A little more action - TheBucket Pre-TR 2013

That's right folks.... After a two year hiatus I'm back, airline ticket in hand (well, it's more of an e-mailed thing that isn't even really necessary to board the plane, but "ticket in hand" just sounds so much better).

I saw over in the TR section stickies that I can't post a Pre-TR there... I suppose I may personally have had something to do with that. So here I am. I apologize to anyone trying to follow my exploits for the two-year-old abandoned thread on my last trip... I promise this time around not to let you down.

I'm headed off to LV for May 9-13, headed back a day early to make sure I'm home for my son's HS graduation (to put it into perspective, I started writing these TRs when he was in middle school... maybe elementary).

It will be a challenging trip in many regards. Money is a bit of an issue, as I went ahead and bought my plane ticket without corporate go-ahead... If I don't get it, everything will be on me. Which a couple of years ago would be ok, but the bankroll has nose-dived and seen a bit of recovery since then. I'll be doing some crazy stuff in the next 30 days to get it as healthy as possible.

All that is immaterial, however... I have a ticket to Las Vegas, a pocketful of cash, and plans to conduct the craziest LV trip EVER in hand. I'll be posting here until the day of departure when I can do so over in TR... Until then, ladies and gentlemen... Hang on tight! This is going to be the RCP of Las Vegas trips... Here we go!

 

There's one room we haven't stayed in

Just in case 'craziest' wasn't clear enough... I'm coming in with two (maybe 3) friends this time around.

Between us we've seen and experienced nearly everything Las Vegas has to offer. With one notable exception, which we are attempting to engineer a safe solution to (no easy task).

We're seriously contemplating what it would take to get ourselves backroomed.

 

BUCKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thank goodness.

Looking forward to it!

 

Nice!!!!

Looking forward to this TR.

Well I guess the biggest economic indicator taking a turn for the positive is the "Vegas Index" with The Bucket and Jaco both making return trips in May after a couple years on the sidelines.

I knew there was a reason the stock market was at an all-time high!!

 

You would have to choose the casino carefully.
I suspect most would either just kick you out or simply get you arrested.
Try one of the older casinos or a local joint to try your stunk.
You would have a better chance of getting backroomed. In fact you would probably have a better chance of getting a ride out to the desert.

 

You're absolutely right - the fact that a backrooming these days is generally a prelude to a Metro arrest (so that the casino won't face kidnapping charges) is a significant factor making our quest rather impractical. Things getting a bit rough is not a major issue (so long as no one is hospitalized), but an arrest, conviction, etc... Those are very real concerns, and though a good defense could avoid such an eventuality, it would certainly be an expensive exercise.

That in mind, we probably won't do it. But if we manage to encounter the right security/management people and have the right conversations... Perhaps we could be taken through the process just for the heck of it. Though if we get our asses kicked at some point, I do insist it be done by Lawrence Fishburne.

 

That first moment... A question of the car

Allrighty! Here we go! Enough of the random concept stuff, here's a real one for ya. We'll be arriving with a LV virgin. Never seen any of it. Ever.

So what do we do. I've got a Crown Vic rental set up at McCarran... But is our own car (even though it's my favourite ever, RWD chassis like the taxis and cops use) good enough for that exercise? Or should I forgo the rental and get a double stretch sent out to execute that very first LVB drive ever?

With the title on this trip being "A little more action", I already have a 1-track CD prepared with the Elvis Presley vs. JXL track used as the theme music for the TV-series "Las Vegas" prepared to drop into the car's deck as we come into sight of the strip. This could surely be accomplished in a limo, but more surely in a deck immediately in front of me.

Really, I'm leaning a bit toward driving it myself. But that would add that intolerable wait for the rental-car shuttle... Then the line to get the car... Then the wait for it... The limo option would skip all that and shoot us (late-night arrival) ASAP right into the action.

Any thoughts?

 

I will do my level best not to let you down this time around.

 

Yes... Though I might have to sell BYD to pay for the trip. It's worth it. Thank you!

 

.................

 

Yeehaw! No need to sweat the money now... I just got approval!

 

Even more planning fun

Yay! Time to really get going planning out this expedition. I'll arrive at about 10:30pm LV time... Ugh. I was going to get a rental car and cruise on downtown... But while that's a reasonably easy process, it would still take the better part of an hour to execute after I get luggage and stuff.

Screw that.

I moved the rental-car reservation to Monday morning (I'll just take the WAX from downtown back to the airport to go get the car), and am working on finding the best rate for a limo pickup at the airport to get us downtown quickly and in style.

Looks like a Golden Nugget parlor suite is in the works... Any advice on those? Is a Rush Tower Jr. Suite better (will try for an upgrade to the Spa Suite, but no telling how likely that might be to work)?

Yeehaw! Here we go!

 

Countdown Clock Check

Just checking my new countdown clock.

 

The schedule is filling up!

Yay! A lunch-meeting with a long-time LV friend and quite possibly a tour of the Atomic Testing Museum is in the works.. Fun, fun. Not only that, I'm working on setting up a visit with Dr. Schwartz at the UNLV Center for Gaming Research which should be a great opportunity to meet one of the folks I've admired for years (and maybe get his book signed) ...

