Chuppa's TR Sept 1st - 9th (First Solo Trip) - FULL REPORT (Long)

Rick, I love Wynn! And will consider it next time... you know what is the worst??? A couple of days after I got back to Australia I got an email from Wynn for 3 complimentry night!! Agggghhh That would have come in handy a week ago!! LOL!

I'm so glad everyone's enjoying this TR!!

 

are these 'Peacock Flutter' machines located at a gentlemens club? lol

 

Day 6 – Sept 6th

Day 6 – Sept 6th

Woke up at 11am with the hangover from hell!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my head hurt!!!!

I needed greasy food and lots of it! I made my way downstairs and headed to Raffles Café. The line was pretty long at midday on a Sunday and I was lucky I had a VIP line pass and walked straight to the front of the line and was seated within minutes in a lovely area of the restaurant overlooking the grounds. It was a bright sunny day, but my head was still pounding!

I studied the menu and decided to get a greasy plate of bacon, sausages and a hash brown and then I also wanted something sweet so I ordered Banana & Pecan pancakes! Just what I needed and they were washed down with an ice cold soda!

The food all came out together and my table was filled with plates of food and toast and a drink. I dug in and felt better almost immediately! I managed to get through half the grease plate and half the pancakes! LOL! I knew I still couldn’t keep up with the US food portions even when hungover! Breakfast came to $36 inc tax and tip and I was satisfied and decided to go for a walk.

I slowly walked through Mandalay Place and stopped at some of the stores. I love the memorabilia shop there and always say if I won heaps of money I would buy myself a Bon Jovi signed record. It was good to see some of the items they had and I was in awe of some of the signatures they had (ie: Jim Morrison).

I went into the Nike golf shop and looked around for some gifts to take back home. We don’t get Nike golf apparel in Australia, so I normally get something for a friend from here. I couldn’t decide on a size, so I decided to txt him and come back at a later time.

I made my way though to Luxor and had a bit of a play at Luxor, nothing really was paying so I cut my losses and headed back to Mandalay where I played a little more.

This afternoon I had a M & G at the Heart Bar at Planet Ho as organized via Trip Advisor. I realized when I got there that I didn’t know what anyone looked like or who I was supposed to be looking for. I found my way to the Heart Bar and went up to the bar. I started chatting to the bartender and told him I was here for a M & G and that we didn’t swap numbers or anything. He was having a good laugh and said to me “that’s an original story right there†haha! He seemed to think I meant I was here to meet a guy on a blind date type of thing! I’m like “No!!†But it was rather funny.

So I took my Malibu & Pineapple (seemed to be my drink of choice on this trip) and sat down on a lounge. I kept looking around seeing if I saw anything that might resemble a meet & greet! I was starting to feel a little foolish. This was the first meet and greet I made it too and I really should have gotten a little more information. As I was sitting there a man walked past and was kinda looking at me. I must have had that hopeless look on my face because a minute later a woman came up to me swinging a Trip Advisor luggage tag and introduced herself. I had a huge smile on my face now and didn’t feel foolish anymore.

We sat around the lounge and introductions were made. There was seven of us all together. It was really fun to be at a meet and greet. We all got talking about our trip and sharing stories of our experiences.

Unfortunately I could only stay for an hour. I had organized to meet another friend I had met via Trip Advisor at 4.00pm to go to the Vegas sign and then head to Mandalay Bay for a spa treatment. I had booked our two spa treatments earlier in the week. I had booked a Hot Stone Massage for me, and Sue booked a Quick Fix facial & massage.

I didn't hear from Sue and so I left Planet Ho and headed to Mandalay Bay as I didn’t want to be late for the spa as I knew the charge you if you’re late. Traffic near Planet Hollywood was an absolutely nightmare with all the construction going on in Harmon Avenue and Koval Avenue. It took almost 30 mins to get to Manadalay Bay. I rang Sue’s mobile and told her I was going straight to the spa and for her to meet me there.

When I got to the spa there was still no word from her. I checked in for my treatment and told the woman that I hadn’t heard from Sue and that maybe her flight was delayed (she was only flying in at 2.30pm). The woman was nice and said she could postpone the treatment and she ushered me to the change rooms and told me to get ready as I didn’t want to be late for my treatment.

I changed into my robe and slippers and was met by my masseuse Richard. He took me to my treatment room and started my hot stone massage. OMG! It was absolutely heavenly. This was the first hot stone massage I had had and it was fantastic. He also gave me a scalp massage which was devine and when he finished I couldn’t believe 50 minutes had already gone by. But they had!!! I was in a state of total relaxtion! The massage cost $165 and I left a $20 tip. It was definitely worth it.

As I made it out of the treatment room and back to the spa area I heard someone call my name and saw Sue on a lounger by the spa. She ran up to me and it was great to finally meet! She told me all about her dramas of the day and that she walked (well jogged) to Mandalay from Planet Ho!!! I couldn’t believe that. So we lounged around together for a while. Went into the beautiful spa and just relaxed some more. I caught her up on my health issues from earlier in the week and we just relaxed for a little while. Before we knew it, it was 6pm and she had to go pick up her daughter from the airport and I had to get ready for the Nickelback concert. We said goodbye and agreed to meet at the Orchid Lounge the next morning at 10am.

Back in the room I lounged around for a little while and then started to get ready for the concert.

I had agreed to meet my new friend N at the entrance to Mandalay Place for us to get to the concert. As our tickets were comped we also got transportation to and from the concert in this really cool “groupie†bus.

