Escape to TR trip - 10/05-10/08

Well here we go.....

Currently sitting on the plane. It's one of the ones with the new interiors. Seems very nice mind you I've never seen one of the old ones.

In about 5 hours we'll be making our approach into LAS and the beginning of hopefully a great weekend. This won't be live but I'll be sure to post if I happen to hit a royal or win the Lion's Share.

 

Have fun, looking forward to the report!!

 

Give much love to your momma!

 

Good Luck!!

 

Good luck habs0, better see some big pics here in this here thread here!

 

Thanks to CET and the Escape to Total Rewards contest, I was headed to Vegas. I had won the “Shopping Spree” trip which included airfare for two from a US airport, limo service, 2 nights at Caesars Palace and $1000 in Visa gift cards to go shopping with (or anything else for that matter).
I decided to take my mom on this trip. Both my parents haven't been on a vacation since 2003. My mom has had a rough year with some health issues as well as being under stress from work for the past several months. She also fell about 9 months ago tearing the muscle in her left shoulder/arm, breaking her arm as well as damaging her rotator cuff. She’s finally having surgery to repair it in a few weeks but it’s been causing her discomfort since it happened. She’s needed a break and this trip was it.

We’ picked our Thanksgiving as it’s a long weekend and it worked the best for both our work schedules. I felt bad my dad was going to be alone but he insisted on us going this weekend. I offered to take him with us but he refused as Vegas holds no interest for him.

I tried to not hype it up too much for her as I didn't want her to be disappointed. Actually she was the one that couldn't stop talking about the trip and it only got worse the closer we got to it. She was excited and really looking forward to it. I didn't want to plan it out too much as I normally do as I didn't want to overwhelm her. With her arm issue I also wanted to make sure she took it easy and figured we'd just go with the flow. The only thing planned was two shows we were attending, Human Nature and LOVE.

I'm going to break this down by day. I can get wordy and detailed. You've been warned….

 

Friday 10/05, Day One – It’s Go Time

I couldn’t sleep at all Thursday night. I usually can’t the night before I travel. I didn’t end up falling asleep till after 1:30am which was a bit of a problem as we were leaving for Buffalo at 4:30am. After a couple of hours of sleep I was surprisingly not that tired. I knew this feeling wouldn’t last long and I figured I’d just sleep on the plane which was the plan after all.

Drive to Buffalo was uneventful but I was surprised how busy the Queenston/Lewiston crossing was at 5:30am. I’ve got NEXUS so I’m not use to waiting at the border. My dad drove us and I felt bad as it’s about a 3 hour drive round trip and he was going to hit rush hour heading back into the GTA. The airport in Buffalo is nice and not overly big. It was quiet except for the Southwest counter which was the only one with a line up. Got our bags checked and headed for security. The only other time I flew out of here I was pulled aside for the body scanner. I’m now 2 for 2. Not really a big deal. We made our way to the gate where we inquired about priority seating for my mom. She had her arm in a sling to try and protect it from getting bumped while traveling. She received one of the blue passes and we were about the 10th ones in line. We ended up in the 4th row with her taking the window and me taking the middle seat to her left which is the bad arm. I would like to go on record and say that the middle seat sucks. In fact the lady who took the aisle seat beside me was wondering why on earth I would take the middle seat. Not really a big deal as I was going to sleep the whole way there. I think I ended up sleeping for about 15 minutes! Just couldn’t get comfortable. To be honest I have a hard time sleeping on planes to begin with so I wasn’t surprised. Good thing is my mom was able to sleep for most of the way there. We arrived on time which is always nice. I could see my mom’s eyes were tearing up on our way to the gate. She looked at me and said she can’t believe we’re actually here and how happy she was.

We made our way towards the luggage. As we were coming down the escalator I immediately spotted the limo driver holding up the sign with my name on it. I must admit that it was a pretty cool moment. Our limo driver was awesome and we chatted while waiting for our luggage. I asked if it would be possible at all to head towards the Welcome sign before heading to Caesars. He said it shouldn’t be but he has to check with the limo service. After we collected our bags and headed down to Zero Level he went and grabbed the limo. Once we were in he said he got the okay for the detour and we were off to the sign. There was a bit of a line to get pictures and while waiting for our turn, we could really feel how warm out it was. Defiantly a lot warmer than it was back home. After the driver took our picture we were back in the limo and heading north on the strip towards Caesars. I was playing tour guide and pointing out each property to my mom.

