Work, Rest, Play, Eat, Eat, Eat! 11/29-12/6

Alright campers, thought I’d do a trip report for this trip. I try and make it out twice a year, one of which is for a conference so I can mix work and play. Flying in from Australia unfortunately makes it a lot harder to get here than I’d like.

I’ve got three nights comped at Cosmopolitan, plus another 4 nights at Conference rate. I’ll stop gaming at Cosmo after the Sunday as the conference is incredibly busy so it’s better to pay than no-play, plus expenses (I wish they would just give me FP instead of free rooms tbh)

Sadly because I'm here for the conference I can't go all TD style this trip. Next one

Food
Food rather than gaming will probably be the dominant theme. I’m lucky that my home meals are healthy and keep my cholesterol under control or I’d be dead already. I’ve got a wheat allergy which unfortunately makes it hard as I have to be mostly GF (the confusion in being able to have many forms of gluten is a constant battle with wait staff), but all in it is a lot better here than it was 12 years ago. I lost 12lb’s on a 5 week trip to the US then as I couldn’t eat.

Food Places on the list for this trip

• Bavettes
• Spago
• Jaleo (every time)
• Bardot Brassarie
• SW
• Julian Serrano
• Sterling Brunch
• Le Thai

With a second tier list covering Bazaars, Second Street Grill, Joes Seafood, Rose Rabbit Lei, China Tang, Sear Sucker, Jean Georges, Strip House and a few others. You all know what it's like though, we have aspirations but they never survive first contact but fingers crossed I get through most of the first list.

Gaming
Not going to be able to do a huge amount this time as I'm saving money so my bankroll is half of normal but I’ll get in some Blackjack, Craps, might try UTH and I wanna go Downtown one night so might use the low stakes for some of the more esoteric ones.

Pretty excited to give Cromwell a good run this trip to spread the love and get offers from Caesars as I’m back in April and I can't see Cosmo giving me 6 nights, especially with lo-play this trip. If I could do 2500 points in a day I'd be happy but I don't have great stamina for VP or Slots plus my bankroll is pretty shonky and I'm on a 7 trip losing streak. We'll see.

Trying to find a $5 WoF if anyone has any leads that don't involve MGM Properties

General Shenanigans
I’m hiring a car for Saturday and Sunday so will figure out what to do with it but will go to GVR, do Valley of Fire, maybe another drive depending on time. Any recommendations for good drives are appreciated. Bit sad about the time of year or I'd do the Mount Charleston drive.

Also will be trying to visit some of the places I've seen talked about, Mob Museum Bar, Fuel Bar, Frankie’s Tiki Bar, Hogs and Heifers etc etc

 

Time for some catch up.

Obligatory leaving pet pic, he doesn’t look that sad but I had to hide my suitcases and packing so he didn’t realise so makes sense.


Not had the best start to the trip, journey to the airport was bs and then got stuck behind some entitled guy at security. Airport had two stations to load your stuff on the conveyor. He uses first one, Japanese lady behind him uses the other. He starts having a go at her, saying she’s pushing in and all that jazz. He was an old, fat, ugly, guy flying to the Phillipines in business class. You can probably join dots as to why he might be a bit bigoted. Made me want to have my hat on.



Anyway, did some work at airport to get through it. Always enjoy watching the early morning drinkers.

You may have seen my comment in another thread but flying from Oz is particularly shit and I can’t stop off in LA for a couple of days as I normally would so I’m flying through. Leave at 11am on Virgin Australia. 14 hour flight, 3 hours at LAX and then to Vegas on Delta. I land in Vegas an hour before I took off meaning the flying day is 37 hours long. Gah.

My home for the next 14 hours. Middle seat which kinda sucks but full flight.



Pumpkin Soup to start, actually really good. The salt and pepper shaker in the shape of the Sydney Opera House are pretty frequently stolen apparently.



Thai Green Curry for lunch, average.



Didn’t have dessert.

Five hours in, my god this flight sucks.



Anyway I’ll skip the detail, long flight. Did work. Exhausted, only slept two hours for some reason. This shower at LAX was a sight for sore eyes



Made it.


Ride pick up *cry*

 

Love the picture of your dog

 

I'd "borrow" those salt and pepper shakers.

I'd wager your dining choices in Vegas are pretty on top of food allergies/preferences.

We were at pok pok at cosmo, asking about avoiding shellfish allergies.. The guy pulled out a binder that had it all referenced, and apparently the only thing we could safely eat was a coconut rice dessert. yes, those delicious looking wings, and just about everything else, had some kind of shellfish in the seasoning (for umami, of course).. we were all shocked and learned something that time, mostly the employee.

JMHO, with a light bankroll, I'd consider playing low limits downtown on the weekend then doing your CET seeding weekdays- that is if the limits are an issue.
(NVM, if you're comped at cosmo, you can probably handle weekend CET limits)

 

Bast of luck for good gamble, a productive conference, and tasty (and safe) eats At risk of bumping up against the no politics rule love the hat

 

It’s not political, racism is a universal no no, right?