I met N at 8.30pm and we made it to the west valet of The Hotel where our bus driver was waiting. We found the bus and the driver told us he was leaving in about 10 minutes we got onto the bus and made our selves comfortable. On the bus were two other older women who were total characters. They were loud and really cool. Totally decked out in bright colours and telling us how excited they were to be going to Nickelback. One was from Hawaii and her sister was from Arizona. These women were dynamic that you get energy just by being near them. I enjoyed hearing their stories and when they found out I was Australian told me about when they were in Australia. It was really fun to talk to these women.

We made it to the MGM Grand Arena and took some pics with our two new friends. Then we made our way inside. We stopped to buy some alcohol and then made our way inside. We found our seats and realized we were in a pretty good area of the arena. We were about 15 rows back on the right side of the stage and we had a great view.

We had missed two of the opening acts, Saving Abel and Papa Roach, but Hinder were on when we got there. We got to listen to most of their set and they were excellent. I sang along to all the songs especially my favourite Hinder song, Lips of an Angel. I took heaps of photos and video with my camera and was really enjoying myself.

In the intermission while we waited for Nickelback to come on I got to know N a bit better. We swapped email addresses and promised to keep in touch when I got back home. Nickleback came on stage around 10pm and it was absolutely electrifying!

They started with “Something in Your Mouth†and rocked it to that and then did a whole set of my favourite songs. I sang very loudly (and very badly) to two of my favourite songs of all time… Photograph and Rockstar. I took video of both these songs, and I’m sure when I play it back that all you can hear is me singing badly in the background! lol!!! I found the lead singer, Chad Kroeger very entertaining. He was interacting with the crowd which is excellent in a big arena concert. Very colourful language, but I like that. It’s quite funny. The concert went on for two hours. After the concert we took our “Groupie†bus back to Mandalay and I went up to the room and freshed up. I changed and went out with N.

N & I headed to Town Square at about 1.30am. She told me that the bars at Town Square are quite popular with the locals. We started at Yard House where they had happy hour from 11pm till close. It was ½ price select pizza & appetizers and ½ price selected beers, spirits and martinis!

We wanted to order pizza, but were told they had run out of pizza dough!!! So we ordered… Fried Chicken Strips, Spinach Cheese Dip, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, & Fried Calamari! We were quite hungry and at half price they were like $4.00 each!!! We also order 2 martinis each at $5.75 each. N ordered the Pomegranate Press martini and I ordered the Bikini Tini. Very yummy and we skulled down the first and dug into our food. We noticed that the place started to thin out a bit and then realized we were the last two people left and they were closing down!! Haha! It was quite funny! We got some of the food to go and skulled down the last of our 2nd martini and were kicked out at about 2.45am. So that was the first bar we closed down!

From Yard House we went upstairs to the Blue Martini!! Yay, I have finally made it there. This has now become my favourite bar in Vegas!

N (a regular) gave me the tour of the place. It’s quite a big bar with a large patio area. We ordered our martinis (N got another Pomegranate martini and I wanted to try something different and got an Almond Joy martini which was really cool and came with coconut & chocolate flakes around the rim). The best thing about the martinis is that they came with the shaker, so even though you get one martini glass full you get your shaker which has another two top ups in it!!!

We sat under the patio and it was a gorgeous night. Blue Martini was still pretty full. We chatted and had a good laugh. We met some military men who were there having a great time. They were being deployed out to Qatar on Tuesday morning for 5 months. These boys were a lot of fun and we spent ages chatting and laughing with them. They loved the fact that I was from Australia and I got a few cries to “throw a shrimp on the barb-bâ€!! Haha!! There was a lot of flirting, and cocktail drinking and it was just an excellent time.

We had to skull our drinks again as they were kicking us all out at 4.30am. Another bar we closed down!

We all walked out together and my friend “insisted†that I take a photo with the boys to show friends back home what the US military looks like!! Haha!! Good one! Any excuse to get a pic of these fine specimens!! Yummy. I was struggling to stay up straight as I was pretty drunk as was everyone else, but N took the photo and it came out excellent.

We said goodnight to the boys and N drove me back to Mandalay where I practically crawled back to my room. I had a message from a friend back home who wanted to call me, so she called and I chatted to her for about half an hour just filling her in on my excellent trip even though I was basically falling asleep on the other side of the phone. Finally at 5.45am I got to sleep!

 

Day 7 – Sept 7th

Day 7 – Sept 7th (This is a long instalment)

Another day, another hangover!!!!!

As I had arranged to meet Sue at the Orchid Lounge at 10am I had to set my alarm to wake up as there was no way I would have woken up on my own. I quickly got ready and made my way down to the Orchid Lounge with my head pounding and my eyes bloodshot!! Quickly met up with Sue and was introduced to her daughters (and soon to be son-in-law). Had a nice chat and suggested some things that they may enjoy. I think I suggested Caesars as it was sure to accommodate everyone.

Said goodbye to Sue and said we’ll meet at the M & G later that day. I went for a walk back to Mandalay Place and went shopping at Nike Golf for my gifts then I headed back to my room. I was a bit hungry, but couldn’t really face food, so before going up to my room I just stopped at the convenience store near the elevators and bought a packet of Doritos and some Pepsi!

Went up to my room and ate my Doritos and started to get ready. I was excited about the Trip Advisor M & G that I had organized for today. I had some great responses on my forum posts and it was going to be at FIRST food & bar at the Palazzo. As we were scheduled to meet at 3pm, I got ready and headed to the Venetian early. I got there about 12.30pm and decided to have a bit of a play and then walk around the Grand Canel shoppes. I sat at my 50-liner Magic Eyes machine…. Big mistake. I really should have learnt my lesson from Excalibur and not touched the Magic Eyes again. Lost $300 in less than an hour!!! Ouch!! Sulked away from the Venetian casino and thought some shopping will do me good. I walked into the Welcome to Las Vegas store which I love. I always see some things that I want, but find that most things you can find cheaper! I still enjoyed looking at the nik naks and all the cheesy t-shirts. Spent a little while in there and continued walking.

