Sure.
I'll use NJC as an example.
Figure I arrive at noon on Day 1.
12pm - 3pm - Deal with the absurdity of tourists trying to navigate the LAS airport, figure out the rental car shuttle, rent a car (what? I need a driver's license and credit card out?) and then navigate the strip.
3pm-4pm - check in. Stand in line FOREVER waiting for all the once a year travelers to try to charm their way into an upgrade. Get to the front of the line, get treated like crap until they see I'm actually a Platinum (back to gold now... sniff) member (if it's a Marriott property) and then magically everything is ok. Spend 15 minutes fighting my way through casino traffic to get to the elevators, listen to bad music and ads for terrible stage shows on the elevator up, get into my room and admire the view out the window.
4pm-7pm - Go find where everybody else is hanging out. Fight strip traffic to get there. Remember that some of my best friends in the world I've met through this website. Make awkward introductions to people I haven't met yet. Remember that I am actually a pretty good judge of character through interweb posts. Watch the lightweights and crazy ones create a scene at 5pm (Jake!).
7pm-9pm - Spend a long, long time trying to figure out what everybody is doing for dinner, start heading in a direction, lose people to various slot machines, craps tables and strip clubs. Eventually find a place to eat crappy, overpriced food, but with good company. Rehash the same old jokes that get told every year (@
IrishSheepdog being a climbing monkey, @
Seggy being an "international" pilot etc).
9pm-1am - Hang out with people at some location (9FI, Beer Garden etc). Strain my voice trying to talk over the noise and smoke. Catch up with people I haven't seen forever. Watch really drunk people stumble by. Realize really drunk people are with our group.
1am-7am - Fight crowds on the strip back to my hotel, turn off notifications on the GroupMe app so I don't hear the constant beeping as parts of the group go get into trouble for the night, sleep.
7am-9am - Gym. People watch while lifting. See WAY too much spandex and flab.
9am-2pm - Go hiking at Red Rocks with about 1/3rd of the people who said they were coming. Breath the fresh and enjoy walking around without illegal immigrants trying to hand you escort cards every 10 feet.
3pm-7pm - Meet up with friends for dinner. Catch up (@
jtrain609 and @MikeD... best part of the trip for me this last year. Thanks guys). Watch old ladies get really drunk on margaritas.
7pm-1am - Hang out at the main event. Talk about flying stuff with people I don't know. Talk about non flying stuff with people I do know. Mentally cull the herd between those that know how to network and those that just know how to drink.
Escape as the police show up.
Walking back to my hotel at 1am, fighting masses of tourists on the strip, escort card people, bright neon lights and traffic, choking on the dust and smoke in the air, realize I've had enough and that I'm ready to go home.
And, upon checking my work, I see it was actually 37 hours, not 36 hours before I came to that conclusion.
