Day five sees me waking up at Flamingo once again. And about 3 minutes into my day, I realize I made a mistake. Today is my last day working in Vegas. I am moving to Fremont tonight. I thought I had booked Flamingo for tonight, so that I could have uninterrupted internet until my work day ends. I didn’t. I have an email from Flamingo to schedule my check out. Oops?
I try for a 1:00 check out and am granted my request. I move some meetings around so they do not take place as I am moving hotels. All this makes me late for work, and I still insist on getting Starbucks before starting. One thing I hate about the Strip is how far away EVREYTHING is. The Starbucks is at my hotel, yet it is about a ten minute walk each way. Thankfully there was no line.
I cram in a bunch of work and order an Uber from my room. I expect there to be a long wait so I have plenty of time to get out to the Uber pick up spot. Nope, three minutes. FUCK. I go bolting outside as the message pops up that my driver will be leaving in one minute. WHEW.
It used to be that if you put Fremont hotel as your destination, you would be dropped off at Binions parking garage. Not today. I am dropped off at Four Queens. The outside walkway is closed off so I have to actually go through Four Queens to get to Fremont.
I am given room 432. I instantly note the absence of the cantaloupe scented cleaner that is part of my home casino. Whatever they are using to replace it smells like Raid. Fremont is owned by Boyd, who is advertising using “Boyd Clean” as a slogan to make you feel safe when traveling to Las Vegas during a pandemic. The room has not been deep cleaned. One of the drawers has a broken cigarette with the insides spilled out. There is an accumulation of dust in the window sill and on the bed frame. I don’t care. I have stayed here 3984798347 times and do not expect white glove service.
I did not get any room photos because I was frenzied to get back to work after the move. I thought I could link to any of the other 3897438 trip reports I have stayed here and posted room photos, but you know what? I cannot find any! Oh well. I guess I should probably take some photos of a Fremont room on my next trip.
I finish my work day and now I am free for the next week and a half, save for one work meeting I need to attend on Friday morning.
I go downstairs for some Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and play a bit. And by “play” I mean “lose.”
I walk over to El Cortez to check in here. I am not staying here, but I booked for the freebies. In addition to my normal offer of 3 nights + $25 slot and $25 dining, I got a second offer for $50 slot and $50 dining. Color me surprised to find $75 free play on my card.
I am given room 1403. I want to take a nap. This is a recurring theme. I book El Cortez for the freebies, but I do not stay. When I check the room just for fun, I want to nap. I decide right here and now that on my next trip, I will stay here.
I go downstairs and lose my free play on Ultimate X video poker. This is not how this is supposed to work!
I did earn over 300 points so I did a swipe at the kiosk hoping for free play and got $10 dining credit. I hate getting dining credit here. I always have the worst service.
I walk back to Fremont, stopping at McDonalds for a grab and go with a dinner of champions.
After dinner, it is back over to Binions and Wonder 4. I actually hit a 4-coin Wonder 4 bonus!
That was nice.
At this point I have been inside 3 hotel rooms in one day, worked a full day, gambled obsessively and I am ready to pass out and begin tomorrow refreshed and on vacation.
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I love reading your trip reports even if this one is from August. I’ve been itching to go to Vegas since July but having to stay home two weeks afterwards is a no go for me unless I’m able to work remote from home. I will get to if the infection rate reaches 3% in the city. I hope to run into you at some point either in nYc or Vegas so you can teach me how to earn all those Vegas comps or you can use the binions food credit on me! Enjoy your next trip in a few weeks. Jealous!
I am fortunate that I am working from home (or Vegas) for now. I may go again at Christmas / New Years since I have 2 four day weekends in a row. I feel like if you want comps at Binions, all you have to do is breathe inside and they accumulate on your card 🙂
wow- such a good report – even with having to work — but now you are on vacation… I love this report since this is all the traveling I will be doing for a while..
Thanks Nancy! I am surprised I did not hate working in Vegas. Who knew?
Oh goody! I love to see Jennifer putting her life on a shelf in Las Vegas in my inbox! Let me get a vanilla Crown and diet coke and settle in for a good read!
LOVE this!
wow- you have had some decent hits — keeps you going.
haha- putting the hot dime in your bra…surprised the host called and gave you the $30…but glad you accepted it as a win… never stayed at Paris but it looks nice
Nice TR! Did your itching areas has red dots? I had it the Hawaii a few years ago and it turned out to be sun poisoning. I’m thinking it’s age catching up to get even for all that time roasting in the sun when you’re younger.
Seems like downtown was much nicer to you than the strip slots.
I didn’t have red dots, but it did occur to me it might be sun poisoning. I was barely outside, but considering there are weeks in a row where the only time I leave my apartment is to throw out garbage, my body is not used to the sun at all.