We were soon making a left onto Flamingo and then a right into the Augustus Tower porte cochere. Grabbed our luggage and tipped the driver. Headed inside to see if we can check in. I figured we’d have to wait as it was about 11:30 at this point. I had my ID and credit card ready with a $20 figuring I’d give it a shot. The lady who helped us wasn’t the friendliest. She started to check us in and was going to give us a room right away but in the Octavious Tower. I declined and said I wanted a room in the Augustus Tower as it’s closer to the casino and strip and would make it easier on my mom. She wasn’t amused and told me I’d have to wait as check in isn’t till 3pm she reminded me. At this point she asked for my ID and I gave her the sandwich. When she saw the $20 she made a face and tossed it back up on the counter at me. Didn’t say a word. I acted naturally and palmed it. Like I said, not the friendliest person. Mind you I messed up a bit as I shouldn’t have waited for her to ask for the ID, I should have just handed it to her to begin with. Would it have made a difference? Probably not as she’s probably one of the ones that doesn’t take tips. I did ask if it would be possible to get a room facing the fountains and she said she’d request one. She took my cell number down and said we would be on the priority list and they’d call when our room was ready. We checked our bags and headed into the casino to grab something to eat.

We ended up eating at Munchbar. I had the Double Western BBQ burger and my mom had the chicken Caesar salad wrap. This is my second time eating there and find the food very good and the portions are more than enough, in fact neither of us could finish our meals. We weren’t quite checked in yet so I couldn’t charge the meal to our room but I used my RC’s to pay for it. We also got a discount with my TR card. While we were eating I asked her what she thought of what she’s seen so far and her answer was “I thought it all would be bigger.” I tried not to laugh as I knew that answer would be changing.

After we ate we went to the TR desk to pick up my mom’s card. I had signed her up during the contest and she ended up winning $35 in RC which we were going to use this trip along with the $340 that I had on my card to pay for meals and stuff. We then walked around the Forum Shops before deciding to play for a bit while we wait for our room. My mom isn’t much of a gambler but does enjoy going to the casinos in Niagara from time to time. She’s grown a liking for Alice and wanted to play the first one we saw. I was playing next to her but it wasn’t doing much for me so I got up and went over to play Carney Craps (aka Shoot to Win). I was surprised to see that unlike MGM, CET gives Tier Credits on this albeit at $50 coin in per credit. No shooter could get going without 7’ing out rather quickly.

It was 3:30 and still no phone call to say our room was ready. I headed over to the Augustus registration and was helped by a girl who was a complete 180 from the one who I dealt with earlier. She was super friendly and I asked myself why couldn’t we have started off with her. She confirmed they had a room ready and started to finish the check-in process. I did inquire as to the availability of a suite but after a phone call she said none were available. She gave me our room keys and I went over to have our bags brought up. We were given room 2456 which was south facing with two queens. Now I’m not sure why the floor numbers are the way they are there but our floor was nowhere near being the 24th floor, more like the 5th or 6th floor. The room was nice but it had seen much better days. There was wall paper peeling in the bathroom and someone had put a hole in the wall over by the table. I was a little surprised to be honest. The bathroom is nice a big and it had a whirlpool tub.

Our bags arrived about 15 minutes later and we started to unpack and settle in. One of my mom’s suppliers at her work arranged a spa session for her at Quo through his host at Caesars. Her appointment was at 5:30 so she got ready and headed down at 5:00. I was going to see Carrot Top at 8:30 and was starting feel tired so I took a quick nap.

Once I was up and ready I made my way out and was debating on the elevator ride down if I should cab it or walk it. Walking won as I needed to be outside on the strip and to “feel it” if that makes any sense. Eventually made my way down to Luxor and lined up to pick up my ticket. I was in row 1 and scored a deal through Tavelzoo for 35% off which the box office honoured over the phone as it wasn’t letting me buy the ticket online. Who designed this theatre and that stupid ramp? I guess it could be worse and it could have been all stairs. The show itself is great. I’ll be honest I was a little hesitant but after reading on here all the good things everyone has said about the show I’m glad I gave it a shot. It really is very funny. I didn’t get a shot of Crown however thanks to the drunk guy on the end of the second row who grabbed the bottle out of CT’s hand when he offered him a shot and decided to take a swig directly from the bottle. This wasn’t some young college kid either; it was some middle aged guy who had a hard time walking out of the theatre after the show. Apparently the VP of Luxor was in the audience as CT went up to where she was sitting to make sure she got a shot to make up for all the jokes he makes about the hotel. It really is a great show and at a good price as well. Defiantly recommend it.

