Star Trek Convention, Las Vegas 2008 - Day One
6 August 2008, 8:36 PM

We've been in Las Vegas for little over 24 hours now, but it feels like we've been here a week, we've done so much.

We packed up Monday night, and made all our last minute checklists, but still ended up forgetting to get some cash and had to use an airport ATM and suffer the fees. Jeff's folks planned to look in on Mysty while we were away, and a surprising number of people expressed jealousy that we we going to a Star Trek convention.

I must first mention that I'm not very impressed with Southwest Airlines. especially after such a lovely flight to/from San Francisco for the BlogHer conference on JetBlue. Southwest's cattle-call boarding procedure left Jeff and I without seats next to each other. Luckily I got a comfortable aisle seat next to some quiet enough people, but Jeff ended up in a middle seat nearly 16 rows ahead of me. Still, the flight was only 2.5 hours and we arrived nearly 25 minutes early, so I can't complain TOO much.

The Las Vegas airport was fascinating. Not only were there slot machines everywhere (I'd expected that) but there were posters, banners and screens in every nook and cranny, all advertising shows and venues. You immediately got the feeling of being in a town built around entertainment; it had the feel of what I'd expect of Hollywood.

After a bit of a wait we got our bags, then got an shuttle bus to the Las Vegas Hilton. (Up to this point we hadn't really seen anyone that we thought might also be going to the Star Trek convention, although I did spot some folks in the hotel lobby line with the appropriate Star Trek T-shirts.) We got our keys and headed up to the room, only to find that the cleaning service was still shampooing the carpet. Back we went, to the front desk to inquire about another room.

The new room was a bit nicer, with a lovely view and newer carpet, but the rest of the hotel left a lot to be desired. Our toilet didn't work at first, though someone came up to fix it right away. Our floor's hallway was covered in crumbs (and some broken glass!) and needed cleaning, and I'd noticed quite a bit of repair work that needed to be done. Dad (35+ years in the hotel/restaurant industry, now retired) would have had a lot to say about the state of the hotel. To their credit, the hotel staff was wonderful and there was evidence that they were in the middle of a renovation. The easy access to the convention and the Star Trek Experience area was worth it.

Other than early registration for our particular ticket package, there wasn't much convention stuff happening the day we arrived so, after we settled in, we decided to take the monorail to the Las Vegas strip for lunch.

The monorail was a bit unexpected fun. Clean, quick and pleasant, it traveled from the Sahara hotel all the way to the MGM Grand and back again at all hours, makes stops at our hotel every six minutes. A pre-recorded commentary played between stops, with funny comments about each of the hotels and the Las Vegas area. ("You are now leaving the Las Vegas Hilton, home of the Star Trek Experience. Please be sure that a Ferengi did not follow you on board.")

We headed to the Paris hotel. We were going to go to a French buffet, but decided on the creperie across the hallway instead because of the long line for the buffet. It was a good choice and would later prove to be the cheapest meal we would have in Las Vegas. We wimped out of walking around and sightseeing since we were tired from all the traveling and instead opted to return to the hotel for a nap. ("You are now arriving at the Las Vegas Hilton, home of The Star Trek Experience. If you are seated next to a Klingon, you now know why.")

After our nap (we're such party animals!) we headed down to the convention area for registration. We got our programs, lanyards for our tickets, souvenir coins and a wrist band we'd have to wear all weekend. (I joked that they'd lured us in, tagged us, banded us and then set us free so they could study our migration patterns as we foraged for loot and autographs.) We could have gotten a poster too, but really had no place for it or a way to easily take it home, so we passed on that. I also wasn't that interested in the free T-shirt, so we passed on that as well.

We had "Captain's Chair" tickets, one step below the sold out "Gold Package" (which included some complimentary autographs and a Thursday night party) - a package that included reserved seating in the main theater, admission to the Friday night Star Trek Experience party and the Saturday night Symphony and dessert party. Other events, mostly breakfasts or lunches with various former Star Trek cast members had to be purchased separately. A silly mistake on my part meant that I didn't actually get tickets in the mail for the one lunch (Friday's "Boys of Enterprise") that I wanted to go to, but the folks at the registration desk took care of that quickly and easily.

Jeff and I then cruised around the vendors area, which was partially setup. There wasn't really anything we were interested in purchasing, though I was actively looking for a back pack, baseball caps, and a model kit for the NX-01 version of the Enterprise. I found the baseball caps, but they were outrageously expensive and I passed on them. I couldn't find anything like a Star Trek branded backpack anywhere, and found only one instance of the model kit for $125! Nevermind. The only thing I succumbed to was a pack of baseball cards; they were pretty and only a couple of bucks. Since I obviously wasn't going to buy any loot, I made a last minute decision to get myself tickets for autographs and a photo op with Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating - my favorite actors from Star Trek: Enterprise.

We headed back to our room, unpacked, puttered around for a bit, then went downstairs to check out the Star Trek gift shop, Star Trek-themed casino and Quark's Bar and Restaurant before it got too busy the next day with the official start of the convention. The gift shop was great and I found not only the baseball caps I was looking for at a reasonable price, but a cute shirt I couldn't pass up, and a Starfleet Academy sweatshirt for Jeff. The teddy bears in Star Trek uniforms were too cute, but I didn't get one. Yet.

The casino just outside of The Star Trek Experience had changed since the last time I'd been there with a friend of mine in 1999. At that time, when Valerie and I stopped by the Hilton to ride The Experience, all the slot machines in the Star Trek casino had science fiction, or space-related themes to them. Though the room retained the Star Trek theme, the machines had been replaced with the ordinary and ubiquitous Vegas slot machines, including Wheel of Fortune. Oh well. I discovered that The Star Trek Experience, including the restaurant, gift shop and casino, was to close September 1st as well. The whole kit and caboodle is going away. I'm glad we came when we did.