Thanks, McCarran! and other airport musings

We arrived at our NYC hotel, the lovely Marriott East Side, late Wednesday and went to check in only to discover my driver's license was not in my wallet. They didn't actually need it, but I was lucky to have looked for it sooner than later. I had it going through security at McCarran and thought I'd returned it to my billfold, but it was neither there nor in my laptop messenger bag which, nonetheless, got a much-needed cleaning out.

I called a friend who was watching the dogs and the house and had him FedEx me my passport so I could get on tonight's flight home from JFK. And what is waiting for us in the mound of mail? That envelope with this return address:

My license! Mailed to me by the airport folks... at their expense!

Wow. I am quite impressed. I guess I dropped it and someone turned it in, which is so kind. I've been rescued from hours at the DMV! Hooray! I wonder if other airports do this. Whew.

Not a bad way to get this blog back up and going now after a layoff, huh? Miles, even, was baffled I wasn't blogging while we were traveling. Feh. Y'all can entertain yourselves for a few minutes, no?

Meanwhile, we arrived via Delta at the D Gate today and look at what we found:

It's like a bank of slot machines in "The Walking Dead." What happened? Are they replacing them? Eerie.

I'm eternally fascinated by what Caesars puts on their primo space because there's always some quirks. When I saw this...

...all I could think of was, "How come Al Mancini, John Curtas and Max Jacobson weren't invited into this portrait?"

But Miles had a better point: It took them less than a split second to replace the billboard with this portrait seeing how Rao's chef Carla Pellegrino -- one of the few female executive chefs in Vegas -- quit the restaurant just a few minutes ago. That's some mighty quick work there forgetting she was ever there. How terrific that they're back to an all-boys club. Think they actually reshot the photo or just used some PhotoShop?

And finally...

...there's something sort of desperate about the Mandalay Bay having to throw a free New Year's Eve party "free of cover charges or reservations." I mean, what does that even mean? Do I really want to be at a NYE party that even I can get into for nothing?

Turns out, it's also very, very misleading. Evidently, they've redefined "cover charge." If you go to the website for this event advertised on this billboard, you see this:

You see, you pay $50 in advance -- or $75 day-of -- for a "block party pass." With that, from what I can glean, you get to hang out at the Mandalay Bay Beach -- hence it is, in fact, a cover charge -- and you get five "signature cocktails" at any of their 12 event bars. It's hard to tell what else you get, but online "tickets" actually end up costing $57 when Ticketmaster's fee is factored in.

Oh, one more thing. Anyone wanna tell me what's wrong with the text here? Click on it to enlarge.

Things I Didn't Know About McCarran

I spent a LOT of time at McCarran last night waiting for my suitcase to make the trek from the farthest D Gate where my much-delayed flight home from the East Coast finally parked to the luggage kiosk. I timed it -- It took more than 40 minutes. That seems a bit much, and I wonder if there's anyone who ranks airports based on their baggage delivery timing. If anyone knows, I'd be interested to see how McCarran stacks up.

Anyhow, I noticed something. I suppose it's been there a while, but I don't remember much fanfare being paid to this: Harrah's has a hotel registration check-in desk for all six of their properties right there by the escalators from the C and D Gates in baggage. They'll take your bags for you to your room, sell you show tickets and provide an $8 shuttle to the hotel that can be charge to your room. This just struck me as ingenious.

And since most ingenious things in this town emanate from MGM Mirage, I'm baffled why the larger Vegas company only a similar kiosk for the MGM Grand. Their area is just paces from the Harrah's one and looked about as large. Could it be that MGM Mirage's computer system is not sophisticated enough to handle reservations and check-in for all of its properties in a single location? How did the MGM Grand end up as the only one with a primo space out of all their hotels? And why was it closed at 9:30 pm when the Harrah's one was still open?

Finally, I was amused that Zierke and Schmalz, whoever they may be, would stay at the Palace Station of all places (where rooms are $40 a night on a typical Wednesday) but spring for personalized limo service. And what sort of cars, pray tell, would that dump have in its fleet?

Just asking.

What Does This Mean...And Other Denver Airport Mysteries!

The Luxor bomb disappointed the media in every way -- it wasn't terrorism OR a mob hit. Just an odd murder case, but not one of national importance. But I missed a solid payday by being away. By the time I reached my layover in Denver, I had messages from Newsweek and Reuters asking for coverage. Oh well.

Meanwhile, the Denver airport was full of mysteries that I need your help to unpack. First, take a good look at the image to your right. OK, it's really hard to see. But what it is is a phrase I found embedded in the floor. It says "TSE YE GO AN YEH DAA NYOT." I've Googled that and all I came up with is another traveler perplexed by it. So, anyone who can come up with something really enlightening here is welcome to any prize on the prize list at TheStripPodcast.com. Come on, folks.

Next up, what the heck is this to your left that I found in the middle of a series of interminable terminal hallways? Some sort of queer-meets-Chinese public art display? All around major Chinese cities you'll find rainbow strings of neon lights much like this. Why is this here? Is it supposed to be decorative?

And finally, not so much a puzzle as a fascination. The bathroom doubles as... a tornado shelter! I'm baffled by this because, as I suspected, there aren't many tornadoes in Denver County. Just 13 since 1966 and not a single one in 14 years. So why? And wouldn't that have to be just a monster of a tornado to blow clear into the middle of a building that, presumably, is fortified to withstand an awful lot of force.

I might have blogged this earlier but both DEN or MSP charge through the nose to get online. Another underappreciated reason to love McCarran: Free Wi-Fi. Gosh, I miss home.