Second work trip on the board, and this version is getting sharpened down. Instead of trying to do the full Hacker Summer Camp marathon, the plan is now DEF CON 34 only: a shorter Las Vegas run aimed at the parts that map directly back to work — AI code security, agentic systems, Kubernetes, cloud security, and platform engineering.

That means skipping BSides and probably skipping the DEF CON Shoot this year. Less sprawl, less cost, less gear, more signal.

The Las Vegas Strip lit up at night The Strip at night — Hacker Summer Camp's home turf. Photo: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0.

👔 The Trip

  • Who: just me, for work.
  • When: Thu Aug 6 → Sun Aug 9, 2026, aligned to DEF CON proper.
  • Where: DEF CON 34 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with a hotel on or near the monorail line.
  • Focus: AI Village, Cloud Village, AppSec, software supply chain, Kubernetes/platform security, and practical ideas to bring back to work.

The point is not to “do everything.” The point is to come home with a better mental model for where AI-assisted development, cloud-native platforms, and security operations are headed.

🧠 Work Focus: AI Code + Platform Security

The target list is tighter this time:

  • AI Village — adversarial attacks against agents and agentic systems, AI red-team patterns, prompt/tool abuse, evaluation gaps, and hands-on demos.
  • Cloud Village — cloud attack paths, identity/IAM, container and workload security, detection, platform guardrails, and lessons that translate to Kubernetes environments.
  • AppSec / software supply chain — AI-generated code review, dependency risk, CI/CD hardening, secrets, provenance, and secure-by-default developer workflows.
  • Kubernetes/platform angle — anything around multi-tenant clusters, policy, admission control, service identity, runtime visibility, and platform engineering as the security control plane.

This is the practical notebook I want to bring back: what to test, what to harden, what tools are real, and what hype can stay in Vegas.

✈️ Fly or Drive?

Fly vs. drive comparison — Phoenix to Las Vegas Fly vs. drive comparison — Phoenix to Las Vegas

With BSides and the Shoot off the main plan, flying makes a lot more sense. Phoenix to Vegas is fast, usually cheap, and it keeps the trip from turning into a full-week logistics exercise. No range gear means no checked-bag weirdness; no extra days means less hotel burn.

Current lean: fly it. Keep the bag simple: laptop, charger, badge cash/card plan, maybe an SDR or small radio kit if it fits cleanly. Driving stays the backup if flights are ugly or if I decide I really want a car.

🧭 Fly option: Phoenix → Las Vegas → · Drive route (US-93) →

🚉 Getting Around: the Monorail

Las Vegas Monorail train on the elevated track The Las Vegas Monorail runs the east side of the Strip. Photo: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0.

The monorail still looks like the easiest rhythm: stay near the line and ride to the LVCC instead of gambling on rideshare surge every morning.

Monorail line diagram — LVCC station serves the DEF CON venue Monorail line diagram — LVCC station serves the DEF CON venue

  • Best fit: Westgate or SAHARA if the rates are sane; both keep the commute short.
  • Also workable: Flamingo/LINQ/Harrah’s/Bally’s/Paris corridor if the hotel math is better.
  • Avoid over-optimizing: close, clean, reliable, and easy to get back to after a long con day beats fancy.

🎟️ DEF CON Only

DEF CON 34 runs Aug 6–9, 2026 in Las Vegas. This is the main event: talks, demos, contests, workshops, villages, hallway conversations, and the kind of security weirdness that still manages to be useful when Monday arrives.

For this version of the trip:

  • BSides LV: skipping this year. It is interesting, but it adds three days and turns the trip back into a full Hacker Summer Camp week.
  • DEF CON Shoot: probably skipping this year. Fun, but it pulls the whole trip toward driving, range logistics, and extra gear.
  • Radio villages: still worth a pass if time allows, but they are secondary to AI/cloud/appsec.

That keeps the work story clean: DEF CON, AI code, K8s/platform, and cloud security.

🧭 Target Villages & Sessions

Amateur radio operators at a station with a world map Ham radio — still tempting, but secondary this year. Photo: Henryk Kotowski, CC BY 4.0.

The plan is to pick a few lanes and go deep enough to be useful:

  • AI Village: demos, CTF, and anything about attacks against agents, tool use, evals, model behavior, and AI-assisted software development.
  • Cloud Village: scheduled Aug 7–9, which makes the Friday-through-Sunday core of the trip especially valuable.
  • AppSec / Bug Bounty / Recon: good places to catch practical code review, vuln discovery, dependency, and developer workflow ideas.
  • Blue Team / detection: look for talks that connect cloud, identity, containers, and runtime telemetry.

Before leaving, I should make a short hit list from the official schedule: two must-see AI items, two cloud/platform items, and one wild-card hallway/session block each day.

🎰 Live in Town While I’m There

The Sphere lit up at night on the Las Vegas Strip The Sphere — one of the most striking venues in town. Photo: Harold Litwiler, CC BY-SA 2.0.

This trip is shorter, so after-hours plans should be optional instead of load-bearing.

  • The Sphere: Backstreet Boys have shows during DEF CON week if I want the absurd crossover story.
  • Las Vegas Aces: not lining up cleanly this year; the DEF CON-week games are away.
  • Default evening plan: food, notes, maybe one low-friction meetup, then sleep like a grownup who knows conferences are endurance events.

🌤️ Weather — It’s an Indoor-Con for a Reason

No cool-mountain escape here, but the numbers are manageable because most of the trip is inside:

  • Las Vegas, Aug 6–9: historically around 107° days / ~80° nights.
  • Home in the valley: usually a little hotter at night.

Still: hydrate, keep sunscreen handy, and don’t build a plan that requires heroic outdoor walking in the afternoon. The real forecast window opens around July 17.

💵 What It’ll Cost

Rough ballpark for a shorter DEF CON-only trip:

  • Travel: ~$80–200 round-trip flight, or ~$100 gas if driving
  • Hotel (3 nights near the monorail/LVCC): $450–900
  • DEF CON badge: $580 regular prereg / $600 late, based on current posted pricing
  • Food / rideshare / monorail / incidentals: $250–450
  • Ballpark total: ≈ $1,300–2,150

Skipping BSides, the Shoot, and the extra hotel nights is the real savings.

🗓️ Short DEF CON Plan

  • Thu Aug 6 — fly in, check in, badge/orientation, AI Village first pass.
  • Fri Aug 7 — Cloud Village + AppSec/platform sessions; capture notes while fresh.
  • Sat Aug 8 — AI code security deep dive, agentic systems, supply chain, and one meetup.
  • Sun Aug 9 — final Cloud Village pass, pack lessons learned, fly home.

The theme is: fewer days, better notes.

✅ Still to Lock In

  • Confirm flight vs. drive — leaning fly unless prices or timing get silly
  • Book the hotel — Westgate/SAHARA/monorail-line shortlist
  • DEF CON badge — handle prereg or late pricing before the deadline
  • Build the session hit list — AI Village, Cloud Village, AppSec, supply chain, K8s/platform
  • Pack light — laptop, charger, notebook, small radio/SDR only if it does not complicate travel
  • Work objective — define the three questions I want answered before I go
  • Home front — sort the kiddo’s long weekend with GiGi, and find her a souvenir that isn’t a casino keychain

“Shall we play a game?” Yes. But this year, fewer side quests.