Day seven I am up on purpose at 5:30 am at the Fremont Hotel in Downtown Las Vegas. I have a two hour work meeting at 6:30 am my time. I don’t have to be dressed for it, but I do have to be awake a caffeinated for it. So down to Dunkin Donuts I go.
I lost $80 on my way back up to my room. Oops?
Once my meeting is over, I head to El Cortez for a last meal on my dining credit and to check out.
I play some Wonder 4. I lose.
Breakfast was decent, normal horrible service. The woman next to me was passed out asleep on her table. Every now and then, someone would come wake her up. I wish they were that attentive to me when I need to order or when I would like to ask for a refill of my drink.
After breakfast, I get my swipe at the kiosk and oh hey, I win $10 dining credit. NO. I don’t want it.
I check out and head over to Downtown Grand to get some free play. I have $25 twice a month from an offer that doesn’t require a stay. This place is so dead, which is normal. They have a promotion going on called “Hot Seat” where if you are playing with your card, they call your name and you win free slot play. I won three times. $5 each time. It was getting annoying to have to keep cashing out for $5. So I left.
Back to Fremont. I played some quarter SuperTimes Pay video poker. I got a nice hit, no multiplier.
I go up to my room for a nap. I don’t wake up until 8:00 pm, which means I am officially in Vegas mode where time no longer matters.
I played at Fremont. I lost $60 in Ultimate X and then another $40 in Double SuperTimes Pay. Yeargh.
I ate dinner at Paradise Cafe, only because I have dining credit. When I went to pay, I did a room charge as you are supposed to. You say “I am charging this to my room” and tell them your room number and show ID and you get a new receipt to sign and add a tip. The initial receipts here do not have a place to add a tip. Except it did not go like that. She closed out the ticket before I could add a tip. “You have to tell me before.” Well now what? She shrugs. No big deal to her. Dude, even if I were not leaving a tip, why would you close the ticket out before I signed for it?! Again, she shrugs. I really want to punch her face. Instead I ask for change of a $20 and go back to leave a tip.
I tried Buffalo and lost $30. Then I went to Cleopatra Keno and went nuts. This machine LOVED me.
WAHOO.
I switched to video poker and she dealt me 8s.
The machine I was playing was near the bar. I could not count how many times people tried to buy drinks from the bar. The bar is closed, all bars are closed. They would be instructed to sit at a slot machine, where they thought they could buy drinks. You can’t. You can get them free if you are playing. They were not playing. So much bickering all around me.
I end the night up $500 and in bed by 2:00 am.
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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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