Trip report 8-17 thru 8-21 and my first w2g! Warning: VERY LONG!

This trip consisted of myself and my friend that I work with, S. Both in our 30's and both hairstylists, we were lucky that our boss agreed to let us both off on a saturday to make this trip.

We didn't know each other well, but knew that we both had a love for Vegas and gambling in general. I wasn't sure how compatible we'd be for a Vegas trip, but considering we're both pretty independent I thought it would work out ok. Plus, my husband isn't keen on me going all by myself, although this was going to bee a solo trip until S decided that she could go too. He just worries about me and believes there's safety in numbers.

Day 1&2 Friday 8-17 and Saturday 8-18

We began the day by going to work! Ugh, it was the longest 4 hours ever. We agreed to do a half day today since our flight out from Dallas Lovefield wasn't leaving until 7:10 pm. We each went home to gather last minute things and at 3:30 my husband and I went to go pick up S and he was dropping us at the airport.

We arrived in plenty of time so we got pizza at Campisi's. If you're ever at Lovefield you should try this place. The airport location only has personal pizzas, but it's still really good.

Our southwest flight was on time and we had a stop in El Paso but didn't get off the plane. When we landed in Vegas we went out to have a cig first thing. We went outside the doors where the shuttles leave from to smoke and it wasn't busy at all. We got our luggage and decided to take a taxi to the hotel. OMG the taxi line was long and my arm was about to fall off from pulling my bag by the time we got in the car.

I told the driver Paris and not to take the tunnel. He obliged and it was a relatively inexpensive ride because he went the correct way. Cab fare was around $13 so I gave him a $20 and off we go to check in.

I had never stayedat Paris before. I was originally booked at Flamingo comped all 4 nights, but after some of the reviews lately I decided to switch to Paris to avoid some of the 20 something drunk people.

No check in line at around 10 pm and I thought I had no chance at getting a good room by scowl on the lady's face that would be checking us in. I told her we needed 2 beds and it was noted in my res that way. I had also asked for a room close to the elevator and that was noted in the res as well. When she was punching the buttons I asked if she had any rooms left that had the newer beds. She kept punching around on the keyboard and told me all she could find was a king room with updated beds. I was getting $10 ready to tip her anyway for trying as I told S and I were friends but not that close ha ha. She saw the money and said let me look one more time and all of a sudden she found one! Yeah! She thanked me for the tip and I thanked her for taking the time to look for us and we were up to the room!

I thought since she had found us rooms with good beds that we would be all the way down the hall, but our room was only the second one from the foyer where the elevators are. Score! I like to be close to the elevators because several times I've been going back to my room alone and someone was following me. Each time it's only been another patron going to their own room, but it's kinda creeped me out when it's happened late at night. You can never be too careful when you're a woman alone and it's because I take precautions like this and pay attention to my surroundings that my husband doesn't protest too much when I want to go solo. End rant.

Our room was a standard double room. Bathroom had a separate shower and tub and only one sink. Bigger than bathrooms I've had at flamingo and mirage. The room, however, was very small and it had a huge armoire with a tube tv and the safe and a little closet for hanging clothes. Even if they didn't update these room comlpetely there would be a lot more room if they got rid of this huge piece of furniture and hung a flat screen on the wall. I guess they would then have to find a place for the safe and people's clothes, but surely they could come up with something better to make this room not be so cramped. In the end it didn't bother us because we weren't in it that much.

As we were unpacking the lady that checked us in called our room to ask if it was to our satisfaction. I told her it was and thanked her again for going out of her way. That was a nice touch, I thought.

Now that we were unpacked we grabbed some money to go down and do what we were here for! We played slots around Paris for a while. Boy it was loud in there with thumping music from the club and a huge snaking line to get in. I stayed at Paris to get away from this crap. We stayed here for a while, but then we walked over to Bally's. This was more like it. I could at least hear my machines I was playing. There's a bank of progressive vp machines in the back by Nosh that I like to play. Before we got on with it we went to nosh and split a turkey wrap. I'd never eaten there before and it was good for a little deli.

After we ate we went our separate ways. S plays bj, so she found a table and I dabbled in vp and slots and also played a little let it ride. It was about 3:45 am by now and I had $100 left out of what I took down with me. I was getting sleepy, but I thought I wanted to play the last of my money that night on a quick hits machine. I found a bank of them in the back by the sidewalk cafe and put my $100 in a blazing 7 one. It started hitting like crazy right off the bat. I got 5 quick hits a couple of times and then 6 once. The bonus round came several times and I was up to about $180 when that familiar ping of lots of quick hits came up! OMG I was so tired I couldn't even count how many so I had to look at the display and I'd hit 8!!!!!! This was on $3 max bet so my jackpot was $3222.53! It says so on my tax form!