We've got the GN booked now, one Parlor Suite and one Carson St. room (with VIP add-on for $25 on the Carson Street room so they can both be checked into at GN's VIP lounge - I sure don't hope they close that at night or I'll be a bit ticked). Ideally, I'd love to see the Carson room upgraded to the Gold tower so they'll both be in the same building... Or even get the Parlor suite upped to a Spa Suite - unlikely, but I've heard of it happening. Are those in the Gold tower also? I have no idea... I swore off the GN years ago after a very-rough (personally and financially) roulette session there, but their new evident commitment to offering rooms without a resort fee brought me around to some degree, not to mention my need for luxury accommodations on a budget (not so much for me, I loved my stay in the old tower at Binion's a few years back, but rather for the comfort of my traveling companions).

I did go ahead and change my rental-car reservation to Monday to facilitate limo transport from the airport on arrival... Though at least a $100 investment, it's worth it to me to avoid a bunch of screwing-around with such a late-night arrival. I can go back to LAS easily enough on the bus the next day and get a car... No need to deal with that immediately upon arrival.

 

Is the post trip report going to take 6 months to write and contain enough cliff-hangers and suspense to make a soap opera seem like a rush job?

Because I would expect nothing less from you my friend

 

Hi, Xizor! Nah, don't worry... I'll make sure this one doesn't drag out for 6 months and contain enough cliff-hangers and suspense to make a soap opera seem like a rush job.

Seriously, though, it'll be much more like three months and be so randomly strange as to make you wonder if it happened at all, or if I've never actually been to LV at all and am just making the entire thing up.

 

Things are really coming together!

(Cue Pointer Sisters. "I'm So Excited." So Excited!. Planet Records, 1982. CD.)

Trip-planning is in full swing - There's even a conference call tomorrow to unify the planning operation. (gotta love how "I've got a conference call" is such an easy-out in corporate America today).

The arrival will hopefully be a surprise - attendees are expecting to get together at McCarran at like 10:30pm to take the bus to the rental car shuttle to go stand in line and get a car... No one but me knows that we'll be cutting that entire step out of the process and instead board a double-stretch for a strip-tour and the nicest-fastest (well, not fastest since I'll ask the driver to take LVB downtown) way of coming in short of a helicopter.

 

Size Does Matter

So... I called LVT up this afternoon to charter the car to take us from the airport when we get in, and had the lengthiest, most enjoyable conversation with the reservations-guy that I've ever had reserving a limousine.

I've become a regular LVT customer... Everyone raves about Presidential, but the one time I used them I did it because I wasn't even going to be there to pick up a VIP guest, and figured I should use the best since there was no room for error. Of course, Murphy's Law kicked in and out of all the limo rides I've chartered, it was by far the most FUBAR. Gak. I know one messed-up semi-complicated reservation is surely a fluke, but it happened when it mattered, so I'm back firmly with LVT for those times when the bus won't do, and I shouldn't (or don't want to) be behind the wheel of my typical rented Crown Victoria.

So I called LVT up this afternoon. I'm not sure how, but the conversation ended up centering around vintage video game equipment, the reservation guy, his friend who runs Insert Coins downtown, and his other friend who works at Asados Tacos, both highly recommended (by him, of course). I'll have to check both out.

In the end, I got exactly what I was looking for. An hour reservation of a double-stretch (this car is just going to be stupidly long for 4 people, but that's what I had in mind, that 'Welcome to Las Vegas' experience for our first-timer guest where one has to ride in a golf cart to conveniently travel from the front of the car to the back to get in. Precisely as I intended, it isn't an 'airport pickup' reservation, but rather a standard-rate reservation (no champagne and rose) with the airport fee tacked on (only $4).

It was great talking to the guy, it occurred to me that it would be fun to fun to meet him and his bar-owning and taco-making friends, but he didn't say anything hinting at that and I thought it might come off as kinda weird - anyway, it was a great time (probably 15 minutes) on the phone, and I've got the car all set up to go.

In a town where size matters in terms of pulling up in a completely ridiculous form of transportation, the double-stretch should serve to start the trip off on a high note (well, maybe a long note). When we pull up at the Nugget, everyone in sight will know immediately that they aren't dealing with average low-rolling tourists in a cab who think they're special or something... They're dealing with abnormally self-obsessed low-rolling tourists in a ridiculously long car who think they're special or something.

Tick, tock...

 

Welcome back Bucket!! I really missed you! You can ask Royal Flusher - when I met him last October, you were the one VMB'r that I was asking him and everyone else about - no one knew what happened to you!!

So I'm a little confused - your trip counter says in 12 days (which by my calculation is Sunday, May 5th) But you mention here that you will be arriving on May 9th. Which is it? I will be in town on the 5th, but leaving the next morning. Looks like I'll miss you either way...
Anyway - really looking forward to your TR!

 

Hi! Thank you so much... I had no idea my absence would be noted so profoundly. It's my pleasure to be back! Did I screw up the dates? Sure hope I didn't, but for-sure we arrive super-late on Sunday, May 5, and depart on the afternoon of May 9. I have no idea how the night of the 5th will play out once we get downtown (you don't happen to be planning on being out late downtown that night, do you?), and I'll actually be at McCarran on the morning of the 6th to get the rental car. It would be an honour to meet you if scheduled coincide - even if just for a hey-hows-it-going at the airport on your way out. I'll toss you my cell # in a PM just in case a meet-up may be in the making. I could even hand you a printed list of cool stuff to do in LV if you'd like, then if you're traveling with a group you'd have an easy answer to they inevitable questions:

"Who the hell was that random jackass?"
"The Bucket"
"That guy's name is The Bucket??!?"
"Yeah, The Bucket"
"Umm, ok, and what is THAT?"
"A list".
"What kind of list?"
"A Bucket List. Duh."