Itinerary For Traveling 7000+ Miles to China to Take One Photograph

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Okay that title is unfair. I am not going to take ONE photograph.  I am going to take eleventy billion photographs.

I always have my future travel plans mapped out in my head.  Once per year I take a BIG trip.  I knew last year that my BIG trip for 2015 was going to be India.  But then as always, my plans changed.

Last year, I spent a month in China.  This includes me going to Tibet and spending a night at Mount Everest Base Camp.  I really should get my posts about that up on my blog, eh?  Most exciting thing I have ever done and I have yet to post about it a year later.  Worst blogger ever.

But anyway, back to THIS post.   When I left Tibet and flew to Chengdu, I was crippled with depression because I wanted to still be in Tibet.  It was the most beautiful place I have ever been.  Sometimes I look at the photos and I cannot believe that I ever stood here:

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Stopover in Xining, China and Getting Knocked Down a Stairway. Oh China.

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I took my first overnight train from Xi’an to Xining.  It was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I was fortunate to have a bottom bed in a soft sleeper car.  My cabin-mates were nice, did not try to speak to me, but did try to give me cookies.  It appeared they were all together.  The (one I assumed was the) father had the bottom bunk opposite me.  He coughed nonstop all night which kept waking me up.  But other than that, not bad at all.

I make it out of the train station. I attempt to walk down the steps.  There is a ramp on the right side of the steps, intending for you to roll your luggage down it as you walk down the steps.  I could not figure out how to use it.  Neither could the woman in front of me.  Unlike me though, she kept trying.  This was holding up everyone.  Except that this is China so by “holding up everyone” I mean “making everyone smash into me to get me to go, but I couldn’t because she wasn’t.”  Next thing I know, I am pushed really hard, I still don’t want to knock the woman in front of me down, so I try to steady myself and end up falling backwards.  No one stops, they all keep continuing down the steps.  Sigh.

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Sometimes As A Solo Traveler, I want to Travel Solo

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Once upon a time, I was in Chengdu, China.   I was going to visit the Grand Leshan Buddha.   I get on the bus and it is hot and smells like a homeless person.  Shortly after, it begins.  I hear some girl talking loudly on a cell phone.  “There are no backpackers on here, only Chinese people and they all smell bad.”  I shrink down in my seat a bit.  It is one thing to not wish for human companionship ever, it is another to hide from someone who is rude enough to have said this aloud.  Don’t assume that no one on the bus can understand you.  I’m betting a bunch of them could.

We get to the town of Leshan and I make the mistake of not immediately running off the bus.  I get caught.  “Hi!  Do you want to share a cab?”  No thank you, I am taking the bus. “I will take it with you!”  Argh, fine.  We walk to the bus and she is joyously telling me how happy she is to have found me.  Me?  I don’t want to be found.

There is a thing about meeting people while traveling.  That thing is that I don’t want to.  Let me make this clear: I know I am the odd one here.  People who want to meet other people?  They are normal.   YOU are normal.  You should be glad I don’t want to spend time with people.  Who wants to spend time with a weirdo?  Go on, run off and be free!

Whenever I do meet someone, the internal dialogue starts.

Me: Ughhhhhhhhh

Me: Would it kill you to just be nice to this person?

Me: No, but I just don’t want to talk to anyone

Me: But would it kill you to just be nice to this person?

Me: But a huge part of this trip was to escape the real world and BE ALONE

Me: BUT WOULD IT KILL YOU TO BE NICE TO THIS PERSON?

Me: I DON’T WANNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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My Last Stay at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City

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I made two trips to Atlantic City this past summer.   I never posted about either of them because I am the world’s worst blogger.  I am now going to post some pictures from this trip before I get to posting about a third trip last weekend.

For both summer trips, I stayed at Trump Plaza and both times were my last times staying here as this hotel and casino closed soon after.

Trump Plaza Atlantic City New Jersey

You know what else closed too?  These guys, Showboat and Revel:

Showboat casino Atlantic City Showboat House of Blues Atlantic City Continue reading →

Happy Second Birthday to My Blog!

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My blog turned two last weekend!  I probably should have posted this on it’s birthday, but I was too busy being a delinquent mother and gambling away in Atlantic City.

