From Reykjavik to The Meadows

 

From Reykjavik to The Meadows

My Lady and I were unable to go on a hoped-for vacation to Belize due to hurricane season and her limited finances but I needed a spontaneous getaway nevertheless, using the opportunities retirement affords me.

 I came across a news blip that talked about Play Airline’s cut-rate flights to Europe thru Reykjavik, Iceland from Stewart Airport, a convenient location to me. Round-trip to Iceland was under $400.! Wouldn’t THAT be off the usual beaten path of adventures!

 My Manhattan-dwelling brother is reluctant to travel, to his partner’s regret, and seven years ago she and I had traveled to Cancun with his approval. She is intrigued by all things Scandinavian, so I gave her a call and got a fully positive response, and we exchanged links and downloaded information and schedules all day. The nearest volcano and closest glacier were each only 60 miles (in kilometers) away, and car rentals were comparable to American! And there are natural hot springs, and a spot where the Mid-Atlantic Tectonic Plates are breaking apart!

 The plan ended the next day after she injured her knee, and realized that her organization would shortly be entering busy season. Such are life’s disappointments.

 I was scheduled a visit my old college chum, The Green Man, at his home in Albany later that week, and enjoyed the road trip and chatting and catching up with him on his porch and at the pub where we went to eat. He had recently gone to a wedding in France and expressed interest in doing more travel, to add a check mark to the visitation of another State. After some cell-phone searches for trips originating at his local Albany Airport, we found a natural incentive for two Olde Guys:  a round-trip two-hopper to Las Vegas – Spanish for “The Meadows” – for only $475! Can we find a package deal including a room? The next day, Verde discovered that his mother-in-law had a Wyndham time share available, and the year’s credits would be running out at the month’s end. Our schedules would allow us a four-day adventure!

 A quick pivot, lock that puppy in, yeah! Par-tay!

So we did this thing, even though we had never previously travelled together, and it was good. The Meadows are an adult playground dedicated to separating your money from you, but they provide fine entertainments beside gambling (which we did not) in exchange. Walking down the Strip, dodging hustling street performers, eating a great jambalaya in a sports bar while watching the last quarter of the Raiders – Steelers game that was playing live three-quarters of a mile away! Exploring the two blocks of Old Las Vegas, Fremont Street, domed over and offering a zip-line down the street’s length above curio shops and gambling dens! Wandering through Meow Wolf, a surrealistic and psychedelic warehouse-sized experience of disorienting objects and light, visual effects and curious environments, and a mystery, if you care to solve it! Who needs drugs?

 On the last day we got tickets for the Cirque du Soleil “Beatles Love” performance at the Mirage hotel. A fine indoor amphitheater, and they upgraded the location of our seating. A magnificent show, blending the Fab Four’s songs in a full-bodied mashup while fabulous athletes interpreted the music along with the effects of high technologies, and counter-cultural, nostalgia-inspiring, props. A spectacle WELL-worth the $80.admission. After that, a very tasty meal at a Vietnamese restaurant, now let’s prepare for the flights back.

Which included a broken plane in Detroit.

Travel, can’t help but expand one’s horizons. And companionship is always a good thing, adding a measure of security and choice-making to the expedition.

 And Reykjavik will still be there in the Spring, when the Aurorae flicker in the Icelandic skies.