Luckily, everything went as planned today (except that we had to take two seperate seats) so we arrived in Vegas at 10AM local time. Slots are greeting you the moment you get off the plane with their screaming lights and buzzy sounds, but we passed up on the "opportunity" to turn a quarter into a gran and took a taxi to the Luxor, where we will stay one night. Dropped off our bags, and went to search for a place where they broadcasted the European Championship Final. Finally we ended up at the Hilton with it's big TV screen walls: amazing and grotesque would probably the best words to describe it. I barely resisted the urge to bet on Spain (5/1). Too bad I didn't, but I'm glad they won nonetheless. Sorry Germans, but they deserved it more and given it was 44 years that they had won a major prize, I think it's about time this great football nation showed itself again. Many at the Hilton agreed with me, because there was some cheering here and there for l'España. During half-time, we paid about 20$ each to eat a reasonable buffet. So far I can't say I'm wild about the Las Vegas cuisine, but it was allright, especially when you've been underway for 36 hours and ate nothing but airport food until then.
Tipping culture is big here, in so far that people's wages are adjusted downwards. It's accepted that tips are an essential part of people's income here. Basically anyone who performs some kind of service for you is expecting one. Especially the cab drivers expect like 20% tips, (which are an absolute must btw, because walking around in 40° heat is simply unbearable), but they can tell you some nice stories and give you good hints about general stuff in return.
I'm going to post some pics and let those do the talking for me, and post an update tomorrow when I played my first day (and hopefully not my last) at event 52 (NL Hold'em 1500$). Going to hit the nl600 cash tables at the Rio now and subscribe myself to the event. Laters.
