TR Feb 15-24... An Aussie Girl Goes Solo (The Sequal)

Hi everyone!

Finally got my TR done. I will post each day as a reply!! I’ll apologise to those who don’t like the drawn-out TRs, however I have 10 days to write and my writing style is more a “dear diary†style so I tend to waffle on a bit!

A bit of background info... This was my 5th trip overall to Vegas (2nd solo trip) and just as much fun as the first solo trip. To be quite honest with you, not sure can go any other way. Going solo is the best!!!

My hotels were split in two... 7 nights at Paris and 3 nights at Wynn. Both hotels were lovely, even though not really comparable. Wynn’s superior class outshone Paris... however, on the mid-range scale, Paris was wonderful.

Hope you all enjoy!

Chups

Visit my facebook Las Vegas group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131024896949556

 

Day 1 – Feb 15th

Earlyish start for me. Had to leave home at 9.30am to go to Melbourne Airport. Check-in was surprisingly quick & easy. Found an excellent Qantas check in dude who loved Vegas, so we spent ages chatting. I asked the mandatory “any chance of a business class upgrade†lol... erm, no. He said that the flight was actually not very busy and that upgrades are usually given when the flight is full. All good, I wasn’t really expecting an upgrade, but one day they may surprise me!

Board my Qantas 747 and sit in my aisle seat. The plane fills up slightly. I understood what the check in guy meant as it really wasn’t that full. I was waiting for the people beside me to get onboard... waiting... waiting... and guess what... there was no one beside me!! Woooohoooo... score. 3 empty seats all to me for a 14 hour flight! Didn’t sleep much, but relaxed and watched a couple of movies. Got to LAX at 7.30am local time... had 2 hours before my flight to Vegas. OMG... LAX is an absolute nightmare! It took me 2 hours to get to thru immigration and security. I got to my gate with 10 mins to spare before boarding! Get to my seat on my AA flight and surprise, surprise... there’s no one next to me!! Hehehe.. I can get used to this.

Nice, quick flight to LAS. I had the left side of the plane and saw the strip as we approached the airport. I know it’s different in the night-time... but I think any time of the day you get a thrill when you see the Las Vegas Strip from the air!!

Had a very easy, quick LAS airport experience. Baggage came thru quick. Taxi line was relatively short > 5 mins. Took taxi to Paris. Total $16.70 + tip. It was only 10.30 am when I got to Paris and the check in line was filled with check out people... so i decided to go to Cafe Madeleine as I heard they had free wifi. I got myself a bear claw and a pepsi and sat at a table and hooked up my wifi on my phone. I realised the US sim card I purchased before my trip hadn’t been activated so I sent a quick email to the provider and did the usual... facebook, hotmail etc until about 11am and then headed to the check in desk.

I had heard that it was almost impossible to get a free upgrade so I didn’t even bother. Instead I thought I’d try for a good view. I got a nice man checking me in. Thought I’d try a bit of flirting instead of the $20 trick considering i wasn’t asking for an upgrade. So I smiled sweetly and he asked if it was my first time.. blah, blah, blah. I told him it was my 5th time to Vegas, but my first time staying at Paris. He asked if I was celebrating anything in particular and I said “Yes my divorce†LOL! He laughed and said that’s great... so I said “Yes it is, as long as I don’t get married again while I’m hereâ€!! Then I asked if there’s any room with a nice view. He was still smiling from my divorce comment that he said “Sure, I’ll see what I can doâ€. Lovely! Didn’t want to push it anymore. Got my room key, thanked him and went on my way to find my room.

Got to my room on the 7th floor and first thing I did was check out the view... and boy I wasn’t disappointed!! I had the entire view of the Eiffel Tower, The Bellagio (didn’t know for sure at this stage, but also could see the fountains), the Paris balloon, The Cosmopolitan and PH! Mannnnnn was an awesome view. Couldn’t wait to see it at night! Then I took my camera out for the obligatory photos for TA & FB!! (before the room is messed up). Nice, big room. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite as spacious. But it was. I was quite pleased. Bathroom was a good size if not huge, but very workable.

Unpacked, got sorted, freshened up. One issue I have with the Paris room is that there were not many power sockets. To charge my phone near my bed-head I had to take out the alarm clock. The only other socket was near the desk and one in the bathroom. Thought it best if I slept for a few hours to get my bearings. Woke after a few hours, got ready and headed downstairs! Put my first hundy in a Quick Hits machine.... hmmmmm quick being the operative word here. I think it was swallowed up in less than 5 mins!! Not the start I wanted. BUT, I was in Vegas, with a ciggie and a cocktail so I was happy!!!

Played a little more at Paris and then walked over to Ballys. Played a little in Ballys, again with no luck, but not going toooo crazy. Had no major plans this evening so walked out onto the strip. There was a Darth Vadar in front of Ballys which I stopped at talked to and took a pic with. I think it’s great that these characters are out on the strip. I know some people don’t like that they say they only take pics for a tip, but everyone has to earn a living and it makes for a more interesting strip experience. They’re not hurting or bothering anyone, so I’m all for it!

Crossed over to the Bellagio where i was on time to catch a fountains show with “Proud to be an Americanâ€. Although I’m not an American, that song still tends to pull at heartstrings and I love how the Americans are so patriotic and I think this is one of my favourite fountain shows.

