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Trip Report 11/15-11/20

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by nick10key, Nov 21, 2006.

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  1. nick10key

    nick10key Tourist

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2006
    Messages:
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    Trips to Las Vegas:
    4

    My Trip Report

    Here is my first attempt at a trip report, so pardon the length.
    I tried to be complete as possible. This was my 5th trip to Vegas and my first stay at the Flamingo. (previous trips we stayed at the TropX3 and the ExcaliburX1)

    I took Kat on a fabulous trip to Puerto Vallarta with a stop in Vegas for 4 days.

    Mexico was very hot(in the 90's), so when we arrived in Vegas, we realized we should have packed more cold weather clothes.
    Who would have thought 2 Alaskans would find Vegas cold?

    The Flight was noneventful, which was good considering Kat is a very nervous flyer. We stopped in Phoenix for customs and immigration. I used an ATM machine, because I didn't think our Vegas cabbie would take Pesos. We went to the Fox Sports bar for a couple ciggies, and we ordered the Nachos. The bar was packed, and my time calculations were off, so we didn't get our order in time for our flight.
    I paid the bill and told the guy next to us that he could have them if he wanted. He was more than happy since he had 2 hours to kill.
    America West started out dissapointing because we were not gived adjacent seats(even with a 4 week advance booking).
    Luckily everyone else had the same problem, so there was a lot of moving around pre-flight.
    What America West lacked in the reservations department was made up for in the customer friendly stewardesses.
    Maybe it was the flight attedants excitement growing at the prospect of a layover in Vegas, but we all were in a very good mood.

    We arrived in Vegas @ 7:30 pm on Nov 15th, and wanted to take advantage of the airport check-in. Not having stayed there before, I asked the information booth where I could locate this airport feature.
    It turns out that the airport check-in people decided to take off early, so off to the Flamingo we go!

    The taxi driver tried to ask questions about Alaska, but we didn't speak Ethiopian. No tunnel, so we were happy, and the tip reflected it.
    The check in line was 6 or 7 people long, and took about 15 minutes. I wasn't going to try the $20 trick. We were getting a smoking room, and what I have heard on this board is that the newly renovated GO rooms are for nonsmokers. I try to charm the nice young lady and see what kind of free upgrade we could get(my version of the $20 trick). She offers a strip view, and explains it is because that is all that's available. We all know it is bacause of my charm.

    So we check out the room, and it has a great view of Ceasars Palace, and if you stand to the right, you can see the Bellagio fountans. All the picture look like they are taken through a screen door due to the Toni Braxton picture that covered the whole front of the Flamingo. The room was kind of shabby, but who spends time in the room?

    Now to the important stuff, GAMBLING!
    We started off with the Wheel of Fortune. We each blew through $20 with no spins, so we went over to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville for dinner.
    Service was super slow, but we finally placed our drink orders. I got the Fat Tire Ale, and she got a Rum Runner. We already had enough Margaritas over the past week in Mexico.
    I looked at the menu for a while and settled on the long awaited Volcano Nachos. They were big enough for 6 people, but I picked all the good stuff, and we were happy. Of course I paid for it the next morning as I realized why they were called "volcano" nachos. (Fire down below)
    The service was so slow that I felt the waiter deserved only 5%. That is the least I have ever tipped, but I wanted to make a statement of my displeasure of waiting.

    We walked next door through the casino with an Irish theme. We didn't play anything since I thought the atmosphere was not too pleasureable.
    Then we made our way to the Imperial Palace. I was looking forward to this, having heard the slots were a bit looser than the surrounding places.
    Well if they were, we didn't see it. We played a little Blackjack with Debbie Harry, and are doing pretty well. Then Madonna switches to our dealer, and cleans us out. I played poorly, as I was switching my bet. I won the $10 hands and lost the $25 hands. We did find a bank of Elvis slots(our second favorite). Kat got him to sing, but I had no luck. I chose to play a little double diamond(the one where the diamonds moved up or down depending on which way they pointed). I have always done pretty well with those. Since there is no big jakpot, they pay a lot of little winners.
    After losing $60 for the night, and Kat doing a little better, we decide to head back to the Flamingo to catch some sleep. We have 4 full days left.