I sat there with a stupid grin on my face wondering how I was ever gonna sleep now until the attendant came to get my info. After he left I realized how bad I had to pee. I tried to call S to come sit there while I went, but I didn't get very good service on my phone in that part of the casino so I had to tough it out.

As I was sitting there a guy came up and introduced himself and asked me if I would like some company after I got paid out! I told him I didn't think my husband would like that and he looked flustered as if he hadn't noticed the ring on my finger and he left. WTF? I thought this only happens to guys! I'm sure he thought I'd be an easy mark with my new found jackpot

The slot attendant came back with my money and we talked while we waited for his boss to come and verify the payout. He was nice and was telling me about his 3 cats which was sweet. He didn't know I'm a cat person and have 2 myself. After we shared some cat stories his boss came, he paid me and I tipped him $200. I've been told by my mother that this is too much, that I should have given him $50 or maybe $100. It was late, he was nice, and I was feeling generous. If anybody has some thoughts on this I'd like to hear them.

After I got paid, I went to pee. Wow, I had to go so bad my bladder was sooooo relieved!

Then I went to find S. She was still at the same bj table, and she was WASTED! She had started drinking red wine when she got to that table and she hadn't stopped! Well, I decided that I would not be able to sleep so I slotted around playing stuff I wouldn't normally play like megabucks and dollar wof and more $3 max bet quick hits. I lost. At 5am I told S I was going up to the room. She was still drinking, but was up $, so I left her there and she said she'd be up in a few. That was a lie.

When I got back to the room I called my DH and told him about my jackpot. He was happy for me. It was 7:30am dallas time so I knew he'd be up anyway. Then I laid down to try to get some sleep because I'd been up for 26 hours straight. I left the curtains open because we had a spa appt the next after noon and I wanted to get some bfast before that and have a little time for that to digest before we went.

I'd laid down at 6am. I woke up at 7:30 am WIDE AWAKE! This is just wrong. Open curtains or not I CAN NOT sleep in this town. Too much adrenaline, I guess. S is not back yet and I have a bad feeling. All kinds of thoughts go through my head. Is she passed out somewhere? Did security have to take her somewhere? See, I don't know her well enough to know how she is when she's drunk. I knew she drank, and I don't care even though I'm not a big drinker. I asked her before the trip if she got really drunk and had to puke to please make it to the toilet. She laughed and told me it had been a long time since she'd been that drunk.

I decided that I'm not a babysitter, so I took my time getting ready. I called grandma to tell her about my jackpot. She's a big Vegas person too, so she was very happy for me and warned me not to spend it all back and to just play the way I normally would if I hadn't won it. Sage advice. Then my mom called me because I'd texted her when I won so I didn't wake her, but I knew she'd see it as soon as she got up. See, my mom is a quick hits fanatic! That's almost all she plays when she goes to Vegas, so she was just over the moon happy for me and very sad she wasn't with me to share in the happiness that is hitting a jackpot.

When I got all ready to go I didn't how I would find S, so I decided to start where I saw her last. Yep, There she was! Bally's, same bj table, same seat! She looked barely alive. I told her I was gonna eat at the Paris buffet and would she like to come. She said yes, and she'd meet me there in a minute. I told her no because I know how that worked out last night, either come now or do your own thing. I also reminded her of our spa appt at 2pm, so she got up and came with me. I had a nice breakfast, but I think S was too drunk to eat much. After we were finished she went to get some sleep and I told her I'd wake her at 1:15pm and she could shower at the spa before her service. I also gave her some ibuprofen to take before she laid down.

I went to the casino after breakfast to try to play some penny machines that were new since my last trip. I found napoleon and josephine, but they didn't like me. I found my old favorite, bright diamonds, but the penguins weren't in the mood to play. Then I found van helsing. I love this game! It was there last time but I'd never played it. It looked complicated, but I figured it out pretty quickly. I played this a lot the rest of my trip. I never won anything significant on it, but I had fun and it gave me lots of small wins and let my cycle through a lot of money usually.