Walked to Caesars and decided to get some food. Looked at the menus as I walked. Wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for, but nothing really stood out. Neros looked ok, but I have eaten there before and wasn’t really up for a big steak. Made my way to the Forum shops and found myself at Trevi. Looked at the menu and the pasta stood out, so I decided to eat here. Ordered a flat garlic pizza bread as an appetizer. My cocktail was a yummy Frozen Lemon Sorbetini!! Oh, it was so good!! For my main I got a Linguini Fritti di Mare (seafood linguini). All very good! Although I must say I forgot how big the food portions in the US are and I could have done without the pizza bread! My meal came to a very moderate $49 + tip.

After dinner I decided to walk off some of my food by shopping at the Forum Shops. Went in and out of many shops and found myself at MAC cosmetics. The girls back home had all given me their MAC order for me to get them (it’s so much cheaper in the US). So I spent more than an hour in MAC purchasing over $600 worth of cosmetics. My own order, as well as three other orders for girlfriends. After MAC I made my way back to Caesars and wanted to play in the Forum Casino. I sat on a Sex & The City machine. Now you have to realise this is the first time I had seen this machine and I am a huge fan of the show, so I was very excited. I put my MAC cosmetics down between the machines, put my money in, lit a cigeratte and started to play while i waited for the cocktail waitress. I was a bit unsure about the four screens, so I called over a Slot Attendent (Rohan). I told him i wanted to play only one screen, but with maximum credit, but he said i couldn’t do that.. bugger. Oh well, so I played all four screens at 50 credits each. Rohan soon became my friend and we were chatting. He called over a cocktail waitress for me and we were having a nice old chat. He said he was going on break but will be back in 20 mins. I kept playing and hit the Mr Big bonus a few times. As Rohan was coming back I was pulling out $225 from this machine. And he told me to come play a Quick Hits, and I’m like “Nooooo, they’re not nice to me†and he’s like “Yes, you must try this oneâ€. So I followed him to the Quick Hits as I thought maybe he knew something I didn’t... well it turns out he didn’t!! Quick Hits was no nice again!!

By this stage I thought I’d walk around Caesars a bit more. My friend Joe, who’s a dealer at Caesars, had told me he was working this night so I thought I’d go find him. Couldn’t see him so I just played around the casino for a while. Finally found a pit boss who said he was on break and will be back in half an hour or so. So I played some more, again with no luck. Went to the bathroom and as I was in the bathroom I realised I did not have my MAC bag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 $600 worth of cosmetics were left between the two SATC machine!! OMFG I freaked out!! I quickly ran to security to see if anyone had handed in the bag to Lost & Found but was told no. So I thought I’d go back to the machine, thinking that obviously they will not still be there. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I approached the machines and I had a look... and they were still there!!!!!!!!!!! OMG, by this stage I was shaking both inside and out. I nearly had tears in my eyes. I txt a friend in Melbourne who called me up straight away and I told her what happened and she was calming me down a bit. I ordered a strong vodka from the cocktail waitress and sat and just controlled my breathing! I can’t believe they were still there after an hour!!

After I had regained my composure I made my way to the pits and said hi to Joe and sat at his table. He was dealing NL Hold ‘em which I had not played on a table before (ie: against the dealer only). I watched for a bit and then played. I did quite well and after a couple of hours I coloured up $200. Said bye to Joe and promised I’ll be in touch. Didn’t feel comfortable walking back to Paris at 2am so decided to take the short cab ride. Tipped the driver quite well cause I felt bad for the short trip and made my way up to my room for some well deserved sleep!!

 

Day 2 – Feb 16th

Up early at 8.30am. Didn’t want to rush, so took my time getting ready and left the room feeling pretty good. Stopped for breakfast at Café ile St Louis. Ordered the Crème Brûlée French Toast! Yummmm. It was really good. Was topped with fresh strawberries! Also ordered a pepsi. Total came to $20 + tip.

This morning I was going to Premium Outlets Downtown. Had heard that you can take the Deuce all the way and as I had never taken the bus, I thought this would be a good time to try. Well I bought my ticket outside of Paris and get on the Deuce. I ask the driver if this goes to Premium Outlets and he says “No”!! WTF! He said I needed the Downtown Express. But that I could take the Deuce to Wynn and then swap buses and get on the DT Express. He said it comes every 15 minutes. So I did that. I took the Deuce to Wynn and then waited at Wynn for the DT Express!! Every 15 mins my a$$!!!! I was waiting for about 40 mins before the DT Express came around. Man there are some weird looking characters on both the Deuce and DT Express. And it’s soooooooooooo slow!! I know I saved some money by taking the bus and got an “experience” but still... I think I’d pay for convenience!! Anyway, finally got to Premium Outlets. The DT Express drops you off at a real weird location and I couldn’t make heads or tails of where I was so I trekked back to the Information Centre at the start. Got my discount coupon book and started at the top!

First stop was the Cosmetic Company Store... yes I know, more cosmetics!! Discounted MAC!! Score!! Found quite a few bargains. Was also txt’n my friend back in Melbourne with the bargains they had and sending her pics of their brush sets so she can decide which ones she wants. She ended up getting all three sets. Together we spent another $400 on MAC!! Crazy, I know!!

Next stop was Coach... well they had an additional 30% sale off already reduced prices!! Score again! Woohoo! A different friend back home had wanted me to get them a Coach bag, so the lovely store attendant helped me pick out a bunch of black Coach bags which I photographed and emailed to my friend back home so she can choose one. Yes I know it sounds like a lot of effort, but we do this all the time depending on which one of us is overseas!! She finally chose her bag, so I went about to choose my bag and I thought I would also buy one for my mother! Well Mum’s one was easy to find, mine not so much as there were quite a few that I liked. I ended up going with a White Patent Coach bag which was stunning!! The Coach bags were reduced to $110 (my friends & my mum’s) and $139 (mine) all from $400. So I think that was an enormous saving!!

