Dude, the extra screen is a dead giveaway. Him stating "just to check my stock portfolio" is as red flag as it gets. I have never been stopped for a laptop.
Las Vegas is dying
- Thread starter Phil C. McNasty
- Start date
A guy with an extra screen can be on vacation and just wants to check his portfolio for an hour at market open in the morning. While it may be true that the hour checking his portfolio might well make the equivalent of a weeks salary of the $75k/yr. border guard. It is not the same as a guy going across to work construction for the summer. Knowing that the extra screen may be a red flag, if I go to the states, I will have to stay at hotels with business centers where they can provide me with the extra screen. I do not think the border guard was concerned with protecting the economic security of his country.
The cost to get into the Sphere is $50-$200. Get the cheap seats, the expensive seats are not that much better.
The Sphere is in deep shit.
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Dude. Like I said. It's a red flag. To ANY border guard. But they take that shit serious at the US border.
You are right, the VAST majority of the population make that money per year. So yes, when someone is travelling with 2 screens ITS FOR WORK. Cripes that is just so arrogant to think that while on vacation, to check on things, you need two screens. For one hour. And assume everyone will automatically believe you.
Do you realize how myopic and self involved and lacking in common sense that is?
A traveling SP going to a convention in Vegas to make money is taking money out of the USA when she returns to Canada. A guy going across with a work truck full of tools to do a renovation is taking away jobs from Americans. These two do not pay taxes in the states. A guy on vacation watching his portfolio is not taking any money out of the American economy. The border guard that has refused entry
to the high value tourist has robbed the economy of his own country of economic gain.
to the high value tourist has robbed the economy of his own country of economic gain.
It's not what he is doing, it's what the guard perceives he is doing. That is his job. The second screen is a red flag just as much as a pickup filled with tools, or an SP with a list of clients.
He doesn't know, unless your friend wants to show the guard his portfolio, what he does. And why should he believe him. To the guard, it's a dude with lots of business equipment, heading south. Your friend wear suits? Second red flag. Staying at a business traveler type hotel as opposed to a resort? Another. Flying to a city like New York? Another. Even Vegas? Convention on? Red flag.
Do you get it now?
I spent my vacation money in Europe. The Euro is more than the US dollar, it's not the exchange rate that is keeping me from visiting America.
Vegas? Why? Just take a walk on the beach, a hike in the hills or mountains. All the the thrills you'll need. Bonus: you get to breathe. And deeply, too.
I think the border guard just took a look at the man, his car, total package and appearance and seized on the excuse that he may be working while on vacation. This same guy that has been on trips by air to NY, Las Vegas, LA and San Francisco has entered the country with his extra screen without incident many times previously.
An SP going south to work a convention or a guy doing renovations in the states would be taking money out of the country, taking jobs and not paying taxes. Where as this guy on vacation, even if he is trading while in country will not be taking any money back to Canada when he returns and will be paying taxes and contributing to the economy.
FYI - Do not be fooled by the web sites and brochures on Las Vegas. Not much to do outside LV except Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. If there are minor attractions outside LV that you might be interested in, the summer heat will fry you and the winter months will drop to 4 to 8C and these places are deserted.
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Too many casinos nationally, too many casino hotel rooms.
You can now place a bet on a game from your phone.
Legalized sports betting was the exclusive domain of Las Vegas for many decades.
Of course, casinos' fortunes swing with economic cycles as well.
You can now place a bet on a game from your phone.
Legalized sports betting was the exclusive domain of Las Vegas for many decades.
Of course, casinos' fortunes swing with economic cycles as well.
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Once upon a time it was a great value, tons of shows, and cheap food. Went in 2023 for Christmas and will never go back again, buffet @ MGM for breakfast was $75 USD each, shows double the cost from a year prior, etc. I do not gamble and with Trump we now head to EU or Asia, better value and again with the current reality in the US I will never step foot there again.
I was in Vegas since I last posted in this thread, and did a lot of walking around.
The original article, like everything in the media, is sensationalized.
Foot traffic is way down in the lower-end parts of the strip, but not down at all in the upscale areas.
Table minimums are up and water is indeed $6 a bottle.
So the trend toward marketing to the upscale is accelerating. They will close the lower-end and convert it to something designed to appeal to wealthy consumers.
Saw one or two homeless. The one guy has been in the same begging place for years and has the same dog. Both he and the dog seem to be doing well. They are in the true upper echelon of man and dog beggars.
