Las Vegas YAY!  If you read my trip report from my most recent trip, you read about how I want to VACATION in Las Vegas, and not work.  Not even a work / vacation combo, I want to just vacation.  The novelty of entending trips by working days around them has died.  Being able to have comped dinner without cooking in exchange for waking up at 5:00 AM and getting annoyed that I have to forage for breakfast when nothing is open, no longer seems like a fair exchange.

While getting that last trip report up, I remembered that last year I worked a few days but then had 2 full weeks off after.  I went back to read that trip report because I can barely remember being FREEEEEEEEEEEEE and realized that while I typed up most of it, I never posted it.  Whoops?

Now that I am ready to post, I did consider waiting until December 2022 to post this and pretend it is being posted in real time in 2022.  You would not notice the difference of the years since most of my trips are the same.  But I just can’t make myself lie.  So here we go, 10 months late.

(Fun fact, while I do indeed check my horoscope daily while in Vegas, I post them here also so I can keep track of the dates of each post in my drafts folder, so I don’t fuck up and post them out of order.)

Ahhhhhhh it is that time of year again!  Las Vegas at Christmas!  This trip is a 25 night trip, making this I believe the longest trip I have ever taken to Las Vegas, by one day.

It is crazy that last year, I was all booked to spend Christmas in Taiwan and Palau.  But then Covid happened.  I looked into going this year, Americans still cannot enter.  I tried researching a few other places but just got frustrated so why not stick to what I know best?  But for real guys, I need to get out of America.

This trip, as with every trip, has morphed and grown over time.  So many bookings and rebookings.  And not just hotels.  Now that flights are pretty much changeable for free, those changed a lot too. I always attempt to make a post detailing all my changes so Vegas addicts who do the same, can watch me be a lunatic.  But it even makes my own head spin.

Hotels:

Harrahs
Fremont x 2 (I wish one of these stays was at California but by the time I realized it, California was sold out)
Linq
Wynn
Resorts World – checking in for freebies and not staying
Cosmopolitan
Luxor – checking in for freebies and not staying
Palace Station
Sahara
The D

My budget is a bit higher than normal due to a bonus from work.  But I suspect that just means I will lose more money and hate myself more.

This trip started on a Thursday.  I flew to Vegas after work, and I smartly took off tomorrow.   I arrived at whatever the hell fucking time.  My notes about the Uber to JFK airport say “Uber, Jacques Cousteau.”  Choose your own adventure on what that means.

I flew out of JFK on Delta.  I booked first class and got a lay down flat seat.  Not sure what the difference is between this and Delta One.  I also don’t care.  They were serving food and I got a turkey sandwich.

The Delta terminal at JFK is one of the places I dislike the most in life.  It is designed so you have to walk alllllllll the way through what is basically a mall before you get to the terminals.  Then when you are at the terminals, I am always at the one that is furthest away and it is quite a hike.  I got to the gate about 10 minutes before boarding was supposed to start and the flight was already boarding.  Score?

We got to Vegas 15 minutes early.  Not that it matter that much on a 25 night trip.   Baggage claim was so packed with people.  I cannot remember the last time I saw it like that.

I priced an Uber, $35.  Flat fare cab rate was $27 so I got in line for a cab.  Long line, but moved fast.  For some reason the fare was $28 despite signs in the airport showing it was $27.

First hotel of the trip, Harrahs.  I had checked in online before leaving home so of course I have to check in again.  Why even offer this option?  I always do it with the thought that if I don’t, I will arrive and find they are out of smoking rooms.  But seriously though, WHY offer check in online if it doesn’t take?

I get room 25034 in the Valley View tower.  I don’t think I have stayed at Harrahs in about 15 years.  I had a hard time finding a room for this weekend but was able to book Harrahs and only Harrahs, on a Great Gift Wrap Up offer, which is odd since I don’t have enough points to actually redeem for anything?  But the room would not come up comped unless I used that code.

The room is nice.   The safe is a bit wonky, I have to press the numbers a few times to get them to take.  God help me if this somehow means my money gets locked inside at any point during this trip.  I have no idea how long it would take to get a maintenace guy in Covid times.

I had no intention of playing tonight.  Every trip I take, I wonder what would happen if I did not gamble on the first night.  I did plan to spend $101 on live Keno.  That $1 would be a dollar bill I found on the ground in Las Vegas, New Mexico a couple of months ago.  I have been carrying it with me for luck.

Well live Keno is not available 24 hours.  And it is closed.  This throws me for a loop.

Even though it is bedtime, I go over to Casino Royale to play a bit.  I lost $100 and won $100.  Even Steven.

I grabbed McDonalds on my way back to my room since it is open.  It doesn’t look open.  But it is.  It is the most depressing place on Earth.

I stopped by to say hello to Buck and Winnie.

A woman gets on the elevator with me.  Masks are still required at this point.  She isn’t wearing one and tell me “I have a mask but I am not wearing it.”  Good choice since you appear to be 103 years old.

For the record, I am pretty sure anyone talking to me at all probably bothers me more than the lack of a mask.

Sigh, good night.

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