3rd Annual B-Day Trip

The 3rd annual birthday trip to Las Vegas. Thursday July 22nd through Tuesday July 27th. Once again it was a trip solo, as to many friends were done in by a lack of funds or a non-complying wife. Now this trip report has very little gambling in it. It was just basically a trip to have fun, golf some and just relax.

Transportation: I was going to drive out like I always do. But I found a great deal to fly out on Ted, the only problem it was leaving early and coming back late. At the price I got it for I couldn't turn it down. I have no complaints with Ted, the flights were fine, left and arrived on time, and the bags including the golf clubs made it no problems. The only "issue" with the flight was the zero leg room on the plane. Now with a name like Green Giant, I would expect some discomfort in a plane but this was the worst airline I have ever been on for leg room. It was so bad that I couldn't even move my right leg, it was just pressed up into the seat in front of me unable to move. Now if your under 6'3" you should be fine, but those of us over that look out. Next trip the big Chevy will be the mode of transportation.

Lodging: I had three nights at the Paris, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and two nights at the Palms, Sunday and Monday. I got a good deal through the players card at the Paris. I have only played about 20 dollars the last couple of years at the Paris so how I got those rates is beyond me. Along with the deal were some coupons and the Ambassador check in. They give you a 800 number to call ahead to let them know when you will be arriving and then your room will be ready in advance. Well since my flight got in at 8:00am, I waited till about 10:30am to call. The nice lady said it would be noon before my room was ready. I asked her then if I could get a P room. She said yes but I would have to wait till 3:00pm. At check in I went right past all those suckers in line and straight to the Ambassador check in, no line and got my P room, it was on the sixth floor so I had no view of anything except the Aladdin. I did like the separate shower over the tub/shower combo at most places. The only complaint is that the room was at the end of the long hallway. Check out was just as quick.

On to the Palms for two nights, including my birthday night on Sunday. Now the reason I chose the Palms was last year I signed up for a players card. The nice lady working the desk was telling me about the special NBA rooms they have with 8-foot long beds and special taller showerheads. Well most of those rooms are a grand suite, but they do have a few junior suites. So I booked a junior suite for two nights. When I checked in I was told that my room wasn't ready yet, I asked the nice cute little clerk if she had any grand suites available. She did and upgraded me to a grand NBA suite for no charge. Nicest room I have ever had. It was a two-room suite. The bedroom faced east and I had a view of the strip from the Monte Carlo all the way past downtown. Of course I loved the 8-foot bed and tall showerhead. Plus both bathrooms were loaded with Neutrogena products that are now filling my travel bag. Very nice hotel. No long walks, it was a short distance from the elevator to the room and from the garage to the hotel lobby. Plus there is some nice talent there as well. Even without the NBA rooms I think I have found my new favorite hotel.

Dining: Now just before the trip I finally slipped under the 300 lbs mark, so keep that in mind when I talk about the places I ate. Paris breakfast buffet, great as always. The Original Pancake house in GVR, impressed with the place had the giant German pancake. Peppermill for breakfast, outstanding. Lucile's smokehouse in Henderson, great meat, the best baby back ribs I have had in a long time. Grand Lux Cafe for lunch, very good, huge burger at a good price. Nine Fine Irishman, first time there, good dinner and finally someone who knows how to poor a Guiness. Capozzoli's, a great Italian place on Maryland Pkwy. The place does get going later, I was there at 7 for dinner and nobody was there. The waiter told me that after 10 is when it gets busy, they are open till 3am for dinner. Austin's steakhouse in Texas station for my birthday dinner. Very good steaks at a decent price. The Hofubrauhaus, great beer, average German food. The only bad meal was at the Burger Bar in the new Mandalay Bay shops. Very expensive burgers that do not include fries with them. Then the burger was small without a good bun and no toppings.

Golf: The first night played the Divine 9 course at the Callaway center. Very cool to play the par 3 at night with the whole strip lit up in front of you. I played Las Vegas National course next. Great old course, hard to believe that it hosted a PGA tour event only 8 years ago. Next I played at Angel Park the Palms course. Nice course, not a true desert course but it did have some challenging holes. And finally played The Revere at Anthem the Lexington course. A good desert course that plays through the retirement community there. Didn't hit any houses but I did bounce one off someone's fence.

Entertainment: I did hit the Ghostbar on Monday night. Great place, the views were outstanding. I think drinks were 8 bucks a pop. It was later on a Monday night, I didn't have to wait in line to go up and there was some decent talent there. And of course the Crazy Horse II on my birthday. I don't care about all the problems this place seems to have, I think it is a great place and I am always treated well. I think it is my new favorite place as well surpassing Cheetah's.

Gambling: Didn't gamble much on this trip. Some nickel machine here and there while walking the strip. My only real day gambling was Monday evening downtown. I played some craps on some cold tables. I played some blackjack at the Las Vegas Club. I knew it wasn't going to be a good trip for gambling when at the LVC. Dimtri the dealer pulled three aces in a row. Thank you, Good night now.

