This is “get grateful on sunday” on Tuesday due to my visit to Las Vegas. I was staying at the Bellagio on the weekend, where the internet is charged at $14.95 per 24 hours despite the excessive cost of staying there. I decided blog posts could wait until I moved to a cheaper hotel!
I love travelling, and see myself as a traveller before anything else. I love almost everything about it and structure my life so that nothing interferes with it (no children, no mortgage, low-paying job that has travel as a perk). So I have many things to be grateful for:
- As mentioned, I stayed at the Bellagio on the weekend. I am grateful for every circumstance that led to me entering that beautiful lobby. The attention to detail in this hotel leaves nothing to be desired, from the attentive staff to exquisite designs that engage your heart and make it want to stay forever.
- I love hotels, and I love hotel staff. I am interested in anyone at the bottom of the pecking order making a living in the travel industry. The things they must see, and the stories they will tell you, if you ask (and I do). I’m grateful for the smiles and well wishes from the cleaning staff as I pass them in the hall; the woman in the coffee shop who winks at me now because I wished her a good day; the valet who nearly tripped over his feet to open my car door before I got to it myself.
- Airports are one of my favourite places. For me, being at the airport is part of the travel experience, and I have been known to voluntarily arrive up to six hours early for my flight so that I can relax with a coffee and just soak up the surroundings. Airports, to me, represent freedom. I am grateful that I am one of the fortunate who can fly off to new worlds, no matter whether it’s an hour away or a whole day of flight, and I will never take this for granted.
- After my short stay at the Bellagio I went down-market to Circus Circus. What I love about this hotel is that it is full of young families and unfashionably dressed people from goodness-knows-where, who have probably saved hard and really looked forward to their big Las Vegas trip. I love being around these people because I know them and I am one of them. This is how my family travelled when I was young, when our big trip each year, excruciatingly saved-for my my parents, was to a historic town just two hours drive away. I feel that you can see the gratitude and wonder in the eyes of these people when you pass them, and you know they don’t take any of it for granted.
- There is only a two-hour time difference from Manitoba to Las Vegas, and yet it seemed to make me a little delirious. It was in this state that I picked up an expensive sugar bowl in a homewares store and watched it slide from my fingers to shatter on the floor. I quickly told the saleswoman I would pay for the breakage, but she refused, and said she was just glad I didn’t hurt myself. How often does that happen? In gratitude, I bought several expensive coffee cups from her store
- As I have previously mentioned, I was given a ticket for a Cirque Du Soleil show (Love) that is playing here in Vegas. I saw the show last night, and let me just say that if you know anyone who is lacking a little fun in their lives, you should rush them to the nearest Cirque show, pronto. What an absolute delight it was, and a celebration of the best things in life: music, dance, colour, fun fun fun.
I have two more days here in Vegas before heading back to Canada. I do love travelling, but I will be equally grateful for my own bed and my normal routine. It will give me a chance to try out my new coffee cups
Have a great week!
Tags: gratitude
Sounds like a good week!
I can’t believe the saleswoman didn’t make you pay for the breakage; this is so out of the ordinary!
Em, I know! I completely expected to pay. Most shops have the “You break it, you bought it” sign so once I’d smashed it I reached for my wallet straight away. It was such a nice surprise, and worked out well for her too. If I’d had to pay for the sugar bowl, I wouldn’t have bought the coffee cups, which were far more expensive!
Again, I love these posts! Instead of feeling jealous I soak them up and feel happy for you. You have a way of writing that is just so warm and inviting. And I love how good things are happening to you all the time. It’s fun to read about.
I’m so glad you had an excellent time. And I understand your love of travel. My trip to England made me feel like that. I got to the airport early both times so I could soak up everything from teh people to the stores and then just relax while I waited. It helped bring down my anxiety about boarding what I would typically consider a claustrophobic place. On my trip home, though, I felt no anxiety at all. I just cried because I didn’t want to leave England. And I got off the plane and said, I want to do that again!!
Let’s see a pic of those new coffee cups!
Thanks Steph. I’m very lucky to have all these things happening, but the good thing about looking for things to be grateful for is that you realise even when life is mundane there are lots of great things happening.
It really sounds like your heart is in England. Do you think you will move back there? Easier said than done, I know!
I want to believe I’ll move there. The truth is, I don’t think it would be that hard if I were single: my sister and her husband, who’s in the RAF, have always been willing to help. But with C and Lucy (our dog), who haven’t seen England let alone don’t have any interest in going (okay, that’s all C, not the dog!), it’s so much more complicated. In the end, my desire to move is so strong it frightens me; I’m afraid if I think about it too much, something will happen to C and Lucy! I’ve been waiting for the pining to calm down, you know, because I get so enthusiastic about things and often do things I then regret, but this won’t go away. I really clicked over there.
I’d love to set up Biblio in North Yorkshire. I can see it working there.
Steph, I understand that feeling. I lived in Canada in 2006-07 but when I went back to Australia, all I wanted was to be in Canada. I tried hard to make the feeling go away, but every day I thought about and talked about Canada. I didn’t even know why I had that longing, because Australia is awesome; it was something I just had no control over. I thought it was impossible to come back here, due to not being able to get another working visa, but one day inspiration struck, and I managed to find a way. It’s harder when you have a partner, but the world moves in wild and crazy ways sometimes so that you can have it all.
We have never been to Vegas but are somewhat planning a trip for next October. After reading your post I am getting excited!
I’m going to in Vegas next October, too! I think you’ll have a great time. I’m not much of a drinker or gambler, which is what I thought Vegas would be all about, but there are so many other entertaining things. The shopping is fantastic and if you like eating out, there are wonderful restaurants. I wish I’d had longer so that I could have investigated the surrounding desert with its canyons.
There is one difference between us: I have no desire to go to Vegas! But I would love to go to New Zealand and Australia.
Steph, no we are the same there too – I was telling my employers for months I’d never had any desire to go to Vegas (trying not to sound too ungrateful though, since they were paying for it!) but that’s why I was so pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the trip. I had thought Vegas would be so hideously tacky that I couldn’t stand it but there ended up being some beautiful things to see, within the tackiness.