My First Trip Report - January 2017

I hope I don’t bore you….my writing tends to have some detail without any flowery language. Hope you find it enjoyable or at least helpful. I know that I have taken advantage of all the amazing trip reports over the years.

We did not take a lot of photos – I wish we had but we tend to completely unplug from technology and leave our phones in the room. I have few for you….and I may add a few photos from my 50th birthday trip October 2016.

So this was my 30th trip and my husband’s 29th. He is trying to sneak a trip or two without me so that he can surpass my number but I won’t have any of that!!

This was to be a 4 night trip staying at the Cosmo. If we go for longer we would split our trip and stay at 2 different hotels – definitely the Cosmo with an Mlife hotel for a few nights – Aria has been the choice lately.

So my husband booked this trip as a Christmas gift for me (I actually believe it was a gift to himself) We had talked about going at the end of January but had not narrowed down the airline or the actual dates. He knew that I was okay with work any days the last 2 weeks in January. So he did well except for a Saturday evening flight – really I said? We couldn’t leave Friday night or Saturday morning. I thought it was wasting a day that I could be in VEGAS!!

I must admit it was a good decision after all. We did not have to get up early for a morning flight – had all day to relax and pack. So not feeling rushed. Left Toronto on time – plane was empty – 160 Seats empty. So my husband moved back a row and we were comfortable – watched a movie – ate – drank and relaxed.

 

My husband ordered Uber and as we are walking over the bridge to meet in the drive share area, the driver texts him and asks him to meet in the departures area. This was unusual for us. So we oblige and wait for her. We spot the SUV and no problems. So this is where we wonder if she should be driving for Uber as she continues driving on paradise past Harmon. So I wonder if she is going to take the next turn and as she continues going in the wrong direction I ask her why she didn’t take Harmon and she says that the “popo” is behind her. We had no idea what she was talking about so we ask her what she means she tells us she couldn’t change lanes because a police car was behind her – made no sense to us. She continued on Paradise to Sands when she finally decided she could pull over to a plaza and make a turn so she can return. At this point I was frustrated but did not create any issues. I wondered if she just made an error and missed the turn over the idea of her long hauling us. We finally made it to Cosmo!!

It was closer to midnight when we finally arrived at Check in. My worry is not getting our room request because of arriving so late on a Saturday. We love the Cosmo East Tower – Terrace Studio – Fountain View and this is what we had requested via a host. The young man was checking and we clarified to him our preference. He picked up the phone and I knew were out of luck. He came back to say that we had been upgraded to the Wraparound Suite in the East Tower. We had stayed in this room before and loved it but of course it was usually at an upgrade cost at check-in. First Win!! We went up to the 28th floor and were very happy – no Fountain View but we have on many other occasions so we were good to go!!

Drop off our bags – freshen up and off we go to the Casino. This is where I cannot give you a play by play but we came out ahead for the night by a couple of hundred and went to bed at 4 am – 7 am Eastern time.


When we are in Vegas for a short trip we try to stay on East Coast Time. Despite going to bed early morning we were up after 3 hours sleep.

So today we had our only 2 planned items. The first was the Country Club Jazz Brunch. The other was the Toruk Cirque show at T-Mobile Arena. We had planned on walking to the Wynn and stopping at each Casino but with the rain we took a Taxi. Got there one hour before our reservation and of course we played slots. I doubled my hundred here and my husband lost his….this was the theme of our trip. One would win the other lose. I am good with that!!

The Brunch was very good – no pictures here – except for a few shots of the displays and long hallways.

My husband thought the brunch was “just okay”. He found the carved meats were cold and overall was not impressed. The waitress we had seemed somewhat aloof. She dropped off the drink menu but never asked us if we wanted anything from it. She came back and dropped off the “order off menu” portion of the brunch but never once asked us if we wanted anything from the menu. We had to call her over half way into our meal to ask for an item – we did this once. It was nice but I don’t think I will back. The next morning we had the short rib eggs benedict breakfast (we’ve had this before) and my husband said that this breakfast far exceeded his meal at the Wynn in taste and service. I must agree. Vince our waiter at Henry’s is always top notch – coffee never went empty and was excellent.

After Brunch at the Wynn we returned by taxi to Cosmo where we played and relaxed before our show Toruk.

 

We decided we would walk to T-mobile arena despite the rain. We walked over the bridge to Crystals and then through Aria where we stopped to play slots and VP without any wins but loss after loss. We then headed through Monte Carlo’s shopping area which was boarded up due to the construction.

When we got to T-Mobile and went through Security – we were told that our section was closed and our tickets were upgraded. I wasn’t totally excited as I purchased seats 1 & 2 in Row A in my section. I thought these seats would give me and excellent view. The seats we were given were Centre with Aisle Seats. No complaints. The show unfortunately was poorly attended. Maybe it was the fact that it was their last show and maybe the time? I wasn’t sure what to expect for a travelling Cirque show. I was pleasantly surprised by what they can pull off, especially with the use of technology and the stage set. The one thing we thought was cool was the app they ask guests to download. What they then do in the second half is have the app set to flash colours through the phones. It reminded me about my concert days and the lighters all through an arena. This was more spectacular however due to the use of colour and flash.

We had a mission here to pick up Vegas Golden Knights Hockey hats and tshirts for our teenage boys. Before the show we asked the ushers about the store and were told that it was closed. It actually was not closed but the entrance from the arena was. You had to enter from the outside of T-Mobile. Although the staff told us it was closed we had decided to walk by the store and window shop and return later. To our surprise it was open!! Gifts now purchased for our boys. Their first trip to VEGAS will include a hockey game for sure.

We returned to Cosmo – again in the rain to MC – Aria – Crystals. We did stop for 550 Pizza at Aria – always excellent. Hit the spot.

 

Good job!

 

Here are some of our wins……