Las Vegas, Nevada | 2025: Vegas Baby!

Due to a great situation, I was able to go to Las Vegas, Nevada, for almost nothing! I will not be posting photos of myself or the people I went with, although they really were the whole reason I enjoyed the trip. As the homeless man outside of Burger King once told me, it's about the people, not the places!

After experiencing the most turbulence I have ever felt, we landed. It was fun figuring out how to navigate the airport and seeing the sheer number of people entering town. The last time I saw that many people was easily before COVID. After one of my friends got into a slight verbal disagreement with the Uber driver, we went to the best Italian restaurant… Buca di Beppo. The food was a solid 6/10, but I was so hungry that it didn’t matter. We had enough leftovers for the weekend, although we ate almost none of them.



Instead of driving to the hotel, we opted to walk down the strip. On the way, we were yelled at by multiple homeless people, and we even had a guy sitting on the curb telling us to have a great night. I hope he is doing well. After we made it to the hotel room, we opened the blinds and saw the sphere. It was insane to see in person, and the size was incomprehensible.



After exploring the inside of the hotel, we walked around the strip until very late. We got some drinks from CVS and ended up with a large group in our tiny hotel room. We were about ten deep, and someone knocked on our door, probably a noise complaint. We opened the door, and no one was there. After settling down, we heard another knock, and yet again, no person. This continued for a while until we finally saw someone opening their door. We asked, “You want some shots?” and got a hell yeah back.



By the end of the night, we had fourteen people in our hotel room, and it was getting deafeningly loud. We ended up splitting up again and tried our hand at gambling. If I remember correctly, I went to sleep at about 2 AM. The following morning, I made it a point to go out and buy food and water as early as possible to prevent getting a migraine.



We spent time in the pool as a group, which was quite nasty but really fun. The heat was brutal, and we returned to the hotel room to check out some conferences. A group presented a virtual reality (VR) project, but they knew little about the simulation as they didn’t make it, and their research was more of a project to show that people could use VR for training. Many people’s posters had tons of errors, which was quite surprising, but to be fair, my class load focused more on the research side of psychology.



Someone from our group was dying to check out some of the other hotels, so we spent time checking out the cool exhibits and designs. The overall architecture and size of the buildings are incredible, and it was easy to forget how deep you were in a building. Along the way back to the hotel room, we tried to take a shortcut through another hotel. This was a mistake. We had walked for about 10 minutes only to find out we were completely lost and had to return. The problem was, when we tried to go back, we ended up in a completely random spot. This led us to try to cut through with Google Maps, and we walked around for another 10-15 minutes. When we got up the escalator, we were right back in the middle of the hotel. It took us an embarrassing amount of time to make it outside.



Afterwards, I met up with another group and hung out with them in their room before hitting the slot machines. I put in about $20 and thought it would be a good idea to go big or go home. It took about 10 minutes for me to lose all my money. I ended up splitting off and tucking in for the night, again at about 3 AM. By about 6:30 AM, I was awake and needed to prepare for our presentation. I attended a conference talk that was well done. As a group, we got coffee and ate some food before presenting. It was a little nerve-racking at first, but in the end, I realized that I was knowledgeable about our project and there was almost nothing anyone could ask to throw me off. We had some people genuinely interested, inspiring people like that was really cool.

After the conference, we attended our professor's talk and left for our flight. This was the first time I had traveled without family, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know some of my peers better. Definitely had a great time!

Idyllwild, California | 2022: Boys Trip

After driving up the windy road to get there, we ended up in the small town of Idyllwild. We checked into our hotel, and after unpacking, went to hit the town. Due to COVID, many buildings were either vacant or recently opened. The townsfolk were all very nice, and we spent several hours walking around. We met the gas station owner, who recommended that we get some milk and cookies to enjoy in the cool weather. We stayed outside until late at night and hung out in the newly built park.



Although the timeline is foggy, at some point, we met Leatherman Mike, whom we nicknamed Killer Mike. He was a little standoffish at first, but after some great conversation, he opened up about his past. We departed after talking to him about his tepee tent and all the secret fishing holes hidden throughout the mountains. I wish I still had the locations.


An example of our wonderful meals

On the second night, we decided to walk down Strawberry Creek from the bridge. It was getting dark, but it was still quite clear. After making it past the many homes, sneaking through the brush and hoping we wouldn’t stumble into a bad situation, we made it to a dirt path. It was pitch black out. The path had no “No Trespassing" signs, so we decided to walk along it. We saw some lights coming towards us, and by that point, we had already been seen. As they came closer, we got a smile and a wave; they were Boy Scouts.

Soon after walking past them came the real test, a group of about 20-30, all coming down the hill. Instead of going off to the side, we decided to go straight through the crowd and pass right by them. One scout stopped and asked us where the Cracker Barrel was, We said we weren’t sure and kept moving. Armed with this new information, we ended up talking to one of the scouts and asked him where the Cracker Barrel was. By the main building.

After using the restroom and exploring the campsite, we went to the main building. After posting up and blending in by talking at one of the tables, we checked out the Cracker Barrel. The entire event building was packed, and many of the scouts were dancing. After getting bored, we decided just to walk out the main gate. I went to sleep early that night after feeling like throwing up. The following morning, we headed out.

2020: Puerto Rico

This story starts a few weeks before we even left. After being sick for almost a month and seeing a doctor, I was told I would likely be good enough to go on the vacation. I was hesitant to go, but ultimately went with the doctor's advice. That decision was a huge mistake. On the plane, my ears were plugged, and the pressure was so uncomfortable. I was genuinely concerned they would rupture. In the end I made it but was still feeling unwell.



When we arrived, it was late, and we had to get a taxi across the island. It was a fun drive, and it was cool to see the road structure of another country. The billboards were different, and the vegetation was unique and completely green. The first few days, I opted to stay inside as I couldn’t hear properly out of either of my ears. The view from my room was incredible. Luckily, my phone had a COD mobile, and I was seriously invested in it. After farming the newly released zombies mode, I went with my family to see the main city, San Juan.



The town was vibrant and filled with people and tourists. After a much-needed drink, we went window shopping. The stores were typical, but the people-watching was great. After we checked out the fortress, the following day, we went on a small boat trip when I was not feeling well.



The water was glistening, but I couldn’t focus on it because of my nausea. I was given the opportunity to briefly swim, which helped with my nausea. When in the water, it was really clear with lots of corals beneath us. After throwing up over the boat's edge, we started to make our way to a little island. Something fun happened on the island, but I’ll leave that story for another day. Later, we made it back to the main island and ended up leaving the following day. Overall, it was a great experience, but I wish I could have felt better!