I love Las Vegas.

I love getting off the plane and not having to look at the clock for three days. I love losing small amounts of money to friendly dealers while an even friendlier cocktail waitress brings me free drinks. I love walking from casino to casino, each one having a radically different theme but a radically similar scent of stale cigarette smoke, booze, and perfume. I love being in Ireland one minute, then ancient Rome, New York, Hollywood, and most of all, wherever the heck the Flamingo is supposed to be. I love how for that one weekend, everyone is friendly and outgoing, since everyone is there for the same reason.

I love Las Vegas.

However, there are some things about the Vegas Experience that I don't love. I don't love walking all the way from Planet Hollywood back to the Flamingo because my pump is low on insulin and the bottle's in the room. I don't love doing a blood test back in my hotel room and being 315 because I forgot that when you combine Red Bull with Vodka, it still has sugar in it. I *really* don't love being hung over and not being able to eat until 5PM the following day.

And this is what led me to decide, when Diabetes For Mortals was just a glimmer in my text editor, that I had to write a series on being Diabetic and in Vegas. There are so many aspects of Vegas that are awesome, but there are also a lot of pitfalls that are easy to make. I've been to Vegas 7 or 8 times in the past couple of years, both on the pump and doing injections. Some of the best memories of my entire life have happened there. But I've also made some stupid mistakes that luckily never had any serious consequences, but definitely resulted in bad BGL's and a few hours spent head-over-toilet.

In these articles I'm going to put a lot of focus on my uniquely diabetic experiences in Vegas, but I also can't resist telling you other random lessons and experiences I've picked up along the way. If you're smart about it, diabetes shouldn't keep you from having a fantastic, crazy, drunken (if you're >21), all-around hedonistic time in Vegas. Hopefully once you have the advice you need and some disposable income, I'll be seeing you there in no time. Order a Greyhound for me when you get there.