Very overdue report, October 8th - 19th

Better late than never, here at last is a report on my October trip.

WARNING: This is EXTREMELY long. It is very detailed and probably quite boring. This is my first time writing a trip report and I got way too carried away. Plus, with having 11 days there, I had a LOT to write about, lol.

Flight on America West was at 6:45 am on October 8th, so I arrived around 4:45 after taking the shuttle from my parking lot (I’m ALWAYS way early for my flights, I’d rather that than be late and have to run through the airport). Security line wasn’t yet open, so I joined the others in line to wait. It wasn’t a long wait, it opened 15 minutes later. The short line that had formed moved quickly and I was on my way to the gate in no time. I passed the time waiting for my flight listening to my tunes on my Zen (I LOVE my Zen!!!!). Flight left on time to Phoenix and was uneventful. The movie was Mission Impossible 3 and since I wasn’t interested in watching that, my trusty Zen came out of my carryon. Arrived in Phoenix a bit late and caught my connecting flight for the short trip to Vegas. Got to Vegas about 30 minutes late, which wasn’t bad since we left Phoenix 45 minutes late. When I got off the plane in Vegas, I was SO excited I thought I’d be walking on air to baggage claim. Bag arrived fairly quickly and then it was on to the VERY long taxi line. Finally it was my turn and I was on my way to the Rio!

Check-in line wasn’t too bad and I was able to get my room key right away. I tried the $20 trick with no success. I was informed the hotel was sold out, which I later believed to be true. It was around 1:00 when I got to my room (16018 in the Masquerade Tower). I was VERY anxious to see the rooms I had heard so much about. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with the room. It was very large which was good, but I didn’t at all like the layout. With the suitcase on the bed while packing and unpacking, I had to walk from the bed to the end of the room and around a wall to get to the dresser and closet. NOT particularly convenient for hanging up clothes and putting them in the drawers. Also, the bathroom was around that same wall. All I could think of was my nightly wake up call in the middle of the night by mother nature. I figured it wouldn’t be fun. But once I unpacked and got used to the layout, I didn’t mind it as much as I thought I would. The absolute BEST part of the room was the sofa which had an attached chaise lounge at the end. I could sit there, put my feet up and lean back and relax while watching tv. I don’t know why, but it was different than just putting your feet up on a normal sofa (yeah, I know I’m strange).

My co-worker was arriving a little later in the day and since I had been up for over 30 hours at that point, I decided to just relax on that nice lounger for a bit before going down to play. I ended up dozing off a bit to be woken up by my cell phone ringing. My co-worker had arrived. We arranged a meeting spot for dinner so I went and played for a while before getting together for dinner. After dinner we walked around the casino a little, then went and registered for our conference so we wouldn’t have to do that in the morning. To our amusement (especially his), we discovered we were sharing the convention space with another convention. A lingerie and sex toys one! I have to say that visiting the ladies room each day during our conference was always an adventure! You never knew what costume you would see being worn (or almost worn, as the case may be) by a little hottie in there, LOL.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all pretty much the same. Conference during the day, gambling at night with some conference activities mixed in here and there. We did take the shuttle to Caesar’s one evening, where we separated for the evening since we wanted to see different things. I didn’t stay long since I was having no luck there, so I went back to Rio to play. On Thursday, following the morning sessions of our conference, he informed me we were bailing on the afternoon sessions (YEAH BABY!!!) and were going to take in some on Vegas! We walked the Strip and took the Deuce downtown since that was on his short list of what he wanted to see. We saw the Fremont Street Experience which I was extremely disappointed with. When I saw it two years ago, it was a story about aliens taking over Vegas and it was very entertaining. The show we saw that night had a “theme†of candy I guess. They played “Sugar Sugar†while some pretty little thing put a hard candy in her mouth. Yeah, some story, huh? It was technically better than it used to be, but they need to rethink the show itself. Bring back a storyline. It’s way more entertaining. Anyway, we were both exhausted and didn’t feel like dealing with the Deuce then the shuttle back to Rio, so we opted to just grab a taxi. I felt the driver took a bit of a long route, but it wasn’t real bad. Co-worker was leaving early the next morning so would miss the morning sessions of our conference. He suggested I skip them as well. I intended on going to them, but since I woke up at 8:30 and they started at 8:30, I just went back to sleep. I got up about an hour later, packed, and got in the taxi line for my hotel move to Flamingo. As it turned out, the two guys in front of me were also going there, so we shared the taxi. Awesome!

