Category Archives: Las Vegas Trip Report

Las Vegas Trip Report: The Finale

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Good last morning Las Vegas!  Today is day 18 and it is also my last day of this trip.   This trip has been so unusual for me.  I wasn’t supposed to be here.  I didn’t LOVE being here.  I hated working from here.  My time not working was sort of a let down, specifically not having a marshmallow bed at Vdara.  I only had a Bellagio fountain view one time.  I am kind of ready to go home for the first time in my life.  The only dread I feel about going home is having to unpack all the stuff in my apartment I packed for the kitchen renovation.

As soon as I wake up, the texts start from JetBlue.  Flight delay. Flight not delayed.  Flight delayed again!  Whoops, no it isn’t.  Yes it is.  This is getting annoying.  When I originally booked my flights, I then was myself and rebooked a million times.  I settled on flying home on January 1 in the afternoon but realized that this was a terrible idea to get home late and start January 2 working in my apartment, with the bulk of the apartment packed in boxes that are filling the apartment.  So I tried to change it back to fly home on the 30th and now prices are skyhigh.  But there is a flight with a layover in Boston – Mint seat for $709.  Yes please.  So now I am on that flight, with the nonstop delay texts.

I tried to change the flight to make it stop but they tried to charge me. So no.

I got dressed and went to the buffet at Cosmopolitan. I am still fucking thirsty from Wynn other other day.

After, I sit down to play Ultimate X.  Is this my last time playing?  It might be?   Some dude was playing the one next to MY machine but he is also playing on my machine.  I didn’t realize this until I came around the corner to ask if he was playing MY machine and saw that not only is he, he just hit a dealt full house on ten play quarters.   He cashes out and lets me have it.  I asked him if he wanted his multipliers and he did not because it is too expensive to play one hand.   He also told me he left multipliers on other games on this machine if I want to find them.  So  now I have no choice but to bet $25 to get his multipliers, which sucks because these machines will only let you play max bet.  You cannot bet just 5 coins a hand to get the multipiers.  Each bet is $25.  And next thing you know, I am playing ten play quarters no no no no NO you cannot even afford this on nickels stop it.

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Las Vegas Trip Report: Sheep and Aces

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Good morning Las Vegas. I woke up too late to shower or eat so I ate a Kind bar and…didn’t shower.  What am I too late for?  A tour!  Specifically, THIS one.

Got picked up at 9:00 on the dot and headed off on today’s tour. I am the sole person who signed up for this tour so I am thrilled they did not cancel on me.  I want to see the big horned sheep.  I attempted to see the big horn sheep last year but the tour I was on did not stop at the park. The driver said they aren’t out in winter. So why advertise it as part of the tour you jerk.

This year though, my driver assures me we are stopping.

This tour was a bit expensive for what it is but it seems new as it wasn’t an option last year when I spent 6 weeks between Vegas and Arizona and took a million tours that I should probably post about.

We started at Seven Magic Mountains.

Then to Hemenway Park, where there were no sheep.

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Las Vegas Trip Report: The One Where I Expose the Vortexes

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Good morning Las Vegas! Although I did sleep in at Vdara, which I desperately needed, I have to say both the beds and bedding are not the same in the studios as they are in the suites. My bed was perfectly fine, but I was daydreaming about the marshmallow beds I had on past stays, and could not take advantage of because I had to get up to work.

Oh well, I still have my marshmallow bed at home.

I had reservations for La Cave at Wynn. I took an Uber who dropped me off at Encore, which was not my intention. So that threw off gambling plans entirely. I was supposed to start at Wynn, eat, and then end with my Ultimate X video poker.  I went backwards and so did my winning plans.  Cleopatra Keno?  Never met her.  Video Poker on the same machine though.

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Las Vegas Trip Report: Last Hotel of The Trip, First Fountain View of The Trip

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Good morning Las Vegas – burning sun from my room at Fremont Hotel.
I was up 3 minutes late for work.  This is my last day working from Las Vegas this trip and I wish forever.

