Four minutes after I left the ground in chilly Toronto onboard a WestJet plane, I pulled out my notepad and started scrawling thoughts.
My mind first wandered to those WestJet commercials I’d seen on TV. I wondered if my steward, Jim, a moustached man who looks like he’d be at home on an Alberta ranch, would chase me down in a few weeks to return something if I forgot it on board.
My ears popped and those thoughts were quickly replaced by some aimless people watching on the plane. I wasn’t exactly on a party plane, though I don’t know if I should have expected it to be so. My notions of what Las Vegas would be contrasted against the businessmen, families and couples, young and old. Was I expecting frat boys and groups of old women flocking to the slot machines and and strip joints of Sin City?
Through countless stock images of the Strip, that “What Happens in Vegas…” campaign and word of mouth, the idea of a hedonistic city filled with buffets, bright lights and chips flying onto Roulette tables are all I know of Vegas.
But, the people on the plane didn’t exactly look like they were foaming at the mouths for some sinful pastimes. What could all these people be going to Vegas for?
I decide to ask the older couple sitting next to me, Azao and Ali.
“Play and enjoyment,” Ali says. He and his wife are avid travellers, and tell me of journeys spanning Europe, the Pacific coast and Yellowstone National Park. This isn’t their first trip to Las Vegas, either.
“Some people who work, like to relax. But I like the excitement, gambling, shows,” adds Azao.
They reminisce about old Las Vegas, which used to be the hottest spot in Nevada until the Strip, with its new hotels and casinos, was built. Azao tells me downtown Vegas is now on a completely different level than the Strip, with cheaper price points, entertainment and accommodation.
“The Strip is always changing,” she adds. “But the old city stays the same.”
I decide to make it my mission to find out what drives people to Las Vegas. I want to experience all Sin City has to offer, from entertainment to family fun, to what’s going on in the desert surrounding this expanding, and ever changing, city.
Stay tuned!
– Nicole Feenstra
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As soon as I exited the gate at McCarran Airport … it begins.
