LAS VEGAS HERE WE COME!

Departed the house at 8 am on Friday by car service and despite a little traffic jam on the autobahn, made it in good time to MUC. There it didn't appear as if we would have fully arrived in the „digital age“ yet. Though, we had scanned all our papers and documents before the flight, we had to show print copies of NIE , the travel ban waiver, and of the COVID (Antigene) tests we had made on Tuesday (!), at the check-in counter. Also, the contact address, which we had filled into a form on the internet already, apparently was lost.

First trip outside Germany for over 18 months! All went smooth. The plane was not as empty as we thought it would be, with only business people and American-ID holders allowed to travel to date. At least, United tried to keep one seat empty in each 3-seat-row of the B787 Dreamliner. Food is even more packaged and worse than in Pre-Covid times. And, why the hell do these planes have individual switches for dimming the windows, when they darken all windows in the plane completely briefly after take-off ? Took me a bit of discussion with an attendant to get my window individually operable. It felt like traveling all night long, though it was bright day. Hate not to be able to see what's underneith, like Mount Shasta/CA on the left picture, surrounded by wildfires:

 

Immigration in San Francisco, after our 11 hour (!) flight, went quick and eventless, re-check of luggage as well and we arrived to Vegas on time, at around 6:30 PM. Airports were both not as busy as we were used to. Flew through thick, impressive mountains of clouds to Vegas (pic above). Strip to be seen in the upper right section below.

 At McCarren Airport we took an Uber to get to the Aria hotel, where the German IPW delegation is staying. Due to traffic it cost $ 35 for just a 10 min drive, but taxi lines were endless, too. Took us a bit to find the registration desks and the elevators in this huge hotel complex, had to cross the whole casino with our luggage, but once we were settled in our large room with a window wall towards Frank Gehry's Crystals Shopping mall, Planet Hollywood and a huge 24/7 blinking billboard, the world was o.k. again.