My trip report 5/28-6/1

Before I get started, let me first thank everyone here for their valuable guidance for this trip. This marks my fourth trip to the city but the first time I joined the boards first and prepared well.

The cast is me, my parter (D), and our married couple friends (S and K). Me and D like to gamble but S and K do not gamble much.

Day 1
The day started about 4:45 am. Our flight left at 730am from Bradley Airport (Hartford, CT) on Southwest with a layover in Nashville. I know, not the most direct route but we wanted to get their as early as possible. D and I flew free with passes and we had a third one we gave to them. So all they had to do was pay for one ticket. I dropped the three off to go through baggage and stuff while I dropped the car and took the shuttle back. No problems the plane got to Nashville early. Nashville was another story. S is a big guy so we wanted to be at the beginning of the A line to secure the most comfortable space for him. No problem, we were the first 4 in line. But wait - gate change and mad rush to the other gate. Now we were about 10th in line. Oh well. The plane is now late. They let us in and we realize it didn't matter because there were already people on the plane from its origination point and bulkhead and exit aisle would have been taken. Now we are on the plane and we have to wait because it is thundering. Ok, the thunder stops and now there is a mechanical problem. We wait in total about 2 hours sitting at the gate on the plane after boarding about an hour late. It was kind of irritating as we had to change gates because the first plane had mechanical problems too. I will say this, the crew did a great job of trying to entertain us but overall it was a bummer.
We got in around 4:30 instead of 1pm and head over immediately to In N Out burgers. Good as usual. Then it was a stop to a convenience store for cigarettes. D and I tend to smoke on vacations only with a few slips here and there at home. We are planning to have a family this year so this was our last hurrah and we took full advantage of going to the only place that smoking is just fine. S stopped smoking almost 5 years ago as a birthday present to his wife K. He took advantage of the trip and had some fun smoking too. Last stop before the hotel was to the liquor store for some blanco tequila for S and some ghetto generic malibu and orange juice for me.
We were staying at the Aladdin with the $49/night rate and were absolutely thrilled with the place. We each slipped a $20 and got resort rooms with an obstructed view of the bellagio fountains. Thank you boards as I would never have known to do this! D and I went down stairs for a little gambling while S and K settled in their rooms. We were planning on Bellagio Buffet that night but weren't hungry since lunch was so late. We headed over to Bally's for some more gambling and Jubilee 10:30 show. We found the show a bit tired - then again we were a bit tired since it is 1:30 am EST and we had been up since 4:30 EST. My eyes kept closing during the show. We had a front table so we could see some of the age in the costumes and that some of the performers were talking amongst themselves as they were performing. Overall we would give it a thumbs down (and that is coming from 3 out of 4 of our group liking boobies). That said, I'm glad I saw it since it is a classic, I just wish I had been more awake and that we got cheaper seats.

Day 2 (Memorial Day)
We headed to the Spice Market with our BOGO coupons from check in. Turns out they weren't taking them since it was a 'special' day. We headed to Rio instead with our $5 off coupon. Wow! Fabulous breakfast and great lunch items even though it was aobut 10am. I prefer lunch so it worked well for me. We intended to hang out there until noon so we could get the stamp in the passport but it was only 11am and we decided to head out after gambling some since no drinks were coming our way. Oh, at this point we were driving since I prefer rental cars. I scored a Laredo at Dollar since I'm an express member. We headed over to the LV Hilton since S and K love Star Trek. D and I could care less but they wanted to show us Quarks. We got some big borg drink there and it was pretty cool. A Klingon told me I was short and I had to stand on a chair to take a picture with him. Cool place, mediocre food. Also, I wasn't very hungry so that may have been the problem. From there we headed back to the Aladdin to valet the car (again - great tip from the board) for the day so we could hit the sauce more. I can't remember what we did from there for the rest of the afternoon. I think we may have gone to Paris for a while. S and K headed back to the room to get ready for the evening. They take 2 hours and we take 10 minutes so D and I gambled some more. We met up in the evening to hit the Bellagio Buffet but the line was long and S and K had tickets to La Reve so they headed there while D and I went to Cravings. We ate there before and loved it. While the food was still excellent, not as much variety. We gambled there and then TI and then made our way to the Wynn to meet S and K for the end of the show. They had front row and absolutely loved it. Gambled a bit more on the way back to the hotel and called it a night.

