Wednesday, November 27, 2013 – Day Two of Eight
[This is part one of a ten part trip report. To start from the beginning, go here]
I am up at 8:00 am at Aria. I tried to go back to sleep but it was just not going to happen. I took my time getting ready and left my room at 10:30. First stop, Starbucks. The barista tried talking to me and I could not make out any words he was saying. I finally had to tell him “You and I cannot speak until I have had caffeine.”
Tuesday, November 26, 2013 – Day One of Eight
Today is Las Vegas day! I woke up and went to the bathroom, passing the microwave and noticed it was only a few minutes before my alarm was going to go off. So I shut it off blindly and went about getting ready for work, dyeing (dying? I never know how to spell that) my grey roots, getting ready for VEGAS. When I was all done, I turned on the television and only then realized that I was a full hour early. The clock I had looked at was my microwave clock which I never changed when we changed the clocks back. Son of a bitch.
Spent most of the day at work until I just got really bored and decided to leave early without telling anyone. I am a model employee after all. Good thing too because security at JFK was in-fucking-sane. If I had stayed at work, I would have been really screwed. As it was, I got through with just 10 minutes to spare.
Hello, my name is Jennifer and I am a degenerate gambler.
I have been to Las Vegas a bazillion times. Because of this, I often have friends ask me for help when they are planning a trip. You would think that I would be good with giving Las Vegas advice. But I am not. I actually feel mental anguish when I am asked. Why is that, you ask? Because I am a degenerate and degenerates do not know how to simply book a flight and hotel and go.
I was going to take you through a typical trip planning. But I was having great difficulty breaking down how I typically plan a trip. It is way too detailed, even for me. So then I decided to stick to JUST how I booked this one specific trip that I am leaving for TODAY. I figured it cut it down a bit since it is only an eight day trip, rather than 21 nights.
But as I got into typing that out, it was still way more detail than any non-degenerate gambler would want to read. So now I will attempt to just talk about my completed plans.
Today I woke up in Sofia, Bulgaria and attempted to go to the bus station. At first I could not find the tram station. Then I got on a tram going in the wrong direction . Of course I did. I finally got to the bus stop, bought a ticket and I was on my way.
Before arriving, I was all kinds of confused about the bus station in Veliko Tarnovo. It appears there are two bus stations, the South bus station (Yug) and the West bus station (Zapad). I was never sure which bus station I would be getting out at prior to getting there. When we arrived in Veliko Tarnovo, I wasn’t even sure we were in Veliko Tarnovo since there were no signs.
It turned out that my bus didn’t drop us off at either bus station. Instead, we were dropped off at Hotel Etar, which is used as a bus stop for only one bus company (Etap.) I didn’t even know this stop existed at all. Note, this is way more of a convenient stop than either bus station.
At the time I got off the bus, I was so confused about where the hell we were since nothing matched the map I had. Rather than deal with it, I took a cab to my hotel. It cost me $4 BG which is about $3 US. The driver even tried to give me change from a $5.
This morning, I woke up late and had to rush to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral to join up with the tour group I was going to be traveling to the Rila Monastery with. This was my first time joining a tour group. I had originally wanted to go on my own and spend a night at the monastery (how cool is it that you can sleep there??) But as I went about fine tuning my itinerary, it turned out I was not going to have enough time for this. Getting to the monastery on a day trip seemed like a complicated nightmare. So tour group seemed to be the best option. I was kind of hesitant since the introvert that controls me thought it would be hell on earth. But it turned out that the only downfall was for the other people who had to deal with me being late to meet them, causing us to leave a few minutes late.
In honor of the Downtown Grand in Las Vegas opening TODAY, I thought I would post the trip report from when I had a stay here back in June of 2005, when it was known as Lady Luck. This hotel/casino was closed back in 2006, for what was supposed to be less than a year, for renovations. At this time frame, everything in Las Vegas that was closed temporarily or imploded to build new, came to a screeching halt as the economy crashed. Vegas lovers sat back and collectively cried at how depressed we were to watch our favorite places go away for no good reason.
Now, here we are in 2013 and while the property has been open for close to two weeks, the official grand opening is TODAY. I cannot wait to see it in just two weeks.
But for now, let’s take a trip back in time, shall we?
So remember when I went to Europe back in May? And I posted about it regularly? But then I stopped suddenly and never finished it? Well I think that was because subconsciously I did not want the trip to end. So if I held out forever, never finishing up blogging about it, it would not be officially over. But now since 2013 is dangerously close to being over, while I still have four more trips left this year, I figure it is time to get cracking.
When we last left off, I had returned to Sofia from Belogradchik. I also got to use my very first squat toilet. Oh the adventures one has when one travels.
Westward Ho we go!
This morning, the alarm goes off at the exact nano second of the beginning of Billy Squier’s “Lonely is the Night.” Yes! This is a great way to start the day!!!
We get dressed and run out the door for our last day. Our first stop is the Riviera buffet. Saying it is not good would be an understatement. It is not as horrible as the Frontier buffet. But this is only because the Riviera had slightly edible donuts, whereas the Frontier had a grand total of zero edible items.
This is an old Las Vegas trip report that I am posting for the entertainment of Las Vegas addicts. While it was current at the time it was written, a lot of it is now completely outdated. Much of what you read about may no longer exist.
Thursday, March 28, 2003 – Day Eight of Nine
As always, we are awake early. To the Frontier breakfast buffet we go. Don’t ever eat this buffet, it’s absolutely disgusting. DISGUSTING. The bacon has hard strings in it. The eggs are raw and cold. There is very little selection. It’s just disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. The real slap in the face is that it costs $8.95 for CRAP.
Worst buffet ever.
Out to the casino.
The Frontier has an ancient slot machine hanging out in its casino.
This is an old Las Vegas trip report that I am posting for the entertainment of Las Vegas addicts. While it was current at the time it was written, a lot of it is now completely outdated. Much of what you read about may no longer exist.
Wednesday, March 27, 2003 – Day Seven of Nine
Today for breakfast, we go back to the Aladdin and finally get to use my slot tournament credit to eat at their buffet. It was great as always. I took a couple of pictures of Paris as we passed by.
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