After the show I made my way over to MGM to go and win the Lion’s Share. It’s safe to assume at this point I didn’t win it. I was surprised to see a section of slots right at the front is out of order including Sigma Derby. I’m assuming this has to do with all the work being done at the front. It took me a few minutes to find the Lion’s Share as they had moved it since I was there in December. There was a lady playing it with a young couple standing there. I asked if they were waiting to play it and was told yes but they only wanted to run $20 each through it. The guy told me it’s probably going to be awhile as they had been waiting for a bit and the lady was down to about $20 and had some hits to bring her up to the over $300 she was at now. His wife decided to play the Blazing Triple 7 game beside it and on her first spin hit for $200. She played that down to about $120 when she hit another $200. We convinced her to cash out. I wished them luck and headed off in search of something to do while I waited for the Lion’s Share to become free. I actually debated on just heading out and wasn’t sure if I was going to venture down again to this end of the strip so I decided to wait it out. I ended up playing the STW Craps machine which I had a lot of fun on here last trip. Wasn’t as much fun this time as it was experiencing the same problem as the one at Caesars did earlier in the day. I played for a bit before cashing out down $40. I made my back over to the LS machine and waited for about 10 minutes before it was my turn. I fed it $100 and ran that through. I had a bunch of $15 hits and two single lions but all that did was prolong the inevitable. Once I was done I decided to feed my TITO that still had $60 on it from the craps machine into that Triple Blazing 7s machine beside it. Not a single hit. That was a quick way to blow $200.

Left MGM and started to head north. I was starting to feel hungry so I headed for Hipster Central aka Cosmo to try out the hidden pizza place. I walked past the line for Marquee and began to wonder why these girls even bother wearing a dress at all. It’s not like the ones they are wearing are leaving anything to the imagination. I had no clue where this pizza place was and was determined to find it without asking. 15 minutes of wondering aimlessly around I finally found it. I can’t believe how not so hidden it really is once you find it. Place wasn’t busy but I must of timed it right as the line got pretty long as I was eating. Pizza is pretty good and I had “cup” of PBR to wash it down. Plenty of drunk party girls around for entertainment. Seriously, is there anything more entertaining than drunk party girls? We should start a thread titled “Sh*t drunk girls say”. Things I overheard while eating pizza included “I’m single and want to get laid” (yes that was said out loud) and “If I’m going to cheat on Kevin it has to be with someone nice”. I feel sorry for Kevin.

After leaving Cosmo I felt it was time to hit Flamingo. As soon as I stepped inside I felt good. I’m a big fan of the place and just feel really comfortable here. I made my way over to the Margaritaville Casino and sat at the bank of Alice machines in the corner across from the store. Hit for $80 right away so that felt good. Drink service was good and I was enjoying the Landsharks. CW was cute as hell. Thought I would just mention that. Played on Alice for a bit before heading over to Bugsy’s Bar. Sat at one of the end corners. Their taps were down so I started drinking Coronas. I’m still pretty new to VP so I stuck with playing JOB at .25 max bet. I was having fun and also like to people watch and this seems to be a great spot for that. Young girl sat beside me and asked how my night was going. I said it was good. She asked if I was here with anyone and I said yes (which wasn’t a lie). She said “Really, I don’t see a ring”. I just shrugged as I wasn’t going to be explaining this one. She told me that’s too bad and was hoping that wasn’t case. You know it’s not as much fun playing “spot the pro” when they make it this easy. She left a few minutes later. Next one to sit down was another young girl. She smiled at me as she sat down and I thought to myself here we go again. After a few minutes she leans over to me and asks me what a flush is while pointing to her screen. I explained it to her and she thanked me and that was it. I guess maybe playing “spot the pro” isn’t so easy after all. Last but not least was this guy and two girls who started standing at the bar on the corner next to me. He’s pretty loud and says to one of the girls who doesn’t look like she’s been having a good night that she needs to lay some pipe. I just happen to be looking at them when he says this. He looks over at me and says to her “What about him, he looks like he could be good at it”. I just put my head down as I didn’t want to start laughing my ass off. It was close to 3am at this point and I’ve lost count of how many beers I’ve had. I’m also only down a few bucks so I decide call it a night and I stagger back to Caesars and up the room all while trying to be very quiet as to not wake up my mom.

Bored yet? I warned you this would be long….

 

You know us the longer the better

 

Keep it coming! Great detail!

 

Wow Habs! You do chatter a lot.
Very entertaining thread so far.