I got packed VERY early as I am getting the fuck out of here as soon as I get the notification that my room at Vdara is ready.  Well maybe not because I need to collect some more snacks with my dining credit that I am too cheap to let go.

I then unpacked to shower because the shower here at Fremont hotel is the best shower I have had in all the hotels I have stayed in during this trip.  The water pressure is so strong.  For the record – I typically shower after work because who the fuck has the time to do it before work when you get to work at 6:00 AM in Vegas?!  Also for the record, Encore had by far the all time worst water pressure in their shower.

Went to the food court at Fremont and continued trying new coffees with my dining credit.

Strawberry Matcha (not coffee) and an iced caramel apple chai, which is also not coffee fuck I need coffee before I write about non-coffee.

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Las Vegas Trip Report: I Now Hate Fremont Hotel

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Well it is a morning, Las Vegas.  Not sure how good it is.

Woke up for work with Dunkin Donuts coffee waiting in my room refrigerator for me.  I had decided in advance to not gamble before work is over.  So I gambled before work is over.  And every time, had those sessions that suck – where the credits go straight to zero without any wins at all.  That is not fun at all.

Here is a win I did not post yesterday though:
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Las Vegas Trip Report: Merry Christmas

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Merry fucking Christmas from Las Vegas!

I am in pain. My back hurts. I want to sleep forever. I can only get a breakfast reservation at 8:30.  This is why you booked FN Blue remember? To have a room today that you could sleep in. Oh well.

I should go to a spa today to address the back pain. But I’ll likely just gamble and hurt my back more from sitting for hours yay.  Actually I imagine the only spa with appointments available on Christmas is very expensive and the funny thing is that since I won money, I am less willing to spend it.

I’m checking into Fremont today. I’ve read they now charge an early check in fee. Sign me up, I’ll pay it.  I’d rather pay the $25 fee and put my handpay in the safe than risk losing it.

After eating breakfast at Jardin, I went to see Cleo!  She did not like me at all today.  So sad.

I had $100 for my Ultimate X and a jerk was on her.  I played Buffalo instead and as I hit zero, jerk got off my machine.  Fuck it, let me go get $100.

I turned the $100 into $100 and cashed out.  I’ll be back to visit her this weekend.

Chilled in my room before checking out, completely exhausted.  As I read the little notes I leave in here throughout the day and the word “exhausted” was typed 3984738 times.

My Uber driver was annoying.  He pulled up in the wrong spot and acted like I was the asshole.  Then he kept mansplaining how to take an Uber to the airport on New Year’s Eve.  Over and over.  The more I kept saying “yes, I know” the more he kept talking.  It would get quiet for a minute and he would start all over again.  I am not even going home on New Year’s Eve.

Then the guy who checked me into Fremont was also annoying.  He went on a monologue about how Americans are rude.  For a very long time.  I don’t think he was talking about me, but who knows.  I was the only person on the line and he was on the phone so I stood on the line.  I did not approach the front desk until he hung up the phone and called me over.  But blah blah yammer yammer Americans rude.

I’ll post photos of my room when I check out because it is an odd room type I have never seen and I would hate to post it and (a) find out there is only one of these rooms and (b) some weirdo creep has slept in it before and now knows my room number.

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Las Vegas Trip Report: I Love Encore

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Hi Las Vegas, although you may as well be Oklahoma for all the fun I am going to have while working from my room today.

I went to Starbucks and people did not know how to form a line at all.  The employees had to sort that out, which took a bit of yelling “EXCUSE ME, LADY ON THE PHONE, THE LINE IS THIS WAY.”

The woman in front of me had resort credit she wanted to use up.  Perfectly acceptable.  Except she kept asking “how much is it now” about her total after each single item, but we started at like $20 and she made her way up to $80 so we didn’t really need to be asking after the first 3884798347 items now did we.

I also have resort credit to use up and I will also use it at Starbucks before I check out, but I will be less annoying.

I HATE WORKING FROM LAS VEGAS OMG I WAS TRYING TO STOP SAYING THIS IN EVERY TRIP REPORT BUT I CANNOT STOP MYSELF.

