I came across my journal from when I was in Beijing and found a sketch that made me realize that the CCTV Tower is still my favorite building. It never failed to fascinate me regardless of the number of times I saw it. While I miss seeing the building on a regular basis in person, I’m reminded of it with pictures, my journal and my old blog post In Awe of the CCTV Tower, even though my pictures never seem to do it full justice. It’s funny to me how much of an impression a building has made on me but I guess that’s just another discovery made while globe trotting and I’m happy to have the memories recorded in one form or another.

This was taken summer of 2008.

Do you have a favorite building? What art, architecture or something similar has made an impression on you while traveling? Share here!

This weekend I’ve been trolling websites that I long haven’t touched, xanga being one of them. I got the biggest kick reading my old entries. Who knew I’ve been “blogging” since May of 2005! Since the last post on this blog covered Atlantic City, it seemed fitting to share an old post about Vegas and my first experience there…it’s a little more entertaining than the Atlantic City one! The following was originally posted to my xanga account on Tuesday, July 26, 2005 when I was 21 years old. Hope you get as big of a kick out of it as I did!

Vegas, Baby

Gambling, luxurious hotels, beautiful people, lots of skin and even more alcohol—it’s all in Vegas!

Thursday:  Megan and I with our two moms plus Betty and Ray flew to Vegas to celebrate Megan’s 21^st birthday.  We took a limo to the airport and started with champagne and the alcohol never stopped coming after that!  While waiting for midnight, Megan and I played some blackjack with Tim McGraw…yes we had impersonators for dealers at our hotel…and won $70 each! (only because this guy kept giving Megan money after we lost our own )  So Megan had her first legal drink at the hotel and then the adults went to bed and we headed to Harrah’s outdoor bar.  The bartender stood on top of the bar with a 5^th of Vodka mixed with some pineapple juice and Megan chugged the entire thing through a tube!!  People cheered and Megan got wasted. Dancing and more alcohol followed into the early hours of Friday morning.

Friday:  After rolling out of bed, the pool was the only option until our hangovers subsided, well, until we could start drinking again.  It was still officially Megan’s birthday until midnight that day and what better way to celebrate than to watch the Chippendales!  After getting dolled up, Megan and I headed to the Rio and the adults headed to see Celine Dion.  The Rio was fabulously fun.  There was the cutest bartender there that could do all those amazing juggling tricks with the bottles.  And yeah, he was getting $100 tips like they were dollar bills!  Megan introduced me to White Russians and it was love.  Then there were the Chippendales who were the most entertaining eye-candy ever!  Next stop after the show was the VooDoo lounge on top of the Rio.  It had an outdoor area that overlooked Vegas and I found a fun dancing partner (pretty sure he was gay) while Megan found someone else to dance with.  Oh and there was this girl from Chicago who latched on to us for a while.  But anyway, when it was time to leave, Megan and I mastered the art of ditching guys and headed back to our hotel so Neil Diamond could take care of us at the Blackjack table.

Saturday:  My mom, who doesn’t even know what buttons to push on a slot machine, won $1000 on her second try!!  Talk about beginner’s luck!  While the moms were winning money, Megan and I were back at the pool again.  Vegas was hot, reaching over 100 degrees while we were there.  We’d burn our feet on the cement by the pool if we didn’t have shoes on and had to lay under misters while tanning.  When night came, the whole crew headed to see La Cage, a drag female impersonator show.  These men look better in a dress than I do! After laughs and gay jokes, Megan and I split with the adults. We stopped at the Wynn and walked down the strip.  Our shoes were killing our feet so we made a stop at Treasure Island where we landed a ton of VIP passes to clubs.  We definitely got an ego boost until we found out everyone had these passes.  Regardless, we headed to the hottest nightclub at Caesar’s Palace, Pure.  After a painful walk we found it had a 3 hour wait to get in so Megan and I headed to the Blackjack tables back at our hotel…not the best idea for my wallet.  Guys would definitely buy us drinks but that didn’t help my gambling skills!

Sunday:  Our last day which we were definitely going to live up as much as possible.  When mom and I went to mass, Megan met a group of guys at the pool to meet up with.  Mom invited our Young Catholic Croatian Cab Driver to dinner (yes my mom thrives off of stuff live this ) but it ended up being just the crew for dinner in Paris.  After dinner it was time to get ready for that night’s excitement.  We met up with the guys who were there for a bachelor’s party—one of which is the quarterback for the University of Utah and in some college video game!  They were really fun and didn’t let us go thirsty!  After walking and taking a ton of pictures on the way to the Bellagio, we talked them into getting us a Lincoln to take us to the club instead of walking more (there were lines for taxis).  We headed to the Forty Duce Club at Mandalay Bay.  The girls got in free and the boys had to pay $20 each—a nice perk for being a lady ;o).  The club epitomized Vegas.  There was a stage with a live band and showgirls dancing and bending in ways my body doesn’t move. After the guys had a little too much to drink, Megan and I headed back to our hotel alone.

And any detail I left out is staying true to Vegas’s motto:  What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

The definition of luxury travel has certainly evolved over time. This vintage ad for Greyhound references air conditioning as an improved feature! (Although on some buses in Southeast Asia, air conditioning is still a luxury!) While most today wouldn’t necessarily associate “luxury” with a bus company, Greyhound is changing that. They’re transforming the image of traveling by bus with the launch of a new fleet that I like to refer to as the JetBlue of buses. Being a big advocate of Greyhound’s BoltBus line, I was thrilled to see the same model rolled out for the Greyhound brand too. These buses have leather seats, more legroom (enough to comfortably use a laptop), plugs (no need to worry about battery life), wifi (yes, wifi on a traveling bus and it works!), greener features (yay for the earth!) and even extra safety components.

