A - Camden is quite far off the route from 295 to the AC Expressway. B - Camden isn't anywhere near as scary as you make it sound. I'm there all the time.
@Tarpie, check out Stateline Liquors in Elkton, MD. There is a 9% tax on spirits in Maryland. They have some things that Total Wine might not stock. Plus, Total Wine is known for pushing their house brands. Here is a map from New Castle Delaware at the foot of the Delaware Memorial Bridge to Caesars as of 8 am this morning. The traffic will be light in this direction. When @RobzNtheHood was traveling, the traffic in the dark blue would have been heavier and the time difference compared to the “no toll” trip would have narrowed a bit. Lots of commuter traffic and going southbound in the area of Deptford. Props to those of you who drive in the DC area; I drove in the greater NYC area with my last job, but DC traffic makes me want to curl up in the fetal position. Funny @RobzNtheHood mentioned stopping at MGM at the Harbor. We stopped there on our way to Hilton Head shortly after it opened and regretted it as traffic slowed to a crawl in the area of Quantico and Stafford. I was like a maniac switching between two different GPS apps and my dash GPS. I cursed myself for indulging my curiosity. I have a friend with a summer place in Wildwood Crest, NJ; he often drives to Florida for business. He will hop on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, head down the DelMarVa peninsula, over the Bay Bridge Tunnel and picks up 95 in Emporia, VA. A total bypass of the Baltimore to Richmond white knuckle experience.
I'm guessing you pretty far south in VA? I'm in MD and its about a 45-60 minute drive for me to MGMNH and a little over 3 hours to get to AC.
So 5 hours is with multiple stops then? Should be around the same for you and me to drive to AC. I used to get a room at MD Live! the night before I had to take a trip to NJ, but well they realized I'm not playing there and now its $79 mid week rates for me .
As bad as the tolls are, I assume that a flight would cost more than the tolls + gas. However, if AC ever bans smoking I will be flying to Vegas more often.
That's 5.5 hours in the air. Time to airport parking, shuttle to airport, security, arriving 45 minutes before the flight. Now comes the 5.5 hours. Disembark, walk to transportation, grab a cab, yadda, yadda. You know the drill. Driving affords a lot of freedom.
Has to depend on what your trip objectives are. For relative low rollers who are mainly focused on gambling, I would have to say the expense and time associated with the cross county flight probably isn't worth it anymore.
Mom always said there's a time and a place for everything. I haven't been to Vegas for about 5 years, so I have no frame of reference except for living vicariously thought the trip reports and comments here. This is probably a thread unto itself, to compare LV to AC is but a fools errand. That said, there are 9 casinos to scratch your itch, easy to find $15 BJ at 3:2, $15 Craps, and if you and your traveling companion have a pulse, you'll probably get comped rooms at Harrah's, Trop, maybe Caesars. Great local bars and restaurants too. Tons of folks drive past several local casinos to get to the City called Atlantic. Why is that?
I think a good number of people see it as a place to scratch the itch, while at the same time offering a semblance of variety. Tired of your session at Borgata? Head over to the Boardwalk and hit Ocean, and also walk to Hard Rock or Resorts if you feel like it. Or just enjoy strolling the boards. Vegas used to provide a lot better gambling value, but that seems to be nowhere near the case anymore.
Its getting less worth it every year though. Drinks get worse and everything is sooo expensive now. OK, its all comped but still the prices are insane. Wondering how long until I just say screw it and stop going to either Vegas or AC and just drive 30 minutes to my local(where comps really suck but its local right?)
Welcome to our lovely state. AC certainly offers more variety than many "local" casinos and has a deceptively good dining scene. However I still wouldn't place it anywhere near the same category as Vegas. Good luck at borgata. My small stakes bets have done well there the last couple of years while anything larger than table minimums have decimated me, which far outpaces the small bets I would do on slots. Ocean and Trop have the best dining selections as far as casinos, and if you're willing to go slightly off the beaten path, old school joints like Tony's Baltimore Grill and Dock's Oyster House are highly recommended. Pound for pound, Dock's is one of the best seafood restaurants in NJ.
[/ATTACH] Where I live, it takes me 10 minutes to drive from my home to the Economy Parking lot of Washington Dulles International. It's a 5 minute drive to 2 of the Metro Silver Line stations from my home. Using Washington Dulles Airport as the start of the trip, Google Maps says it would be at 11:35 PM on a Wednesday night a 3 1/2 hour non-stop drive, but I know that I'm really looking at a 4 hour uncomfortable and un-enjoyable nonstop drive for me. Some people can do that. I can't when I know I'm going to be driving for several hours. I was like that when I lived in Greensboro, NC and would drive up I-77 to I-79 or I-85 to I-95 to I-495 to I-70 and I-70/I-76 (Pennsylvania Turnpike) to come home to western Pennsylvania to see my parents way back in 2000. I thought about doing this postmortem trip report because of what y'all are discussing: is it worth it to drive 5 hours to Atlantic City where I only get reduced rates for a hotel stay compared to flying on a 5 hour nonstop flight to Vegas from an airport 10 minutes away from me and having 4 comped nights, free play, and resort credit for food and beverage? The Borgata was a free 1 night stay because I used a myVegas reward for the hotel room. That's a question that I have been debating about in my head.
This is another reason why I decided to write this trip report up. On the way, I'm driving past * MGM National Harbor * Maryland Live! * Horseshoe - Baltimore and if I really want to get my degen on, there's also * Hollywood Casino - Perryville * Harrah's - Chester * Bally's Dover * Delaware Park and Hollywood Casino - Martinsburg in the opposite direction for a 40 minute drive. At the minimum, I'm driving 5 hours to the Borgata when I can drive to MGM National Harbor in 40 minutes and 60ish minutes to either Live! in Arundel Mills or Horseshoe in Baltimore. I go back that question again in my head: is it really worth it?