At 1:15 I went to get S and it wasn't as hard to wake her as I thought. She got her stuff together and we went to the spa at Paris. She'd booked a special deal that includeda body scrub, a wrap, and a massage and scap treatment. I booked an 80 minute masssage and I was really looking forward to it. Until I got there. First off, as soon as I walked in, the music in the spa is the same spa music they play at our spa where we work. I was so irritated because I felt like I was at work. It was piped in to the whole place, but I just hoped the therapist could turn it off in the treatment room. When he came to get me I asked about it and he told me it got on his nerves too, and he'd be happy to turn it off in our room and not have to listen to it for an hour and a half!

Then he proceeded to try to remove the muscle from the bone! I realize that my back and shoulders are one big knot from my occupation, but I really did want to enjoy this. It was not to be because what he gave me was more of a deep tissue massage. I'd say I enjoyed how 50% of it felt and the other times it hurt. I was telling him and he was telling me I needed this. I was just ready to get out of there. He was nice, but they added 20% gratuity automatically and I didn't leave anything extra because I thought he should have taken my lead on the amount of pressure to use. I was bruised the next day and very sore. I will never use any other spa except Qua again. Everytime I have I've been disappointed and the spa facilities were so poor at Paris that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I was going to get ready there, but I just wanted out so I went back to my room to get ready.

S had a full 120 minutes on her treatment so she came up when she was done. We both took showers and got ready for the night. I brought all my make up, but I was so lazy I didn't use it once. I would shower and do my hair, but to me it's not a vacation if you have to put on make up. I have to at work and the older I get the less I like to take the time putting it on. It doesn't make me look as good as it used to so it seems like a waste of time.

We went down to get some dinner and when we were in the room we decided on Le Burger Brasserie. It gets good reviews and I'd seen a pic of the onion ring tower. We got seated and the waitress comes over after a while and tells us the gas is out and maintenance is ther fixing it now, but it might be a while. Unless we wanted a salad we were aout of luck for about an hour because even their fryers work on gas. We decided we couldn't wait so we went to Mon Ami Gabi. I had also never been here. There wasn't much of a wait, but the area before you're seated was small and very chaotic. I can't imagine what it's like when it's really busy. We each got onion soup and I got a caesar salad and S got some goat cheese appetizer thing. The soup was to die for just like everyone says and the salad was just a normal salad, but a good thing to have with the soup.

When we were ready we walked over to Planet Hollywood. Wow, this is the first time we'd been outside since we got here from the airport! I wanted to teach S how to play let it ride, so we sat and played that. I was shocked that they had a $5 table on a saturday. It was around 6pm when we sat down and they raised it to $10 shortly after that, but told us we were grandfathered as long as we stayed. I'd read lately where they stopped doing that, so I was pleasantly surprised. S lost $100 and I lost $200 and we went our separate ways. Her to bj and me to various slots including Van Helsing. I ended up at another quick hits with a max bet of $1.50 and played that a long time hitting 5 quick hits 6 or 7 times along the way and lots of bonuses. I just cycled the winnings and ended up cashing out even. There was a pair of women playing next to me sharing one machine. They were playing 15 cents a spin. For the life of me I'll never understand that on a game like quick hits. I don't play max on the penny machines that have a huge progressive either, but I won't play less than max bet on a game that has multiple fairly easily attainable jackpots.

I ended up playing vp. I play ddb at the quarter level. I hit 4 3s w/kicker right before S found me and was ready to go. I wanted to show S the Oh My Godard gallery in the miracle mile shops before we left, so we walked until we found it. I just love his work. They've added more artist's works other that Michael Godard. It seems like a lot of his stuff is not as imaginative as it used to be. I didn't really care for the other atrist's work that much except for these metal sculpted cats. Remember, I really like cats.

From PH, we walked over to Cosmo because it wasn't there the last time S was there. It was Sat. nite and the place was hoppin' with the young dbag club crowd. None of them play slots, though so we had the slot floor almost to ourselves. Played here for a while, but we were really tired. I had had 5 1/2hours sleep and S hadn't had much more in the last 48 hours. We walked back to Paris and passed out on our comfy beds. I made sure to close the curtains tight because I didn't want to wake up early. I wanted to get some rest so I could pace myself this trip. It was around 2am and the gambling for the day was pretty good. I had only lost about $350 all day and that includes the $200 loss at let it ride.