Conclusions: I had a much better time this year than last year’s trip. Last year was the "jumped the shark" trip for me, but I can say now that Vegas and I are good once again. The strip was really crowed over the weekend, I think that is the most crowed it has been in the four summers I have been out there. After staying "off strip" and seeing the easy and convenience of it, I think it might be hard for me to go back to staying on the strip. With everyone complaining about the porn slappers invading their space trying to hand out flyers, I found something that worked for me. Whenever I walked up to them they would take a step towards me to hand me their flyers. I would take a step towards them and keep walking right at them. In every case they backed away really quick and didn't try to hand me anything. I guess I would back away too if I saw a big gringo coming at me. Just something to try.

Now in honor of the up coming NFL season lets go inside the numbers of the trip:

1 – The number of In and Out burgers eaten during the trip. I have no idea how this happened.

84 – The age of John the golfer who I played with at the Divine 9 course.

4 – The number of times John had been married. When I asked him if he was looking for wife number 5. His answer was “Hell no, I am looking for death.â€

63 – The number of holes of golf played.

108 – The average temperature of those rounds of golf.

1 – Only one birdie in all those holes of golf.

2 – The number of things wrong with the Green Valley Ranch lobby when I made my walk through. A discarded newspaper and a dirty glass.

0 – The number of times I saw Ninya at GVR.

2 – Trips to the Emperors room at the Crazy Horse.

9 – The number of women I saw either limping or had taken off their shoes all together because they tried to walk to far in the wrong shoes.

4 – The number of times I was propositioned.

18 – The number of cocktail waitress that wanted to take me back to my room and have their way with me.

Thanks for reading my trip report. I lurk mostly around here. But I do enjoy everyone’s commentary on Vegas.

I am thinking of a cheapo gambling trip over Thanksgiving.

 

Nice!! Although I though last year was a BLAST!

 

Feel for you on that plane flight, JG Giant. I'm only 6' even and I get cramped on those. Thanks for the restaurant info, you hit some places that don't get mentioned often here...

 

Just 18 cocktail waitresses? Damn man I expected a bit better. I hope to hit the GVR over my November trip. I guess the show has gotten me interested in seeing it. Sounds like you had a great time. No better way to spend your birthday than doing something you love. Sorry to hear about the flight problem being only 5 foot 2 nothing is ever cramped for me but I can see how that would really stink...

 

Yo JG...

Wish I coulda been there again this year, man. Thanks for the good report.

Mikey

 

how many times did you accept??

[ August 12, 2004, 07:26 AM: Message edited by: tvon ]

 

Sounds like you manged to have a good time without gambling. Wish I could do that.

Happy belated birthday.

 

You got off lucky!! Usually its 5 for me!!

 

Ok, what airline is Ted? Nice to have a trip where you do not need to gamble to have fun - that's what Vegas is all about.

 

Low far offshoot of Uni TED

 

Also a "low fare" offshoot of United.

(we can't all be prefect, Hoya )

 

D'oh!

And you know, sadly, I had ALREADY edited a different mistake before I posted....Oh well, it's true, I can't always be prefect although I am a prefectionist

 

LOL, thanks for the info. I never heard United referred to it as TED - guess I do not get out much -

 

Wow, All I was hoping for was a few nice trip comments, but to get a spelling error from HoyaHeel is outstanding.

I flew Frontier earlier this year and had no problems with the seats, it must be the way the seat are configured on Ted. Trying to jam as many people on the plane as possible. Although I have had problems with United in the past. One year the waitress ran the beverage cart right into my knee. As I am there in pain she hands me some napkins, I look at her like what am I suppose to do with these. She then informs me that my leg is bleeding. Good times.

As for gambling, I like to gamble, but it just seems that it takes a back seat to all the other things I want to do while in Vegas. That is what makes the town so great it has something to make everyone happy.

 

Kathy--just to clarify, Ted is a separate airline, I'm not referring to United as "Ted". The analogy would be--Ted is to United as Song is to Delta. I'm not certain of the business relationships (full owners, operators, etc.) but they are distinct airlines.

 

Giant, you're killing me.

 

Oh, ok, that makes sense. I didn't even know that Delta had a "Song" - it is obvious I do not travel enough -

 

Well, neither of those airlines flies into RDU so I don't know about them through personal experience. But I have an addiction and keeping abreast of things like cheap airfares is a part of my addiction I usually find out about new airlines from online articles or newspaper advertisements.

 

Great trip JGG

On the Ted subject, I flew them into DC a few weeks ago from Vegas, I wasn't impressed. Basically, all United did was take some planes, slap a new coat of paint on them and change some routes to Ted instead of United. They didn't add any new routes. You can't be a low-fare carrier when your still clinging to the regular airlines coat tails.

 

I agree--there are fundamental differences in true lowfare carriers, like Southwest, that enable them to be successful--I have my worries that Delta's Song or United's Ted would be any different than the "big" carrier.

On other fronts--Independence Air out of Dulles has been ratcheting up the advertising--got an email from them yesterday--they start flying to the West coast in the fall, though I haven't seen Vegas on their list of upcoming roll-out cities yet Hope they add it!! The more competition, the lower my fares