    We wake up at the normal 6am and tool around in the Flamingo casino for a while. I want to play Blackjack, but the limits were more than I want to pay. I ration $250 each per day with 50-100-100 for the 3 sections of the day. That way we won't blow through our bankroll too early, and we still get to play all day.
    All of our clothes are damp after Mexico, so we set aside our clothes for the trip, and send them off to be cleaned.
    We then take the monorail to the MGM, and I get a starbucks mocha. As we make our way through the casino, I notice a $5 blackjack table. We sit down with $100 each, and play for a couple hours. At 9am, they started construction nearby, so we color up and leave(down about $50 total). Not bad for all the play we got. Kat got about 5 Blackjacks to my none. Surprisingly we were both at about $75. I say surprisingly, because I got about 80% bad starters, but happened to win a good percentage of them.
    I was sitting in my favorite seat(3rd base). I prefer to be the one who doesn't hit 13 to the dealers 5. I hate when the other players take the dealers bust card.

    We headed on over to our old stomping grounds(the Trop). We were looking for the water massage/oxygen bar. It has moved to the Alladin shopping mall. We decide to play a while at the bar/video poker. I know, lousy odds. We leave the bar with all our money, and a couple stiff drinks. Kat sits at a double diamond machine, and I take the one next to her. She hits for 300 credits and cashes out. To our amazement, actual quarters are paid. A couple minutes later, I hit for 300.
    We head to the cage to get our moolah, and she is happy that she beat me by $5. I let her gloat, and we decide to get lunch at the sit down diner. The waitess is a hoot, and she let us split a turkey/avacado croissant sandwich. I say 'let us', bacause she served it on 2 separate plates. We tip her real well, and head back to the monorail.
    By this time, Kat is kind of sleepy, so we go to our room for a short nap.
    We wake up 2 hours later, and hit the casino for some video poker. I found some 9/6 JOB, but the catch is they are $1 machines. I realize that $5 per hand won't stretch our bankroll very far, but we walked away even. The service is very good in the "High Roller" slot area, and the drinks were especially good. I got a white russian in a fancy glass, and it was strong! I never got the same service for the rest of the trip, but it wasn't for my lack of trying.(I tipped her $2!!!)
    That was the highlight of my day, and I remember my wins clearly. I can't recall how we ended the day down $200, but the bankroll was in good shape, so that day was a success.

    The next morning, our mission was to walk to the Alladin for our Water Massages. I found a 9/6 JOB at the Alladin! Unfortunately, it was surruonded by 2 8/5 machines. I sit at the full pay machine, and Kat decides to take one of the 8/5's. I explain that it is a sucker bet, and she proceeds to make $100 while I lose $40. We walk through the mall for an hour looking for the ZEN Zone. For $20, you get 10 minutes on the water massage, and 10 minutes on the oxygen bar. The massage seemed like 5 minutes, and the oxygen seemed like 20. the nice guy gives you a shoulder massage, sprays you with a heating liquid, puts a hot pack on your shoulder, and and uses a spider shaped metal thing to tickle the tension out of your scalp. We tipped $5, and left rejuvenated.
    I call my parents on the way back to our room(to let them know we were back in the US).

    I have wanted to see the Wynn, so we take the monorail. It is too far from the Wynn, so we stop at the Hilton. We have a drink at Quarks bar(Star Trek theme). Kat gets the James T Kirk(as in Long Island Iced Tea), and I get the Cardassian Ale(Sierra Nevada Pale Ale). Her drink had the option of the smoking dry ice feature, which she is more than happy to get.

    We go to the casino and play some single deck BlackJack. After an hour we are slowly losing our $200, so I say we cut our losses. We actually were only down 20 each, but the 6/5 payback on Blackjack upsets me.

    Now we take a cab to the Wynn. I knew we would not be greeted with open arms as we were wearing shorts. I needed to use the restroom, and wanted to pee on a gold plated toilet. It was not gold plated, and actually was pretty disappointing. I leave the restroom and Kat says some guy stole $20 from her. She was sitting at a 5c slot, and pulled money out of her pocket. She noticed some guy next to her get up real fast, and that is when she realized she had dropped 20, and he had grabbed it and ran. Sad that some people are that way.

    We sat at a bank of Megabucks, and actually had $100 last 1 1/2 hours. We were having fun, but Kat was kind of tired so we left. We saw the Ferraris, and then got in line for a cab. Those valets were getting a buck every 30 seconds from people. I thought it was discraceful.