Day 3 Sunday 8-19

I woke up at 8am. Omg I wanted to sleep until noon Oh well, I wanted to go back to cosmo for the brunch anyway and the sooner we get there the better the line will be. I get start to get ready and S wakes up when I'm out of the shower. As she gets in the shower I'm headed downstairs for my favorite morning ritual: hot chocolate, smoking and slots! Van Helsing it is! Pretty soon S comes down and we walk back to cosmo. She remarks that the vibe is sure different in this morning than it was last night. Yes, the clubbers are still asleep like I wish I was. No line for the buffet and S gets the unlimited mimosas. The waiter was attentive with the mimosas and brought 2 at a time because they wre small. I think she had 8. I had lots of food. Lots. So much that I relly felt awful when we left. We intended to walk it off today because today was going to be our casino hopping day. We inteneded to make it down to Wynn in the early to mid afternoon so S could sign up for a card and we could both play on her card to get the 750 pts required to get 2 free buffets.

From Cosmo we walked through crytals to Aria, played there a while and took the tram to Bellagio. By then it was about 1:30pm and we didn't play at Bellagio, just walked through. Outside, we stopped a serendipity 3 to get frozen hot chocolates and went in Caesars to play Van Helsing and cool off for a bit. Didn't stay long and walked to mirage. We didn't play here and was going to take the tram to TI, but it was down for maintenance. Walked across to Venetian but didn't play here or at Palazzo and just made our way to Wynn.

Wynn was here the last time S was in town, but she'd never made it here. She thought it was beautiful. I played Van Helsing of course. S played a few slots, but then left me to rack up the points we needed and she was off to bj. We stayed here for hours. The cw service was great here as usual. I love their pina colodas here, but only ordered one because the frozen hot chocolate was so rich it sort of upset my stomach. I also played Dean Martin's Vegas Shindig. He didn't sing much for me today. As a matter of fact, I was losing my ass. So much so that I found S and told her I had to go back to our room at Paris before we could go to The STRAT for our 9:30 res at top of the world.

It was 8:30pm and I was skeptical about making it to the strat on time. Cab to Paris was faster than I thought. We regrouped with money, cigs, and all that and headed down for a cab to Strat. The cabbie got out on LVB and asked if he could take I-15 since the strip was backed up. I told him yes, we were in a hurry and thanks for asking first. We got there right on time.

S had never been in the tower before and the view was great as always. We were seated in one of the booths, which was very comfy. The server comes and brings menus and proceeds to ask if I am S's mother! OK, first of all, we look nothing alike. She is on the heavy side and I am not. And I'm only 5 years older than her! I tell this to the server and she gets all flustered and embarassed, as well she should! I don't really care, but some people might and in the service industry this is a BIG no no

We each get lobster bisque, split a 10 oz filet, each get a twice baked potato and split green beans. I've been here several times, but it's been a few years. I have to say, the food was better than it was last time. S also ordered a half bottle of wine. It was a whole bottle, but small. She thought it was cute. I don't drink wine, so I didn't get the novelty. I mean we were full when we rolled out of there. We should have also split the potato. Total bill was $150 because there was supposed to be a $15 charge for entree splitting and she didn't charge us for that. I guess it's at the server's discretion in case people don't order enough or something. We never could have each done a steak.

Down at the strat casino there was a horrible lounge act butchering all kinds of songs that I liked, so that was annoying. All the people I saw on the ped bridges singing were better than this chick singer. I almost told them to go audition there because they need a new act! We left there around 2:30 am and went to bed. Once again I closed the drapes tight hoping for sleep.

Day 4 Mon 8-20

Woke up at 8:30. A little better, but not what I was hoping for. The plan was to go to Qua today to use the facilities. First we went to the little sandwich place in Paris and got Ham, egg, and cheese croissant bfast sandwiches. This is the same place that turns into a pizza place later in the day.

Then finally, QUA! Aaaaaahhhhhh my happy place! S loved and was very impressed after the experience at Paris' spa. We stayed here for about 2 1/2 hours and S said this was her favorite part of the trip!

After Qua we walked back to Paris to drop our stuff and then we took a cab to Harrahs. At this point I was at about 2800 tier credits so I wanted to spend my time playing at TR properties so I can make platinum for the first time this year.

At Harrahs I decided to play vp and S found a bj table. It was about 3:30pm and we were going to meet by the front desk at 7pm to go to wynn to have our buffets that we'd earned on her card yesterday. I started at a progressive DDB quarter game in the "poker palace" part of the casino. I wasn't there 10 minutes before I hit 4 aces w/kicker for $500! This made me very happy because I spent a lot yesterday at wynn and I really wanted to take home most of my jackpot but still play a lot tonight. I continued to play vp and did well, but lost about $100 of what I'd won. Not too bad!

