:( TR June 14-16 "What Next, or Where did our Waiter go" (Warning, pessimism within)

Hello Everyone, I am still fairly new to the board, some of you may recall me asking many questions for my trip, which Im sure will not change (questions) anytime soon, just not as often Sorry its so long, I just copied and pasted it form my own journal I keep for memory sake, hope you like

PREFACE
So, In April, I found out my favorite band of all time Dos Gringos (2 Air Force fighter Pilots, not a Samba band ) was doing a final/likely last one for a very long time show as one of them was being sent to Germany, and one of them has decided to join the reserves. Being they are 2 Fighter pilots, what better place to hold the concert then in Las Vegas, home of Nellis AFB!? Having such little time to prepare, I was determined to make it to this show, this would be my second trip to Vegas, followed by my original trip to be the best man in my best friends wedding the previous year at around the same time. I decided when I noticed how cheap the flight was looking to be I asked my g.f if shed like to go long story short, when all was said and done and checking about every travel site, every hour for a month, we settled on This for rounded up about $700, which we both were fine with paying that much this would be our first trip together as a couple, so we were excited me both for the trip and for the Show to end all shows! Here is what our travel outline was

June 14 USAir 0 stops Depart 9:40 Arrive 1130 Tampa - Vegas
Flamingo 2 Nights
June 16 Delta 1 Stop 6:15-7:30 Pm Vegas - Los Angeles (3 Hour Layover) 10:15pm-630 AM LAX-Tampa
RT Shuttle form Vegas McCarran to Strip Hotel

June 14 (Thurs) Day 1
"Starting off on the wrong foot"
Plan: Get into Vegas, hit up Margaritaville for a late night dinner, and then do some gaming before bed
We were both Happy with the flight departure time because it would allow us both to work a full day before leaving as well as not be in a rush to get to the airport. So, we get to the Airport with plenty of time we decide to have a few drinks at the airport bar just relax and look at each other in anticipation, in just a few hours we would be in Vegas!! We Board the plane on time, since I am 6'4 to be the least bit comfortable I need to be in an emergency row exit, Thankfully US AIR allows you to change your seats online and you can even book the Emergency row online as well (Side note while the emergency row gives much more leg room you don't get the arm rest that goes up so we could lean on each other but no big deal). So as I was saying,we were the last group of people to board, anticipation is mounting, and then we notice we've been sitting there not moving for quite some time (20 minutes about) and to make it worse the AC on the plane was not working yet. So a passenger begins complaining and refuses to sit down until they get the AC working. Whether his stand in helped or not, they finally got the AC working however there were many other situations that didn't allow the plane to take off for another hour, so here we were USAIR eating away at our time in Vegas, I tried to be optimistic, but the problem caused us coincidentally to not get into Vegas until well after midnight. Well, something we learned about Vegas the city that never sleeps, it seems alot of stuff closes around midnight by the time we had gotten to the hotel, it was around 1230, I ask her if she wants to go to Margaritaville first or Check in, we both agree to check in first, after all we were getting the "Go Room upgrade we didn't want them to run out). While standing in line I see the Total rewards Desk, I think to myself Ill hit that up to get my card after we check in. After being in line for a very long time, we get checked in (they were all out of standard go rooms so they upgraded us for an extra $20 a night making it $50 a night) to a Executive Go room, with a pool View, the difference? we are on the 28th floor (top) and instead of one King sized bed, we had 2 queen Sized beds (our parents would of been tickled pink). We marvel in all the cool necessity's of the room (more on that later) we rush down to MArgaritaville its now 1:15 am, they closed the kitchen about an hour ago (while we were still in the airport) we figure well just go get our TR card right down the hall and then grab a bite somewhere. TR Desk closed at 1 AM while we were waiting in line to check in, and I look at the check in Area, not a soul in line If you just got to Vegas, so did alot of other people, put off checking in the line will go down in about an hour or so So down on our luck already we settle on Subway at O'sheas (way to be original) While everything is mounting up in Frustration I start piecing it all together, The things we missed by a few minutes all would of been fine had our flight not been so delayed, it mounts inside me making me very angry, what little time we had in Vegas was already turning out bad.

On to my vegas tradition (I did it my first time i decided it will be a tradition from here on I put 10% of my gambling bankroll ($200 @ 10% =$20, I didn't come to gamble this time I came to see the show with a little extra fun on the side ) on Black (Roulette) as soon as I get into a casino area. I find a table i want to put it on, its crowded but im feeling it. I try to shuffle to through the crowd but as I Finally get to set my money down, she makes the wave no more bets, what does it land on.. Black.. Yet again im late by a marginal amount of time, I find another roulette table instead, put it on black, aside form the fact that red had been rolled the past 6 rolls (had i been sitting there using Martingale id of been in a tough spot) I put it on Black, RED!! well, by this time I look at my GF and she sees im dissapointed, not so much at the loss of $20 but that nothing has gone right since we got there. We decide to call it a night and go to bed. (More on the Accessories)But first I think ill sign into T2V, sure no one was worried but figured id share that I got in ok or something and check the posts I had made to see if there were any last minute posts I didnt catch. The room said Wireless internet, leading me to believe it was included, no, it would of cost $12 to use the internet, F that! well, it was worth a try anyway, we decide to plug our ipod into the docking station to fall asleep to some music, oops, the ipod isnt a docking station, you need an ipod chord, well we saw the rooms with docking station ipods so we didn't bring the chord, (the pictures have sense changed). We just go to bed, hopefully tomorrow brings a better day.