Oh, and thanks for posting those codes for us during the game earlier this year!

Enjoy your 'free' trip!!!!!

 

Come on!!! I have just settled in with my glass of wine and I only get the first day!!!??..............lol
Looking forward to the rest of the report. So nice that you took your Mom as your companion for your special trip!!

 

Saturday 10/06, Day Two – Shop till you drop

Woke up Saturday just after 8. I can never really sleep in when in Vegas for some reason. My mom was already up and had gotten ready. She said that her time at Quo was fantastic and better than she was expecting. They had known about her arm so they were able to work around that. I suggested she go back before we left and just charge it to the room. She said she’d think about it.

I got ready and we headed out for breakfast. We walked over to Paris to eat at Mon Ami Gabi. There was a 45 minute wait for the patio but no wait for a table inside. I asked if they could sit us as close to the outside as possible which they did. The meal was fantastic. We both kept it simple and ordered the three eggs with toast and bacon. Exciting, I know. Coffee was better than I remembered and breakfast hit the spot. When I went to charge it to the room he asked for that little slip of paper. When we had checked in I inquired about it as well and was told they don’t do that anymore, everything is with ID and room key. I told him that and he said their system is different and there’s some code on the paper they need. He was able to figure it out based on tower and room number.

We went over to catch the bus in front of Paris to head up to the outlet mall. Bought 2 24hr passes. There was a guy there assisting people buying passes from the machine as well as a “RTC Ambassador” hanging around. Is this something new? SDX finally came after two Deuces and it was packed. Finally arrived at the outlet mall and it was time to spend of that money. Seeing as they gave us two $500 cards I gave one to my mom and told her to go nuts. I honestly didn’t think I was going to spend the money and was determined not to buy stuff just for the sake of buying stuff. My plan was if I still had most of it before we left I was going to put it towards something at the Apple store in the Forum Shops. I didn’t have to worry about that as I had no problem eventually using it. First bit of damage came when I walked into the Oakley store. I had forgotten my sun glasses at home. I don’t know if I did this subconsciously as I’ve been looking at getting a new pair but I ended up getting the pair I had been looking at for half price! I also picked up some clothes from them as well. A couple of doors down is the Columbia store. I am in the middle of the desert, its 30 degrees (Celsius) out, not a cloud in the sky and here I am buying a winter jacket. Yeah, that makes sense. I picked up a fall/spring jacket as well, again scoring some good deals. Picked up a couple of wallets at the Fossil store and I was pretty much done. Mom did the bulk of her shopping at the Coach store. It was close to 3pm at this point and we decided to head back to the hotel. I forgot that the southbound stop is in front of Cosmo so we had a bit of walk back to room but it worked out as we stopped and watched the fountains which blew my mom away.

Once back in the room I left to go place some money of the Irish. Cut off was 4:30 and I got to the sportsbook at 4:20 only to get stuck in a line that wasn’t moving. I was however able to make the bet in time. I haven’t had much luck while betting on sports in Vegas but the way the Irish’s season has been going and the fact they were favoured by 15 I felt good about it.

We were going to see Human Nature at 7:30 but I had to pick up the tickets from will call. What a mess the front of IP is. It’s not so bad but the problem is you’ve got a narrow area and there are people who don’t understand that traffic needs to be moving both ways so you can’t be walking 3 wide in one direction! Now I had no idea where we were sitting as I had bought them through Goldstar, all I knew was we had VIP seating. I was hoping for a booth. When the girl gave me the tickets I noticed they had a table number on them. I asked if it was possible to get a booth and she said no, our seats had already been assigned. I was not happy and started to kick myself for not buying direct. I said I wouldn’t use Tix4Tonite anymore for this very reason but of course I didn’t listen to myself when I bought these.

I headed back to the room to get ready and watch a bit of the Irish/Hurricanes game. I told my mom about the tickets for the show but said I would try and do something once we got there. We headed over early so I could see if I could sweet talk my way into a booth. We were greeted by the maître d’ and I explained about my mom’s arm and asked if we could be placed in a booth. She took a look at the seating chart and said the only booth she had wasn’t very good. My mom asked her how our seats were and she said they weren’t very good either as we were in the middle of a table. She turned to me and said that if I was willing to take care of her she could take care of us. I was ready for this as I had a $20 ready. She agreed to the amount and sat us in booth 308 which is dead centre in the theatre! Once we sat down my mom turned to me and asked what just happened as she wasn’t use to that sort of thing. I laughed and said Welcome to Vegas! Truth is that sort of thing pretty much happens everywhere but it just caught her off guard. We ordered some drinks and I asked to charge them to the room. Guess what the waitress asked for. Yep, that stupid piece of paper! She got it worked out once I gave her the tower and room number. Be nice if CET got a little consistency going with this room charge thing however.

