My first TR 12/23-12/27

I need to preface this TR by saying that I am so glad we actually made it! We had quite a few obstacles come our way in the month or so prior to our trip, but we made it happen. First, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my mom was rushed to the hospital and the following Wednesday was having surgery. After a short 11 days in the hospital, she was able to return home with supervision. She had abdominal surgery and couldn't do anything, really, so my Dad, Brother and I pulled together and covered the shifts. Mom is doing fine, and is healing well. During this time, I was nearing finals week and was developing an eye twitch. My dog then decided that now would be a great time to tweak her neck--good thing I work at a vet hospital. She got some sweet muscle relaxers and is doing much better. Just when I thought it HAD to be smooth sailing from there on out...the day before we left our refrigerator died. We lost a bunch of food, lots of freezer stuff we have a small refrigerator and a deep freeze in the basement, so we made it work for our friend who was staying here while we were in Vegas and decided to deal with it when we got home. We got to bed around 10pm and had to wake up at 3am for our 6:45 flight out of MSP. As soon as my alarm went off, I knew something was wrong. I felt the tingling of a sore throat coming on and decided it was just because the air was dry. I was wrong.

Sunday 12/23/07
Our 6:45 flight was on time and non-eventful. We got in around 9am Vegas time, got our bags and went to PH to check them at the bell desk. First on our agenda was the Paris breakfast buffet, which we had been anticipating for quite some time. It seems to have gone downhill with lots of cold food and a smaller selection. No fresh berries, which was always a highlight for me. A bummer, but we didn't let it dampen our vegas spirits. After we ate, we went to PH to see if we could check in. I asked for a renovated room with a strip view, which we could have had if we wanted to wait. I wasn't feeling well and just wanted a room, so we took a 10th floor pool view room- #1063 right off the north elevators. We immediately loved the room, especially the super comfy bed and the bathroom. Having only stayed at the Flamingo before, we had no clue what we were missing! The only negatives about the room: small window with a table, chair and lamp basically blocking it. We just moved the furniture. For the rest of the afternoon, I basically napped and J watched some lame TV movies. When I woke up we went down to the ABC store for some necessities- cold medicine, water, diet coke, then we went back upstairs to shower, relax and get ready for dinner. I wiped out the tub with my clorox wipes and hopped in...man I miss that soaking tub. We got ready and decided to head downstairs to PF Chang's for dinner. We have one at home, so it was a convenience thing for us, plus we love the lettuce wraps. We shared them as an appetizer, J had the Oriental Chicken Salad and I had Orange Peel Shrimp and 2 glasses of wine (hmmm...I'm just now realizing that maybe I shouldn't have mixed wine and cold medicine. Oh, hell, i was on vacation...) The bill was around $63 before tip, our server, Nick, was great. Much of our dinner was spent trying not to stare at this woman who was checking her own boobs out the entire time...she really seemed to like them. I was wiped out after dinner so we just went upstairs and watched TV until we fell asleep.

12/24/07 Christmas Eve

We slept in and then got a late breakfast at Planet Dailies. I had the Vegas Scramble which came with breakfast potatoes that were to die for. J had Huevos Rancheros, which he liked a lot. From there, we headed to the IP and got our free tickets from the player's booth to go see the Car Museum. We both enjoyed it, and I found about 12 cars I'd like to buy. We left the IP and walked south in search of sunglasses. Found some at a cart south of PH, we each got 2 pair. It's kind of a tradition of ours, we always buy sunglasses in Vegas. We decided to walk around Miracle Mile to see what had changed, and noticed that the Hookah store was gone. BOO! We bought a big green hookah from them a couple years ago. I bought a gelato and some souveniers, and my throat was still on fire after the gelato, so when I saw Fat Tuesday I knew it was a sign to get a slushy drink. I got a 16oz Mango slushie, and for some reason I thought it was a good idea to get the extra shot. This would later prove to be a big mistake. We walked a bit more and J wanted beer, so we bellied up to the Sin City Brewing Co. J drank stouts and I double fisted it with my mango slush and a few ambers. Miranda, the bartender, was great and we made friends with a fun couple from TX. J joined them all in doing Irish Car Bombs, I declined. Before I knew it, I had had one too many ambers and I turned to J, "I'm going up to the room" and I was off before I even heard a response. I made it to the room and laid down, J wasn't too far behind me. Before we passed out, we laughed at how pathetic we were-- it was 5:30 pm and we were in for the night. Breakfast was the only solid food today, except my 11:30pm run to Earl of Sandwich for a chicken caesar salad. I don't remember if it was good or not.

12/25/07 Christmas Day

Needless to say, we got a late start today-late for us, anyway. Breakfast was 2 Patty Melts with fries from room service. They were good, and only took about 20-25 min to get to the room. We ventured out a bit, went to Bellagio to see the conservatory, but much of the day was spent relaxing in the room. I went to Flamingo and bought our tickets for Second City for that night and walked through Bill's on my way back for a $1.50 beer. We had 5:30 reservations at Mon Ami Gabi for dinner. Around 4 or so, our stomachs started growling, so we headed down to MAG and asked to be seated outside. We were seated right away and had a great view of the Bellagio fountains. I started with the Frisee and Bacon salad, and J had the Onion soup au gratin, we shared and enjoyed both. The bread was good and came with some sort of lemon/red pepper orzo which we both liked. J had the Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin and I had the Bone-in Ribeye and a glass of Pinot Noir, J drank water. J's food was absolutely fantastic, my steak was good and I found out I don't like the maitre'd butter at MAG. Our bill was $93 and we left our server a nice christmas present. Outside at sunset with the fountains going was so great and really romantic. I would do this again in a second. We went back to the room and changed, then went to Second City at the Flamingo. If you enjoy improv and sketch comedy, this is a great, hilarious show. Rated R, definitely. We were still feeling the previous day's debauchery, and I was losing the battle with my cold, so we called it a night after SC. Fell asleep to A Christmas Story.