At this stage my mobile phone decided to die. I thought I still had half the battery life left, but I didn’t!! Now... anyone that knows me, knows that my mobile phone is my life!!! I couldn’t imagine anything worse than having no phone for hours. So I found the Information Desk and asked if there was anywhere to charge an iPhone. The woman said no, but she said that one of the little vendors inside the shoppes have some iPhone accessories and they may be able to help me. So I found the little vendor and he had a mobile, mobile phone charger specifically designed for the iPhone. It ran on battery and gave you enough charge to keep you going for a while. He said it was $39.00 plus tax. At this stage I would have paid anything, so I bought and plugged it in and was able to restore life into my phone!!! Yay!! Haha! I know I can be a sad individual!

I continued to walk around browsing in and out of shops. There were a couple getting married on one of the gondolas which was quite cute to see. I stopped and took in the atmosphere of St Mark Square as there were a few different street performances going on. I walked into a couple of the galleries that are there. I love the galleries. When we were there four years ago we almost bought the painting Poker Face (Mona Lisa playing poker) from one of the galleries in the Grand Canel shoppes. I went into the same gallery to see if they still had it, but they didn’t. I loved that print though!

I found myself at the entrance of the Palazzo shops, and it was around 2.30pm so I thought I should probably try and find the First Food & Bar to make sure they knew the M & G was happening and had some space set up for us.

Anyone who’s been to FIRST would know it’s not easy to find!! I walked past the walk way without even realizing and then continued down near the shops. I couldn’t see it so I stopped and checked out a map and realized I had to back-track back to near Barneys. I finally found it and told the girl at the door that I had been speaking to Cesilia and that we had a group gathering for 3pm. Well of course they knew nothing about us, so I went and sat at the lounge while she said she was going to look into it.

What we had organised as part of the M & G is that we all wear mardi gras beads to be noticable to everyone else! As I was sat at the lounge I noticed some people with beads on and I thought………… there here for the M & G!! Yay! I was so excited, so I walked up to them and introduced myself. They were a lovely couple from Newcastle, England. We chatted while we waited for others to turn up. I ordered myself a Cotton Candy Kiss martini which came out in a shake with cotton candy in the glass and then the martini poured over it. It was delicious!! Although very sweet.

Pretty soon we saw more people wearing beads and our meet & greet was well under way!!!

Now I knew I had gotten some great responses and knew there should be a good turn out............. but I wasn't expecting such a great turnout!! There were 28 members of the TA forums turn up. And we were from all over the world... Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales and of course a heap from the US (New York, Rhode Island, Texas, California, Chicago) so it was really great to speak to everyone and here their Vegas stories as well as learn a little more about them and their home towns as we were all avid travellers!

We had basically taken over the lounge area of the FIRST food & bar. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Lots of drinks were had and lots of chatting and getting to know each other. We had also organised a Gift Exchange where we all bought a cheap $5 or so gift from our home country (or home town). The gift exchange was a lot of fun! I guess it wasn’t too easy to organize who was getting what gift, so in the end we just asked everyone who had bought a gift to come up and choose one of the others on the table. Everyone seemed happy with their gift. After that photos were taken and more alcohol was served!! I remember at one stage telling Lisa that I was starving (as I had been on the packet of Doritos all day) and then we spoke a couple of hours later and I’m like “Yes I’m still starvingâ€! I ordered myself a pizza. It was just a plain tomato, mozzarella and basil pizza that was served on flatbread. The pizza was really delicious, and I wolfed it down!!

Pretty soon it started to thin out. Some people had to catch flights home; others had dinner and show reservations. I must say I was pretty knackered and I left around 5.30pm. I left with a big smile on my face from a wonderful afternoon.

I walked through the Palazzo and went out onto the strip. I stopped at Walgreens for some bits and some Vegas souvenirs. I mainly bought myself a few things. The one thing I had been looking at getting was a 2010-2011 calendar. I like getting the two year calendar, as it gives me an excuse to make sure I make it back with 24 months.

I got in the taxi queue at Palazzo and got a cab back to Mandalay. Again I had a really nice cabbie. He asked whether I wanted to take the strip or the freeway and I said “I’d rather you take Frank Sinatra Drive if that’s ok†and he was like “of course, should have thought of that myself†Haha! Maybe he was trying to jip me, but that was another moment where it made me feel good!

Had a good chat to this cabbie about Australia and about differences in weather. He told me he was original a Chicago boy, but has been in Vegas for four years. He said he tries to go back East for the summer, but hadn’t been able to this summer and the weather has practically killed him. He asked about the weather conditions back home and I filled him in with our drought issues etc.

Got back to Mandalay and txt my friend N as we were thinking of catching up this evening. I didn’t hear from here, so I promptly fell asleep! Haha! It had been an exhausted day, taken from an exhausting few nights!

Woke around 9pm to a txt from N, I txt her back to tell her I had fallen asleep and not to worry about meeting tonight as I was probably going to just stay at Mandalay.

I got up and got ready and headed down to the casino. I thought I might visit Mix to get some photos of the strip, but when I got there at 10.35pm I was told I’d have to pay $20 cover. I’m like “I thought it was no cover before 11pm†and the guy at the door was like “No, it’s no cover before 10pm†And this guy was really arrogant. And I was like “dude, it’s Monday night, I just want to go up there and get some pics†but he wouldn’t budge on the cover charge, so I was like “Don’t worry about it, I’ll come back tomorrow before 10pmâ€. It was for the $20 cover, it was more for principle that I didn’t go up.