The show was really good and my mom had a great time as did I. She’s a big fan of Motown and was really looking forward to this and it didn’t disappoint. She was a little leery she admitted later after she saw the inside of IP. We were originally supposed to see LOVE on Saturday night and Human Nature on Sunday night but then the Sunday show got cancelled. After a bunch of phone calls I was able to get things switched around and I’m really glad I did, it was worth it.

We hadn’t planned anything after the show as we wanted to see how my mom would be feeling. She suggested we head downtown as she wanted to see it at night. We caught the Deuce and headed up to Fremont. I had warned her that it’s different from the strip but she wanted to see it. We both also hadn’t really eaten since breakfast so we were going to grab a bite to eat once we got up there. We ended up getting there just before 10pm so we were able to watch the Vivavision Show. It was also pretty crowded. After the show I could tell by the look on her face she wasn’t 100% impressed. I asked her what she felt like eating and she asked where I wanted to go. My answer was the Golden Gate so we headed there. Once we got there I could tell something was bothering her. I suggested we go get something to eat at Du-Par’s but she said she would just like to get out of here but wanted to run $20 through at the Golden Gate considering its history. Once that was done I suggested we just grab a cab as that would be the easiest and quickest way back. We crossed over to in front of the Plaza and grabbed one. I don’t personally know what the quickest way down is, if it’s surface streets or I-15. He took Main south and made his way over to Industrial. At one point my mom looked over at me and I knew what she was thinking so I just have her a nod as I knew where we were. I made sure to tip well and told him I hoped he didn’t have to wait too long for his next ride was the taxi line was pretty long.

We still hadn’t eaten so we headed over to Serendipity 3 and there was no wait for the patio. It was my first time eating there and it’s actually a really nice spot. I wish I could say the same for the food which was just okay. I had a cheeseburger with a beer, mom had a crab sandwich which she said wasn’t that great and glass of water and that came to $48!!! First and probably only time eating there mind you I would like to try one of their deserts someday.

I walked her back to the room as she was calling it a night. I grabbed my Irish ticket and headed downstairs to collect. I was going to head back over to the Flamingo to play VP but decided just to stick around Caesars and ended up plopping myself down at the bar by the sportsbook. It’s a nice bar but in a weird spot in the sense that all you can hear is the crappy music coming from Pure and at the same time you can hear the music coming from Shadow Bar. I joked with the bartender asking when they turn that noise off and he asked which one. I said Pure and he said that goes to 4 am. I had no idea! Settled in with a Corona and started playing .25 JOB. I’m really starting to enjoy playing VP and sitting at the bar is great. You get awesome drink service plus some good people watching. Not really much to report as I played for about 90 minutes. I did get a slight rush as all I saw on one hand was “10, J, Q, K, A”. That quickly faded when I realised they weren’t all the same suit! #@#$@@!!! I’m not sure what’s worse, a “Royal Straight” or 4 to a Royal which I also got about 3 of. I’m going to go with the 4 to a Royal. I would hate to be dealt a 4 to a Royal Straight (is that really a term or am I making that up?) but I’m sure it’s happened. I called it a night after a few Coronas and down about $30.

 

Sunday 10/07 Day Three – Flamingo LOVE

Again I woke up just after 8 feeling like complete crap. I actually felt I was coming down with something a few days before we left. My sinuses were completely congested. I was hoping that would be the extent of it and maybe the dry air would help. Nope, it had now made its way down into my chest and I developed a cough. Lucky me.

Today was also the day we were switching hotels and heading across the street to spend Sunday night at Flamingo where I had a GO room booked. I got ready and headed downstairs to grab coffee and something to eat from $tarbucks. The hotel had left a message on the phone last night warning everyone they were expecting a high volume of checkouts this morning and suggested using the express checkout on the TV or by phone. I took a peek at the registration desk and it was deadsville. Thought to myself everyone must be waiting till 11. Headed back up stairs and we ate while we finished getting ready to go. Headed back downstairs to checkout at 10:45 and there was no one there, I walked right up to the counter. The guy helping me asked if I wanted to use points to cover the balance, I said yes and that was it, everything was comped. I think I could get use to this.