I heard a guy exiting Uber tell others to not go downtown, it is nuts there. So I suspect most of Jalimon’s homeless are there.
Saw two ladies. Both were good, but not as good as the two ladies I did reports on for Toronto even though they were much more expensive than the Toronto ladies. But they were cute girls who were GFE. It was just fine.
Bottom line, don’t go to Vegas if you are Canadian, but cut out some of this sensationalist shit. You will have a good time if you go to Vegas, but it isn’t worth the money compared to less expensive alternatives for gambling, girls and tourism at places outside of the U.S.
The U.S. in general just doesn’t have that much to offer Canadians other than the opportunity to make more money doing the same work. That is the only good thing about the U.S. Everything else is better outside of the U.S.
And Americans get grilled by Canadian Border Patrol about working in Canada, and they search phones and laptops occasionally, too. So you purge your history when it comes to Terb and Merb. And if you aren’t coming to work, you don’t bring work paraphernalia. They want to know why a guy is taking such a short trip, and you say you had a couple of hotel free night certificates, not a week‘s worth, if you are indeed using hotel free night certificates. You don’t lie, or they will refuse you entry. But you get grilled like one out of every 50 times, so there is an element of simple bad luck involved. And usually more to the story when those bad stories are told.
The original article, like everything in the media, is sensationalized.
Foot traffic is way down in the lower-end parts of the strip, but not down at all in the upscale areas.
Table minimums are up and water is indeed $6 a bottle.
So the trend toward marketing to the upscale is accelerating. They will close the lower-end and convert it to something designed to appeal to wealthy consumers.
Saw one or two homeless. The one guy has been in the same begging place for years and has the same dog. Both he and the dog seem to be doing well. They are in the true upper echelon of man and dog beggars.
I heard a guy exiting Uber tell others to not go downtown, it is nuts there. So I suspect most of Jalimon’s homeless are there.
Saw two ladies. Both were good, but not as good as the two ladies I did reports on for Toronto even though they were much more expensive than the Toronto ladies. But they were cute girls who were GFE. It was just fine.
Bottom line, don’t go to Vegas if you are Canadian, but cut out some of this sensationalist shit. You will have a good time if you go to Vegas, but it isn’t worth the money compared to less expensive alternatives for gambling, girls and tourism at places outside of the U.S.
The U.S. in general just doesn’t have that much to offer Canadians other than the opportunity to make more money doing the same work. That is the only good thing about the U.S. Everything else is better outside of the U.S.
And Americans get grilled by Canadian Border Patrol about working in Canada, and they search phones and laptops occasionally, too. So you purge your history when it comes to Terb and Merb. And if you aren’t coming to work, you don’t bring work paraphernalia. They want to know why a guy is taking such a short trip, and you say you had a couple of hotel free night certificates, not a week‘s worth, if you are indeed using hotel free night certificates. You don’t lie, or they will refuse you entry. But you get grilled like one out of every 50 times, so there is an element of simple bad luck involved. And usually more to the story when those bad stories are told.
While all this talk about border patrols isn't really the point of this thread, I think it is important to realize that when you cross an international border, you lose basically all your rights.
Border guards in Canada and the US can strip search you, tear your car apart, and look at all the documents and files on your phone or laptop. They have more power than the police, and can certainly deny you entry based solely on how they feel about you or the way you look. My advice is to never lie to them, declare goods if you shopped, and obviously do not bring drugs or fruits/vegetables over the border...
Border guards in Canada and the US can strip search you, tear your car apart, and look at all the documents and files on your phone or laptop. They have more power than the police, and can certainly deny you entry based solely on how they feel about you or the way you look. My advice is to never lie to them, declare goods if you shopped, and obviously do not bring drugs or fruits/vegetables over the border...
You are thinking just Toronto to start.
It's only a few hours for anyone Manitoba and West.
Even Toronto it's 4 1/2 to 5 hours. Europe is minimum 7 to Gatwick, so 9 to the Continent.
Obviously language.
But more importantly it was a cheaper weekend. I once booked last minute(as in 1am on the flight at 7 am) for four night with flight, for 375 CAD. Then add on a variety of food options with cheap and expensive. Themed hotels, good shows, meeting tons of interesting people on tables. And yes the "cheese" and excess that Vegas would display. All hedonism 24 hours a day.
I once got up in the middle of the night, and needed an OJ. I just put a robe on at 4am, went down in Pajamas. And saw a lady in her robe solo at a BJ table. So I laughed and joined her. We both played for an hour, I had two Screwdrivers. Hot run of cards and we are both up $200+ playing 10 buck blackjack.