Tonight I have a Thai shampoo treatment booked and then I move to Encore.  I am actually not going to Soulo spa, because I had $100 in Groupon credit so I bought a Groupon for Mutao Spa. I did not think this one through when booking it because it is on Spring Mountain, but I did not leave time to check into Encore before my appointment, nor did I use all my resort credit so I have to come back anyway.  Oh well.

The shampoo was great.  I cannot say this enough – if you have never had someone else wash your hair while you are laying down, you are missing out.

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Las Vegas Trip Report: Have I Mentioned I Love Free Play?

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Las Vegas is fucking expensive.  i know, breaking news right?

My Instagram feed tells me that Fever now has Las Vegas events.  Fever is an app that I use constantly in New York City to book cool stuff.

(When I get home, I’ll finish a post i started about finding cheap things to do in New York City.)

But it kind of blew my mind to see how much more expensive the same things are in Las Vegas than in NYC.  Candlelight concerts.   These are forever happening in NYC. At home, they are under $40.  Here they are $50.

Aria has a “Museum of Illusions” for $50.  There’s a million of these places back home where I can get tickets for under $30.

I am not sure why I woke up whining about prices in Las Vegas.  Maybe because Instagram is showing me overpriced stuff while I am online at Starbucks.

I have plans today.  Too many plans.  I slept 11 hours last night, it felt great.  Let’s fucking GO!

I got a text to check out of California via their mobile check out and it worked! I wonder if mobile check in now works too?

Out to smoke before getting dressed. Being in the silver elevator tower at Luxor makes it easy to actually go outside vs the casino and there’s benches in the smoking area. Much better than losing $100 smoking in the casino.

Also this just in: Luxor has the weakest shower water pressure in all of America. Had to use the sink in the wet bar to get the conditioner out of my hair. Continue reading →

Las Vegas Trip Report: Lucky Duck = Lucky Fuck YAY

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Good morning Las Vegas! I woke up 3 minutes late for work which is always wonderful.  Thankfully I have coffee in my refrigerator.

Work, work meh.

I gambled a total of zero today before I got off work.  I have the Lucky Duck promotion tonight where I will win anywhere from $50-$100.  Then I move to Luxor and I have $225 freeplay there + $25 MyKonami freeplays at Luxor and Mandalay Bay.

Although I have a plethora of Downtown comps, I am going to save those for my Fremont stay later in this trip.  I probably won’t need or use them because I also have Fremont dining credit.  So maybe I should eat down here and then use whatever is left of my MGM credit to go shopping at Starbucks to bring with me to Wynn.

I have $250 dining credit at MGM properties as well.  I wanted to try a new to me place every meal but went to Citizens at Mandalay Bay because while not my favorite, I rememeber them fondly for actually being open during Covid, when just about everything else was closed.

I have a one bedroom suite at Luxor.  I almost booked a Pyramid suite and last minute changed my mind for a tower suite.  The tower suites are nicer, but I appreciate the kitsch of the old Egyptian furniture.

Lucky Duck Promotion went well for me.  There were 6 prizes for $500, all were won before I got to choose my duck.  Most people got $50-100, but I picked a duck worth $250 in free play.  It was not going to be available until 6:00 so I had an hour to kill.   Honestly, I would have just left and came back but it needs to be used in 72 hours and I won’t be back Downtown until Wednesday.

I killed time by eating dinner at Victory Burger at Circa.  And then it was time to PLAY!

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Las Vegas Trip Report: NOT Going Degenerate?

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Good morning Las Vegas!  I woke up in the dark, and the sun must have risen at some point but I missed it because my back is towards the open window.  This reminds me of when my job put us in a temporary office that had a gorgeous view of NYC and amazing sunsets and we never saw them because we never had time to turn our heads to the right (or left, depending on where you sat.)

I went out to smoke and get coffee.  I was too late for Dunkin Donuts so I went to Lapperts.  They now have some actual food beyond donuts.  I didn’t get any because I didn’t have enough comps.  I am thinking of all the times I barely scratched the surface on my resort credit with offers.  Can I have all that credit back in one lump sum?  No?  FINE.

I got an early morning quad, which was nice.

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