I should mention that in the 5 days I was at Rio, I did a LOT of gambling. It consisted of slots and blackjack (lots of blackjack). Since I would be in Vegas for 12 days, I budget a certain amount for each day for gambling each day and when that’s gone for the day, I’m done gambling. I only went totally broke one day, and the other days I either made a profit or had a portion of my budget left. When I checked out of the Rio, I had about 2 days’ worth of budget left. Not bad considering I played at least $15 a hand for blackjack but usually $25 a hand. By the way, I HATE the way Harrah’s does their lines at the cashiers. I can understand a separate line for platinum/diamond at the restaurants, but I feel a separate one at the cashier is ridiculous. There was never ANYBODY at those windows and usually they wouldn’t take anyone from the normal line. And to top it off, they’d have 3 cashiers for platinum/diamond and only ONE for everyone else.

Arrived at Flamingo and got in the semi-long check-in line. I tried the $20 trick, but with no success again. I was told, however, that since my room was comped (for 3 of my 6 nights), I was already in a Premium room with a strip view. I asked if it was a renovated room and I was informed that it indeed was. My room wasn’t ready, and I was told it would be ready between 3 and 5. So I checked my bag and went to do some gambling. I wasn’t having much luck, so around 3:30 I checked to see if my room was ready. It was, so I went up to unpack. I opened the door, and UGH. It was NOT a renovated room. But, it wasn’t that bad, so I didn’t mind. I looked straight out at Caesar’s, and when I sat in the chair, I could watch the Bellagio fountains, so that made the room even better! The first thing I did was check for signs of bedbugs (which I also did at Rio). No signs, so that was good. I threw back the bedspread, since I don’t use them at hotels. YUCK!!!! A dirty tissue flew up from under the covers. A quick call to housekeeping to have the bed changed. They arrived 30 minutes later and changed both beds. I didn’t know if I should tip in those circumstances, but I did anyway. I unpacked and headed for the strip. I visited Barbary Coast and had no luck there. I went to O’Sheas and realized I was hungry since I hadn’t eaten yet that day. I decided to grab a quick hot dog since I was alone and hate sitting in restaurants alone to eat. They weren’t ready, so I played some blackjack while I waited. I won $200 while I waited, so it was worth it! I did some more playing, mostly at Flamingo, and had absolutely NO luck the rest of the day. My nephew was flying out the next morning and I couldn’t wait for him to arrive! I decided I hated being there alone and was so glad he was coming. I played some more slots and blackjack until I finally gave up for that day (down that day’s budget plus some of what I had left from previous days), and I went to bed.

I had told my nephew (S) to call when he arrived at Charlotte so I knew he was doing ok. It was his first time traveling alone, and even though he’s 21 years old, I still think of him as that cute little boy from years ago. He called, and was safely at the gate for his connecting flight, after a hurried trip through the airport since his first flight was behind schedule.

I get up a few hours later to go to the airport and meet him. I arrived at 10:45 for his 11:15 scheduled arrival time. I wanted to be there early in case his flight got in sooner, I didn’t want him waiting around the airport. His flight was delayed, and scheduled to arrive at 11:37, but was further delayed and didn’t arrive until closer to noon. I told him I’d wait by the monitors at baggage claim. I was SO excited to see him when he got on the escalator. Even though it had only been a week since I last saw him, I greeted him with a big hug and some VERY happy tears (yeah, I’m a wuss!). Taxi line was HUUUGE, so we opted for the shuttle. It didn’t take very long and before we knew it, we were back in the room so he could unpack. He was extremely hungry so we wanted something close and opted for the buffet at the Flamingo. It was their brunch and it was decent. We both enjoyed the meal and then it was off to explore!

We visited pretty much the casinos in the immediate area: Barbary Coast, Bally’s, Caesar’s to name a few. He was very anxious to Caesar’s since that was number one on his list of casinos to see. He was impressed! We stopped in the deli at the Forum shops (sorry but I can’t remember the name of it). Excellent food at decent prices. He had a meatball grinder which he said was very good, and I got the open faced turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, also very good. We both wanted to ride the spiraling escalator, which we did. VERY cool! We then called it a night since it was nearing midnight, he had been up for over 36 hours and we had to catch our tour bus at 6:30 the next morning.

