--- name: reinvent-trip description: The non-session half of re:Invent — travel dates, where to stay relative to the venues, getting around, packing, and surviving the week on-site. Use when someone asks "when should I fly in", "where should I stay", "what do I pack", "how do I get between venues", or is about to book travel. --- # Plan the trip, not just the sessions A perfect agenda still fails if you land Monday morning jet-lagged in the wrong hotel with one pair of shoes. Full reference is [`docs/playbook.md`](../../docs/playbook.md) and [`docs/logistics.md`](../../docs/logistics.md) — read those before answering anything specific. ## Travel dates re:Invent 2026 runs **Nov 30 – Dec 4**, Las Vegas. - **Arrive Saturday Nov 28** if travelling internationally. A Sunday in daylight is how you beat jet lag before a week spent indoors under casino lighting. - **Badge pickup opens Sunday.** Do it Sunday. Monday morning lines are long. - **Fly home Friday afternoon.** Sessions run to lunch Friday. - It is the week after Thanksgiving — one of the busiest US travel weekends. Do not book tight connections. - International: ESTA is $40, valid two years, apply at [esta.cbp.dhs.gov](https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/) only, at least 72 hours ahead — do it when you book. Not in the Visa Waiver Program? Embassy interview slots run weeks to months out; start immediately. Mobile Passport Control is a free CBP app that gets you a shorter immigration line, and you use it at your **first** US airport, not Las Vegas. ## Where to stay Six session venues: **Encore, Wynn, The Venetian, Caesars Forum, Caesars Palace, MGM Grand.** The Venetian is the main one and hosts the Expo. Caesars Forum is venue-only — no rooms. The thing to tell people: **five of the six cluster in the north**, from Encore down to Caesars Palace, and the north cluster is joined by **indoor walkways** (Venetian ↔ Caesars Forum through the Expo, Venetian ↔ Wynn/Encore). MGM Grand is the lone southern outlier. So staying central — Venetian/Caesars area — is rarely wrong. New for 2026: Mandalay Bay is out, Caesars Palace is in, which pulls the whole campus north. If a guide from a previous year says otherwise, it is stale. Practical notes: you will barely be in the room, so a clean bed near the cluster beats a nicer room further out. AWS room blocks require a ticket to access, and for 2026 the AWS rates do look like the best available — that has not always been true, so it is still worth a comparison. Vegas hotels allow free cancellation, so booking early costs nothing. ## Getting around Table of options with real trade-offs is in [`docs/playbook.md`](../../docs/playbook.md). The short version: AWS shuttles are the backbone and free, the monorail is free with your badge, walking is often faster than waiting for either, and 25–30k steps a day is normal. The Vegas Loop is interesting but only serves the north end and is **airport-departures only** as of mid-2026 — a way out, not a way in. If someone is choosing between walking and the shuttle for a specific hop, check `data/venues.json` for the measured time and whether the pair is `indoor_connected`. ## Packing Lead with the three that actually change someone's week: 1. **Two or more pairs of comfortable shoes**, rotated daily. 2. **Lip balm, moisturiser, electrolytes** — 25% humidity is the real enemy. 3. **Layers plus a windproof jacket** — mornings near freezing, afternoons warm, and re:Play is outdoors at night. Then: earplugs, power bank, travel adapter, hand sanitiser, a coffee travel mug, and space in the bag for swag. Full checklist in the playbook. ## On-site - **Scanned in 10 minutes before start** or your reserved seat goes to the walk-up line. This is the rule people lose seats to. - **Buy water and snacks once** at CVS, Target, Walgreens or an ABC store. Hotel convenience stores are dynamically priced; the minibar has sensors. - **Coffee without the line:** sportsbook or centre bar, early. - **Visit the Expo early**, ideally Tuesday. It opens 4pm Monday with the Welcome Reception. Block real hours for it rather than hoping to squeeze it in. - **Take the break.** Sit down for lunch with people you do not know. The hallway track is a real part of the value and it only happens if the day has gaps. - **Sleep beats FOMO.** - Bring cash for tips; ATM fees in hotels run to $10 a withdrawal. ## Scams worth naming Vegas-specific and worth a sentence if someone is a first-timer: unpriced bicycle taxis near the Sphere that demand $100 on arrival, costumed characters and showgirls who expect a $50 tip after a photo, the fake-monk bracelet, the blank "free CD", overpriced Fremont Street stands, and taxi drivers who insist on the meter instead of the fixed airport rate. ## Research these in parallel, not one at a time Most trip questions are independent web lookups, so batch them in a single message rather than serially: hotel rates and whether the AWS room block is still open, current shuttle and monorail specifics, ESTA or visa timing for their passport, the Vegas Loop's current station coverage, and the weather outlook. When a question needs real digging across several pages — comparing hotel options against the venue map, or checking whether the Loop now serves airport arrivals — dispatch subagents for the slices you only need conclusions from, capped at 4–6, all in one message. See [`docs/parallel-research.md`](../../docs/parallel-research.md). **Verify anything that costs money or blocks travel.** `docs/logistics.md` and `data/venues.json` are dated snapshots, and travel times in the venue file carry explicit confidence flags. For a booking decision, check the official AWS page or the airline/hotel directly and say which source you used. A stale price presented confidently is worse than saying you did not check. ## Tone Do not dump the whole playbook. Ask what stage they are at — booking flights, choosing a hotel, or packing next week — and answer that. One or two specifics they can act on beats a checklist they will not read.