Fri Jun 15 Day 2
Plan: Brunch @ Paris, Dinner @ Tommy Rockers
After a semi good night sleep (we couldn't get the room cold enough, no matter how much we fiddled with the AC) we play with the automatic curtains and look out on the pool view and marvel at our view, the top of the flamingo. by now neither of us is really hungry, we decide to skip Breakfast, and we go to the pool. Taking a tip I read on here that "go" rooms get a pass to a special pool that only the go people can get, I find the pool, but its now open to everyone, little kids even, this wont work, finally we find the "European Sunbathing section 21 or older only" (Free for ladies $10 for men) Basically this amounted in Vegas Speak, you are paying an extra $10 to not have to put up with little brats running around. Between me and my G/F Me drinking beer and her drinking frozen drinks we mounted a $120 bar tab (mention this not to complain about the price but to give an idea of how much we drank) while at the pool, Would of been much more likely however the server took a good 30 minutes to get our drink order then get our drinks, I finally just started walking right to the bar to get it. I of course impressed everyone with my ability to shotgun a beer out of a bottle, I wanted to get a good buzz going(using a straw you can chug a beer out of a bottle, without the resistance due to the design of the bottle, I guess its impressive if you've never seen it about 10 people crowded around me while i was doing this in wonderment). We decided around 2 after having been at the pool for a few hours now to go back to the room to start getting ready for the show.

BAD SUNBURN
We get back to the room and shower, and we notice it quickly, Sunburn.. mind you we are both from Tampa, we are no stranger to the suns harm, however with the 3oz container rule for planes, we just didn't even consider it, as well we were in the shade for quite some time. This sunburn would turn into the worst sunburn I have ever had (Gross but I had yellow bubbles on my skin), here I am a week since and I still have some bad peeling but its finally getting better.

THE SHOW @ TOMMY ROCKERS!!!
We get there and we still aren't that hungry, I order a enchilada dish, just because I knew I need to eat, it was good, but I only could muster up the want to eat one enchilada, and I drink a lot of water. Again our server was rather complacent so we only saw her about 2 times the whole hour, I am forced to go up to the bar to get my & GF drink refills. But alas all the Negativeness that has gone up to this point It no longer mattered, I was gonna see my favorite band, and I was gonna have a damn good time. And I did, I will always remember this show, as well as the first time I saw them, nothing could of gone wrong that night to make me mad (lol even a fighter pilot hitting on my GF) So the show was over, and I was definitely glad I had made the trek to see them, it was so much worth it. After the show we just go back to the room and go to bed.

Sun June 16 Final Day.
We wake up and check out of our Hotel, we schedule the bus to come pick us up at 4:30, And go to the Paradise Garden Buffet, I was still not that hungry,Only at half a plate of food, but I was extremely thirsty, I see our waitress we order our drinks we get our drinks and the waitress is gone for the rest of the time we are there. we finally make our way to the casino, My GF goes off to the slots, I find the electronic "Rapid Roulette" table I enjoyed last time, I put $100 in and within about 4 spins I was up to $200 I cashed out and went to the poker room and played $2-4 low limit hold'em, and played for a good 2-3 hours Starting at $70 I was up to $120, told myself I would cash out @ $140. Being a new player (only 2 weeks at that time) I folded on a straight, realizing after the river, I cursed myself and I played a bit more and cashed out with $40 so net loss in Vegas to gambling was nothing. We make our way out to pick up the shuttle we decide to use the restroom really quickly, we check our watch 4:28 Vegas time we run out to the place and we see our shuttle leaving. We are disheartened WHAT IS GONNA HAPPEN NEXT!! We see 2 more shuttles show up form the same company however they will not pick up someone they are just doing drop offs we finally get someone to be called to pick us up. They pull into a different part of the pick-up area.. we chase her down s she is leaving "I was almost gonna drive off!" Yeah good thing that didn't happen would of been a perfect ending to the trip.

Plane Ride Home:
So I was able to get emergency seating on the flight from Vegas to LAX, however on the 4 hour flight from LAX to Tampa all Emergency row seats are booked, We take a window and middle seat together, hope for the best on the seat size, well the plane boards and NO ONE sits next to us!! So we have a nice comfortable flight home minus the horrible sunburn of course.

Conclusion:

All in all, The trip started off horribly, however I realize alot of it was myself blowing it out of proportion, I let things get to me more then I should of. And I experienced some horrible service everywhere we were at. However in the end i got to see my favorite band do it one last time possibly ever, and that made up for all the problems I faced, in the end I would redo that trip in a heart beat.. After all ITS VEGAS!!

 

Good to see you made the best of it all. Good music is life-altering. I like when dudes hit on my wifey, unless it's too much of course. Makes me think I did ok, cause I know she must feel screwed for ending up with me.

 

Thanks for the TR -- and I hope your sunburn heals quickly!!

 

Man, you had some serious bad karma going on; but, any trip to Vegas is better than no trip to Vegas; and, you got to see your favorite band.