We headed for the main lobby to head outside and over to Flamingo. Now I know why they left that message, it was very busy over there. I guess that’s one of the advantages of staying in Augustus or Octavious. We crossed over the bridge and headed into Flamingo. I figured it might be busy as it was just after 11 and there would still be folks checking out. Sure enough there was a long line but then I noticed a queue set up with a sign saying “Total Rewards Gold Check In/Out” with no one in it. This was new to me and a welcome sight as we got in it and were called by the first available clerk, by passing the line. I had debated about trying the $20 trick as we were only here for one night but considering it didn’t work at Caesars I said what the hell and as soon as I stepped up to the counter I smiled and handed it to her. She placed the $20 beside her keyboard and said let me see what I can do. I had just a GO room booked but she gave us a GO room facing Bally’s on the 26th floor and it was ready now so she waived the early check-in fee. Was it worth it? I’m just glad we got a room right away and were able to dump the luggage. We got up to the room and the view was great. We were right under the executive level so that overhang is a little weird to look at. When I stayed here last year I was on the 28th floor and now seeing what a regular room was like, those couple of extra feet the executive floor offers is noticeable. The room was clean and in good shape, in fact it was in better shape than the room we had at Caesars.

We headed down for me to show her around and to play for a bit. I headed over to the sportsbook to put money on the Bears. We then headed over to Margaritaville to play Alice. Turned the corner and the machine I like was taken so I sat down at the other Enchanted Mirror one. My mom sat down at the Mad Tea Party one next to it but asked if we could switch. She must have known something. I didn’t get very many hits at all. No bonuses either. My mom was doing alright and the lady to my left who was on the machine I like then goes and hits for $400. It was all very comical but I got to a point where I said enough is enough and cashed out. I didn’t want to venture too far so I sat down at the bank of Ruby Slippers and my “luck” continued there. I got up from there only to see that my Alice machine was now free. I sat down, fed it some money along with my TITO and guess what, Alice is a bitch! I honestly couldn’t hit anything. I turned to my mom who was just about done and said we should go eat.

We had decided to do the Buffet of Buffets for our last two days. We figured it would make eating a little easier plus we then knew how much food was going to cost. I suggested we start with the Spice Market at Planet Hollywood so that’s where we headed. My aunt and uncle were in Vegas a few weeks ago and had stayed at PHo. He told my mom about him playing Casino War for hours one night and only losing $20 or something like that so she had it in her head that she wanted to play Casino War. As soon as we got onto the casino floor she asked about it and we quickly found the table. I checked the table minimum and it was $10. I asked her how much she wanted to play and she said $20. I explained that would be only two hands. Like I said earlier, mom isn’t much of a gambler. She sat down nonetheless and bought in for $20. I stood there as I knew this was going to be funny. She actually won the first two hands, exchanged the next couple before being wiped out. I think it took all of about 60 seconds. She looked up at me and said “that’s it?” Every time I see someone playing War I always think about Vegas Vacation.

We headed downstairs to the buffet and there was no line. We bought our passes which would be good till 1:30pm on Monday. This was my first Vegas buffet and I know this one is supposed to be one of the better ones and even then it surpassed my expectations. The food was great and we both really enjoyed it. I especially like the Cajun Tilapia that they had and of course the desert selection was great as well. After we were done stuffing ourselves we walked around the mall for a little bit with my mom heading into the Ultra Diamonds store. She was able to use the remaining money on her gift card to purchase a diamond pendant which made her very happy.

We then headed next door to Walgreens to pick up something for my cold. I picked up some Robitussin and wasn’t too happy when I saw on the box it said that I couldn’t exceed 3 alcoholic drinks in a day while taking this. Now it doesn’t say what size those drinks have to be so maybe I can get away with 3 of those touristy drinks. No, I didn’t seriously think that but I questioned if these were more like guidelines and were open to a little bit of interpretation. We headed out of Walgreens and started to head back to Flamingo. While we were crossing the bridge from Bally’s to Bill’s, there was an altercation going on between two guys near the escalator. Some argument over a phone one guy apparently paid $200 for. I went to walk past them when they got physical and they backed into me. I pushed them aside and made sure my mom was able to get by. We got on the escalator and I turned around to see what was happening when one guy ripped the shirt off the other guy who then turned to get on the escalator. Just as he did some other guy came around the corner and kicked him causing him to start stumbling down. I yelled “look out!” and braced for impact and this guy was coming straight at us. Luckily he was able to regain his footing, he brushed past and started running. By the time we got around the front of Bill’s he was headed down the side of Flamingo and long gone.

