How My Trip To Las Vegas Made Me Love Brooklyn Even More

During one of the biggest weekends in Brooklyn, I decided to go away, as I normally do. Labor Day weekend is full of culture, food, music and constant events in my neighborhood of Crown Heights but once you’ve been here as long as I have, it gets repetitive and I want to make sure my last long weekend of the summer is spent wisely.

So off I went to Las Vegas, Nevada. As a first timer to this city, the way I imagined it in my head before I actually arrived, was exactly how it was, with a few added gems of-course. I imagined the packed casinos, the extravagant hotels, the nightly parties and the endless drinks. What I didn’t imagine, that was a total shock to me, was that everyone I spoke to, who lived and worked in Vegas —absolutely couldn’t stand living there. I don’t know if I’ve ever traveled to a place where residents couldn’t wait to leave the place where they live.

“I hate it here,” said a female employee at a local Las Vegas Blvd., CVS shop. “I moved here from Los Angeles in search for something new but I can’t wait to go back.”

While I was stunned at her reaction to my question, “How do you like living in Las Vegas,” I thought for sure she must be the only one. How could you hate living in a place with constant activity, great shops and restaurants and warm weather?

My trip was filled with unexpected fun and activity. There were no clocks visible anywhere on the strip, so I was constantly on-the-move before noticing it was 3am after looking at my phone. This happened many times. Once after the Boyz II Men concert, that was exceptional and brought back so many memories, I decided to ask someone again about life in Vegas.

“I’m only here to make as much money as I can to be able to go back home,” said a shop vendor at the Mirage Hotel, who’s “home” was in Sacramento, California.

Being able to have a totally open conversation and tell your cialis uk continue reading over here counselor anything that’s on your mind? And choose the one you will give someone a lethal tool (a 3,000 pound machine with the to do speeds of 50 easily, 60 or 70 miles per hour) that you would like the operator of this weapon to involve some training, some experience, some view, and certainly proof least certification before you.
I had gone on to ask a few others the same question, and not once did I get a different response. Nor did I meet anyone who currently lives in Vegas, born in Vegas.

When you look around the lively city, there are all images of somewhere else. You had the Paris Hotel with a replica of the iconic Eiffel Tower, the Luxor Hotel that made you feel like you were in the middle of Egypt with pyramids and sphinx replicas, The Venetian/Palazzo (where I stayed) that made you feel like you were in Italy with a 15-minute gondola ride and my favorite, the New York, New York Hotel, with the mock Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge that you could actually walk across, though not as long as the original. Vegas seemed to be focused on every other state but its own.

Way before Vegas, I knew Brooklyn had a special influence on the world. If you are a constant news reader, journalist across the globe can’t seem to stop comparing the borough to someplace else. The New York Times has deemed basically everywhere “the new Brooklyn.” But it wasn’t until I arrived in Vegas that I realized how special Brooklyn was. You will never come to Brooklyn and find someone who absolutely hates it. Even residents who have lived in some of the uglier parts of the borough preach on how Brooklyn has taught them how to survive in other parts of the world.

“If you can live in Brooklyn, you can pretty much live anywhere,” said a 27-year Brooklyn resident. “Even the people who weren’t born here call themselves Brooklynites.”

Every time a Vegas resident expressed to me how much they hated where they lived, I tried to think of a time where I absolutely wanted to move out of Brooklyn and I never could recall one. I have vacationed many times and have always wanted to come back home. Brooklyn  is special to me in so many ways and I couldn’t think about permanently living somewhere else. A summer home in Los Angeles, maybe, but my permanent residence would always be in Brooklyn.

Vegas taught me that it’s important to love where you live. Though the city is non-stop fun, the people who live there rather be somewhere else and that’s not living, at-least not to me.