Day 3
No alarm this morning because we were beat. We were to meet S and K at Commanders palace for the martini lunch. D and I headed down stairs to part with some more money when my eyes started tingling. I get this weird allergy that no doctors know what it is. My eyes start tingling and then all around the eye swells. It looks AWFUL. By the time lunch time came, one of my eyes were swelled shut and the other was halfway there. It didn't hurt at this point but it looked like someone punched me. By dinner time it was completely gone. Anyway, I pretended I was too cool to take my sunglasses off and wore them at lunch as to not freak out the other patrons. Oh, I had some of my ghetto drink while in my room and then 2 martinis (Commanders Palace martinis) at lunch. I was completely bombed. There seems to be a picture of S feeding me bread at lunch. Everyone loved their lunch. I don't like seafood or pork so there was only one thing on the menu I was willing to eat which was the chicken salad thing. It was excellent - I think. S had the catfish in which 2 people at the table said it was the best they ever had. I can't remember what the other two had. Anyway, this is now a must for every visit. I highly recommend it - especially if you drink martini's. After lunch more gambling and wandering. We never left the hotel until 3:30 which seems odd to me. Dinner was at Circus Circus Steak House. My New York Strip was ok, not one of the best. D and K had the bone in ribeye and I thought they were going to pick up the bone and knaw it clean. S had the filet and lobster tail. He loved that too. Oh, D and I split a piece of cheesecake. THE BEST EVER! Apparantly they fly it in from the carnagie deli in NYC so I'm gonna have to get some next time I'm there. Usually if I eat there I can't even think about dessert. We had tickets to KA that night so we headed over to the MGM. It was good but I think I like La Nouba in Disneyworld better. The symbolism was a bit over my head. The stage was amazing. At some point or another all four of us fell asleep. What a waste. The speakers in the seats were very cool but I think that low bass that continually played lulled us to sleep.

Day 4 (our last full and my favorite day)
We had no real plans which is what I like. No reservations and no shows. Breakfast at the Spice Market with the coupon. It was fine but I liked Rio better. We meandered over to the Monte Carlo for a bit and then to Excalibur. Next to Luxor which was my favorite time. It seems like once every trip we have that perfect afternoon: the drinks are flowing and the cocktail waitress knows what we want, we chain smoke, and $20 in a nickel slot lasts for a few hours. That was perfect. I think I had 7 or so absolut and cranberry. (this is generally my drink of choice since if it is weak it is just cranberry juice - I used to do whiskey sours but when they are too weak and full of mix I get heartburn). Once we got hungry, we went over to Mandalay Bay to the burger bar for a later lunch. I had a burger with guacamole and montery jack cheese on it. Good but not spectacular. K had a salmon burger she liked. D had a burger with jalapeno cheese and jalepeno's on it. I don't remember what she said about it. S had the kobe burger with lobster on it I think. I don't remember what he said about it. Overall it was fine but I probably won't go back again. We were too full for a dessert burger. We played at Mandalay Bay for a while and then headed to the room. We were going to the Paris buffet for dinner since we had all got 3 stamps and therefore $10 food credit. Anyway, K was not feeling well so she and S stayed in their room for a while. D and I played for a bit and then caught the end of the buffet in Paris. Excellent food and it was different from regular buffets. We'd probably go back but I tend to like more generic food. It was also a great setting. K was feeling better so they met us at Paris and had dinner somewhere else (and forgot to see if they could use the voucher there). We then headed to the Bellagio to the conservatory. I had never seen it before. Very cool. We then played at Bellagio until about 3am and had a great time not spending too much. Oh, GREAT lemondrops from the cocktail waitress. Went to bed around 4am and got up about 6 to get ready for the plane.

Day 5
10am flight (with another annoying gate change) was delayed about a half hour. No big deal. Got home as it was pouring rain and our suitcases were soaked. Came home and dropped S and K off and got our little doggie from my mom that we missed terribly.

In conclusion:
Great trip.
Nice going away with friends as we had never done that before.
D and I had a gambling budget of $2000 but came home with $700 of it so that was great for us. We spent most of it the last day as I was doing tables and getting absolutely spanked on Let it Ride.
We are now on the patch and doing pretty well. We put the patch on as soon as we got on the plane so we would not be tempted when we got home. 2 days smoke free so far - woo hoo.
I think I would like to only do one show and one nice reservation since I felt too boxed in always having to go back to the room to change.
I have more fun on nickel slots even though I know that is not the 'right' thing to play. VP bores me. I learned the best way to play but after 10 minutes I was just bored.
Lemon Drops at Bellagio are fabulous.
It is great walking the stip at 3am on a weeknight.
We didn't spend enough time outside during the day walking. The weather was absolutely beautiful (they were going through a cold spell).
The Aladdin was a huge huge huge bargain.
Thats it - I hope I didn't bore you.
Jean

 

Sounds like you had a great time and that was an awesome room rate at the Aladdin. When my husband, sister and I were in Vegas last July we would walk the strip at 1am and loved it. Thanks for the trip report.

 

Nice report Jean. You have convinced me that I need to try the Commander's Palace lunch...if only to see people getting bread fed to each other!

 

The first few days are the worst, and they are almost behind you, so just stick to it! Once I made it to my 3rd day without one it was a breeze.

Thanks for the TR!

 

Sounds like a great trip...I can't wait to go back, hoping to make plans soon!