This past weekend I got to see it for myself on a complimentary trip down to Atlantic City to check out the Lucky Streak service from Greyhound as part of a special blogger ‘familiarization’ program. I’m never one to turn down a free trip and I’m really glad that I got to be a part of this one. Not only did we get VIP treatment from Greyhound, we also got such indulgences like a cocktail reception and money to spend shopping and gambling from Tropicana, a free night at the Hilton, and an hour massage at Bally’s spa (and even another free night at Bally’s for a return trip!).

Hanging with CEO Dave Leach (right) and COO Bill Blankenship

In the midst of all of this special treatment, two things stand out. One, that was an amazing Swedish massage. I recommend asking for Eric at Bally’s. Magic hands. Two, after having a chance to get to know Greyhound as a company and the people behind it, I’m definitely a fan. Not only were there two fab marketing gals to help make the trip go smoother, the CEO Dave Leach and the COO Bill Blankenship joined us on the bus ride down and at the cocktail reception. I also have to give a shout-out to Leon, our fantastic driver who navigated us safely through snow on the way back to NYC. Watch this video to hear what Dave and Bill have to say about the new bus line service, their own stories and why bus travel is the way to go:

Want to check it out for yourself? The Lucky Streak service is only $35 round trip, with an open return ticket (just in case you lose all your money and want to return home sooner or by chance, are winning and want to stay longer). The best part is that some of the partner hotels will give you some free money to play at their hotels…so it’s kinda like a free trip any time! The buses literally drop you off at these terminals that have walkways right into the lobbies which is more than convenient, especially when it’s cold outside!

I’m not a big gambler, but Lucky Streak is a sure bet for a great ride down to Atlantic City!

About Lucky Streak® and Greyhound

Greyhound’s Lucky Streak service is the company’s most popular U.S. route, with more than 1.6 million passengers annually.  Buses depart theNew York Port Authority Bus Terminal for Atlantic City every half-hour, with additional departures on weekends. Lucky Streak provides front-door service from New York City to select Atlantic City boardwalk casinos, with an open return ticket that allows riders to return within 30 days from the same location.  Passengers receive discounts and special deals from partner Atlantic City casinos. To learn more about the Lucky Streakbus route and offerings, please visit www.luckystreakbus.com.

Our bus driver, Leon. He's been with Greyhound for over 30 years!

Founded in 1914, Greyhound is the largest North American provider of intercity bus transportation, serving more than 3,700 destinations across the continent.

Links

• Greyhound: http://www.greyhound.com/
• Lucky Streak Service: http://www.luckystreakbus.com/
• Greyhound Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreyhoundBus
• BoltBus: http://www.boltbus.com/
• BoltBus Twitter: http://twitter.com/boltbus
• See more vintage ads from Greyhound on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/Greyhound_Bus
• #LuckyStreak chatter: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23luckystreak

For more videos and photos from the trip, visit the newly launched fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HelensTravelCorner

Have you ridden a bus lately? Share with a comment below!

ExperienceLess from trourist on Vimeo.

Last summer four friends from trourist decided to embark on a 33 day journey with one mission in mind: ignite the ExperienceLess movement. What exactly is ‘experienceless’? The guys describe their newly coined term as one that embodies the person ‘who travel[s] to live destinations, not visit them.’ It’s a new spin on the old dialogue of authenticity and travel (eh hem, my own post on the difference of a traveler and tourist can be read here.)

The four friends covered Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Istanbul and Barcelona in a motorhome. Along the way, they documented their adventures with a blog and videos. In each city, they would sit and hold a sign that reads: “Help! I’m ExperienceLess. I don’t want to visit your city, I want to live it. Thanks.” The goal was to capture a local’s attention and have that person show the ExperienceLess guys the “real” side to the city they were in.

On their blog, they looked back on the trip and shared,

Admittedly, there were people who when they saw us understood nothing. Others observed us with indifference. Generally speaking, though, we were quite pleased with the hospitality shown. People gave their time and interest so that we could walk away from their cities with more than just mute stares from historical buildings and museums.

While the trip ended last summer, the movement lives on with guest travel bloggers and those who seek more than the surface experience of the place they visit. I for one, think ExperienceLess embodies a wonderful idea and hope that it continues to live on for years to come. Remember next time you step foot in another city to seek out the ExperienceLess and ‘live those experiences hidden to anyone traveling as a tourist… get to know cities with the help of others and enlist the participation of its people.”

For the ExperienceLess Flickr photos, click here.

For the ExperienceLess Vimeo videos, click here.

The same guys are behind trourist, a travel network that embodies much of the same ideology of being more than just tourists at destinations. The interface is sleek and user-friendly…I really like it. It could be the Yelp of cities, just a little more Euro-centric. I often find myself using Couchsurfing as a source to find information about cities, namely because it’s locals and travelers alike that share information on the message boards, but I can definitely see how trourist can be helpful in evaluating a place from people who share the same spirit of travel. I looked up New York and found this Experience titled ‘Horns’: “The truth is that besides the smell, there’s also a peculiar sound to New York, the hornos of the cars, specially taxi’s. It’s almost like a backrground sound, even music. Take notice of it while in any street of New York. If a Taxi does not horn you, you are not a newyorker!!!” I’d say that’s pretty accurate . For other experiences found on trourist, check them out for yourself here trourist.

I had to laugh when I was going back through photos and read the taxi sign in this one: ‘Complicating divorce proceedings since 1971.’ It somehow seems fitting for NYC!