In my mind, Vegas is always just four hours away. Compared to LA commute time, four hours never seems that bad. That’s like driving to and from Irvine 1.5 – 2 times. Easy, right?
In reality, everyone in LA and their mother thinks of Vegas in the same way. They might drive up Thursday night, Friday morning, Friday night, or Saturday morning, but they all come back Sunday afternoon.
When you’re waiting out the traffic and heat in Baker, CA in 110 degree weather, an extra night at the MGM Grand for $60 suddenly looks like the deal of the century.
When you realize you’ve spent $100 on fuel and 12 hours of your limited free time crossing the Mojave desert (sober!), two round-trip tickets + cab fares for $500 doesn’t really seem that expensive.
The next time I talk about driving up to Vegas, somebody slap me.
Next time, come back Monday afternoon. Problem solved.
Even so, I lose nine hours of my life and a vacation day. The value of my time and vacation days actually does exceed the cost of airline tickets.
Consider yourself slapped! I thought you were over driving to Vegas years ago?