NFC @ NFR (and Tahoe!)... thirteen days, six hotels, five hats

Man...your Uber/Lyft Bill has to be NUTS!
I know you don’t drive (along with many millennial SF Bay Area co-workers I have), but damn man...if you’re in Tahoe/Reno it’s REALLY worth it to rent a car to cruise around.

 

Wow. You sure do know how to see and do a lot of things. Must be lots of pre planning. Great report.

 

It’s funny, I was going to post a breakdown of it later in this TR. But I can do it here real fast from my phone...

$98 airport shuttle to/from Reno round trip
$82.73 to snowshoeing trail head
$60 from snowshoeing trail head
$68.98 to South Tahoe
$65.71 from South Tahoe
$20.95 to Crystal Bay
$19.34 from Crystal Bay

$415.71 total

Sounds like a lot of money, right? I think it’s good value though, for the simple reason that I think renting a car and me driving it would come to cost close to that much...

- For starters, I’d have to pay for the car rental itself for four days. I have no idea what that would cost, so I can’t even speculate.

- Then I’d have to pay for gasoline, for what in this case is at least 150 miles of driving (rough calculation in my head)

- I’d also have to pay for parking. Not free at the hotel ($18 per day x 4 days is $72 plus tax). In addition to parking that I’d have to pay at whatever destinations I park at

- Correct me if I’m wrong, but because some of the driving was in California, I’d have to pay an insurance supplement for out of state cover, right?

- There’s also the added benefit of me having the flexibility to drink, without having to be sober enough to drive

- Furthermore, there’s the benefit of no liability on my part for anything related to driving (e.g. parking tickets, traffic tickets, damage to property, etc). As a rideshare passenger I have zero risk.

Filling in the blanks above, let’s say that between the rental fee, gas, insurance supplement, and parking, it would come to $300, putting me at $115 over for the trip. That sounds like a waste of money on the surface, but I’m basically paying an average of $28.75 per day for a personal chauffeur, and what is effectively an insurance policy against that ticket/damage liability.

Moreover, I absolutely HATE driving. I cannot stand it, and it gives me horrible anxiety. So if I can pay $28.75 per day to avoid all that, on top of all the other benefits to avoid that, I’m perfectly happy in doing so.

 

Enjoying the report as well, makes me contemplate actually using one of these Tahoe rooms one day lol. There's so much more over there besides Vegas which is making me, when I actually have more vacation time and my wife will tag along, want to make a separate Tahoe trip.

Also got a good laugh at the room issue, I knew a NFC report had to have one of these issues

 

Wow I need to make this trip, looks great. That craps table at Crystal Bay, just wow.

I have a friend that just relocated to Reno from Nova Scotia, I’m going to give him a visit.

 

Ahh..i forgot about all the hoopla
A rental for four days would probably be $100..gas..MAYBE $30...my credit card pays for the rental insurance
I don’t pay parking fees anywhere, so I wouldn’t know about that.
Plus I don’t get smashed so I can’t drive.

It’s funny the difference of millennials vs older people...in the “fear” of driving.

 

Ps: get to cal neva and see some living dead people!

 

Wait you’re not a millennial?

 

agree with this for the most part; if a rental car + gas + parking is anywhere near $415, wow, yeah, you're doing it wrong

 

pdate real fast... having fun in Reno, went to Pigeon Head Brewery to sample their Turkish coffee beer. Easily one of the best beers I’ve ever had. Just magnificent.



Being on a side street next to a highway ramp gives it kind of an edgy feel.







Then walked (yes, walked... risky, I know) to Diamond’s casino to play their $2 single deck blackjack table. Hasn’t lost its charm at all! I love this place.





Super creative holiday decorations. I’m surprised I haven’t seen this elsewhere.





In for $60. Played for about half an hour and cashed out with $40 after tip. Amazingly, I was allowed to play two boxes on a single deck table, switching back and forth from one to two boxes at will. Most casinos won’t allow you to change the number of boxes you’re playing during a given deck/shoe. So I could play one box, two boxes, one box, all no problem.

I saw two things here, good and bad, that you likely wouldn’t see on the strip.

Good: one player at the table asked the pit boss if he could have a drink. Pit boss gets the phone and pages a server to the blackjack table. Now that’s service!

Bad: a player tried to play at the table and was told he was banned from table games for harassing the dealers. He apparently called one dealer named like “fatty” and “tits”. Then when the pit boss said that’s why he was banned, this guy tried to DEFEND his words by saying “well it’s true... she should lose weight”. Just horrible.

At Ichiban now and the show is starting. Update later!

 

You’re making me want to book a trip to Tahoe. I’ve been to Reno about 18 years ago, and did a side trip to south Tahoe. Would love to go back, but skip Reno entirely. I thought it sucked, just my opinion of course.

 

Ichiban was a good time. It came with miso soup, cucumber salad, and choice of shrimp or calamari to start. I also paid extra for a sushi appetizer plate. Then for my main I got the ahi tuna, done rare. Very good meal, great food and great showmanship by the chef.

Had a cucumber mojito made with sake instead of rum. Ehh. Unimpressive. Now I’m craving a real mojito. Anywhere I can get a good one in downtown Vegas once I land?













Was supposed to catch the 6:30 pm shuttle from Harrah’s to the airport, missed it by about 10 minutes because dinner at Ichiban takes longer than I thought. Ended up getting a Lyft, because I couldn’t risk finding another shuttle and possibly missing my flight. On the upside, I got to ride in a Hummer for the first time.



Safely on the plane now. First stop Hooters, to get my bag... then the California as my laundry crash pad for tonight.



Also, caught a nice photo of the Reno “strip” from the highway going from Diamond’s to Harrah’s.

 

Wow love that strip pick, great update,

 

Omar at the Tonic sportsbar at Palms makes a great mojito.

 

Good stuff from Tahoe. Beer looks good. Paytable, meh for 50c for Tahoe.

 

Great trip report AGAIN! I love Tahoe, the houses around the lake are just unbelievable! One last thing about renting a car over Uber/cab/shuttles/bus is that you can come and go whenever you want immediately. No waiting in lines, no waiting to be picked up, no having to deal with stinky or obnoxious passengers sitting next to you.. just get in the car and have the freedom to go. That means a lot to me not having to rely on someone else...

 

Landed safely in Vegas.



Called a Lyft to meet me at the pickup zone, perfect timing. Didn’t have to wait at all.

First stop, Hooters to get my bag. Of course, I kinda had to stop in for my daily play of their Million Dollar Touchdown machine. Won $5 free play. I’ll be back tomorrow to use that. I’ll have lots of free play that day, between El Cortez/Golden Gate for Allegiant, and Hooters for this promo



Then up to the Cal. Easy check in. Nice room on the 16th floor. Very good view.

 

Entertaining reading. I also like it because I myself hate to drive and to deal with cars, and there is so much varied sight seeing without bothering to deal with the distraction of having one's foot on the pedal. Great fun photos of the lake Mark Twain liked more than lake Como, and the surrounding area with its casinos. Now I wonder what is ahead with the stripper, I bet you don't rent Gypsy with Bette Midler, get some popcorn, and watch it with her, or will you? Thanks again for taking the trouble of this report and photos.

 

What a unique and fun adventure you have experienced. The pictures fill in all the blanks for readers. Outstanding job of documenting your trip so far.

Thank you for thinking of us and taking us along.

 

You definitely visit many places in and around Vegas I haven't been to, and probably wouldn't go to, but do find interesting. Thanks for sharing!
One of the things I like most about your reports is how you seem to have a knack for getting people riled up about your complaints. Makes for an even more entertaining read! haha
Great report, keep er' goin'!