Next stop was DressBarn. I had found some good bargains here last time I was in town and thought I’d look again. Whilst the majority of their clothes are for a more mature woman, they had some hidden gems and I ended up buying 2 pairs of jeans, a pair of black office pants and a lovely black, white & lace blouse all for $137 which is great value considering my jeans are usually close to $90 each!!

By this stage I was running around like a mad woman. It was getting late and I had a M & G at 4pm. It was nearing close to 3pm and I still had a few more stops. I went into Guess to look at handbags and was in heaven!! I had a $20 voucher (once you spend $100) so I picked out a gorgeous baby blue Guess handbag, with matching wallet, a pair of Guess earrings and another handbag which was multicoloured mainly pink & purple and really, really cool!! All these after the discount came to only $130!!! OMG!! Talk about a bargain! You can barely get one Guess bag in Australia for $130!

I decided Guess would be my last stop so I rushed to the taxi stand and got a taxi back to Paris ($20). Quickly ran to my room to drop off my shopping and freshen up before my M & G! I had seen on FB that stampsfan66 had checked into Miracle Mile, so I quickly commented that I’m running a little late but I’ll be there soon!!

Made my way to Pampas Brazilian Grille at Miracle Mile and met stampsfan66 and kristasmom who was there with her sister. I said hi and introduced myself. It was really lovely to meet these wonderful people. Funny & down to earth, they made this M&G extremely enjoyable. We had a few laughs along the way especially with our chosen theme of “Occupational Accessory”. As a joke kristasmom brought a feather boa, but also brought her WalMart coat. I bought a few items from my nurses uniform... mainly the nurses hat & stereoscope. So we were all laughing as we took some pics!

Our bartender, Randy, was very attentive and great to chat to. I ordered a cocktail (the name of which completely escapes me now) but I know it was good! LOL! It was happy hour so we ordered some ½ price appetizers... Chicken Satay, Batata Frita with cheese and Shrimp Fritada at approx $4.50 each!

Kristasmom’s other sister also joined us and was also lovely. Near the end of our M & G one of the sisters (can’t remember which one now) produced 3 wax lips which the girls put on and we were laughing so hard!! It was apparently a in-joke but they looked so funny! It was really great to laugh with these girls. Said goodbye to everyone and promised to keep in touch! And that photos will be posted on FB!!

On the way back from PH to Paris collected as many porn slapper cards as I could (for the guys at work). I think the porn slappers love it when a woman collects their cards. They were quite nice to me and not derogatory at all!! LOL

Got back to my room. Had organised to meet Joe tonight after he finished work at Sams Town at 11pm so thought it best to relax in the room for a while. Ordered some room service which was Chicken Rotisserie Soup and roast beef baguette.

Funny story as there was a knock on the door from room service, i picked up my wallet off the bed which was lying on all my porn slapper cards... so as I picked up my wallet all the cards went flying onto the floor of my room so I’ve opened the door and this poor waiter has walked into my room with 50 or so porn cards scattered all over the floor. It was so funny! Poor guy didn’t know where to look!

Met up with Joe at 11pm and he had promised he’d teach me how to play craps so we made our way to Arizona Charlies for low limits. Slowly we played and I started to pick up the game. It was quite complicated, but I think I got the gist of it. I asked a lot of questions, especially about the multitude of bets you can make, which were answered, but I don’t think I’d remember them all!! I had fun rolling the dice though!! Played a bit of blackjack as well and walked away about $100 up.

After Arizona Charlies Joe asked me what I wanted to do and I told him that I always wanted to drive into town and have the Vegas lights come upon me. He said he knew the perfect place and it was about a 25mins trip out of town on the US95, past Henderson and before you get to Boulder City. So I’m like “cool, let’s go”. So we drove out, chatting all the way. I love talking to Vegas locals. You get a bit of a better understanding of the other side of Vegas. The side that the tourists don’t usually see. We drove out and parked in this ditch thing and it was so dark and I wanted to see the stars so I got out of the car. We had seen a coyote a bit further up the road so I was kinda scared, but not too bad. It was quite cold so we decided to get back into the car and drive back to Vegas.

So we’re driving along, chatting again, and all of a sudden Joe stops mid-conversation and I look up and I swear it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in front of me. All the lights of greater Las Vegas but also the Strip & Downtown laid out as far as the eye can see!! I was in awe. It definitely did something to me. I fell in love with Vegas yet again. It was definitely a highlight of my trips to Vegas!

Joe then dropped me off at Paris, but instead of going up to my room I made my way to Ballys to play on two of my fav machines the Peacock Magic & King of The Nile. Cocktail waitress was always around filling up my jug of Baileys! LOL! In Australia when you ask for Baileys on Ice you get a shot of baileys (30ml) on ice... In Vegas when you ask for Baileys on Ice you get a glass of Baileys (like a glass of milk)!! I love it!! After about 5 of these I was swaying to the music of my slot machine!! My peacock magic took a quick $180, but then started to pay and gave me 50 free spins. The free spins ended up paying $260 so I was up quite a bit... however, like many teenagers across the world, the withdrawal method didn’t work and I played them all back in the machine. But if it’s any consolation I did enjoy it!!