Sunday, the day for our Grand Canyon tour. I have a long write up (surprising, huh?) about our tour in another thread, so I won’t re-post it here. If you wish to read it, here’s the link:

https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24174

I’ll speed up the rest of the week (mostly since I can’t remember exactly what we did and when). Monday and Tuesday we spent visiting most of the casinos on the strip. I was having some sporadic luck, but my poor nephew couldn’t do a thing. I don’t remember which day it was, but we went to Burger Bar for lunch. We had both been looking VERY forward to this place given all the excellent reviews I had read about it. Nephew got the Angus beef with peppered jack cheese, jalapeno bacon, salsa, and fried egg (my stomach would disown me with all that pepper!), fat fries, and a peanut butter milkshake. I also got the Angus beef, but with Monterey Jack cheese, bacon (plain ole regular bacon), and fried egg, fat fries, and a banana milkshake. It was by far the BEST meal we had the entire trip. It was pricey at around $27 each with tip, but well worth it. We can’t wait to go back.

Tuesday night we decided to go downtown so he could see it. We were at Stratosphere at the time and went to the bus stop to catch the Deuce since we already had a day pass. We waited over 45 minutes, saw 6 busses heading in the other direction and not one came on our side. Finally we gave up and went into the taxi line. We get in a taxi and as it drove out, there were THREE Deuce buses lined up heading downtown. The driver was nice enough to let us get out since we had explained our situation and it would save us some money. We get out of the cab and head to the back bus only to have it drive off just as we got to it! Thankfully, the taxi was still there and we got in.

We arrived downtown at midnight, just in time to catch the Fremont Street Experience. Nephew enjoyed it, but I find it boring now compared to how it used to be. Technically it’s a better show, but like others have mentioned, it feels like one big advertisement now. When I saw it 2 years ago, it was a story of Aliens taking over Vegas, or something like that. It was an enjoyable show. I guess that’s progress?

Our final day we had decided to go to Paris for their breakfast buffet. I was very much looking forward to that based on all the reviews I read on this board. Unfortunately, we were running late and arrived there around 10:00. The line was much too long to still get breakfast once we would get in there, so we headed to Bally’s instead. Their buffet was decent, and I was able to use comps to pay for it. Our plan for the day was to hit Venetian, Wynn, Mirage, and Treasure Island. When we left Bally’s and got on the strip, we saw they had the Plinko board from Price is Right set up. People were lining up to play it. You won either $5 off tickets, free tickets, or a free gift. Since we both love the Price is Right, we decided to get in line to play. It was SO cool to climb up to the top of the Plinko board and drop that chip! We figured between both of us playing, one of us would get free tickets. We really wanted to see the show. I go first, drop my chip and UGH, $5 off tickets. Steven goes next and gets………a free gift. Sighhhhh, oh well. We go to the table to claim our prizes. The woman asked what we won. I say “Well, I’d LIKE to say I won free tickets, but I got $5 offâ€. She looks at the other woman at the table and says “What do you say we give her the tickets anyway?†They both agree. SCORE!!!!! We had 2 hours to kill, so we just stay at Bally’s to play. I turn $100 into $500 playing blackjack, then play $40 on a dollar slot machine and cash out with $700. I like Bally’s!! LOL. The show was a lot of fun, and the woman sitting immediately next to me was called to “Come on Down!â€. She didn’t get up on stage though. After the show, we leave Bally’s to begin our list of places to visit that day. It was already nearly 4:30, so we were WAY behind schedule.

Venetian was first. Had no luck there, so we head to Mirage. Nephew still was having no luck (it was not a good trip gambling-wise for him). I hit a penny machine for over $400 on one bonus (Cleopatra II slot), then put $40 into a dollar machine and cash out with $500 (I put some good play on my card at that machine since I played it a long time and it was 5 lines, so $5 a spin). We were both hungry, so we went to the Mirage buffet. Steven enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m a very picky eater, so I didn’t find all that much I liked, but what I did find, I enjoyed. However, later that night I wasn’t enjoying it as much when I was in the bathroom several times. I don’t think I’ll be back to that buffet.

