Traveler Introverted: Welcome To Vegas!

By Kariba Lang

We boarded the flight quickly to begin our long journey to Las Vegas. It was October in 2017. This was going to be our first annual group cosplay event. I was nervous. As always, Jason was just fine and ready for festivities. He’s always ready, he’s #DrinkBae. His primary function is to ensure that people are buzzed enough to let their guard down but still hyped enough to partake in antics that he’ll enjoy. He is also my handler. He makes sure that I’m safe, fed, and hydrated. He guarantees that my alter ego won’t hijack my body and lead me into a dimly lit deserted alley because that’s what handlers do.

Our flight went through a multiple levels of evolution. Phase one was the realization that it was going to be a long flight. Phase two was where we speculated about what would happen during our visit. Phase three was the reality of our remaining flight time, thereby prompting Jason to buy us some buzz balls, and semi turn up with some white ladies in the middle of the exit row aisles. Everything I state, comes with pictures. Phase four was us looking for ways to kill time, which led us to attempting to solve riddles on the back of laffy taffy wrappers. Phase five, was when we experience a surge of energy about landing. In phase six, I remembered that I was about to lodge with strangers for the first time in my life…anxiety.

Though, our villa check-in wasn’t until the next day, Jason and I came into town a day early. We checked into the Circus Circus hotel. It was by no means glamorous. There were actually two parts to the hotel. One part was the main building, and the other part was in the back. The hotel staff considered them trailers, and expressed how outdated they were, in an effort to up-sell us to the main building, at an additional cost. It worked. We ended up staying in the main building.

A few Detroit group members had made their way into town, and we met up with them for store runs. I was exhausted from the flight. When I made it back to the room, I went to sleep for the night. The time zone change had me trippin’.

On Friday afternoon, Jason and I went to meet with the property owner of the villa we would be staying in. We arrived at the gate of the property, and watched as the automated gate slid open from right to left. The villa was opulent. We walked into the foyer of the sprawling property, dazed by the beauty of the architectural structure and decor.

As we toured the property, we were pleased with the decision we had made to rent it. After the tour was complete, the property manager went over a few rules. They were standard rules (i.e. don’t destroy the property, keep the noise low). Then he let us in on a rule that changed our entire perspective of the weekend.

Apparently the property owner was in the throws of an ongoing war with the other property owners in the neighborhood. They didn’t appreciate him using the property as a means of income, and therefore, made a case for him to have the wall removed from his compound. The homeowners were making an additional case though. They had been taking pictures of vehicles in and out of the property, to prove that our property owner was in violation of the amended HOA rules against utilizing the property for residual income.

The property owner told Jason and I that we had to pretend that we were family or friends of his, if a neighbor asked. Jason and I shook our head in agreement but our heads were spinning with the new information. The owner stated that we weren’t allowed to sit in front of the gate, waiting for it to be opened. He suggested that we have our guests dropped off down the block  and that they walk to the property where the code could be entered for them to walk through the gate.

There were so many things wrong with the owner’s wishes. First of all, he’s White. He wanted us to tell a neighborhood full of White people that all  24 of us Black folks were his friends. That wasn’t going to work. Second of all, because we’re Black, we don’t necessarily like being questioned by random White people. It tends to feel threatening to us. We believe that the questions are leading and want nothing more than to avoid being blamed for something. With that knowledge, we knew that our plan was to exercise avoidance and synchronize arrivals and departures. The property owner had a Black grounds keeper named Marcus. We elected to pretend we were Marcus’ cousins in lieu of pretending that all 24 of us were “friends” with the property owner.

All crises were averted and we began our weekend in the villa. I’m going to be honest. I can’t even put together a timeline because everything kind of melted together. I will, however, explain all of the things that I did during that journey, in nice neat little bullet points.

Here’s how I spent my SBTG Vegas weekend:

• Put on my navy blue onesie for pajama night, and indulged in rum punch (enter #LitBae). I ate the fruit. I keep telling y’all not to eat the fruit but I’m the one who keeps eating the fruit. Y’all not finna judge me. You don’t really take your own advice either.
• Attempted to seductively dance on the pole in the party room of the compound. I was about to be all liberal and stuff. I forgot how heavy I actually am, and fell into the initial lean. I laughed it off because that’s what I do but I never approached that pole again.
• The group went to Fremont street for zip lining, where I encouraged members to drop it like it’s hot on live Facebook feed. I created weird music using the word “pow” combined with drunken hand claps. People enjoyed it.
• I went to our cosplay party at the Blue Martini Lounge, and mistakenly got sober, fixed that by indulging in the open bar. Did I mention that I went as Freddy Kruger?!
• I have this vague memory of me running across some kind of bridge with my arms flailing. I think that arm flailing might be my thing. It’s becoming a staple in my #LitBae transformation rituals.
• I recall running around telling random people, in a throaty way,  that “I am batman” because I was enamored with my Old Navy novelty tee.

There are definitely more things that occurred but this was Vegas. This was our first villa experience as a group, and what happens in the villa, stays in the villa. If you want to fill in the blanks. you’re gonna have to join us. I absolutely PROMISE that you’ll have an amazing time!