Got back to my room at 4am and collapsed in a drunken heap!

 

Day 3 – Feb 17th

This morning I headed for the Boulevard Mall which is about 10 mins off strip. Wanted to visit a few stores which are only available there. I’m not sure how many of you read my last TR, but I was at the Boulevard Mall (in particular, Lane Bryant fitting rooms) when I had my panic attack on my last trip and was really sick. So in all honesty, although I felt fantastic I was still a little apprehensive. I had no need to worry though!!! Started at Macy’s and nothing really grabbed me so I went to Lane Bryant. Now I didn’t remember too much of the store from last time (not surprisingly) so I enjoyed walking around and finding some great stuff to try on. I had my hand full of clothes when a lovely assistant came to help me. I found some awesome shoes to try on as well... and then I found their adjoining lingerie store... well I was in heaven!! Picked up one of almost everything and headed for the fitting rooms...

...90 minutes later I emerged with a few tops and many different styles of lingerie and undergarments... and a pair of knee high boots!! (Which were an absolute steal at $34.50!!!) Took it all up to the register and she rung it up with some jewellery pieces that I had picked out and it came to a total of $477!! Wowee!! Now that was a good spend!!

From Lane Bryant I went to get some lunch at Panda Express. Got some chicken spicy thing and some walnut shrimp which was quite nice. My fortune cookie told me that "An unexpected windfall will soon be yours"... hmmmm, and I usually believe fortune cookies! LOL

After lunch went to Lady Footlocker as I had some home orders for insoles which us girls all use back home and we can’t get. So I walked out of there with 4 of the same insoles! And then I headed to Torrid to check out their clothing. Truth be told by this stage I was completely knackered! I didn’t even have any energy to try clothes on... but I did, although I quit after 3 items. I ended up buying a cool tee and a chunky necklaces that matched perfectly and headed for the door. Got a quick taxi back to the hotel. I had a few hours before I was due to meet my friend (and Vegas local) Nat at 7.30pm so I decided to take a power nap to gear me up for a big night!

I met Nat outside Mon Ami Gabi and we were lead inside. Nat introduced me to Nancy, who is the assistant general manager of MAG and a really lovely woman. Nat & Nancy had worked together at Paris for a while. Nat loving MAG as much as she does always recommends the restaurants to guests who ask for her dining opinion. Nancy led us out to the patio where we had one of the best tables on the patio, looking directly at the fountains. Nancy talked to us for a while and Nat explained that I’m from Australia and I told Nancy how I love this restaurant and always make a point of visiting on every trip. She chatted for a little while before duty calls and left us in the very capable hands of our waiter.

We were so excited the meet up as it has been 18 months since we’ve seen each other that we just chatted and chatted and chatted. We ordered the Frangria (French version of Sangria) and it was sooooo good!! We sat and drank and chatted some more!! And filled each other in with gossip!! We finally ordered our food. I ordered the Escargots de Bourgogne (oven-roasted snails, garlic-herb butter) followed by the Steak Bordelaise with caramelized onions and red wine sauce and frites. Nat ordered the Macaroni Gratin followed by a Steak Frite (although I can’t remember if she got the Roquefort or the Au Poivre). For dessert I got us a Crème Brûlée to share (although I must admit Nat only had a few spoonfuls)!! The whole meal was amazingly good. This is why MAG is my favourite restaurant in Vegas. The food is scrumptious, the atmosphere is great and the view cannot IMHO be beaten anywhere in the world!!!

We asked for the cheque whilst continuing to chat (as women do). Nat had a frequent loyalty card (or something similar) and was fishing it out of her wallet when we looked at the cheque to see what we owed... erm... there was no bill!! We were checking behind to see if it was placed at the back when the waiter returned with a cheeky grin and said “oh I forgot to mention that Nancy has taken care of your bill”!!! OMG! Both Nat & I were completely speechless!! Our mouths just hung open for what seemed like hours! Haha.. ok, it wasn’t hours but a good couple of minutes. We opened the cheque holder again and there was a smiley face with “Thank You” written inside. We really were flabbergasted! We walked out of MAG and stopped Nancy at the door and thanked her profusely for her lovely gesture. She grinned and said to come visit anytime!

After dinner we headed to the Cosmopolitan as I had yet to visit this place. Nat told me all about the Chandelier Bar so we thought we’d make that our first stop. We walked through the lobby first and saw the ever-changing lobby column which were really cool. We then walked past V bar (I think it might be called Vesper Bar) which also looked awesome. I signed up for a players card and went and bought a $1 chip as I have one from almost every casino i’ve visited. No money was spared when they designed and decorated this hotel/casino. Everything was lovely. Not sure if that’s because it’s new, but it really looked a treat. I loved the casino carpet, the artwork, everything was spectacular. Then I saw the Chandelier Bar... WOW! That’s really all I can say. I was in awe. We made our way through all the levels checking out the speciality cocktails. We found 2 we liked on the 2nd level. I had a Campfire Delight cocktail (which came with toasted marshmallows) and Nat had a Fire Breathing Dragon which was a potent red cocktail. Our server came back and was telling us about these Verbena Leaves (also known as buzz buttons) and then brought 2 for us to try!! Buzz buttons are an edible flower... you put them in your mouth and suck on them for a while and twirl them all around your mouth and then eat them. You feel your entire mouth and tongue go numb and then you have some of your cocktail!! It really makes the cocktail effervescent!!! It was one of the most surreal taste sensations I have ever had and totally awesome!!!