Mom wanted to rest for a bit before going to see LOVE tonight so she headed back up to the room. I headed to the sportsbook to claim my winnings from the Bears game and to put money on the Saints. After that I decided to play some more VP and was going to hit Bugsy’s again but instead sat down at the Garden Bar. Ran a $100 through pretty quickly. Got up and headed over to Margaritaville and the stupid Alice machines where empty except for one machine. I stood there for a second and eventually decided against my better judgement to play. In went $100 and the misery began. Again I couldn’t hit anything. The girl that was playing the machine on the end hit for a couple of hundred! You’ve got to be freaking kidding me. Maybe I’m good luck for other players playing these machines now. I kept saying to myself that I should cash out but I wouldn’t listen. I should have known better. I got up and decided to try my luck with something else and sat down at a Thundering Buffalo machine. That was no better and I had had enough and cashed out. I then headed upstairs to get ready for the night.

We headed over to The Mirage to catch LOVE at 7pm. My mom is not a fan of Cirque although to be honest she’s never seen one of their shows. She just says she doesn’t like it. She agreed to see this one as she’s a huge Beatles fan. We were dead centre, row O, section 200. I don’t think you could ask for better seats as these give you a clear view of everything. This was my second time seeing the show as I had seen it on my previous trip. It was just as good as the first time and in fact I noticed a bunch of stuff I didn’t the first time. I kept thinking throughout the show that she’s not enjoying this at all and I started to feel a little bad. Once the show was over I turned to her and saw she had tears in her eyes. She said she was speechless and couldn’t believe what she had just seen. She kept thanking me for taking her to it. She actually had enjoyed it and even went so far to say she would give another Cirque show a chance. I might have a convert on my hands!

After the show we crossed over to Harrah’s for the buffet for a late night supper / snack. Flavours is okay and I know we caught it an hour before closing but it’s nowhere near as good as Spice Market. After we finished eating she went back to the room and I went to collect on the Saints win only to find the sportsbook closed which I found a little strange. I decided to head over to Bellagio to catch a few fountain shows as this was our last night. On my way back to Flamingo they were filming Vegas Strip just in front of it. They were arresting some guy who apparently was exposing himself according to people standing around. I’ve watched a few episodes of the show and must admit it was kind of cool to see it in person. Certainly good for a laugh. I then hit Bugsy’s for some VP and Coronas. The place was kind of quiet. Not sure if it was because it was Sunday night or what but it just didn’t seem all that busy. I didn’t even get hit on by a working girl! I played for about 2 hours before I really started to feel tired and decided to call it a night and I was only down about $30. I walked back to the Spa Elevators where there was a young girl standing at the entrance who asked me where I was going. I told her I was going to bed and she asked if she could come. I just laughed to myself as I got on the elevator.

 

Great TR, miss my trip with my Mom - RIP

 

Monday 10/08, Day Four – It’s over already?

The plan for Monday morning was the get up and hit Paradise Garden buffet for a quick breakfast. That didn’t happen as we both slept in till 9. I checked my email and there as one from Southwest saying our flight was going to be delayed by 45 minutes. I started thinking how the heck did they already know this considering our flight wasn’t until 5:40pm. I was tempted to have our pick up time changed but we decided to just leave it.

I got ready and ran downstairs to grab coffee and croissants from Java Detour. I thought Starbucks was overpriced but this place beats it hands down and the coffee is crap! We finished packing and made our way downstairs to check out bags. Originally the limo was going to pick us up at Caesars but I had them change that as I wasn’t lugging the bags back across the street. I get in the TR Gold line and again there’s no one in front of me and I get served next. The total charge to the room is just over $130 and she asks if I want to use my points which I have $105 worth. I said yes and asked if we could use the $35 on my mom’s card to pay the difference. It shouldn’t be a problem except it is. Apparently she can’t access my mom’s points. She sends us over to the TR desk to have them “refresh” her account which they do. We go back over to the desk and she still can’t do it and goes over to ask someone. I’m thinking at this point for $30 this is kind of stupid. I was just going to tell the lady when she came back to forget about it and charge it to my credit card. I figured we’d use her points to pay for Bacchanal which is where we were going to eat lunch. Lady comes over and says everything has been taken care of and hands me a copy of the bill shows a zero balance.