We cabbed it to Wynn and stood in line for the buffet for an hour before we were seated. Oh well, at least it was an hour we weren't losing money. S hadn't done well at Harrahs. We had a wide variety of food, but didn't overstuff ourselves like we had yesterday.

After dinner we cabbed it to Flamingo for our last stop of the trip. It was about 10pm and I played fast and furious. Played some pinball, some dollar wof, but my heart wanted VP. So I played vp until 3 am and lost what I'd won at Harrahs and more. S was playing bj again and when I was ready to go she didn't want to come yet. I left anyway and since I'd packed earlier laid down to sleep. I heard her come in not long after.

Tuesday 8-21 Leaving day

woke up at 7:45am without the wake up call I'd set. s woke up as I started making noise. I took a shower, got ready and went down for hot chocolate, smoking, and slots. Van Helsing, oh how I will miss you! played for an hour, went back up and we are headed down to the taxi line. OMG! There's a huge taxi line! I've never missed a flight before and I didn't want to this time! It seems there was a huge convention at Mandalay and the guy working the taxi line starts to put those people in limos together and starts trying to get people sharing rides because there are no cabs in sight! We end up sharing a big SUV with 4 guys for $10 a peice and it was worth it for the peace of mind. We got there in plenty of time and had breakfast of burgers and fries at Wendy's.

We arrived at DAL at 5:30 and my wonderful DH was there to pick us up. I got lots of lovin' from my kitties before I passed out on the couch at 9pm. DH got me to bed at 11pm and I slept until 8am this morning. I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Final thoughts:

*I don't like the club crowd. I hope Vegas goes back to being for the gamblers. At least do a better job of containing the lines and the noise from the casinos and the people who are ther to gamble.

*I was about 400 tier credits away from platinum when I left. I will be going back in November and I will get it then!

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

 

Great hit on the blazing 7! And I must admit, the aproach form the hustler made me laugh. Seen the reverse scenario play out many times in Vegas (woman approaching guy), but never seen it the other way around!

 

Really enjoyed your TR.
Your mom was right about how much to tip. When you get a HP, the tip should be 1%.
Been playing slots for over 25 years and STILL have yet to get a HP.

Congrats!

 

Hope you came home with some of your jackpot. What a great hit! I hit for $1,750 this month & tipped $50. Sometimes it matters how much we are either up or down at the time of the "hit". I think a tip should always be given, and I think it all depends on each person's situation.

 

Love the trip report! Hubby and I are heading to Vegas Sept. 12-18 ~ planning on playing lots of VP and Pai Gow Poker. But you've got me itchin' to play some Quick Hits as well!

Can't get enough of that town ~ Congrats on your W2G!

 

Great report, thanks for sending it in. Sounds like you had a good time! Congrats on the win!

 

I really enjoyed your trip report. Congrats on the hand pay. I have just never had much luck on the Quick Hits machines. I'll have to give them another try. Oh, and I really love cats too .

 

I forgot to write in my report that I eneded up bringing home $2800 of my jackpot! Plenty of bankroll for my next trip. I looked at flights and rooms and it looks like the best time for me to go will be the weekend after Thanksgiving. I'm hoping my mom will be able to meet me there. There's nobody else I'd rather do Vegas with. We like to do the same things and we always have a good time there together.

Josie, you should check out the cat sculptures I mentioned. They are soooo cute!

Thanks for the tips on tipping, I'll keep them in mind if I'm ever able to hit another one.

 

Thanks for the report!
Mom was correct-too much. I usually tip $20 each to the two hand-pay people.

 

Slot attendants don't tip me when I lose

Of course, I don't win at slots since I rarely play them.

IMHO, $200 is way too much. I am with Joe $20 is good. Now, if the slot attendant told me to play a certain machine and it hit, then I would tip more.

if you felt good tipping that then it is the right amount.

 

Thanks for posting! Nice read. We arrived at Paris on Sat 8/18 and are leaving today. We could have passed each other many times during our stay... Good luck in Nov!

 

Great TR!

Turned out to be a great trip after the blazing 7s hit :]

 

Thanks for this..Yes ya tipped big but oh well...Life is short

 

Great TR!!

 

Really enjoyed reading your TR, congrats on the quick hits jackpot!