After the Chandelier Bar we headed to Marquee, the newest club to hit the Las Vegas strip. To me I couldn’t really see what the fuss was all about. It seemed kinda small (although I found out later that the main room wasn’t in use). Music was cool but the place wasn’t exactly heaving but it just didn’t do it for me. We stayed for about an hour before heading back inside Cosmo. I tried my luck in some slots with no luck (surprise surprise) and then we left and headed back to Paris. It was about 1am when we got to Paris and I said bye to Nat and I decided to try my luck on the slots some more. I sat down in my favourite bank of slots, ordered a chocolate martini and I was on my way. No luck slot wise, but had a few chocolate martinis and went back to the room with a nice buzz going on.

 

Hi Chups

Great report so far - really enjoyed it (even the shopping bits:wink)

Fantastic result at MAG - just goes to show how nice (most) people are I reckon.

As a fellow antipodean (!!) I reckon the only way to go to Vegas is via San Francisco. The airport is so much better, there is a pretty good bar near the United gate for Vegas, and a good wine shop near the bar for a few bottles to take with you.

Anyway look forward to the rest of the TR.

Cheers

Col

PS do you hit the casinos in Australia. I must admit I find them (and the ones here) a bit boring after Vegas and I tend to give them a miss.

 

Great trip report. As a foreigner, I understand how excited you when shopping in the states. Real bargains.

 

Great report, love your writing style!

You certainly are a bargain queen! I was at the outlet malls in January and couldn't find a deal , other than a couple here n there Prices seemed high to me for an outlet mall

How wonderful for your meal n catchup time at MAG , that it was all *covered* I love the patio there , as you say good food and a great view

Looking forward to the next installment!

 

Enjoying the TR. Keep it up.

 

Enjoying the trip report so far, looking forward to the rest.

 

Love it so far Chuppa! Great job!

 

eagerly waiting for more! very enjoyable read.

 

Glad everyone is enjoying my TR!! And thanks for the positive comments towards my writing style... I figured it's a lot of waffling!

Nancy at MAG really blew me away with her kind nature and it left me believing there is still good in people!

Col, re casino's in Australia.. I do visit Crown, my local Melbourne casino, but you're right, it's not the same. And tbh it's only after this trip to Vegas that I realised how dark and dingy it is in Crown, nothing like the atmosphere in Vegas casinos at all.

More to follow.... Chups

 

Day 4 – Feb 18th

I woke up feeling a bit worse for wear this morning with a very heavy head. Got ready and headed downstairs. I grabbed a quick breakfast at Cafe Madeleine of fruit salad and a Danish. Stayed there long enough to check email and post on FB and then headed to Mandalay Bay.

I had every intention of heading straight to the poker room... but all my good intentions go out the door when I hear the sounds and see the flashing lights of the slots!! Especially at M-Bay as I really enjoy gambling here. I hunt for my favourite machine (yes, you guessed it Peacock Dreaming). When I stayed here in 2009 they had two of these machines... only one was here today, but I still jumped on it. The cocktail waitress came around basically as soon as I sat down and I ordered a Malibu & Pineapple. I didn’t really care that it was only 11am! LOL. I tipped the waitress well when she returned with my first drink and that ensured me excellent service for the next few hours!!! If only I can say I received excellent service from the slot machines! After Peacock Magic I went to Dolphin Treasure. Now after my first hundy with nothing... I thought it’s due to pay soon... right?? WRONG!! Another hundred with nothing, and then another hundred... Ouch! This was really starting to hurt. I got off Dolphin Treasure and tried Tiki Torch and whilst it gave me free spins every so often, there were no decent wins. So what do I do??? I got back to Dolphin Treasure.... because it’s bound to pay soon... right???????? WRONG AGAIN!! FFS! It took another couple of hundred before I thought “enough’s enough” and left to lick my wounds!!!!! I headed to Nike Golf at Mandalay Place to buy some things for a friend back home and after I got his stuff I thought about heading to the Luxor, but in the end I felt defeated by my losses at M-Bay and left.

I got a taxi to Planet Hollywood as I had to register for my convention which was to start this evening. The convention was called The Curvy Revolution and it was sponsored by Lane Bryant and aimed towards the plus sized community. I was really looking forward to it and was eager to register and attend the welcome function mixer that night.

Once I registered I headed back to Paris. I was going up to my room when I noticed my friend Nat working at Le Central Bar. As I was licking my wounds and maybe a little tipsy from my Malibu & pineapple drinks at M-Bay, I decided to stop for another! Well as I sat and said hi to Nat, I told her I wanted a Chocolate Martini... and she said... “It’s 2 for 1 martini happy hour”!!! Yay!!!! Just what I wanted to hear. So she asked if I wanted 2 chocolate martinis and I said no, just one of those and she can surprise me with the other one! She knew i liked tropical type drinks and made up a special concoction which was later to be known as a “Sylvana Special... Aussie Lovin”. It had vodka, midori, Malibu, Chambord and some mixers! It looks a little funky greenish colour, but it tasted sooooo good!! And as the martini glasses do not hold the entire contents of the mixer I received 4 drinks all up. 2 in martini glasses and 2 in standard scotch glass.... whoooooo I think I was in for a long afternoon!!!