As I hadn’t played poker all week, I thought this might be a good night to give it a go. There were four tables of $1 - $2 NL cash games. I bought in for $100 and sat on the table. I started chatting to the guy I was sitting next to and found out he was an American who’s currently living in Moscow. I thought that was cool and chatted to him for ages while we were playing. I went into a few hands but either folded out or one just a small pot.

I finally got a half decent hand of AH-6H and I played. I called before the flop and there was just me and another girl. The flop came 7H / 2H / AC. So I was sitting pretty good with top pair and the nut flush draw.

The girl checked, so I bet the flop and the other girl called. Fourth street was 9D. Again she checked, and again I bet. I found it really hard to read her. I thought maybe she was on a flush draw. Last card out was 6S. So I had two pair. She bet $12 first, I raised to $25 she then countered and put me all in. Hmmm, I was baffled at her play. She wasn’t playing like she had a strong hand. But couldn’t read her. So I called all in (about $70 more) and she showed pocket 7’s giving her three 7s! Ouch. Bad beat.

Bought in for another $100 and within four hands I found myself in another two-way struggle. This was with a guy that had been playing crappy cards all night.

I got pocket Qs and I raised to $15 before the flop. He called. The flop was 4H / 10H/ 9C. Again I thought I had the best had and bet $15 after the flop. Again he called. Fourth street was 5H. Again I bet, this time $25. Again he called. I was getting annoyed with him because he wasn’t making a move. Fifth street came and it was the 7H. I had Qs (D & C) so I didn’t make the flush. I went all in (which was only a $45 bet, seeing if he had the heart). Well he turned over the 3H giving him the flush. His other card was the 2D!! This idiot called me all the way with 2D & 3H! I was sooooo angry. The guy next to me just shook his head. I took this beat to mean I shouldn’t be playing poker tonight and cut my losses and left.

I left the poker room feeling quite pissed off, and decided it was time to start drinking again! Haha! I was going to walk to the slot machines when I passed the blackjack tables. I noticed the limits had gone down to $10 minimum.

I cashed in $100 and sat at a table. The table was quite talkative and a lot of fun. I was the only female but the guys all accepted me and we got chatting. I had won a few hands so I felt pretty good. Then we had a dealer change and we got the lovely older dealer who was really sweet and very talkative. He made the table more enjoyable. I cashed some $1 chips and kept play $1 for the dealer. I seemed to win more that way and the dealer was very appreciative. I was on a pretty good streak and before long I had turned my $100 into $400. Then my luck seemed to change. After I lost my 5th consecutive hand I decided to colour up my $350 and leave it at that. I was still happy with the experience though and had a few cocktails under my belt!

I moved to slots and started playing the Peacock Flutter at Mandalay Bay. This soon became my first sought after slot machine at Mandalay. It wasn’t being very friendly today and quickly took $100 without a blink of an eye. I put in another $100 and again it was gone quickly. Well I didn’t like the way this was heading so I moved around the corner and played the Dolphin’s Treasure slot. This was a bit better . The cocktails kept coming and I kept playing! I was playing 200 coins and I soon got the bonus free spin feature and it started paying. Pretty soon I had it up to $270. I thought this was a reprimand from the Peacock Flutter, so I cashed out my ticket and went on my way. I was going to go up to my room to sleep, but after I got my cash I decided to go back to the Peacock Flutter machine and try another $100. Silly me. It took the $100 very quickly! Haha! I’m such a sucker for the slots sometimes.

At around 3.30am I headed back to the room and to an easy slumber!

Note: I can’t actually remember if I ate dinner today. I don’t think I ate anything after the pizza from FIRST food & bar. If I did eat something, obviously it wasn’t very memorable. Hehe!!

 

another hectic yet relaxing 2 days!!
enjoying your TR

ty for sharing

 

Day 8 – Sept 8th

Day 8 – Sept 8th

My last full day in Vegas and I wanted to make the most of it!!

Woke up relatively early at 9.30am. Got ready and got a taxi to the Premium Outlets (near downtown). I had heard from N that there was a great cosmetic store that stocks discontinued MAC make up relatively cheap. When I got there I headed to the information centre for my free discount booklet and I was on my way. I started browsing the shops enjoying myself immensely. I found the Cosmetic Co and went in. I found the MAC stuff and went absolutely crazy! They had lipsticks and lip glosses for $10 each (I paid $14.50 at the Forum Shops (which is not a lot of difference)……. But in Australia they are $35 each)!!!! So as you can imagine I jumped at this bargain! I ended up buying 6 lipsticks plus heaps of other things including a 5-piece brush set for $31.50!! OMG that’s so cheap! I spent $165 in there and I was so happy. Nothing like a bargain to make a woman happy!

I continued walking around. When I got to the food court I bought a slice of pizza to curb my hunger and give me more energy to shop!!

I bought my mum a perfume gift set which was an absolute bargain at one of the perfume places. I went into Dressbarn and spent ages trying things on. I finally ended up buying 2 pairs of jeans, and two tops. One of the jeans was 50% off, so it cost me like $17!!! I was loving this!! Then I went to Guess. I know I had a discount voucher in my book, so I checked it out before going in to know what I was entitled to. It was 20% when you spend $100 or more. I fell in love with this bone-coloured handbag in the softest of leather. I also decided to get the matching wallet. I totaled it up and realized they were $95 together! Damn! Haha! So I found a nice pair of Guess earrings at $12 to get me over the $100. And with the 20% voucher my whole purchase (with tax) cost $89!!! Score!! I was happy. Checked out a few more shops before deciding to go back.

