Las Vegas - Doing The Body Slam - Or Not

I've recently been compelled, no obsessed, to blog about my recent business trip to Las Vegas.

Imagine my disdain when at the HairBoutique.com Team Meeting today my Marketing Manager informed me of the need for me to jet off to New York City for important meetings.  UGH.  I've just gotten back to Dallas to enjoy the humid climate, lack of electric signs on every corner and polite people who walk in a queue - more or less.

Don't get me wrong, I love New York.  If I was going to live anywhere but Dallas, it would be there.  However, I am still in trip shock from Las Vegas and for the purposes of this blog - the body slamming thing which bothered me the most about my Vegas trip.

When it came time for me to make my hotel reservations for Vegas my esteemed Feng Shui Master insisted I stay at The Wynn.  Why?  It is one of three Vegas hotels that have been officially "Feng Shui Planned".

The other two?  I knew you were going to ask.  One is the Mirage and the other is the Bellagio.  All three were designed to maintain their house advantages for holding onto any money spent at their properties.  Good for them, not so much for any gamblers.

Unlike the Mirage or Bellagio, The Wynn had great "prosperity" numbers for hotel guests as well as for the casino, so my Feng Shui Master told me I must stay there.  And stay there I did, even though I had no intention of gambling or doing the big time Vegas show or nightclub thing.  I didn't plan to shop at The Wynn's Ferrari dealership or at their couture mall although I must confess that I did go by and drool at the Wynn's Manolo Blahnik Boutique.

While the Wynn was gorgeous (stay tuned for my future Wynn blog entry) it was literally always jammed with people.

Bodies were packed in everywhere, starting with the Registration room where approximately 75 people were standing in line to check in.  That's actually not a large number considering the Registration room can become completely full at certain times of the day.

However, I was not in a people loving mood arriving from an oversold American Airlines 757 with a barking dog under my seat and an assortment of screaming babies and kids.

Nor did I have a people caring attitude after being crammed in the McCarren D Terminal Tram, being shoved by tailgaters on the McCarren people mover or being packed into not one but two sequential Rental Car buses.

To get from the Wynn's Registration Room to the elevators leading to my Feng Shui appropriate room, I had to travel through the Wynn casino which was overflowing with throngs of people moving in a helter skelter pattern in all directions at the same time.  I can only imagine the accidents if the people walking were actually driving vehicles.

In less than 1 minute I was body slammed by a young couple who pushed past me almost knocking me down to the floor.  A few feet further and I was body slammed again by a group stopping suddenly and whirling around unexpectedly to snap digital photos while waving their arms in the air and accidentally punching me in the face.

The body slamming was not limited to moving through the Wynn casino.  Throngs of people were stuffed into the hotel's Valet Booth, the various restaurants, bars, elevators, casino shops and even the hotel restrooms.

It was my own worst mouth breathing nightmare.  Where did all these people come from and how could I get from Point A to Point B without being accidentally pushed, bumped, slapped, tripped or jostled?

After the first evening I realized that if I cut through the casino in a jig jag pattern and avoided the main aisles, I was less likely to be swept up in a crowd of photo snapping fanatics.  I also figured out that the best time to be walking anywhere in The Wynn was between the hours of 4 and 8 am.

Another secret to avoid an excess of other bodies was to avoid eating at the Wynn's buffet which at one point had a 3 1/2 hour wait with more people that I've ever seen in one line to eat food.  Even better, ordering room service was a great way to avoid other humans, except of course for the room service waitor.

At one point I felt the need to eat at Zooza Cracker, a cute little deli style grill adjacent to the Wynn casino, which had great sandwiches and coffee.  When I arrived before 11:00 am for lunch I was shocked to discover there was already a long line of people.  Seriously?  It wasn't even 11:00 am.

I glanced over to see a bartender hanging out behind the bar adjacent to the order line and asked if I could eat at the bar.  He smiled and said "of course you can".   I did and it was fabulous.  I received my food quickly and didn't have to worry about being jammed into a long torturous order line. Plus I received great service and won a few bucks at video poker installed at the bar.

Once I figured out that it's possible to eat at the bar at any of the Wynn restaurants (they have more than you can imagine) I started making a beeline right to that area, avoiding lines of gnarly, pushy, hungry people.

At one point I left the shelter of the hotel to travel a few blocks across the street to the famous Fashion Mall.  There were more people milling around the street corners than I have seen at rush hour in New York City.  But there I was in the midst of more body slamming, pushing and shoving.

I don't know what it is about New York but even with all the people I have encountered there, I am rarely body slammed.  My theory?  Body Slammers are all tourists visiting places like Las Vegas, Disneyland, SeaWorld or similar.

Is it possible to avoid body slamming when you travel to Vegas?  With a little bit of planning and good scheduling you might even be able to have the city mostly to yourself.  Or at least suffering body slamming collateral damage.

What do you think?  Do you have any Body Slamming Prevention Tips you can share?  I would love to hear them to file away in my travel notebook.