Started chatting to the nice lady next to me. She was in town for a direct sales convention (I’m sure she told me the name of the company, and even her name, but they escape me now)... I blame the alcohol! And a lovely man sitting next to here who was also in town for a convention of some sort. We were all happily chatting away and getting quite nicely intoxicated. My two new friends didn’t think I would get through my four martinis and were mighty impressed when I finished them all!! Hell, even I was impressed!! By this stage I was rather hungry. It was nearing 5pm and I had only eaten the fruit salad & Danish from this morning. I decided to go for a burger at Le Burger Brasserie. Nat told me to use Foursquare on my phone to check into Paris Las Vegas and when I do I get a $5 discount coupon for Le Burger Brasserie. So that’s what I did. I had to go to the promotions desk to get my coupon and when I stood up off my bar stool and said goodbye to Nat, everything started spinning for some reason!!! I very tentatively made my way to the promotions counter to get my voucher. The man asked if I was ok (i think he may have noticed I was a little green) and I said “Yes, thank you I am fineeeeee” and smiled a big smile! LOL. I somehow made my way to the burger place which was so far away. My eyes were closed for most of the walk there through the lovely cobblestone walkway at Paris. There was a 5 minute wait to be seated in which I just loitered around a bit getting funny looks from others. I was seated quickly and asked for a glass of iced water and a large iced pepsi. At one stage I thought this might be a bad idea because even reading the menu was making me feel a bit queasy. I finally settled on a very plain burger and fries. Didn’t take long to come out at all and I had a couple of mouthfuls when I realised that eating was probably not a good idea. I finished as much of my drinks as I can, paid my bill and went back to my room like a bear with a sore head.

At this stage it was 6pm. I had to be at Planet Hollywood at 8pm for my convention mixer. I thought it would be a good idea at this point to lay down for an hour. I set my alarm for 7.15pm and thought that would give me enough time to shower and change and head to PH.

Well................... when my alarm went off my head could not move off the pillow. It was like it was filled with rocks. Slowly I raised my head, but that wasn’t a good idea. So I laid back down and the room was moving. My head was pounding and I couldn’t believe I had a hangover at 7pm!!! Decided there and then that there was no way I was making the mixer tonight. So I thought it best to try and get some more sleep. Well that wasn’t going to happen. I started feeling quite uneasy and luckily just made it to the bathroom in time to start praying to the porcelain gawds!! OMG I felt dreadful!!! After drinking loads of water and brushing my teeth 5 times I still felt horrible so I threw on some clothes and went to the hotel shop near the elevators and stocked up on some Gatorade, Pepsi, crackers, mints and chocolate (for when I was feeling better).

I tried to have a cold shower to make me feel better, but couldn’t handle it and ended up having a very hot shower. Came back out into the room and although it was early I knew there and then that I wasn’t going out that evening. After a while I became quite hungry and decided room service was going to be my best option. I ordered a steak and mash potatoes, garlic bread and sorbet. Room service was relatively quick for a Friday night. The food was good, and my steak was cooked perfectly. The mash potatoes and garlic bread were a bit of comfort food for me!! I ate slowly and then spent a little time online before heading to bed around midnight!!

 

glad you made a quick recovery!

 

Really enjoying your TR: just the right amount of detail

I think we've all been in your shoes with imbibing a little too early in Vegas and having one too many during happy hour. Somehow I'm sure you'll bounce back

 

I am really enjoying this report.

 

Day 5 – Feb 19th

As I slept quite early, I awoke very early... 5.30am to be exact!!!

First thing to sort out was the extra data on my US sim as I had already used 100MB of data in 4 days.. yes I know, don’t say it! LOL! The guy at Mr Sim Card was really helpful and had me sorted with another 100MB in no time.

Got ready for my day as the convention officially started today and headed downstairs for breakfast. This morning I thought I’d try the Paris buffet as I had heard good things about it. Breakfast buffet cost $18.99 + tip. I walked around to look at the selection. As I’m not an egg eater a lot of the breakfast items were crossed off my list. I ended up with a first plate of bacon, sausage, potatoes, quiche (don’t ask, i’ll eat egg in a quiche)... and a baguette. My second plate was fruit, waffle and a couple of Danish. Not sure if that’s $19 worth or not, but I was full and on my way!!

I must point out here that I wasn’t totally impressed with the bacon... I’ll mention it more a bit later on in my TR.

After breakfast I had about an hour to kill before having to be at my convention so I played some slots. Played Wolf Run and did ok. Walked away $80 which was good in my book!

Made my way to the PH convention centre. Found out the the first speaker had pulled out last minute and a substitute speaker was given 15 mins notice to do a workshop on healthy living. I think she did an amazing job considering. It was more a hands-on workshop where we all shared our own experiences. The next workshop was very professional and very well run. It was called Enterprediva and it was run by Richelle Shaw who is the only African-American woman to own a public utilities company. She built that company into a $35M company and then lost it all after September 11th and had to file for bankruptcy and then built her next company to be a $2M company and has now become a leading figure on dealing with the credit challenged people in our community!! Her business tips were amazing! To hear her story (and she tells it with such pizzazz) and to have her share her business mind with you was great! I really got a lot out of this workshop.