I got a cab back to Mandalay and went up to my room and dropped off my shopping. One thing I rarely make time for when on holiday is pool time. And this holiday was no exception, however as I’m in my room after returning from Premium Outlets I’m thinking to myself “I should go to the poolâ€. It will get me out of my comfort zone as I’m not really a pool person, but I love swimming and love mucking around in the pool. Anyway before I could talk myself out of it, I changed into my swimsuit and got a few things together to take with me and headed down to the Mandalay Beach.

Found myself a deck chair and decided to sun myself a bit. I was a bit self conscious about taking my t-shirt and shorts off and just staying in my swimsuit, but I had a look around me and realized no one else cared so off they went!! I was really proud of myself. I sunbathed for a little while. The wave pool looked a bit intimidating, but after about 40 mins or so I decided to take the plunge and go in! Once I was in I felt fantastic. It was great to be in the water. I found a spot and just relaxed in the water and riding each wave as it came (90 seconds apart). I stayed in the water only for about 30 mins or so, and then I headed back to my sunlounger and decided to dry off in the sun. I turned every 10 mins or so, but I still managed to get sun burnt. My lily-white skin couldn’t handle the desert sun! Haha!

After a while I decided it was time to go back, so I gathered everything up and went up to the room. Once up in the room I must have been exhausted cause I laid on the bed and must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember is waking up at 4pm, still in my swimsuit and my pillowcase all red from my wet hair making my hair dye run! Oops, housekeeping is not going to like me!! Haha!!

Got ready for my night out. Left Mandalay at 4.30pm and headed to Paris. When I got to Paris I stopped a CW and asked for my friends C & N. C had finished her shift early and had gone home but N was still there working the bar out the back. The CW was nice enough to take me out the back to see N who was excited to see me. She showed me where she worked and introduced me to others who worked there. I filled her in on my days and told her all about the M & G!

She asked what I was up to tonight and I said I was going to hang around here for a while and catch the fountains and then maybe later go to Mix and I told her I really wanted to go to the Peppermill, but I don’t know if I’m going to make it. She had to go to her other job and work the 7pm – midnight shift, but she said that we could meet at midnight and we could go to the Peppermill. I said that would be excellent. So I let her go back to work and agreed to meet at Mandalay Place at midnight!

I played slots at Paris for a while enjoying myself. I was on the Lucky Lucy machine (can’t remember the name, but it has the hearts and the half moons) and anyway I kept getting the Lucy random bonus and it slowly came up. Then I filled most of the screen with hearts and the machine paid $210 so I grabbed my ticket and said “thank you†and walked away lol!

I decided to go for dinner at Mon Ami Gabi. This has to be one of my favourite restaurants in Vegas and I just love sitting on the patio. It was about 6.15pm so the sun hadn’t begun setting yet so it was a perfect time. I walked up to the door and asked the woman if there was any patio seating available for one. She said yes and ushered me inside where I was taken to the patio. They gave me the corner table around the back which was absolutely perfect. I had the best view of the fountains, of the characters on the strip and of the rest of the restaurant. It was a great place to sit and people watch.

I studied the menu and realized I was ravished!!! I had only the slice of pizza today, so I felt like I could eat a horse! lol!!! I looked at the cocktail list first (of course) and ordered a Paris Romance cocktail which was Amaretto, Malibu and juices. OMG! It was delicious. One of my favs of this trip!

The waiter came over to tell me the specials and make small talk. He was actually quite nice and I asked him a few questions and placed my ordered. While I waited for me food I tried to jot down some things in my notebook for my TR. Considering it was almost my last day, I hadn’t written in it since being at LAX before I got to Vegas, so I had a bit of catching up to do! Haha! I decided not to bother after a while! I had friends from Melbourne txting me and I was holding up a conversation with them while enjoying the atmosphere. It was great. I was really having a good time.

Before the starter came out the fountains began. And I must say no matter how many times you see them, they are always mesmerizing. I was in awe it was lovely. I took some photos and just enjoyed the show.

My waiter bought out my cocktail and the bread. Now, a fan of bread as I am, absolutely relished the bread here. It was a warm baguette in a paper baguette bag. And it was served with butter and some sort of carrot-y thing (didn’t touch this). I used my hand to break off the end of the baguette and just ate it with a bit of butter. Heavenly!

My starter came out… Escargots de Bourgogne (oven-roasted snails, garlic-herb butter). Bit of a funny story, I was really proud of myself for ordering snails. I had wanted to try them. So anyway as I was texting friends back home in Melbourne, I commented to my friend about the snails… and he promptly reminded me that I had had them in Paris, France four years ago!! LOL! I couldn’t even remember. My memory must be going in old age (or too many cocktails). When he told me I did remember but realized I had mistaken snails for Frog Legs which I’ve never tried but wanted to when we were on the French Riviera. Anyway the snails were great. I used some of my baguette to dip into the leftover garlic herb butter and this was delicious. The waiter came over and said that he usually comes around after people had ordered the snails to tell them to try dipping their baguette into the garlic-herb butter, but that I had already found this trick!! Haha! Oh yeah and I was enjoying every minute.

Dusk was beginning to set, and the next fountain show was beautiful as the sun was setting behind the Bellagio so you had that gorgeous dusk hue. Again I took more photos and enjoyed the show. I took a photo with my mobile and captured a perfect shot with the water being sprayed up into the air past the Bellagio tower. I sent this photos to my three friends back home who had been to Vegas with the simple message…. The fountains say hello. I got some txt back with some funny obscenities. Hehe!