We then head over to Caesars to eat. I was expecting a long line but it wasn’t all that bad. I think we ended up waiting about 15 minutes. We get up to the hostess and I tell her we have the BOB and gave her our TR cards with IDs. She rings up the $15 surcharge each. Now I figured my mom’s card still had about $6 on it and I asked it would be possible to use those against the $30. The hostess said she’d check and next thing I know is she’s giving my mom a receipt to sign showing the entire $30 was paid for with points. A little confused at this point I didn’t say anything as I didn’t want to complicate matters. I’m not sure what happened, maybe the hotel just took the difference off the bill instead of figuring out how to use her points, I’m not sure. Worst case scenario, they’ll eventually charge my card for the difference.

The place itself is very nice. We were seated right by the dessert island. As for the food, amazing. It is well worth the price they are charging for it. The salmon is to die for. I think the only problem with this place is that it offers too much variety but again that’s not really a bad thing. It’s a problem in the sense that you want to try it all and just can’t. The desserts look incredible but all I ended up getting was a crepe which is made fresh in front of you and you can top it with fresh berries. Even the coffee is fantastic. I defiantly will have to hit this place on future trips.

After lunch we headed back over to Flamingo to wait for the limo to come and get us. We had about 2 hours to kill so I showed my mom the gardens in the back. She said she wanted to find a place outside where she can have a drink and relax before leaving so I set her up on the patio outside Sin City Brewing. I then headed inside and parked myself at Bugsy’s to do my last bit of gambling. It didn’t start off well as I was down to $7 within about 20 minutes. I still had an hour to go. I hit a couple of quads and full houses to eventually let me cash out even and I was able to play right up until it was time to go. Bar service was great there the entire trip, in fact a fresh Corona would just appear without being asked.

We went and grabbed our luggage and waited for the limo to arrive which was right on schedule. Got to McCarren in no time and there was no line at the Southwest counter. We made our way through security which had a bit of a line but was moving pretty fast. When it was our turn I grabbed a bunch of trays and was trying to do both mine and my moms. I guess I wasn’t moving fast enough for this 20something girl has she grabbed some trays and jumped in front of us. Obviously she was in a hurry. She went through the metal detector followed by my mom. I waited as the stuff wasn’t going through the machine and I didn’t want to leave it. It turns out there was a problem with a bag. The little miss who was in such a hurry had a half full bottle of coke in her bag. They had to pull it out and then take her tray and put it through the machine again after our stuff. The TSA agent also held up the bottle and reminded everyone in line about no liquids. I finally went through and started grabbing our stuff when her tray came through and she was next to me grabbing her crap. I didn’t look at her but said out loud how great it was that the one who was in such a hurry was the one who ended up holding up the whole line. She turned and stormed off throwing her tray down. I’m guessing she didn’t have a great trip.

Our flight was delayed again by another 15 minutes. We were told it’s because our aircraft was coming from LAX and Obama was in LA which caused delays. That would explain how they knew so early. Flight home was uneventful. Landed into to Buffalo and it didn’t take long to realise how cold it was and how much I missed Vegas already!

 

If you made it all the way through thanks for reading and I hope I didn't bore you to tears. I did warn you I can get wordy.

Overall I ended up down for the trip but that's got to be expected going in. I did lose less than what I had budgeted so that's a plus.

I learned a few things this trip as I'm sure we all do every trip. I definitely want to play more VP and less slots. In fact I might cut slots out almost completely after this trip. Problem is some of them are fun and I might play a few just to serve as a break. This was also my first weekend being in Vegas but I think I like being there mid-week more. It wasn't as crazy busy as I feared but I think I prefer the more laid back feel of being there during the week.

As for my mom, she enjoyed it. It was a much needed break for it. She says she'd like to go back someday but she's not a fan of all the walking. Her opinion on the size of it all changed very quickly.

I would still love to try and sneak in a trip the week before Christmas but as it stands now that might be a last minute thing.

 

Great trip report! How nice of you to take your mom ~ glad she had a good time We never get tired of hearing about Vegas ~ our daughter just checked into Paris and she's there until Sunday. We're jealous!!

 

Enjoyed your trip report. The crossover between Bally's and Bill's always has some entertainment. Thanks for sharing.

 

Great report, thanks for taking the time to write it. I am returning to Vegas ( as you can see by my countdown timer) in a few weeks with my Mom. She is 74 now and slowing down a bit. Her problem is that she thinks she is missing something if she goes to the room to rest..............your Mom has a better idea of how to manage her energy!!

 

Great Trip Report. Seems we might have cross pathes and not known it. I spent most of my time at PHo winning, with a short trip to Ballys and Caesars.

I like Margaritaville casino alot. I also love going down to the casino at 4:30am for the drunk walk of shame that takes place when the club rats wander out to their cabs.