GolferTrav's Solo Trip Report (Live) 6/3-6/7

I’ll try my best to post updates and/or pictures throughout the trip. This is a solo trip to blow off some steam and to pick up the free TV that HET is giving me for the second year in a row!!!

Thursday, June 3, 2010 – Part 1

Left the house just after 8am. The car was already packed with my suitcase & cooler. At the last second, I threw my golf bag & shoes in. I don’t have a tee time anywhere, but I might try to hook up with Rich from the Caesars Diamond Lounge and play a round with him. Avoided most traffic on the 215/15 North except in Riverside.

I stopped in Barstow & Primm to get rid of all of the coffee I drank. Even with the traffic & the 2 stops, I was in the Flamingo Parking Garage by 1pm. Not too bad. My record is 4 hours flat, but I need to avoid getting another speeding ticket…

I checked in via the Diamond check-in room at the Flamingo. I had a GO Room Deluxe comp’d via my host & offer, even though I can book a GO Room Luxury via the calendar on the TR website. I figured, for kicks, I’d do the $20 trick to secure the Luxury (which, to the best of my knowledge, is just a strip view) and to see if they couldn’t bump me up into a suite. No luck on the suite, but Alex did put me in the Luxury room and gave me his direct extension so that I could get a hold of him if I needed anything. He was very nice and was able to converse with me while he was looking into room possibilities. He did say he had to bump someone out of this room for me to get it. Believe it or not, it’s the same exact room that I’ve had once before last summer. Let’s hope I have the same luck that I had that trip!!!


View from the window

An interesting side note, Alex told me that there were 1,300 guests checking in today and that the hotel was at 97%+ capacity. He also said that for the past while (I don’t remember the duration exactly) that they were getting unlimited overtime. Sounds like things are turning around in this town! Anyway, I was in the room unpacking by 1:30pm with a great view of the roof of Bill’s Parking Garage, the Bellagio Fountain and the South end of the Strip!

It’s about 2:30pm now. I cracked open a beer and got the computer setup. I’m using my Blackberry on Sprint for Internet because it only costs me $0.50/day versus the $14/day through the Flamingo. Even if it’s comp’d, I’d rather use that money for food. I also, for the first time in this situation, setup my Apple Airport Express with the stereo system in the GO Room. I’m wirelessly (well, there are SOME wires involved) beaming my music from my laptop to the stereo. Pretty cool!

I got ‘Dugout’ tickets for the Las Vegas 51’s AAA baseball game tonight. I’m not sure what type of seat I’m going to have because it wasn’t on the seat chart, but we’ll see. It was only $20 (plus Ticketmaster’s stupid fee) and it’s $1 beer night! The game starts at 7pm and I’m planning on taking the Deuce up to the bus station and then walking the couple of blocks up to Cashman Field. I’m choosing to walk because the bus that runs between shuts down pretty early. We’ll see. I think I’m going to just hang out in the room and relax for a while and get some grub at the ballpark.

Tomorrow, I’m heading to the Sprint store on the UNLV campus to pick up the new HTC Evo phone when they open at 8am. Depending on how late I’m up gambling, I might just stay up and take a taxi. I’m sure there will be a coffee shop nearby. I’ll try to update at least once between now and then!

 

Great Start! GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

 

Dugout seats at Cashman are great. Only three or four rows directly behind the plate even with field level. Hope you enjoy the game.

 

I just got back Sat from the Flamingo. The place was packed all week. On Friday night, the line for the buffet was all the way up the stairs and out on the casino floor. It looked like 2002 to me!

 

Did your room number end by any chance in like 44? That view looks pretty familiar to me, LOL!

 

Friday, June 3, 2010

Sorry I didn’t update this last night. Had a blast at the game last night. There was a very nice family next to me and a Canadian couple behind me. It was the first live baseball game that Canadian couple ever went to. Last night was kinda a blur. 8+ $1 beers at the game will do that.





I tried to take the Duece to the game, but it was full and I was getting tight on time to catch the first pitch. I walked up to IP and got a cab. It was a $25 fare, but I got there MUCH quicker then the 1 hour that they said it would take on the bus. As bashful as I am, I found someone at the stadium to take us (myself & the Canadians) to Fremont Street. I hung out with them wandering around for quite a while. We had some beers, there was a mechanical bull that was ridden… I have NO idea what actually happened last night. I do remember that I was a hit on the bus back to the strip. I think I might be playing golf with the security guard that was on the bus… I seem to remember talking about playing golf… WOW.









With the exception of running $80 through a $1 3-reel machine killing time before the game, there was no gambling last night. I have no idea what time I crashed, but do know that my key didn’t work and I had a to wait in line to get it straightened out. I was not happy about that.

I woke up on my own around 6:30am this morning and threw on some clothes to head to UNLV to get the new Sprint EVO phone. I took a taxi for about $10. Had I known they charge and extra $3 to use a credit card, I would have paid cash… I was 5th in ‘line’. The earliest guy got there at 5:45am and there were only 7 people total who were there for the phone. There were a few hiccups, but everything worked out in the end. I met a nice Marine who bought the phone and offered to drive me back to the hotel. I am constantly surprised by how nice locals are in Vegas. Maybe it’s normal or maybe I’ve spent too much time in California where everyone would rather run you over then give you the time of day.





It’s 10am and I’m already 2 beers deep. I think I’m going to head down to the pool to get some sun. I’ll do my best to update as I go!

 

2 beers by 10 after a nice night of boozing...you sir are a true Sparty!

 

Nice start to the trip! Let us know how you like the phone as well!!

 

I'm enjoying your live TR; you can't go wrong befriending Canadians....we're a friendly, fun-loving lot!

 

True....but if your going to hang with Canadians, you had better like beer. LOTS of beer.......

 

So do you like that phone?

 

True 'dat!