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| - I've been told that casinos in Las Vegas are designed to make you disoriented and confused, starved of sunlight and the natural rhythms of time so as to keep you wandering without aim or even awareness of the world outside. Well, leave it to the fine people of Las Vegas to bring those very same design principles to McCarran International Airport.
Yes, this place is disorienting, noisy, dank, and run-through with a mild seediness that reminds you of the city it serves. The hallways are dark and carpeted in a pattern reminiscent of Superfly's tie or Edith Bunker's chair. The airport is now smoke-free, but the air (somehow) isn't yet so. And, of course, the noise of slot machines fills the hallways, even if half of them seem to be out of order.
But the high rolling unpleasantness of the airport was to be found in the "Directory", which was just as disorienting as the ambiance. I tried to find a place to get a beer and pass the time. But a few of the bars and restaurants listed in the directory were no where to be found, neither on the map associated with the directory or in the airport itself. And then there were at least a few venues that actually did exist, but that didn't appear in the directory. (See my two photos, one of which shows a sports bar ("Home Team Sports") with the directory in the foreground, and the other of which shows the listing on that very same directory, where the bar is nowhere to be found.) Sure, things like this are hard to keep up-to-date. But this particular bar proudly proclaims that it was established in 2010!
McCarran needs a makeover.
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