If 2016 was dedicated to traveling each month somewhere abroad, this year is about making time for two longer departures, one in the first part of the year, and the second when the year ends. No sooner said than done, I booked my tickets towards the American West Coast. 5 years had passed already since my last visit to the United States of America (back then I went to New York and Boston), so I think going back was kind of mandatory. One of my best friends lives in Las Vegas and she invited me over for Easter holidays. The plane landed around 10 p.m., after almost 27 hours of flights and layovers in various airports (Henri Coanda in Bucharest, Schiphol in Amsterdam, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas). I love long flights, even though they are tiring, because I get to read a lot, watch movies, listen to music or draw sketches, as time passes by and the mind finally manages to stand still…at least for a short while. You can see the audacious light emanated by the Las Vegas Strip as soon as you get outside the airport; and, as you can imagine, once we arrived home, I instantly went to sleep. My first morning in Henderson, Nevada, just 10 minutes’ drive from the Las Vegas Strip. Sun shining, children laughing, my friend preparing everything for the new day, her husband trying to feed the babies: life’s overwhelming beauty and normality. I went out to walk around the incredible residential area – each house was surrounded by flowers, and grass, and tall palm trees. Some would also have distinctive elements such as fountains, statues, or neat pavements, but the general colour scheme was respected throughout the entire neighbourhood: mellow colours of white or light, pale browns combined with beige or grey. Since it gets quite hot in Nevada during spring and summer, each house is equipped with its own pool. So I soon realized that I woke up inside my very own fairy tale! I had my own morning ritual: morning meditation, preparing a healthy smoothie and breakfast, sunbathing for 2 hours, while reading, and listening to music. This kind of holiday was very needed, I was pretty exhausted from all the workload in the beginning of 2017. After all those activities, some days I would go out and about with my friend, some days I would just walk around the Las Vegas Strip, take photos or shop, or simply walk, and walk, and walk even more. Inside each casino on the Las Vegas Strip, I found myself discovering a new tiny universe. And this repeatedly happened in the Wynn, in the Encore, in the Venetian, in the Palazzo, in the Caesar’s Palace and inside the Bellagio. All these impressive constructions recreate alternative, beautiful dream-like realities, in which luxurious indoor gardens, breath-taking waterfalls and water fountains spectacles come to life. Perfect geometry on expensive marble floors or painted on exquisite carpets, or on intricate ceiling designs. These resorts abound in elements composing the image of perfection, like a perfect mirage inside a droughty desert. I was both fascinated and burdened by this idea. The first landmark of the Las Vegas Strip is a flashy welcome sign where everyone takes pictures, super touristic. As my walk continued, the Las Vegas Harley Davidson showed up on the right side of the road, a large building, an immense showroom, and lots of fans and riders bundled up inside, in between rows of motorcycles. Then I saw Mandalay Bay, on the left, a huge resort and casino, with golden facades. A pyramid appeared, surrounded by a miniature sphynx and some Egyptian columns, the Luxor Resort, also on the left. And then, Excalibur. Going on, skyscrapers and glimpses of New York started to show up: the New York, New York resort. The MGM on the right, with its Ka theatre and an imposing lion up front, hiding the entrance to Hakkasan, a famous nightclub. By now, I was already a bit overwhelmed by all the flashy commercials everywhere, by the disoriented crowds, by the elements which apparently attract tourists (an over-ground train connecting resorts, roller coasters, colourful tall buildings, intended kitsch everywhere, alluring luxury shops, too obvious and disturbing lights). But I continued walking and soon reached the Bellagio, and it was just in time to see the fountains show outside, which is quite impressive – I like water and I am drawn to it in all its shapes and forms. On the right, “Little” Paris and its Eiffel Tower. Bally’s facing Caesar’s Palace up next. The Mirage, which seemed a bit obsolete, on the left and then The Venetian and Palazzo displaying their Italian blends. Last, but definitely not least, Wynn and Encore – two very large hotels, with mirroring facades in which the sunset reflected in orange and purple hues. After this area, the old Las Vegas starts, with remnants of former interesting resorts, now somehow forgotten and in decay. There are a lot of active construction sites, ghost-buildings, which were never completed, stranded inside the Nevada desert, abandoned places which were probably never profitable, and many more untold stories. I did some walks along the Las Vegas Strip, some during daytime, and some during the evenings, some in the hot sun, and some in the strong wind. And every time I was seeking for this place’s energy and essential substance… My evenings in Vegas would be very quiet and chill. I would go to sleep early to embrace the following morning early. One time, we went out to The District at Green Valley Ranch, a casino close to our residential area. One other evening, we enjoyed Zumanity at the New York, New York resort, a show with erotic and burlesque approaches combined with Cirque du Soleil gracious acrobatics. What I loved most about Zumanity: the manifestation of a dream with mermaids and nymphs dancing along the edge of an oversized glass of champagne, plunging in, and then gracefully going out in playful laughter. The entire Zumanity experience was quite psychedelic, at one point I was feeling very dizzy and bewildered, as if something special was flowing around in the air. The corridor leading guests in and out of the theatre was upholstered in red velvet, and from place to place, peep holes would allow visitors to see what’s going on inside. My friends were kind enough to book an entire day for us all to drive to the Red Rock Canyon. This canyon is filled with hiking and trekking paths, unreal rock formations, surprising landscape shapes and an overall interesting scenery. We took the kids to Bonnie Springs Ranch to ride ponies and had lunch there, in a very specific American restaurant (lucky me, I found something vegetarian). I remember the first day when we went out for lunch to a Noodle Bar inside the Bellagio, my friends were very shocked about my decision to become a vegetarian and were actually complaining about how I would miss the best steak in the entire USA. No regrets, I was happy with my veggies! Unfortunately, probably due to sudden changes of outside temperature (25-30 degrees Celsius outside, 15-20 degrees inside the resorts and shops) and, also to the culinary differences between Europe and the United States, for 3 or 4 days I was feeling quite sick and this also affected my trip to L.A. (I am going to write about it in a separate blog post). But again, getting proper rest and eating clean helped a lot for a fast recovery. Red eggs and lamb dishes was served for Easter day among neighbours, all Eastern-Europeans from countries such as Romania, Serbia and Russia. For Orthodox Christians, Easter is one of the most important religious holidays. It’s funny how I travel in this wide world and still manage to speak Romanian everywhere I go – Romanians are very adaptable, friendly and resourceful, so they spread across the world. In my last evening in Vegas, we drove on the strip and I took more pictures and said goodbye to this hectic location. 2 hours before my flight was supposed to depart, we were shopping for souvenirs inside the Las Vegas South Premium Outlets, in a total rush and disorganised manner. My travel to Las Vegas was all about seeing my friend again, meeting her youngest baby, going to a new area in the United States, running away from the irresolute spring weather in Romania, and experiencing something peculiar like a vivid and loud universe in the middle of the Nevada desert. What I did, on top of all these, was finding precious time to rest my mind, rest my thoughts, be with myself and focus my entire attention on my issues, on my questions and on my quest to discovering answers. Life instinctively arranges our paths in full accordance with what we sometimes need, but are not fully aware of. So, let go and dive into the cradle of life, blindfolded, without fears, as I learnt to do in Henderson, of Nevada, near Las Vegas, in the United States of America.
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