Pretty soon my main (entrée) came out… Steak Bordelaise (steak with caramelized onions & red wine sauce) and their signature hand-cut frites. My plate was huge and filled with the steak and the frites! Everything was so scrumptious! The steak was cooked to perfect at medium-well, and the frites were nice and crispy! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After the waiter took my plate of my steak and asked if I wanted to see the dessert menu. I told him to give me a few minutes!! LOL! I knew I was going to have dessert, but couldn’t think of it just yet! I enjoyed another fountains show which this time was at nighttime. Again it was brilliant. I could never tire from watching them. I got the dessert menu and ordered the chocolate mousse. OMG! It was so good it was evil! I only managed about a half of it before I felt totally stuffed and couldn’t take another mouthful! I asked for the bill and the total of my 4 course meal with cocktail was $65 (inc tax & tip). I think that is very reasonable for the amount of food and quality of each course. I was very impressed, yet again with Mon Ami Gabi and am sure I will return (and in the meantime recommend to friends).

I walked out of Mon Ami Gabi and walked out of the Paris casino. I wanted to see the fountains from the lake across the street on the Bellagio side. I took a risk and when there was no traffic I jaywalked across all 8 lanes of Las Vegas Blvd!! Yay!! That felt good!! Hehehe!! I got to the lake and watched the next two shows whilst taking photos and I asked a girl to take a pic of me in front of the fountains. Then I walked down past city centre to have a bit of a sticky beak but I really couldn’t see much, then I turned back and headed back to Paris where I played a bit more slots and then cashed in my ticket for $20.

I decided to get a taxi back to Mandalay. I asked the driver to stop me at the The Hotel entrance which he did and when I got there I went up to Mix. It was about 9.30pm so it was free entry. I loved the glass elevator trip to Mix. As it was a Tuesday night it was pretty dead only about 30 or 40 people there. (I’m glad I didn’t have to pay to get in)!! I went out on the balcony and took a heap of photos and just stood there and admired the view on my last night in Vegas. It really was a great way to commemorate my trip and my love of this exciting city!

I left Mix and headed to the Mandalay casino where I was just going to play slots. I found a CW and ordered a Baileys on ice. Now, in Australia, when we order a Baileys on ice, we get a scotch glass half filled with ice with about an inch, or a little more of Baileys (equivalent to about a shot of Baileys), and that’s what I was expecting here……… well no! The CW came around and said to me “here’s your jug of Baileys†I took one look at the glass and laughed. It was a scotch glass, half filled with ice…….. but filled to the brim with straight Baileys!!!! OMG!!! That’s potent!! Haha! I love it. I tipped the waitress $5 and said, “can you bring me another one when you come around againâ€!! LOL!! It looked like it was going to be another messy night.

I played on my Peacock Flutter machine (I couldn’t let go) and it wasn’t being particularly nice, but I kept feeding it. I moved around a bit and played some Mr Cashman and some other penny slots. Some were paying others not, but I was enjoying the night.

After three “jugs†of straight Baileys I was feeling quite merry and it was almost midnight so I walked over to Mandalay Place to meet N. N finished work and we drove to the Peppermill. I must say that the construction on the Strip after midnight is atrocious! Each side was down to one lane only, and even though it was a Tuesday night there still was quite a bit of traffic. It took us ages from the MGM corner to the Venetian. Then we veered off and went down the freeway.

At the Peppermill , I took my obligatory ‘tourist’ photos outside near the Peppermill sign. Then N and I went inside and headed to the Fireside Lounge. This was so cool!!! I loved it! I’ve been meaning to come for 4 years, but have never made it, but this was excellent!

We sat right near the fire (I insisted) and studied the cocktail list! Haha! Story of this trip I think!! We both decided to go for their frozen cocktails. I ordered an Ultimate Mudslide (Baileys, Kahula & Vodka blended with ice cream) and N ordered a Crèmesicle (Stoli Vanil Vodka & Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur with ice cream) . The Ultimate Mudslide was so good. One of the best cocktails I’d had in Vegas. Very smooth, very creamy, very potent! Haha! It went down so smooth, that you didn’t realize the alcohol content. N was a bit hungry so we ordered a Peppermill Sampler which was appetizer tray of onion rings, chicken tenders, breaded shrimp and mozzarella strips. We both don’t like brushchetta, so we asked if it could be substituted for anything else, and were told yes you can substitute it for French fries. Yep! Thanks! Haha!

N ate, I nibbled at the French fries after my huge dinner and we just sat there enjoying my last night and our excellent cocktail and chatting away like two long lost friends! Haha! Hard to think we had only met four days before!!!

We ordered two more cocktails, I stuck with my Ultimate Mudslide, while N opted for the Oatmeal Cookie (Goldschlager, Jagermeister, Stoli Vanil Vodka, Baileys Irish cream & ice cream). These cocktails were going down like a dream and I was feeling very, very tipsy!! Haha!

We stayed at the Fireside Lounge till about 3am and then N took me back to Mandalay. I said goodbye to her with a tear in my eye and promised to keep in touch and that hopefully I will either see her in Vegas or Australia real soon!

I was debating whether to gamble a little more, but sleepiness took over and I headed straight to my room and fell asleep almost instantly.

 

a Very relaxing last full day , lots of bargains, a swim and a drink or two by the *fire* plus gorgeous views of the fountains

 

I leave in less than a month, but I feel like I just got home! Can't wait to read the rest.....

 

Day 9 – Sept 9th

Day 9 – Sept 9th

Leaving Las Vegas

I had organized a late checkout of 4pm so I knew I had no rush this morning. I was woken at 9am by housekeeping. I had forgotten to put my do not disturb on and they came in while I was sleeping!! She quickly excused herself and I walked to the door and put the sign on the door. As I was getting back to sleep, my friend Sue rang me to wish me a good flight home and see if I wanted a lift to the airport which was totally sweet of her. I told her that I didn’t have to be at the airport till 4.30pm and I had transport with the hotel. Had a bit of a catch up with her on the phone and then hung up where I went back to sleep! Hehe!

