Travel Virus

Last week I attended the InfoVis conference, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The small city is a local tourist attraction for the many casinos along the Boardwalk, a long walking street on the beach side (see the pic).

There is no comparison with Las Vegas, but its peculiarity is the location on the sandy beaches. I was staying in Bally’s hotel (in the picture), which is one of the tallest hotel in the city. Others are more scenic, such as the Wild West and the TajMahal.

The conference was held inside the hotel, and just above the casino! Strange…

Lots of opportunities for shopping of all kind, from absolute kitsch & cheap, to high class brands like Guess, Armani, CK, etc.

My favorite part was to see the old grandmas in pinky cloths, going around the slot machines with their power chairs or walkers (deambulatore, in italiano) and gamling!! So cool! I wonder what my grandma would do in a casino ah ah!

Other attractions? walking on the beach, there is also a light house and an aquarium. I was indeed planning to visit the aquarium but the night I arrived a man was found dead, shot by six bullets, just nearby… so I didn’t get very far from the hotel.

Getting a taxi has also been not very pleasant… the first taxi driver told me “it’s going to be 13 $”. And I was thinking… they used to use meters in this country since very long time!! Where is this guy from? I arrive at the hotel and the meter says 7.80$: I give him 20 (didn’t have anything smaller) and he give me back 10…

Second attempt: I got a more friendly haitian driver, noel, with very fancy hairstyle; too bad he hasn’t been a driver for long, just got this job after loosing his previous one because of the recession. consequence: he doesn’t know the way around and can’t really drive on wet pavement… and the car spins half round, just near the wall! Thanks god there were no other cars near us.

Altogether, it’s an ok city, not my favorite in the united states. At least now I know why it was not on my US travel guide…