I didn’t want to spend my last night in Vegas in the bathroom, so I send my nephew to the store in the lobby to see if they had any Imodium. They did, so I take a couple and then I’m good to go (poor choice of words, lol). Well, I should have taken the earlier episodes as an omen, since I had horrible luck that night. I lost around $700 in just a few hours. We both decided we had enough and we turned in. The next morning, we got up and packed, and headed to the airport. I was already a Vegas addict, so leaving was tough, even after 11 days. My nephew only had 5 days, and he really hated to leave. He said he wants to go back. I’ve created another one of us!

I’m sure I left a lot out (if you can believe it), but all in all it was a great trip. We had so much fun, and it was great to share my love of Vegas with my nephew for his first trip. He was a great companion to have with me. I was so glad he decided to join me, both for my sake, and his. If you’re still reading this, God bless you! To everyone that helped me plan my trip and answered all my questions, a great big thank you! You guys all ROCK!!!

Highlights: seeing Vegas through the eyes of two Vegas Virgins, the view of the Bellagio fountains from our room at Flamingo, coming home with 1/3 of my total trip’s budget (not too shabby), Burger Bar, seeing the Grand Canyon, spending lots of quality time with my nephew. He’s an awesome young man.

Disappointments: Not making it to Wynn, I had really wanted to see that place (next time for sure!); nephew not having ANY luck gambling, I felt bad for him even though he still had fun; two failures at the $20 trick; leaving Vegas; not being able to get together with Mikey (we had planned to meet up for a drink or something prior to me leaving). Sorry Mikey.

 

One of these trip, I've gotta get myself a few virgins and sacrifice them to the Vegas gods. Nice trip report Auntie

 

Very nice report and welcome to the life of a Vegas Addict.

 

I forgot to include that breakfast one morning was at Peppermill. To whoever it was that recommended it: THANK YOU!!! We had a very enjoyable breakfast there. They have some of the best pancakes I've ever had. I only wish I could have finished them. They were quite large and quite filling. But definitely very yummy!!!!

 

Holy Cow! Thats a lotta Vegas! Great TR.. One ? though, was the deli in the forum shops the Stage Deli? I love it there. The BLT's are about 10 inches high and the pickles in the bucket are a nice touch.

Sticky

 

Thanks for the TR, it helped me procrastinate part of my work day away.

 

For the life of me I can't remember the name of the place, but they did bring out a bucket of pickles when we got there, so it probably is the Stage Deli. There was a case at the entrance displaying all their desserts. Those cakes looked mighty YUMMY!! Excellent food at surprisingly decent prices.

It was funny watching my nephew trying to pick up his meatball grinder (sorry, grinder is a local term. It's a sub, hero, or whatever you call it where you live). He finally gave up and ate it with a knife and fork, LOL.

 

Great Reads!! You really did A LOT!!! All in all, I say you two did vegas right, doing as much as you could. Thanks for sharing.

Andrea

 

Hey Aunt!

Great trip report! Sounds like you got a lot done in your visit. I don't know how you did it though. Back before I lived here, I thought a six-day trip was going to kill me.

Sorry I missed you for drinks. Bad week for me--due to a scheduling change and other stuff, I had to work six days straight and had no free time at all. I also missed out eating lunch at the Stage Deli there at Caesars with Drew that same week.

Thanks again for taking the time to write it all up.

Mikey

 

All of my Vegas trips have been for at least 10 days (I figure if I'm going to go, I want as much time there as possible). I don't drink at all, so when no alcohol is involved, it makes long trips like that a lot easier, lol. I'd be willing to bet (I came to the right place for that, huh? LOL) that my nephew is one of the few 21 year olds that did not have a single drop of alcohol in his first visit to Vegas. Not because he doesn't normally drink, but I think he either wanted to remember every moment of his trip rather than have portions be fuzzy in his memory, or he opted not to drink since I don't.

No apologies necessary for missing me for drinks. I was actually busier with my conference than I expected to be (except for the last day, when my coworker and I blew off the 2nd half of the day so he could explore Vegas before flying home the next morning ). And once my nephew arrived, we were on the go constantly. Hopefully next trip, I can meet you and others from the board.