The New York Times brings us their list of 44 Travel Destinations not to be missed in 2009. It’s quite an interesting mixture of places and you can easily filter the list by categories, so if you’re interested in visiting a place known for its food, its culture or its family friendliness you can pick accordingly. Travel in general is definitely something I’ll be writing about on the Trek Life blog and the list is interesting enough that I was just about to blog about it anyways. But, what started out as just a ‘check out this link’ blog post turned into what you’re about to read when I came across the following…
Take a look at the ‘Party’ category.
While I can’t speak to the nightlife of Beirut, Kazakhstan, and Reykjavik, I’d certainly love to check them out and it’s good to know there’s quite the scene going on. While I was looking at the Party category I happened to notice that Las Vegas wasn’t highlighted and didn’t make the official ‘Party Town’ cut. Fair enough, I thought, maybe they’re trying to avoid the obvious.
But…
The one category they did place Vegas in? Frugal. It’s not just in the Frugal category, it’s the ‘Top Destination’ in that category. To make sure I wasn’t crazy, I found this definition online:
Fru´gal
1. Economical in the use or appropriation of resources; not wasteful or lavish; wise in the expenditure or application of force, materials, time, etc.; characterized by frugality; sparing; economical; saving;
While I’ve only been to Vegas once, it only took me about 20 minutes to figure out the following:
1.) It’s easy to spend or lose a lot of money. Even if gambling isn’t your thing you’re still surrounded by a million forms of entertainment that cost money. The exception being that if you’re like me you only win money at casinos, but hey, I’m talking to the masses here. ;)
2.) The entire city itself represents an enormous excess of wealth, energy and lavishness. Sure, it’s easy to ignore it when you’re having fun and maybe you’re just feeling lucky enough to be in such a place, but it’s impossible to deny.
3.) The city practically wakes you up in your hotel room, stops you as you’re walking down the street and begs you to party the whole time you’re there. There’s a reason it’s called Sin City, right?
So, while the New York Times is probably referring to the ability to get some cheap lodging, $3.99 buffets, and free drinks, someone on the editorial staff needs to brush up on the meaning of ‘Frugal’. I guess ‘Excellent Fun To Cost Ratio (If You Spend Your Money Wisely And Don’t Stay Too Long)’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
link: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/11/travel/20090111_DESTINATIONS.html?hp