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As for going to Las Vegas, people think they're going to win a fortune and don't believe that the house will take all of their money.
There are plenty of good reasons to visit Las Vegas that don't include gambling. There are plenty of world-class shows, restaurants and activities for people who don't enjoy throwing their money away. You also have Red Rock Canyon, the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon all within close proximity. My wife and I visited the Grand Canyon's South Rim last time we were there and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.
There are plenty of good reasons to visit Las Vegas that don't include gambling. There are plenty of world-class shows, restaurants and activities for people who don't enjoy throwing their money away. You also have Red Rock Canyon, the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon all within close proximity. My wife and I visited the Grand Canyon's South Rim last time we were there and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.
I have been to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon and those are great, of course.
I encourage people to visit iconic natural wonders or even if they’re man-made like the Hoover Dam. It is money well spent, and I think most of us have dreamed of seeing those places at one time or another.
Whether or not one enjoys traveling is a personal preference, of course. But I don't have much patience with the mentality that says "Travel should only be for broadening one's mind." Not that I'm against broadening my mind, but there are a whole lot of things in life that we do simply because we want to, or it gives us pleasure, or generates happy memories. I travel because I enjoy it. It's something fun to do. Whether I broaden my mind by immersing myself in another culture, or simply graze at the buffet on the cruise ship, I'm doing what brings me happiness and enjoyment. And I don't see that as a bad thing, or something I should refrain from doing if it's not mind-broadening enough.
Only twice in my life have I traveled truly "overseas," meaning beyond North America and the Caribbean and Hawaii and Bermuda: once to France at age 16, and once to South Korea at age 51. I'm not going to make any claims as to have gained any special insight into French or Korean culture during these trips. But I loved these experiences, more than almost anything else I've ever done in my life. The memories remain, sharp and vivid, and they give me great happiness and joy. To me, that's worth a whole lot, regardless of how much or how little my mind might have been broadened.
People go to Disney World so their kids enjoy it while they're still young and don't have any regrets later on.
I doubt many adults actually like going to Disney World.
As for going to Las Vegas, people think they're going to win a fortune and don't believe that the house will take all of their money.
You would be wrong. My 32-year-old daughter and her best guy friend, who I think is around 40, go to Walt Disney World and Disneyland at least once a year. They look for deals. She has the "Never Too Old" decal with the picture of the castle on her car.
Apparently, there are quite a few of them running around.
We took her to WDW when she was three (which was fun, because at that age, they think it's all real but on the other hand, they don't remember the trip) and then again when she was around 7 and we visited family in Florida. Then I got divorced, and my ex took her to Disney when he went to see his siblings, and I rejoiced that I would never ever again have to go to Disney. It's not my cup of tea. I'm not into rides or people dressed up as cartoon characters with giant heads.
There are plenty of good reasons to visit Las Vegas that don't include gambling. There are plenty of world-class shows, restaurants and activities for people who don't enjoy throwing their money away. You also have Red Rock Canyon, the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon all within close proximity. My wife and I visited the Grand Canyon's South Rim last time we were there and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.
I went to Vegas once with two other mothers and four teenage girls. I was the only person who gambled at all, except for the one friend's sister who flew in from California and whom I showed how to play Let-It-Ride.
I didn't get much time to gamble, but I was always the first one up, so I'd go down and get my coffee and play a bit while I drank it and the rest of them woke up and got ready for the day.
But we did all the things you mention above except that we went to the Western Rim. Seeing the Grand Canyon was the highlight of the trip. I also have rocks with fossils in them of sea creatures from the Red Rock Canyon. Our Hummer Tour guide showed us where we could find them.
We saw a show, and we also did the Haunted Las Vegas Tour, which was a lot of fun. Just walking around looking at all the different casinos was fun, too.
As to some of the points in the OP, I just took a trip with my daughter to Costa Rica over Christmas, from the 18th to the 26th (we actually took off for home at about quarter to midnight on Christmas Night.)
This was a sad year with a hard loss, following on the heels of other losses of loved ones in the past few years, and I did not want to deal with the pain and sorrow of a holiday that was once a happy time. My daughter had suggested a trip to somewhere warm, and so in August we planned the vacation to the Manuel Antonio peninsula.
We stayed at a place built into the ecological system (jungle) with sloths in the trees, macaus flying around, monkeys making an appearance, and swimming in pools with a view of the Pacific, with a beach within walking distance. We toured the national park with a guide who showed us things we didn't know to look for, and he told us of how when he was growing up, meat, usually chicken, was only to be had on Sundays , and so he would spot a big iguana in a tree and climb up and shake the branch until it fell down to where his father and uncle were waiting to butcher it. It was obvious that this man knew and loved his country and expected us to respect its animal and plant life as well.
It was a clue to how tourism has brought income to a place of poverty. If anyone resented us, they hid it well. All staff at the resort and a restaurant we went to off the property were very pleasant and accommodating, helping me with my rudimentary Spanish by letting me order food in the language and answering my questions about how to say this or that. The trip served as a wonderful escape from reality and opened my eyes to a larger world. Worth every penny.
