Tag Archives: solo female travel to las vegas

Las Vegas Christmas Trip Report: Returning Downtown to Fremont Street

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Despite how insanely comfortable my bed was here at Green Valley Ranch, I was wide awake at 4:00 am.  Well I am in Las Vegas. Let’s…go gamble?

I stop for coffee at The Grand Cafe.  Meaning I ordered coffee, realized I didn’t put any cash in my wallet, and had to walk away to go back to my room which is a million miles away.  Halfway there I realized hurr durr, I own both credit cards AND I have comps on my Stations card.  I get that taken care of, sit down at a machine and HURR DURR HI I HAVE NO CASH ON ME.

Back to the room, back to the casino.

I decide to play Buffalo.  I can never say enough how much I love these games.  I am playing one of the ones with the super sized screen.  I get one bonus symbol, then a second, then a guy walks by and smacks my machine yelling “GET IT!  GET IT!  GET IT!” and I do!  And I win zero!  Oh.

I keep playing and get another bonus.  This time I win $118.  WOO!

I go back up to my room, it is only 5:30.  I pack my stuff and lay down for an hour.  Then it is back out for breakfast.  I get a buffet, free from MyVegas.  My goal is to catch the 9:00 shuttle to the airport, so I can catch the WAX bus to downtown.  I am moving to my last hotel of this trip today, California.  I am very anxious to get down there because I want to be there NOW.

Let me tell you guys something.  I do not know how I got this lucky.  But my shuttle from Green Valley Ranch pulled into Zero Level at the airport, just as the WAX was pulling up.  I was in my room at California by 10:00.  That is right.  I left Green Valley Ranch on a shuttle at 9:00 am, took a bus downtown and was checked in, and inside my room, only one hour later.  It was a Christmas-Eve-Eve miracle.

California has remodeled a bunch of their rooms, but I am given an old one.  I don’t care because I love this hotel and would happily accept any room here.  Except that one where the roof leaked onto my bed and soaked it.

On my way out, I stop to rub Buddha’s belly. I tell him all about how I was in his birth country earlier this year.  He just laughed at me.

california hotel vegas buddha

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Las Vegas Trip Report: I’m Moving to the Bellagio!

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Good morning from the wonderful Orleans hotel and casino, located in fabulous Las Vegas.  If you are just joining us, you may want to start at the beginning of this report, which you can find here.

I slept with the bathroom door closed, which meant the bathroom window did not wake me up by screaming “LOOK AT ME!  THE SUN IS OUT!”

I had intended to get up early, go use a MyVegas reward for breakfast, and then come back and check out.  Instead, I gambled.

I stopped at Java Vegas, where the line was so very long.  GIVE. ME. MY. COFFEE. PLEASE.

I gambled around Orleans and did not win anything because only winners win and I am a loser.  I said a last goodbye to all my favorite machines and went upstairs to grab my stuff.

I looked at my bill on the television and I owed $1.87.  I went and counted out $1.87 in change to pay at the front desk.  That is a thing I have noticed while in Vegas, the accumulation of change.   Once I started getting comped everywhere, I stopped using cash daily.   So all that change you collect when you play slots and cash out with change, just grows and grows.  I used to use it to pay change on bills at restaurants, gift shops, etc.  Now I just use my slot card and watch as my wallet grows fatter in the wrong compartment.

As I get ready to hand over my $1.87, the guy at the front desk asks if I want to use my points to pay for the charge.  YES.  Oops.  I guess I will use this change to pay for the bus.

I go outside and walk to the bus stop.  You walk the entire parking lot, which is ginormous.  Then you cross Arville, which is easy peasy.  Then you cross Tropicana, which takes forever.  And of course, during the time you are waiting for the light to say “walk” your bus comes and leaves while you just stand there on the wrong side of the street, watching it pull away without you.

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Las Vegas Trip Report: Spending a Day at Orleans Hotel and Casino

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If you are just joining us, this is a Las Vegas trip report for my annual Christmas trip to Las Vegas.  You can find part one here.

Despite going to bed at 3:00, I am up and wide awake at 6:15.  Nope, not because I am in Vegas.  Not because of the time change.  And not because the machines are screaming my name.  But because of the bathroom window.

See, Orleans has windows in their showers.  That means that while you are showering, you can have this pretty view.

orleans-las-vegas-bathroom-window

Although I wouldn’t suggest maybe viewing it WHILE you are showering.  If you can see these car windows, then the drivers can see you.  Or maybe you are a voyeur.  In which case, get thee to Orleans NOW!

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Las Vegas Christmas 2016 Trip Report Starts Now!

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If you are a regular here, you know that every year I vow I am done going to Las Vegas.  The more I travel the world, the more I want to keep traveling the world.  Las Vegas takes away from that.   Not even just in time off, but in budget.  If you are a believer that “Las Vegas is the cheapest destination in the world!”, you may want to fact check that.  I am not at all trying to talk anyone else out of not going to Las Vegas.  I would never do that.  But for me personally, having traveled outside of America, I realize that all the times I proudly stated “Las Vegas is the cheapest place on Earth to visit!”, I was mistaken.  It is a cheaper destination in the United States.  And yes, you can win enough to cover your meager costs.  AND YES OF COURSE, if you want to go to Las Vegas ten times a year, then by all means, you should do exactly that.  I however, do not wish to do that.

So why am I going again?  Fate is making me go.

Last January I was supposed to fly to Chicago.  That flight got cancelled because of a blizzard.  I used the flight credit to book a flight to Niagara Falls over the summer.  That flight got cancelled because of a thunderstorm.  I was left with JetBlue credit that needed to be used by the date of the first cancelled flight back in January.  I did not want to take a long trip in January.   Or any trip at all in January.  Why would anyone want to use up their vacation time so early in the year?

But I am a cheap fuck and I could not let that flight credit go.

I already had the week of Christmas off from work.  Now I have a “free” plane ticket.  Then MyVegas* went and put out two night rewards at MGM properties.  Here is my chance to spend two nights at Bellagio for free.  FINE.  I’LL GO.  BUT I WON’T LIKE IT.

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