I don’t wear it here though. Seems there’s something about red hats Anyway, won’t tempt a wrist slap from Sonia.

Yeah the limits are fine. I can still do green chip. Just trying to keep below $1250 a day stop loss.

Going downtown tonight as a friend arrived in town, gonna be at risk of no playing Cosmo at this rate

Crazy about the shellfish. I get similar with Asian places and soy sauce. Non wheat based ones are getting a lot more common but it can be a dice roll. Only upside of wheat allergy vs shellfish, peanuts etc is the reaction tends to be a lot milder. It’s primarily a cumulative thing that builds up in your mast cells. so I’ll react and feel ill, bit of a swollen tongue maybe but nothing too serious. If I do it over an extended period time, hello exercise induced anaphylaxis.

 

Alright, next up.

Checked in, Erick at the desk was awesome. I had a pretty complicated reservation because of conference rates and associated room types etc. Plus different details as it’s on my work email for the conference rather than identity. Worked through it, took a Fountain View Studio in Boulevard tower. I checked in at 11am so I couldn’t be bothered waiting for nicer. Not exactly slumming it.

Bit weird to be in Boulevard again as I always do Chelsea tower after learning my lesson with Marquee but only noise is traffic really and I can hear the fountain music which is nice.


it’s got a desk at least, renovation removed them from the terrace suite which killed me last year.

Still kills me that they don’t have Keurigs in the room. A coffee on the balcony during the day would be pleasant. Also, would a chrome cast kill ya. Watching The Mandalorian on my iPad when I have a 60 inch tv is dumb.

 

got epipen?

IIRC the tvs will let you login w. your netflix / etc accounts, no disney yet?

 

First night, no gaming. Was too tired after 2 hours sleep.

Did a gym session, pretty well equipped actually.

Went to Mon Ami Gabi for lunch. Steak Sandwich, gluten free. Winning. Was very good. Waiter was good (if a little overwhelmingly friendly, wb to America)



Only negative was the gf bread for the table was incredibly sweet. Sorry America, I know you like sugar in it, but it sucks.


Dinner I did China Poblano, was gonna just have a dessert but got tempted. Forgot most of the pictures, tacos are tacos though. Had the aquachile as well, very nice. Muy piquente though.

 

Yeah I got the Netflix connected.

Don’t need epipens thankfully. Almost every time anti histamines will be fine, exercise induced anaphylaxis aside. That was an embarrassing day at the gym. Running 11mph on the treadmill and faceplanted. They thought I was just unfit at first because my throat was still a bit open so I could croak.

Saturday 12/27
Got a 9 hour sleep in.

Giada for breakfast. Gluten free chocolate hazelnut pancakes. Awesome. Coffee, burnt. Both times.



Went to pick up the car, Hertz let me down AGAIN, my guaranteed Camaro ZL1 wasn’t there as they’d all had to go to the shop.

Turned down a Corvette as it’s cold and not worth the money. I’ll save it for April. Got a Camaro SS.


‘s ok.

Took myself to Walmart for supplies

 

The toilet area in my room has a pretty pungent MJ smell. Guess the vents are joined and my neighbours are having fun.

Edit: Can confirm, saw room neighbours in elevator and the guy was talking about relative quality of weed in different locations.

Saw people going to the Boulevard top floors for the first time. Apart from the women carrying the biggest Louis Vuitton shopping bags imaginable they looked pretty normal. I can’t even imagine playing with a $1m+ credit line

 

So far, so good. Can't wait to see more food!

 

Fremont St, still 50/50 fun vs sad. Guy I went with doesn’t gamble. Even at $5

Went to Le Thai for dinner. Was really good. Though the massaman wasn’t ‘right’ (wrong beef, flavours were off) it was all tasty. Had a lot of fun with the guy next to me, he orders 5/5 spice, I warned him. He did it anyway. 2 bites in he was done, but I deliberately spoke to him every time he was ‘done’ so he kept going.

Was tired and shouldn’t have put my card in. Oops. In for $100, out for $89 and crashed.
I’m definitely paying for rooms again for a bit after this trip

 

Sunday
Drove out to Valley of Fire


Really great trip, I’m gonna go again in April. I spied some dirt buggies going into the state park which could be fun.

Dinner, I was absolutely exhausted. Just wimped out and had Grimaldis. Gluten free pizza there is pretty great.



Have to say once again though, man the standard of driving in Vegas sucks. Would signalling kill ya, geez. Especially fun when they swerve across 3 lanes without a signal. No worries mate, my psychic ability has got your back.

 

If you have time, I highly recommend Flour & Barley in the Linq Promenade for GF pizza. I've had it twice and will likely have it again in two weeks. I'm in the midwest U.S. and the majority of our gf pizzas all have the same thin crust. F&B uses a GF IPA for the crust so it actually rises. Cheers!

 

Good stuff so far! And good luck on the home stretch!

 

Sorry mate, but I drive in NY City. What is signaling? This is how we signal around here