Great conversation. Both called it quits, and went back to sleep. That's the magic of Vegas. An anything can happen atmosphere.
And Europe has a shit ton of low class as well. Tons of history mind. And yes I'm travelling there as well.
But I miss going during Football season, laying bets, watching in the sportsbook, or at a BJ table with the games on, commiserating with other betters.
What we don't understand is why can't both exist? Places like Wynn, Encode, Resorts World, Bellagio, Ceasers, and the Venetian all have a high end experience. Why not have a mid to low tier? Rooms, buffets, restaurants and shows, extract that 2000 per head times a million as well?
This is private equity squeezing every penny. Hurting 1000's of workers(tips are WAY down) which transfers to all the support services.
I hear you, and you nailed it with private equity. And publicly-traded entities with high stock prices and high expectations of even higher stock prices.
The dirty secret is that many of the same entities own the high-end places and the low-end places. They bought the low-end places to keep competitors from expanding, and they put just enough money in them to avoid the liability of having them collapse and kill people. They feel the money will be made off high-income folks, and that is where they place their attention.
We are lucky to have lived when we did. On one of my walks, a drunk chick in her 20s-30s lost her dress and was walking around in her bra and panties. Like a great number of low-income folks, she was overweight. It was not a desirable spectacle. A couple of decades ago, everyone would have cheered and had fun. Most of the guys, including me, quickly took a detour.
How about the Canadians fix things? The West is great, and I disagree about only the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon being nearby. Death Valley is awesome, as is Bryce and Zion in southern Utah, and the slot canyons in the nearby tri-state area.
But I would think that Canada has similar attractions in its West. Can you guys pick a place and develop a Vegas for middle-income and middle-class folks?
Ya can't just create Vegas. It took a hundred years to get there. At least 3 "heydays" of expansion.
Not mention driving distance for many Americans. We could at best maybe do a Reno. But that already exists. Honestly if Reno had direct flights it could replace that market and see a steady expansion of its properties like Vegas did in the 80's.
I’m glad you’ve had this experience, and most Canadians got the same friendly reception over the years. Then Trump stared spouting off.
Has anyone here who’s been to Vegas recently has any bad experiences as a Canadian?
A buddy and his wife had a winter place in Arizona for years and drove to Vegas regularly. They had great neighbours and made some good friends. Last winter it all changed. Cars with MAGA flags would see their Canadian licence plate at a gas station and scream obscenities, a couple of times when they had their grandkids with them. Grocery stores and restaurants became uncomfortable because some jerk always seemed to say something, and even some guys he played golf with turned into assholes. Some of the American friends were appalled by it all and could not have been more apologetic, but buddy and his wife just hated it and sold the place. It killed them to do it, they loved it down there, but I doubt they’ll ever go back. They understand Americans better than most people I know and say that in hindsight they could see it coming. All the hatred, racism and Christian nationalism won’t just go away when Trump finally kicks off. That poisonous genie is out of the lantern.
I wonder if Vegas is a bit different because it’s so dependant on tourism? I guess the average guy on the street doesn’t know where people are from, but his job is likely tied somehow to them being there.
The last time I went down with my wife in the previous Trump years we ran into an Uber driver who was a MAGA and would not shut up about politics. I also ran into a few on the tables on various runs down there.
They now feel they feel license to spout off. And really they do. It's why I'm done for now. But I also have several friends down there who support me in this, and apologize whenever we talk.
I just hope I Dont have to sponsor them......
This has always been the case. Even when I was a kid 40 years ago we were all told to not fuck around at the border. They can do whatever they want if you aren’t a citizen of the place you are visiting. That has always included searching your car, your computers, everything.
Everyone is trying to spin this into an anti-Trump message but the US border has always been a difficult one to cross if you have something to hide.
They can do anything they want even if YOU are a citizen. The constitution gets suspended to an extent, because they can search you without probable cause or a warrant. They can detain you for a long period of time, and no lawyer can get you out. What i mean by this for example: if they suspect you swallowed a balloon full of drugs, they will make you wait until you shit them out. The will not give you a laxative, they'll just wait for nature to take its course. They have a special toilet where some unlucky person can go through your shit to find contraband...
You are also correct, this has been the practice forever. However, where it becomes anti-Trump is when border agents see an anti-Trump post and use that as a basis to deny entry. That is a bridge too far in my opinion, and shows that America isn't really the haven for free speech they love to pretend it is...
