rachel nears.