Woke up at 11am which was great. I looked at my room and it looked as though a bomb had hit it. There was stuff everywhere. I guess 9 days in one place you can accumulate a lot of stuff! I put myself into action and cleared the mess. I took out my two suitcases and within an hour, almost everything was packed and ready to go. I only left a change of clothes and my toiletries out for when I shower later.

I called the VIP Lounge and organized for a limo to pick me up at 3.45pm and take me to the airport. I asked about my comps and she told me to visit the Players Club before I check out.

I went downstairs looking for some food. I wanted something to fill me up so I don’t have to worry about food again until I get on the overnight flight back home at 11.30pm. I went to Red White & Blue and checked out their menu outside, but nothing stood out. I don’t know what I felt like, but whatever it was, it wasn’t there. So I was at a bit of a loss of what to eat. I looked around and saw the Bayside Buffet. I thought…perfect! As I didn’t know what I felt like, a buffet was probably the best choice. The lunch buffet at Mandalay was $19.99 plus tax. I was seated and ordered a soda with plenty of ice. I went up to have a look at the selection. I thought for a lunch time the selection was great. They had seafood (plenty of shrimp, salmon, other fish), they had a pasta/risotto station where it’s cooked for you. They had a lot of Asian dishes. They had roast meats, pizzas, potatoes, Mexican food. A lot of variety and very good quality. I started with my shrimps which are my favourite. I also got a bit of pasta, some meats, salads, chips and some pizza. The dessert station was great too. They had a number of cakes and slices, chocolate pudding, ice cream, chocolate mousse. I just had some macaroons and some ice cream and by then I was really full. Definitely think this lunch buffet was excellent, and worth the price.

After lunch I checked how much cash I had left and realized I had $100 left for gambling. I played some $1 machines trying to win back all the money I had lost… Ahh, no luck! Haha! Lost the $100 pretty quickly!! Went to the Players Club to see if I was entitled to anything more. I know I hadn’t spent as much on this trip as I had on previous trips, but I thought I’d check anyway.

The woman at the Players Club was not nice at all. She was grumpy and rude. I gave her my card and told her I was checking out today and was wondering whether I was entitled to anything else. She took my card and rang a host (as my host was off today), she came back and said “Your host has already comped you over $800 worth of accommodation, transportation etc and with your rate of play you’re not entitled to anything else†I was like “ok, fair enoughâ€. I knew I had gotten a great deal from the host just to stay at Mandalay so I wasn’t too bummed with not getting anything else, but I didn’t like how she delivered it. I thought Player’s Club people were supposed to be nice and helpful all the time?

Anyway, no harm, no foul. I went back to the room and showered and got ready to leave. I checked my bill on the tv menu and saw that it was $932.17 which wasn’t too bad as I charged as much as I can to the room including my massage, my dinner at L’Atelier, all my meals at Mandalay plus heaps of room service and mini bar as well as all my Internet charges. So I wasn’t too surprised with the bill. I called the bell desk for someone to come for my bags and I made it down to the check out desk.

I was in a bit of a hurry to check out, as it was after 3.45pm and I knew the limo was waiting. The guy behind the counter stopped what he was doing to check me out. When he noticed I was comped he asked if I was going to pay by credit card that they had on file. I said yes. So he said that I could go and he wants to send my bill to VIP services to see if they can take anything else off. I didn’t mention to him that I had already spoken to the Player’s Club. He told me to call up VIP when I get back home and they will tell me how much my final bill was. I just thanked him and went to find my limo driver.

I had a woman limo driver (Kelly-Marie) who was absolutely lovely. We chatted all the way to the airport and had a good laugh. She said she really wants to get to Australia. She actually made me forget that I was leaving my favourite place on earth!! I thanked her as we got out of the limo and I tipped her. I gave her my email address and said if she’s ever in Melbourne to look me up.

I tried to check in curb-side but as I was also checking in an International flight, I had to go inside. I checked in quite effortlessly. I was a couple of kilos overweight in my baggage, but they let it straight through which was great!! This time I asked for a aisle seat on my international flight, but the woman said to me “sorry, these seats have already been allocated, and I can’t change Qantas seats on my computer, you have to go to the Qantas desk when you get to LAX and change it thereâ€! I was not happy! I couldn’t believe I got stuck in the middle again! And I still had over three hours before I actually landed in LAX. So knowing my luck there’d be no aisle seats left.

Anyway I wondered through the terminal checking all the stores. I kinda went a bit crazy with the airport shopping. First I went into Borders and I bought a couple of Vegas books. One was a fiction book called Vegas Die (which I've just finished reading and it’s really good). The other was a hardback called Las Vegas in Pictures which I’m going to proudly display on my coffee table. I walked past the Caesars store and noticed a salmon-coloured WSOP hoodie which looked really cool. It had an Ace of spades on it and said Poker Vintage Las Vegas. I really liked it, so I got it. It was $59.99. It was just a matter of fitting all this into my backpack! Believe me it wasn’t an easy task! And the backpack was no soooo heavy!

I passed another bookshop and went in for a bit of a sticky beak. I found a booked called Accidental Billionaires about the two founders of Facebook written by Ben Mezrich (who wrote Bringing Down the House & Breaking Vegas). I bought this book as I knew it would be an interesting story and tried to squeeze it into my backpack as well. Made it to the gate with about an hour to wait.

The flight from LAS-LAX was smooth. I got a bit sad when we fly out. I always do when I leave Las Vegas. I think it’s because I live so far away that I never really know when the next I’ll be able to visit will be.