Downtown is my favorite. But when you are losing, you have to get out of there because it is too easy to just keep going. At least on the Strip, a walk to the casino “next door” takes a bit and breaks it up.
I loved your trip report, as always. You have such an interesting style of writing!! I was there for a week in June, staying at the Plaza, just before the mask mandate was announced.
We had a great time staying downtown. I am not a strip type of person at all, I prefer the likes of the Orleans and/or Palace station for my play. I always play video keno, rarely do I play pennies.
I’ll look forward to your October trip. I Hope the Flusher visits again soon also, but with Canada being closed, it’s not likely.
Thanks Janice! I think Flusher is waiting for a vaccine. There’s the whole issue of not being covered for Covid if you are traveling from Canada. It really seems unfair.
I keep staying on the Strip because I am Diamond, so no resort fees. And MLife likes me right now, but they won’t after they realize I keep stiffing them. But I want to get some content to start doing hotel reviews. May as well before those comps all dry up.
I will miss Vegas this year for the first time since 1969, well over 200 trips since. I’m bummed, pissed and depressed. So I stopped reading blogs and trip reports. That is, till yours came up on FB. I loved the shit out of it. So much so, that I promise not to hate vegas until I can go again myself. I stopped writing my own trip reports about 4 years ago. But maybe I will now be inspired! Thanks so much….
Rick1323
I am so sorry you are missing out on Vegas this year! I love looking back on older trip reports so I can see a common theme of what causes my degeneracy and I always find something I had forgotten about. I definitely recommend writing them even if you keep them to yourself.
My morning was so great because I got to read an entire trip report from you! So happy you had a winning tip and another in the wings! Keep finding pennies!
Thanks so much Cathie!
Nice report!
We went last July and despite COVID, had a great time as usual. Our next trip is Oct 27 – Nov 3 so we will be there the same time as you. Were at Bally’s and then GVR. We usually stay the 2nd leg of the trip at the Cal but Boyd has pissed me off with their lack of points for VP.
I am actually considering the Cal for this trip because I want to start doing hotel reviews and I have not stayed there in awhile. But it is not as close to the Dunkin Donuts as Fremont. I might die.
“The machines here only have seats at every other machine. Some guy pulls a chair next to me and asks me if I like the machine I am playing. Go die. I asked him if he wanted the machine and he said no. So like…don’t do that.”
lol, your trip reports always crack me up. As a woman who likes to go to Vegas to actually GAMBLE, I can relate. There’s always some drunk douche at least once a night, and I’m like, uh, no, you are getting in my way of losing money.
Hahah YES, I love this! You are getting in the way of my losing money! Go away and stay away.
Jennifer, you crack me up every time. I laughed out loud when you described your door kick stretch fake out move. Are any buffets still open in Vegas?
Hi Joanne!
The only buffets currently open are Cosmopolitan and South Point. I know nothing about how South Point is operating. At Cosmo, there are barriers up at the buffet to keep you away from the food. You point from 6 feet away at what you want, and an employee grabs it and puts it on your plate. I assume they also have limited options.
I didn’t want this to end but its only 10 days until you are back again…. I know I already commented a few times on this report but so what? I want to say I want to stay at the Luxor next time I am in LV… haven’t stayed there in years but always had fun times in that casino and your stay there reminded me of that… I can’t imagine what all those kids were doing – sounds like they were camping! crazy…
Oh I cannot wait to be out of here! I am staying at Luxor again on my first night. This time in a pyramid room. I have a lot of comps I normally would not have (Bellagio, Aria, etc) and am considering doing a mega trip and trying to get current photos of all rooms so I can do reviews. Some of my room photos are 15 years old by now! I tried planning it out and realized sadly that even 31 days in Vegas is not enough to do all of this AND also, degenerate gamblers should probably not go to Vegas for 31 days.
At one point before, you had mentioned that this trip might not happen, but I’m so glad it did. Once again, another great report. I lost track, but I’d like to think maybe you came out a little ahead from playing. Either way, I think the trip was definitely worth it. I was unable to get out to LV this year; to many hassles after the Covid closures, so waiting until next years seemed like the right move for me. You did it and had your usual great time. Good for you. Thanks again, and I know the next trip will be just as great or better.
PS; your quote about the Fremont; ” Noticeably gone is the cantaloupe scented cleaner. Whatever they are using instead, smells like Raid. ”
You. Are. The. Best.
You. Are. The Best.
Thanks for the kind words! I did NOT come out ahead, but just a tiny bit under. I hope my next trip can fund my December trip. Crossed fingers!
And it really does smell like Raid. HATE.
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