There are plenty of good reasons to visit Las Vegas that don't include gambling. There are plenty of world-class shows, restaurants and activities for people who don't enjoy throwing their money away. You also have Red Rock Canyon, the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon all within close proximity. My wife and I visited the Grand Canyon's South Rim last time we were there and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.
If you don't like gambling and the casino scenes, I think Las Vegas has very little to offer. The best thing about Las Vegas is Valley of Fire State Park, about an hour from the strip. Red Rock Canyon is closer but not as pretty. Grand Canyon is in AZ, so Las Vegas has no claim on it.
World class shows? Well, that's very subjective. Aside from a handful of names (Adele is the only one I can think of right now), most of them were 'has been' entertainers lucky enough to get residency there (Carrot Top - I mean, really?).
The food is nothing to write home about - especially the much hyped buffet. Nearly all of the restaurants there have a branch somewhere else so there's really no need to go all the way there just to try them out, especially if you live in big city anyway.
But back to the topic at hand, I do agree with OP that travel has become young generations' keeping up with the joneses. Just look at the travel videos on youtube. Most of them were just following what other youtubers considered 'must see / must try / must whatever'. Herd mentality at its best.
I still love to travel, even if the journey to the destination has become more and more brutal in every way. Last year alone I had multi-day flight cancelations twice - the last one I ended up renting a car and just drove 1200 miles home because I couldn't stand being jerked around by the airline anymore. Thank goodness I had travel insurance to cover those unexpected costs.
I travel because I am truly curious to learn about a new place, new food, new custom, etc - not because it's on some travel site's top ten list. I am fully aware that I will only scratch the surface because that's all you get when you only visit for 2-3 weeks at a time. But then I usually start feeling homesick by then anyway, so it's a good break from my routine while being able to experience something new at the same time. That's a win-win in my book.
BTW, there's nothing wrong at all with taking an organized tour or a cruise if you can afford it. If that's the only way for you to see the places you want to see due to limited mobility, unwillingness to drive in a foreign place, unwillingness to tackle the travel research and the hassle of organizing transfers to a multi-city / multi-country trip, then do what you can to make it happen, even if that means taking a tour or a cruise. It's your experience, so have it your way.
I didn't gamble at all in Las Vegas. I went on business and stayed at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. It was awesome and I was shocked at how clean it all was. But I love to travel, either domestically or overseas. YMMV!
Though I have traveled throughout Europe and the Far East, I have never taken a cruise for more than one day (that was more than enough for me, believe me) and I've also never done a tour bus or group tour. But if that was the only way I could go, I'd probably do it. I don't know though - I don't personally feel like a person really gets the feel of a place when all they see is touristy stuff.
If it wasn't for that mandatory business trip, I would have probably never been to Las Vegas but I am glad I went though. I mean, yes, it was touristy but it was also a lot of fun.
I am living in Texas and am going to Ohio in February and Seoul, Korea in March! I am 62. I love traveling.
Last edited by Mike from back east; 01-12-2024 at 12:36 PM..
Reason: Last line merged in from prior posting.
We love Vegas and we don't gamble. We love the shows. Not the comedians, but the Cirque du Soleil type shows. Enjoy the bands scattered around the casinos. Enjoy just walking around in the casinos, like Caesar's Palace or the Venetian.
Vegas was a convenient stop-over for us driving between Utah and CA where we went for the winter. Of course, this was 10 years ago before all the resort fees and room rates were like $28. We brought our own booze and coffee, lol. No coffee in those rooms.
We love Vegas and we don't gamble. We love the shows. Not the comedians, but the Cirque du Soleil type shows. Enjoy the bands scattered around the casinos. Enjoy just walking around in the casinos, like Caesar's Palace or the Venetian.
Vegas was a convenient stop-over for us driving between Utah and CA where we went for the winter. Of course, this was 10 years ago before all the resort fees and room rates were like $28. We brought our own booze and coffee, lol. No coffee in those rooms.
That's true. I went in 2009. We stayed at the Venetian, and I had to go downstairs in the morning and buy coffee. I don't remember what the price was, but it was steep and probably not something I would want to pay for coffee even now in 2024.
I was on a trip for a friend's daughter that was provided to her by an organization somewhat like Make-A-Wish, but a different one. The daughter has a chronic illness, though not terminal, so she was given a trip to Vegas because she wanted to see CrissAngel, the weird magician guy or whatever he was. The trip included three friends of the girl, her mother, and another adult. My daughter was one of the friends, and the other adult was the mother of one of the other girls. However, at the last minute, the girl's mom called and said, "Hey, if you want to go, there is enough room in the hotel rooms they are giving us, you just have to pay for your flight and food and other expenses." She was a corporate travel agent so she found me a seat on their plane, and we all went out together.
The CrissAngel tickets were only for the girls and the two named adults, so the sister of the woman whose kid it was and I went to see Carrot Top at that time. LOL.
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