Landed at LAX at 7.30pm and my international flight departed at 11.30pm. Great! 4 hours at LAX. Aghh! Am I the only one who hates LAX? Anyway I made my way to the international terminal and basically bolted to the Qantas desk. I got a cute African-American guy and said really sweetly “I was wondering if you could change my seat to an aisle seat please…..or if you have any business class upgrades, I’ll be happy to take that off your hands†hehe! He just laughed and apologized for not having any business class upgrades, but he said he can help me with an aisle seat!! Yay!!! He said that I should make my way to the gate by around 10ish as it starts boarding just after 10.30pm; he also said that I would be flying with the new Airbus A380. Cool!! I thanked him and went on my way.

I wandered thru duty free, but nothing really stood out and I just wanted somewhere to relax. I was quite exhausted. I accidently found this lounge called Re-LAX Lounge. It was hidden behind the food court area, and you have to pay to use it. It was $10 per hour or $25 for three hours. It had free internet, refreshments (soft drinks, tea, coffee, juices), snacks (peanuts, pretzels, fresh fruit, yoghurt) and all this was free when you pay to use. I thought this was great, plus it was quiet. So I paid for one hour and I went in. I settled on a computer to check email and Facebook etc. I got myself a soda and some peanuts. Then I decided peanuts were probably not a great idea as it would make me thirsty, and I would drink more, which meant I would be getting up more on the plane! LOL!

Anyway I checked all my internet stuff. Chatted to some friends on Facebook who couldn’t believe it was already over and I was heading home. I spoke to my friend C from Vegas and thanked her for showing me a good time and introducing me to her friends. I told her I’d like to see her in Australia really soon!

I paid for another hour and decided to stay in the lounge as it was quite good. I did more internet stuff, talked to my mum and checked my home email which had 400 msgs in it. So I cleared that out. I ate some fresh food and had some juice. I felt refreshed when I left after two hours.

Going through security at LAX is horrible. The international terminal is still under construction and it’s a small area and everyone pushes etc. Finally got through this and made it to my gate which already had a heap of people waiting. I was in seat 80 which is near the back, but the good thing is that they start boarding from the back forward, so I was one of the first few to be called up to board. I got on board and checked out the A380.I could only see the Economy Class (coach) as I don’t think they would have let me upstairs to see the first class suites!! Haha! I found my seat and was very happy to discover there was more room in the seats. It wouldn’t have been much, but enough for a little extra comfort. I was the in the row behind the two emergency seats. The emergency seats were in front of me and the seat next to me. In my row the seat next to the window had no one in front of it. So this helped me during the flight as the American couple that came to seat next to me would get up from there and no make me get up every time they wanted to leave their seats.

It was a 14.5 hour flight, and I think I slept for more than 9 hours!!!! It was excellent. I slept all the way, I rarely do that. As we landed in Melbourne the woman who was sat next to me was complaining that she didn’t sleep much and I’m like “I slept great†and she said “I know, you slept the whole way†and I said “that’s what you call 9 days in Vegasâ€!! Haha!! And I was home!!

This was such an excellent holiday! I am very proud of myself for travelling alone and doing everything I did! I'm thankful of all the people I met and friends I made. It was truly an exciting experience and I can't wait to get back!

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting on my TR. Sorry it’s taken so long to write, but I wanted to get in as much detail as possible.

If anyone would like to be friends on Facebook, just PM and I’ll be happy to add you as a friend!

Oh, and I finally called VIP services at Mandalay and they had taken another $135 off my bill, so I only paid $797!! Score!!

Thanks for reading! Chups x

 

I have really enjoyed reading your TR Chuppa! Thank you for posting it and filling us in on all the details. Great score on the additional bit off the bill at Mandalay!

 

Wow , what a great read , from the first excerpt to the last you made it fun and entertaining and interesting!

so lovely you went yourself , kudo's to you !!

 

Thanks girls!! I'm glad you both enjoyed the TR! I enjoyed writing it and reliving the memories!! Breanna, yes I was happy with the little bit extra they took off the bill... it all counts hey??
Vegas Diva, thanks for the kudos!! I'm so proud of myself for going solo and enjoying every minute!!

Now the challenge has been set to save for the next trip, as it costs a little more to travel from Aus!! Hehe!!

Chups

 

Great trip report! So glad you had a good time.

I took my first solo trip to LV back in March, stayed at Paris. It was lovely! I ate at MAG every night and sat outside so I could watch the fountains.

hope you can get back soon!

 

Fantastic report! I tuned in everyday to get the next installment. It is awesome you travelled alone - Independant women make me proud! - and proved you can make friends and still have fun travelling solo. Hopefully it wont be too long before you start making future Vegas plans!

 

MissSonya - MAG has quickly become my favourite Vegas restaurant. Nothing beats dinner on the patio at sunset watching fountains! Mesmerizing!!

g-didi - I'm glad you enjoyed my TR! You definitely can make friends and have heaps of fun travelling solo! I hope I can get back soon!

 

Chuppa - I loved your trip report!! It was just what I needed to get me revved up for my trip in a few days!! Your descriptions of the restaurants and meals was awesome!! I am a bit of a "foodie" - I always love to hear about what people have had to eat and how good/bad it was. I am particularly excited now to go to Mon Ami Gabi - sounds like the food was fantastic and I hope we'll be able to sit on the patio!!

I was glad that your illness didn't slow you down too much. There's nothing worse than being sick on vacation. You certainly overcame that and had a great trip. I also loved your pictures on Facebook!!

Thanks for sharing!!

 

what a wonderful trip report. thanks for taking the time to share
your experience.

 

Great writeup!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

 

Bloody brilliant TR Chuppa! many thanks for taking time to note details and info...think a lot of people on this board have been living vegas through your eyes this last week or so! Cheers!

 

I have also enjoyed reading your trip report. Im going in November , and Ive gotten some really good ideas from your report.