Last year, I did a post about things I learned in my first year of blogging.  This year, I learned one huge thing and that is I am cursed.

Some things that have happened to me in the past year:

I lost all my non-published content.  I work on four computers.   One is my PC at home, my preferred computer to work on.   One is my work computer.   One is my netbook that goes everywhere with me because it is small, but it also sucks and is frozen all the time.  The fourth is my actual laptop, which works wonderfully but is too big to travel with.

Going back and forth between all these computers should not be a problem.  But for me, it is.  Why?  Because the internet will not work on my home PC.  That leads to this:

Everyone:  If your wifi works in your apartment, you should be able to connect a cable from the modem into your PC

Me: Yes, I know.  I used to do this.  But one night I defragmented my computer and for some reason, it lost a lot of abilities, including going online.  I also lost the ability to choose 256 colors, or change my theme, and everything now defaults to Times New Roman, which I hate.

Everyone: But if the wifi works, the internet should work

Me: It does, but the COMPUTER IS BROKEN.

Everyone: Maybe you just need a new cable

Me: (smashes head into keyboard)

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Christmas Trip to Las Vegas: Last Full Day Featuring a Run In With the Worst RTC Employee Ever.

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I woke up at Four Queens very early this morning.   I had originally planned to go to Sunset Station for breakfast since I have a free buffet from MyVegas.  But I kind of didn’t want to go.   But I kind of felt like I should go.  I have not left downtown since arriving here Thursday.  Today is Saturday.  I do need to go to the Strip and take photos.  I sit around trying to decide what to do and my final decision is to go outside and take pictures of Fremont Street before all of downtown wakes up.  Then I will figure out what I want to do after.
california hotel las vegas

main street station las vegas Continue reading →

Christmas Day in Las Vegas!

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This morning I wake up at Orleans.  I have a little bit of time to go gambling between Starbucks and checking out.

Orleans now has one HUGE Ultimate X video poker machine.  It is enormous.  I have wanted to play it the entire time I have been here, but it was always taken.  Not today!  I played a bit and doubled $40.  Then I went off to play the nickel Keno game that gave me $942 yesterday.  Some girl was sitting at it, on her cell phone, talking to whoever about “I am already in the casino, hurry up and come meet me!”  Yes please.  Hurry up so youse guys can take off and do whatever and I can have my machine.   I eventually grew tired of losing money while waiting so back to my room I went.

I packed up and got ready to move.  Today’s hotel is my last one of my stay.  Four Queens.  I booked this through Priceline Express Deals.  It is easy to pick out the downtown hotels on here based on resort fees.  Or lack of, like the Four Queens.  So you can pretty much figure out what you are getting.   Three nights, which include Christmas and a weekend came to $180 with tax included.

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Christmas Trip to Las Vegas: The Big Surprise Win!

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Today is not only Christmas Eve, it is also unfortunately day nine of thirteen, my trip is almost over.

I head downstairs at Orleans for breakfast with $25.   Breakfast is actually at Starbucks because I have a $100 gift card.  Starbucks is supposedly only two blocks away from Orleans but this is Las Vegas so that two block walk took about fifteen minutes.

Orleans Las Vegas

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Christmas Trip to Las Vegas: Spa(ah!) and Leaving My Cosmopolitan Terrace Behind

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014: Day Eight of Thirteen

I woke up insanely early today in my comfy Cosmopolitan bed and have what I recognize as an uncontrollable urge to go degenerate gambling.  I want to gamble.  I want to gamble NOW.  I want to put every dollar I own into the pretty machines downstairs.

I have been pretty good for days, but that was only because I messed up so badly on day one that I had a choice to either continue doing things that would send me to the ATM, or to slow down gambling.  I chose the latter but I am CRAVING a binge session on video poker.

The sun isn’t even up yet and I am FIENDING.   What to do?  I don’t really understand how I came up with this plan, but I decided to: Leave all my money in the room safe, walk to Walgreens across the Strip, get a Diet Pepsi, get $40 cash back and use that and only that to gamble.  It seems like a pretty good idea.  If I win, great.  If I lose, the walk back to the room to get more money might cool me off.  Right?

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