    Kat goes to the room. She is still a little wiped out from Mexico. I think the relaxing massage relaxed her to sleep. I am hungry, so I run down to the snack shop at the front entrance of the casino. I get a chicken salad sandwich which was very good. We split it, and both of us were burping onions later that evening. Kat is sleepy that night, and I don't complain because we won't spend as much if only one of us is betting.

    I head downstairs and join a $10 minimum craps table. I proceed to lose $200, then I went upstairs to check on Kat. She is sleeping, so I go back to the Craps table. They give me a hard time for not waking Kat up, and I proceed to lose another $200(Kat's money).

    Now I throw caution at the wind and cash a couple more travelers checks. I re-rejoin the table and they are still teasing me about not waking up Kat. It's kind of funny, because a good roller wins back all but $100 of my money. I turn to the jokers, and say "what if I woke her up? I would have missed all this fun". And fun it was. I made $500 off of the one guys roll. Of course I was into the table for $600, but all in all it could have been much worse.

    I go up to the room for good, and see that the laundry was back. $85 for 3 days of clothes?!? Sheesh. Why couldn't they have a couple coin-op machines for me to do my own laundry? All I had was one good set of clothes an 2 outfits of jeans and such.

    The next morning, Kat woke up very sick. I guess that explains some of the sleepyness. This was sicker than I have ever seen her, and she begs me to take her to a Doctor. She doesn't need to beg very much, because she looked bad. She had puked her way to dehydration(as if a desert won't already have that effect).

    I get her to a cab and we go to the Harmon Medical Clinic. We spend a few hours there, and they send her on her way with a prescription for her nausea. We get a cab to the CVS near Alladin, and get that filled in 10 minutes. I was a little worried that we would keep the cab waiting, but the ride and wait was only $25.

    I take her back to the room, and nurse her for about 4 hours until she realizes she isn't going to die. The she lets me gamble if I promise to check on her from time to time. I agree, and i head down to my $1 JOB. I put in $100, and work it up to $200. I cash out, but put in another $100. That way i will not leave a loser. Well 15 minutes later I hit a straight flush! It pays $239 instead of $250, which is why the 9/6 was not full pay. I cash out with $400, and put in a final $100. I work it up to $200, and cash out for good. I walk over to the $5 Wheel of Fortune, to give it a try. Since I won $300 on the JOB, I tell myself I will try 10 pulls. On the 10th pull, I hit a spin! Come on big money! I spin and hit for $200. I head up to check on Kat, and she is doing better. She thinks she can eat without vomiting, and wants chicken noodle soup. I head out the door with that as my mission. 3 casinos later, I find a diner that offers it(No I didn't stop for any gambling along the way). I found it at the Imperial Palace, and ask if could get it to go. They say the to-go person isn't there, so I can't get it. I am furious. How hard is it to pour a cup of soup? That settles it. I am never going to give them any more of my business.

    I go back to the room unsuccsessful and Kat asks if we can just get room service. I call, and ask what the soup du jour was. They said beef barley, and Kat reluctantly agreed that was the best she could get. She also wants a grilled ham and cheese. After explaining for 15 minutes what a grilled ham and cheese was, the order was placed.(By the way, grilled cheese was on the menu for $7, add ham for $8.50. Was that so hard to understand?)

    I head down to the casino to play some 3 hand poker machines. I do very well, but missed a couple doozies. One time I had 4 to a royal, and hit nothing. The other time I was dealt a straight, but it was also 4 to an outside straight flush. Again nothing. That was a hard choice, bacause I could have had 60 credits guaranteed, but only held 4 for the chance at the 250 credits times 3 chances.

    I head back to the room to find the room service had just arrived. I had hot wings(I selected hot, but they were pretty mild). They were the way I liked them(crunchy skin). Then I opened the soup. They got it wrong, and gave us the french onion. Boy, Kat can't win for losing. No biggie, since she felt ill after one bite of her Grilled ham and cheese. We call it a night early hoping Kat will feel better in the morning. I have been wanting to play a poker tourney, but pass up my chances to take care of Kat.

