Reno

Reno. What can I say… When I told people I was going to Reno during my trip around the USA, which would only involve a few selected cities, I was met with curiosity and confusion. Why of all American cities would I choose Reno. I was actually really looking forward to going to Reno. I read a bit online about Reno, and a lot of the things I read were very positive. That is of course not why I chose this city for my trip. The reason why I chose it was because one of my best friends from college has moved to Reno and now lives there with her husband and her three kids. So of course I had to go to Reno to visit her! In fact, I had been promising to visit her for years, so I was really happy that it would finally happen.

When my friend first told me where she had moved to, she described it as a tiny city in Nevada with a very little inhabitants. This made me want to visit her even more, because I wanted to explore a different side of America that is not only about skyscrapers and big cities. It was not until I googled the city that I found out that it actually is a casino city! “How fun, I am going to mini Vegas”, I thought! Although my imagination of the cute “tiny city” had now changed, I actually started looking forward to it even more! In the end, I love Vegas and casino cities in general.

As already mentioned, people I met in LA could really not understand WHY I would bother to go to Reno and they explained to me that there is absolutely nothing there. People in LA say a lot of things, I thought…

After a 12 hour bus ride, I finally arrived at the Silver Legacy Hotel. As the hotels here were not too expensive, I decided to choose a hotel over Airbnb, and I specifically chose a hotel that had a swimming pool. The room I booked was not too beautiful, but I literally asked for an upgrade, and luckily the guy in the reception was so kind that he gave it to me. The room I was assigned was totally renovated. The bed was extremely comfortable and big, and I had a nice view over Reno and it’s nature. Now I was happy. I went to the pool where I relaxed for a bit before meeting my friend. It was extremely hot up there, but the water in the pool was unfortunately freezing so I did not end up swimming too much. However, the pool area was very beautiful so I really enjoyed the time up there (even though I was the only one up there most of the time). The weather here was actually very strange; it was extremely warm during day time, but dropped to a very low temperature during night, so the mornings were freezing!

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I was really happy to meet my friend. Unfortunately, I was too tired to spend too much time with her during my 3 days in Reno. Yes, the jet lag was still there, and the bus ride did not help, regardless of the fact that I slept the whole time. She took me to some nice parks with her children, Circus Circus and a shopping mall. It was great to see her again after so many years and meet her lovely kids.

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Regarding Reno as a city. I can’t really say that I liked it. I missed the part of going to Lake Tahoe, as unfortunately my friend could not go there, so I ended up not going there either (I guess I have to come back for it some day!). But regarding Reno itself, it was a bit disappointing. One person told me that Reno is a sadder version of Vegas. I would say it is definitely nothing like Vegas. I imagined downtown Reno to remind of the Las Vegas strip, but here in Reno, there are only like 3 “typical” casino hotels standing together (of course there are some other ones standing further away), and the age group is 60+. Everything here is also very old. Luckily, at least I got that renovated room! So Silver Legacy, thank you for that! I also must admit that the Sushi at El Dorado was absolutely delicious, it is definitely worth a try! Other than that, I did not like Reno too much as a city, although I am happy that my friend took me to other parts of Reno and showed me that it is much more than just the Downtown. For instance, the Midtown district looked like a lot of fun, with loads of cool restaurants. Therefore, if I will ever come back here, I will definitely try to spend more time outside of Downtown.

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Should you go to Reno? Well, it all depends you.. if you can have fun everywhere just like I can and you don’t get bothered by the age group, the general lack of people and the lack of things to do (besides gambling), then go for it! Casinos are always fun, however, I would always choose Vegas (and maybe Macau!) over other casino cities. As much as I was looking forward to gambling in Reno, I did not really have time for it. However, when I got to the airport in Reno, despite having very little time, I decided to try my luck. And guess what! In 10 minutes I ended up winning 70 Dollars! Not a bad ending in Reno at all!

After 3 days in Reno, I was ready for my next adventure: Seattle!

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