We then headed to the main room where an expo was being held. I made my way around and found myself talking to one of the headoffice guys at Lane Bryant. Told him how I spent so much money just the day before and asked why they didn’t ship internationally. He was quite forthright and said they realise there’s a big market out there and will start shipping internationally from June!! Yay, that made me very pleased! By June it’ll be time to stock up again! Hahaha! Lane Bryant were offering free fittings in the back room which I took and was told nothing I didn’t know already! LOL! (I’ll leave it at that, don’t want to put that much detail into my TR... there is such a thing as TOO MUCH INFORMATION) hahaha!! So I made my way around each of the stalls. I found some awesome tops which say Curvy Divas Rock on them in bling, so I bought 2 of those. Everything else was rather cool and I collected a lot of information and promotional information.

That was the end of the day session. We had a gala evening that night but so far we were free to go. As I was leaving I thought I’d put a bit of money into some slots at PH as I hadn’t played there yet. Well I found one machine (can’t remember it’s name, I’d never played it before) and it was cool. It had a random feature with penguins and I got the random feature a few times and with a $100 I kept playing about 90 mins. Then I moved and I found myself on another machine I hadn’t played before. I can’t even remember the name of this damn thing... Anyway I put a $100 in and soon had it up to $220.... well me the idiot didn’t pull out did I?? NO! I up my bet thinking, well if it’s paid already it’s going to continue paying right??? WRONG?? Not only did it take that $220... but it also took $400 more!!!! Because I kept thinking it big pay out was just around the corner!!! Mannnnn am I so dumb? I just got lost in the moment. I was enjoying my drinking and chatting to the guy next to me and smoking and i just kept pumping this machine with money. On my walk back to Paris it kinda hit me of what I did and I felt horrible! But I also knew that you couldn’t cry over spilt milk and what’s done is done. The worse thing was that by losing that money my trip’s entire gambling budget had been spent................. AND I STILL HAD 5 DAYS TO GO!! Ooops! Think it’s time to put a call into the bank of Mum & Dad!!

Back into the room I rang my parents to say hi (and suss out the money situation lol) and then had enough time to get ready for my gala evening. The event had a pink & black theme and I was luckily enough to already have a dress that fit the theme. I got ready and made my way back to PH. I think I looked pretty damn good! LOL! The dinner was held in the celebrity ballroom of the convention centre. Dinner was a lovely buffet of fresh salads and vegetable and chicken breasts sautéed in a white wine sauce and a white fish fillet also steamed in a sauce of some sort. And a dessert buffet as well with fresh fruit and pastries and other yummy desserts. It was a lovely evening and I had met some other wonderful women, some of which I know I’d be friends with for a long time.

As the evening drew to a close one of the girls mentioned she had passes to Rain & Ghostbar, but I wasn’t really in the partying mood. I was going to go to Wynn but when I got to the taxi line at 11pm on a Saturday night it was way too long to even considering standing in the queue. I headed back to Paris where I found a preferred bank of slot machines and ordered some strong vodka cocktails and sat for a while watching my money go down the gurgler!! Would my luck change at all this trip??? Nope, I don’t think so. Headed up to bed around 2am.

 

I was very happy to see your trip report posted as I really enjoyed your last TR and this one also does not disappoint. When you started the story of sitting at the SATC machine and sitting your bag down from MAC I hoped I was wrong but figured I knew where that was heading......because Ihad done the exact same thing the last time I was in Vegas with a bag of clothes and another with two pairs of shoes and can you believe I also left my packages at a SATC machine at the Venetian!! It was about 1/2 hour before I realized and when I went back, I absolutely couldn't believe that my bags were still there and the lady currently playing the machine hadn't even noticed them. I thought when you were telling your story that perhaps your new pal Rohan would have rescued your purchases. So happy you got them back, that your gambling funds have been topped up and that you bounce back quickly from a hangover.

Loving your report and hope you will share some of your photos as well. Keep it coming!

 

Oh!! I can't believe you did the same thing! So you would have totally related to my thoughts and feelings. I was literally shaking as I went back to the machine! And then when I had saw them still there, the relief was almost unbearable!

Glad you're loving the TR! I will start another thread with pics, hopefully I can just post the link to my facebook photo album.

Chups

 

Day 6 – Feb 20th

Up early again! For some reason I can’t get a lie-in. Not necessarily a bad thing. It was about 6.30am and I headed downstairs. Thought I’d do the buffet again, but when I got there it was closed and said it opens at 7am! I thought 7am was a little late to be opening on a Sunday morning, but maybe that’s just me? Instead I had breakfast at Cafe St Louis again. This time I opted for their buttermilk pancakes with a side of strawberries and some bacon. Well! I sent the bacon back because it was completely overcooked and cold! This was the trend of all the bacon that I got on this trip. How hard is it to cook some bacon? And is it always the streaky bacon? What happened to the meaty side of the bacon? Maybe it’s just an Australian thing, but bacon is sooooo good here in a butty!!

Ok bacon rant over! LOL

Back to the room I went to get ready for the day ahead of me. I tidied my room a little bit (a very little bit, but at least all the shopping bags were off the floor now) and then I made my way to PH where there was a workshop at 10am for my convention.

Get the convention centre to be told there was a change in plans. The 10am workshop will now be held at 2pm and everything was put back a couple of hours. Well it kinda extenuated the fact that the convention lacked some organisational skills, but we went with it. One of the lovely girls I had met the day before was also waiting around and I said to her “I’m not going to wait around here and waste a day in Vegas, I’m going to City Centre & Aria... wanna come?” And off we went.