    We wake up, and she feels about %70 OK. I enter the 10 am tourney, and pass the time with the 3 hand poker machines. I give it back the money I won the night before, and sit down for the tourney. I am a little nervous since this is my first time at playing real people.(I am a veteran internet player) I won an early hand with a pair of 5s in the hole. I had raised 300, and was scared when someone called. It flopped a 5, and I bet all in. She folded, and I saw the error of my BIG bet. A couple hands later I get dealt the Pocket Rockets. I am in early position, and chose to slow play hoping someone will raise, and I can go all in. I get 3 calls, but no raise. The flop hit 3 spades(scary), one of which was an ace. I knew it was trouble, but went all in. Someone immediately called, and I was up against a flush. Pair the board please! Oh well, I lost.

    I had fun, albeit short and sweet. I signed up for the afternoon tourney. This time I last to the final 12 people, but the blinds raised too fast. I finally lost with a pair of 3s to a 7-9 offsuit. He hit the 7 on the river, bummer. Oh well I had fun with some nice people at my table.

    Kat was feeling better, so I took her to my 9/6 JOB machines. Everytime she sat next to me this trip, she wins while I lose. Also, I told her about the great drinks in the 'high roller' slot area. This time I got a crummy ordinary white russian. Kat proceeded to hit 4 of a kind twice! I lost $200 while she won $400. We call it a night.

    Next morning, we wake up and watch NFL at the Sports book. My Falcons lost, but it was nice to watch all the games at once on the nice leather couches. We then head over to the casual dining restaurant next to the buffet. I had a good blackened chicken sandwich and pretty good potato salad. She had the fried chicken. We played 5 rounds of Keno, and I had 4 of 8 three times(you need 5 for a win). We left happy and full, and I got my camera to take pictures of the Flamingos. They were cool, as were the other birds, turtles and fish. The Koi or Carp were huge! We play a little slots, and someone comes up and gives me Platinum slot cards. Wow, I'm a VIP! That's good, because I need the comps to pay my laundry bill.

    We hadn't eaten in a while, so I ran down to the brick oven pizza place(next to the cafe we played Keno in) This time of day we had a choice of cheese or pepperoni, and it was by the slice only. Hmm, all these choices. I took 3 slices of pepperoni, and they were really good. There was a flavor of garlic and herbs that separated this from normal pizza. It was getting late, so we called it a night.

    We have an early flight, so I take care of my comps. ($166 more than covers my room charges). I take advantage of the on screen checkout, and we head to the airport. The line was huge, but there was a long line and a short line. The lady asks where we were going. Yes, we get the short line. 15 minutes later we were at the gate. We get the standard Taco bell breakfast, and play our last Wheel of Fortune for a long time. I should have known not to sit next to Kat, because she wins $20 and I lose $20.
    I try my luck at one last video poker machine. This was Double double bonus, and I hit 4 Aces! Woohoo, I leave Vegas with an extra $200.

    We get on the flight, and I go to sleep. I wake up, and Kat is crying to the movie. The flight was direct, and 5 hours later we are back in Alaska. Brr.

    I hope you liked our trip report. Kat is back to 100%, and we only lost $500 including food.
     
  2. LVLady

    LVLady Tourist

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Thanks for the great report, I feel for Kat. We got married out in Vegas 7 years ago and I spent 2 of our 6 days in bed sick, I couldn't even lift my head off the pillow, it was terrible!! Thank goodness it was after the wedding and I didn't have to go through that sick!!
     
  3. JoeVegas

    JoeVegas Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2006
    Messages:
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    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Glad that Kat's back to 100%. I too had one of those trips where I caught a flu bug and ended up spending 19 hours straight in bed. I got up, gritted it out and still ended up having fun.

    Nice trip report and thanks for sharing!
     
  4. dscs007

    dscs007 Tourist

    Joined:
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    Messages:
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    Location:
    Baton Rouge, LA.
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Enjoyed the TR. Glad to hear Kat is back to 100%. Remember next time to NOT sit by her when you play ( it works the same with my wife and me ).

    David
     
  5. StickyFingers007

    StickyFingers007 Namer of T2V Gatherings

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2002
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    Location:
    Seattle (Formerly Edmonton, AB CANADA)
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    Sounds like a great trip despite Kat being sick. Glad she is better now.
    Thanks for the TR! They have been pretty scarse lately.

    Sticky
     
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