12/26

This morning we got up early, around 7, and decided to try the Spice Market Buffet for breakfast. We really enjoyed it, the selection was great, everything was fresh, you can get crepes, mto omelets, fresh squeezed juice and tons of other things. We were really impressed. After breakfast we decided to walk south to the Trop to see BODIES. It was really cool, and worth the cost. We're into that kinda stuff, though. This was my first time in the Trop, and for some reason I thought it'd be dingier. We walked across to MGM, which was totally packed, then to NYNY and walked around there for awhile. Checked out the Harley store, then walked over to Excalibur to have lunch at Dick's Last Resort. This was so much fun, and a totally hilarous experience. I had been to the one in Chicago before, but J had never been. We walked up to the host stand, "Whaddya want?" the hostess says, "food" we answer. We end up sitting at the bar, and immediately the bartender says, "Here are some napkins" and starts throwing stacks of them at us. I order a beer and J gets a Pepsi. There's crazy stuff going on all around us. One server yells out, "ATTENTION ALL MY TABLES: DO YOU NEED ANYTHING??" Meanwhile the barback goes and gets a fan and blows a stack of napkins at a table full of people from behind the bar. The servers like to make hats for you, too. The yelling server made a hat for an elderly woman that said "Prom Queen 1910" and then he proceeded to give her equally elderly husband a full on lap dance. It was absolutely priceless. Another woman's had said, "Given more rides than Seabiscuit." We kept our hats as souveniers. It's insanity in there. Oh yeah, we ate food there, too. Burgers, fries, average. BONUS, they have Newcastle on tap. We shopped around some more on the south strip, making our way through Luxor and Mandalay Place, stopping short of MB. We made our way back to PH and J went up to the room while I shopped at Miracle Mile some more. I went back to the room around 5 and we decided we were hungry, and NOW, so we went to Planet Dailies. J had the Dos Manos Burrito, which he said he liked a lot and I had the Tuna salad sandwich. It was a good sandwich except for one thing-it comes on pumpernickel bread (which is fine) with RAISINS in it (which is disgusting). It wouldn't have been a problem had they stated that on the menu. I would have just asked for different bread. Once I found the raisins, I just picked them out. I just think they should say something like that on the menu. After dinner we played VP and $.25 slots at PH and Paris, we stayed about even for the 4 hours or so we played. Hit the hay (last time on the comfy bed!!) around 11 for our flight the next morning.

12/27

Left PH around 7:30 for our 9:55 flight. We were through ticketing and security in less than 45 minutes! I like terminal 2! Another non-eventful flight and we got home about a half hour early with lots of snow to welcome us home.

Overall thoughts:
I like Planet Hollywood, and I think I'll like it more when they update the rooms
Christmas is NOT slow in Vegas
The vending machines on our floor sucked. I put a sign on one that said "This machine is a giant piece of sh!t."
I will see a Cirque show next time
Being sick in Vegas is better than being sick at home

We didn't get to do all the things we wanted to, my cold slowed me down, but that just leaves more for next time!

 

Glad you at least had a safe trip!

 

That is awesome!

 

Sounds to me like you needed to get away to Vegas to change your karma and recharge your batteries. Hope it worked!

They're working their way down on the remodeling at PH. Hate to tell you this, though: I was in a remodeled standard room over the summer, and the chair is awkwardly placed in front of the window in the new set-up as well. I ended up moving it, a small round table, and a couple of lamps around!

P.S. I don't like raisins in my bread either, and for the ridiculous prices that Planet Dailies charge, you definitely should have asked for some different bread.

 

nice report Jill...hope you are feeling better.

 

Nice report.

Isn't that the truth.

 

Why am I just getting to this TR? LOL!

Anyway, glad to hear you had fun even though you got a bit sick in Vegas. And I agree, there aren't as many people, but Vegas definitely keeps up its pace!

 

I am getting so amped for our upcoming Vegas trip that I just had to go back and read my TR from last Chrismas. This year's lead in to our trip has been much less eventful, thakfully! No hospitals, no surgeries, no conked out appliances, and I'm not sick! (I'm knocking on every piece of wood I see right now...)

This Vegas trip is actually a bit more of a celebration, too. We got married this year (in feb, after 6 years together) and didn't take a honeymoon, so this trip will be nice. I also just started a new job in August and have been offered a fantastic promotion already, so we'll definitely be celebrating that! I am so grateful to be secure in my job, especially during these tough economic times.

My mom and brother are coming, too, and my mom REALLY deserves a break and a vacation so I'm really excited for her to go.

 

Missed this one first time around. Hope you don't have to deal with a cold this trip.

later, GVJ

 

one word to be prepared - ZICAM. Get the nice little dissolveable ones. If a cold even begins to tickle - START THEM!!! You want this trip to be great.