City Centre... sorry Center... wasn’t open last time I was in town, so I was quite eager to check it out. As it was still early by Vegas standards there was hardly anyone around. It was beautiful! So many high end shops! I told my friend that today it’s her job to ensure I “window” shop only and to make sure I don’t get tempted by any slot machines! After yesterday’s financial debacle, and the fact that all the shops in CC were “high end”, I didn’t think my bank balance could handle it! Well.... she had trouble keeping me to that when in the first shop we stopped in, Prada, had specific Las Vegas keyrings that had Prada written on them as well. Those who know me, know I’m a bit of a designer hag and I love anything designer. I used to joke to my ex-husband that he was lucky all the designer clothes didn’t fit me!! Anyway these keyrings were $175, which is not a bad price for Prada (but quite expensive for a keyring LOL). Anyway I picked the one I wanted, but my friend said “no” and I said “well I can always go back and get it later” hehehe!

From there we continued to walk around these very expensive, but very nice shops. We went into Dior and the lady there was so lovely. Her name was Brandee and we chatted for a long time. She told me how she was hooked on an Australian cable tv show and told us about local Las Vegas living. She took us around the store and explained the different collections, letting us into the world of Dior and telling us about Mr Dior’s house in his native France. It was so nice of her to spend time with us and make us feel really welcome. Some store attendants at the higher end stores are quite snobbish when you go in, but she was really down to earth and lovely.


We went into Bvlgari as my friend from Australia wanted me to check out a handbag for her. I went in and asked around and was told this particular handbag was sold out NATION-WIDE!! My poor friend was not happy at all!!

After we were done at Crystals we headed to Aria. I had not been inside yet and it all looked very nice. My friend steered us away from the main casino (Hahaha) and we walked through the side taking in the shops & the restaurants. I couldn’t go past Jean Philippe Patisserie! OMG I love that place!! I took some pics of the wonderful cake displays and hand made chocolates and I bought myself some gelato... one scoop of Pistachio and one scoop of Crème Brûlée. OMG it was so good!! We continued to walk around Aria for a while and then made our way through to Monte Carlo. We checked out the shops in the walkway at Monte Carlo. I stopped by The Pub to tell them that we were expecting about 15 people there for our M&G tomorrow. They said that was cool and I text NYGreg. He told me that he had already did that yesterday! Haha. Oh well at least they know for sure! Continued into the Monte Carlo. We had stopped for a little lunch in the food court. Just a slice of pizza for me and a salad for my friend. We walked back to Aria and walked outside as I wanted to go to the CVS which we did. Outside CVS we caught up with another girl from the convention and chatted to her for a while. She then joined us for our walk and as it was nearing 2pm we decided to head back to Planet Hollywood.
Our afternoon workshop today was very awesome. It was the VP of Marketing for Lane Bryant going through the advertising campaign that caused quite a stir in the US last year. He gave us a blow-by-blow description of how it went through the networks and what the issue was. It was basically said to have contained “too much cleavage” and yet the same networks showed half naked men and (skinny) woman all the time. He then went on about the power of Social Media and how the issue blew up around the internet, making the networks retract. Having a media studies background I found this so information and was quite enthralled in it all. He also showed us the upcoming media campaign and was open to a panel for questions. To me this was one of the highlights of the convention.

There was some down time between this workshop and our finale in the evening. I used this time wisely to go back to my room and have a nap!! I got up in enough time to make myself look beautiful for our finale evening. Made my way back to PH convention rooms and was treated to a fashion show which included a showcase of one of a kind creations from independent designers, as well as clothing from companies such as Jill Alexander, Bettie Page, About Curves, and Always for Me, with a fabulous finale fashion show by Lane Bryant. It was such an awesome show! Everyone loved it.

The Stilettos & Curves afterparty was held at the London Club above the PH casino. It was a lovely location and great to relax after our convention to an open bar! Around midnight we decided we were getting hungry after all the alcohol and I left the afterparty with my friend. We headed to Planet Dailies. I was starving at this stage so I ordered a Chicken Marsala and my friend got a Caesar Salad. We had our goodie bag from the convention which was a Lane Bryant bag that each of the finale fashion show attendees got. We were going through to see what we had. My friend excused her self to go to the bathroom and the girl at the table next to me leaned over and asked me where I got the bag from and if there was a Lane Bryant in Las Vegas........... well........ this girl was Australian!!! So here we are on the other side of the world and when we realised we’re both Aussies, we’re just chatting about. I told her we had been to the convention but that there was a Lane Bryant at the Boulevard Mall and also at the Las Vegas Outlets on South Strip. We chatted a bit more and I found out she was travelling with her dad and stepmum. She asked what we were doing after we’ve eaten and I just said heading back to Paris and asked her to come along for a drink!

So the 3 of us head back to Paris. We head for Napoleon’s but there was not an empty seat in the house and then we settle at Gustav’s Bar. We wanted one of the frozen Eiffel Tower cocktails. Unfortuantely my favourite, the piña colada flavour had run out and the strawberry was very limited. There was only original margarita. I wasn’t too sure about that as tequila is not a friend of mine. The bartender gave us a little bit to taste and it wasn’t so bad when you taste the slushie so we ordered one each but when we got it, the bottom 1/3 of the Eiffel Tower glass was filled of alcohol only and no slushie!! OMG it was potent!! I was quite tipsy by the end of it!! Our new Australian friend had a great time chatting to us. I think it was nice for her to have some conversation with people her same age (or there abouts)... she was really lovely and we agreed to keep in touch and become friends on Facebook. She was from Adelaide so we agreed that if she’s ever in Melbourne or if I’m in Adelaide we should look each other up. Finally got to sleep around 4am!!