If you have landed on this post and would like to read this ancient Las Vegas trip report in its entirety, you can go HERE to find the beginning.

I am up at the crack of dawn. I go downstairs, lose money, and then eat at the Paris buffet. This is definitely the best breakfast buffet on the strip.

I take a peek at my Park Place coupons and discover I have one for 15% off merchandise at the store I bought my Paris themed pajamas at yesterday. Yay!  I go back and get my mother a pair.  It is 15% off with the coupon, and then an additional 10% off with my Park Place card. Excellent!!!

I go outside and take some photos.

I go back to the room and pack because it is time to check out.

I dump my keys in the express check out, head to the airport. kill time with slots and chain smoking.  We board the plane, which is late, and then sit on the plane for AN HOUR with no air on. It was hell. Finally we take off, tons of turbulence. My Direct TV seems to be the only one not working. I start panicking, watching the overhead bins warp in towards each other. Is that even real or am I imagining things?! I am sure we are going to die. Then we hit a HUGE bump and hey look ‑ my Direct TV starts to work. I love you Direct TV!!! It took my mind off everything and in four hours, we were back in NYC.

Summary:

Five nights is not enough, no way is it enough

Third time saying it ‑ I will never go in the heat again.  (2022 called, it says LOL)

I’ve decided to definitely extend my November trip and do nine nights.

Despite losing, I love las Vegas.

I really, really, really, really love Las Vegas.

The end!

Afterthoughts: I usually post these older reports verbatim, with minimal thought or comments from the time I am actually putting them up on my blog.  I did want to take some time here to reflect on how much my trips have changed over the years.  Reading myself writing about being all giddy over winning $10 here and there, or cashing out $15 wins, is just really so foreign to me.

No wonder I used to be all incredibly kinds of excited and had not yet begun referring to myself as a degenerate gambler.  Putting a $5 bill in a slot machine = I could do that FORTY times in a day.  Now I only put $20 bills in (or $100) and if I did that 40 times a day, I would be homeless.

I loved reading me being all excited about how beautiful my Paris room was to me back in 2003, when someone on Twitter said it best “grandma’s basement.”  Could you imagine how blown my mind would be if in 2003, I could have seen the last room I had at Cosmopolitan?

Or the thrill of getting 10% off at the gift shop OMG so exciting!!!  Now I have comps all over the damned place and would never pay 90% for something I wanted if I could not get it fully comped.

I feel like Vegas was so much simpler back then.  When bringing home a couple of hundred dollars was a huge win for me.  Now it would be a sign of shame.

And everything being open late.  I really miss that.  I don’t want to have to plan before napping.  Or asking Google what time something closes.  Nothing should close dammit.

Sigh.

As a reminder, I will continue making new posts every day for the next 75-ish days.  You can keep up HERE.