3rd Time’s a Charm - Birthday Live at Cosmo 11/21-25

Getting ready for a few days late birthday trip to Cosmo, for what may be our last visit prior to the regime change. This is the third time I’ve attempted to celebrate my birthday in Vegas, and the first two were absolute disasters.

2013 Birthday
-Informed my position was being eliminated at year end the day before departure. Trip ended up being crippling anxiety occasionally pushed aside by the fun.

2019 Birthday
-Spent 9 hours and $3000 at UMC ER after what was believed to be a seizure in our hotel room on my birthday. Wife completely terrified, me feeling absolutely miserable. No bueno.

So, not a very high bar to clear for this to be the best Birthday trip I’ve taken. Fingers crossed it’s a success.

We’re currently in a hotel halfway to Atlanta as we will be dropping our dog at the parents house and returning there to celebrate Thanksgiving with them before driving back to FL. Our boy was very curious about the hotel, but eventually settled in on carpet that looks as beautiful and is likely as dirty as any casino carpet.



Plans
- 4 nights in Terrace Suite with $425FP and $200RC. Not crazy about staying in the Chelsea tower, but when I booked they didn’t have any studios available and I would’ve been super disappointed in a 1Bdrm Chelsea tower so decided to give it a shot.
- Reservations made for Red Plate, Blue Ribbon Grill, Beauty & Essex, Momofuku, and Superfrico. Haven’t left many decisions to make in the moment.
- Activities booked are Lost Spirits Distillery Tour, Rail Explorers ride, and Ethel M Christmas Garden. Considering seeing Opium again with the Identity Gold 2-1, but didn’t book in advance so at this point will wait to see how we feel on arrival.
- Gambling setup is a $10K LOC that likely won’t get used past $5K in losses. Almost certainly all played on slots/VP, with a good chunk of time in HL given our success rate last trip. We’ve essentially eliminated our table play, and Covid gaming conditions have not done much to lure us back to them.

I try my best to post as many pics as possible to break up my long walls of text. Might have a few more doggy glamour shots before takeoff early tomorrow morning.

 

I'm not crazy about staying in thy Chelsea either but with the Terrace suites only in the Chelsea, we have the last few times. The nice part about the terrace suites is they're all right in the center of the tower so the walk from the elevator isn't bad at all

 

I just don’t like the views as much, and the walking back and forth from the restaurants is not my favorite either. Plus the layout will just be extra space, but not as usable as the studio. I like how compact everything is in those.

Made it to Atlanta, checked the flight and saw we got A49 and A50 using the free early bird on my SW business card so not too bad. Probably still going to try for the upgrade given we have more credits then we’ll be able to use otherwise.

This guy was over the car ride by the end of it.

 

Did you get caught at the airport with the shooting in ATL?

 

Wishing you a well deserved fabulous birthday trip!!

 

We’re flying out tomorrow morning so thankfully not impacted. I had family members on 3 different flights through there today and they all made it through before it happened.

Looks like all of VMB is in Vegas this week. I had a feeling it would be a busy week based on the Cosmo availability, but I’m hoping it’s not too miserable.

 

I have come to really like the Chelsea tower - either view good with me

 

At the airport, too tired to be very excited yet. Hoping for some possible sleep on the plane, but if not I know the Vegas adrenaline will kick in as soon as we touch down.

 

Live from the air, it’s been a while since I was in an old SWA 737. This thing is way tighter then I remember.

Reviewing the Red Plate menu since that’s tonight’s meal. Not sure what we’re going to go with, a bit overwhelmed by the options.

 

Safe travels and Happy Birthday!

 

Excited to see what you think of Red Plate. My wife and I are going to be eating there for the first time on our next trip in a couple weeks.

 

On the ground. In our Lyft now, just a few minute wait and $14 quoted. Unfortunately wife has some work that needs to be done as soon as we get to Cosmo, so fun still a bit away. Lots of Raiders jerseys walking through the airport

 

Had a very chatty Lyft driver for the first time in a while. Waiting at the Front Desk now, feels good to be back. Wife and I are cheating, she’s waiting in the standard line and I’m in the Invited. We’ll see who gets up first.

 

Wife won the race handily. If I had been Marriott rewards they would have pulled me into the autograph lounge quickly.

Agent sheepishly offered 15th floor and immediately said I probably would want to wait instead. More than willing to wait not to get stuck in that and a very friendly interaction over all.

Now waiting in a very long line at District. I was wondering where all the people were in the relatively empty lobby area, and I found them.

 

Random shots because I’m bored in line. Really hoping the crowd thins a bit tonight/tomorrow.

 

And the goods. Taking it easy since we need to squeeze in an actual lunch before Lost Spirits at 1:30 so we don’t end up dumptrucked.

Red Velvet
Bacon, egg, and cheese kolache
Vietnamese Iced

 

Took a beating on our first run at HL Huff n Puff. Hit two bonuses in the first $100, but both were garbage. The below was the “good” one. Then blew through the $1000 without anything else of note.



Played up and down on $5 BP and DDB before walking away down $200 since I could tell I was chasing when I went to DDB in order to try and get it all back and then some.

Just got the text the room was ready, so grabbing a sandwich at Lardo. Putting our stuff up, then off to Lost Spirits.

 

Pho’rench Dip with Lardo fries. A favorite we have every single trip. No wait for it either, unlike the big crowd at Hattie AB’s, which we find pretty mediocre.


Like the room more than I expected, but it seems like it’s wasted on 2 people traveling alone. I’d stick with a Blvd Studio fountain view as my pick going forward.

 

Looks like they are copying Aria with no bedskirt to hide the boxspring lol. I love the Cosmo and although I can get a wraparound I like the Studio Terrace personally.

 

I can provide more detail later, but Lost Spirits was a miss for me. I’m starting to think Area15 is where cool ideas go to fall apart under the weight of having to execute them as a full blow tourist attraction.

I’ve got a ton of random pics from the experience that I’ll post once I’m back at the resort and on wifi.