That Time I Went to Las Vegas During a Pandemic

Day 8, up at Fremont hotel at 8:30.  Housekeeping is knocking on my door.   There is no housekeeping during Covid.   She thought I had checked out.   Nope.

I take a Lyft to get cigarettes at the Paiute Tribal Smokeshop.  Only $7 each way and worth it.

I attempt to take a Lyft back to the Binions garage and again and dropped off a Four Queens.  While waiting for the Lyft, I spot a dime on heads.  OOOH.  I pick it up and put it in my bra. Big mistake. It had been sitting in the desert sun and BURNS.  OUCH.  OOF.   MOTHER. FUCKER. PAIN.

I walk into The D.  I have $15 free play here and a fuckton of dining credit.  I stop for an iced coffee and realize I should have been doing this every day since I have monthly dining credit.

I go upstairs to try and find MY Buffalo.  I am successful.

Total bonus win:

ON FREE PLAY.

I played down to $100 and cashed out and left.

Fremont Street:

I go back to my room to pack and check out.  I have to wait forever for the Bell Man to check my bags so I can play some more.

Breakfast is at Binions.  I keep finding  I am too lazy to redeem credit from their app so I dip into my eleventy billion dollars in comps to pay for food.  The balance never seems to go down despite this.

I lose $200 in Binions, never once getting anything worth a photo.   There is a gaggle of little kids using the casino as a playground as I am playing Buffalo. WHERE. ARE. YOUR. PARENTS.

Over to Fremont and I get Queens.

Back to Fremont to get my bags and go.  I get an Uber to Paris. There is no line at all to check in.

I am given room 1607.  Way less of a walk to my room than I had in December.   Way less of a view, but still a great view.

First thing I do is shower, second thing I do is attempt a nap.  It is 3:46.   The air conditioning in here is freakishly strong and the cold air is making it impossible to sleep. I try lowering it and it is too late, the notion of a nap is now out of the question.

I get dressed and go out.  I stop at the Total Rewards booth to get my “Stay With Us and You Also Get…” free play and find out that like Flamingo, there is none?   Come on, what am I doing wrong here?  They offer to call a host for me, and I say sure just because why not?   But that takes forever of the woman being on hold. I ask her to give me my ID and card back, it is okay.  I obviously fucked up.  It is only $30, I am not going to cry over it.  She takes my phone number and off I go.  And I lose $200 on Buffalo.   Would have been cheaper to not do that, but ya know.

I grab some pizza and headed for my room.  I had this pizza back in December and it wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful.  Today it is awful. I can taste so much sugar in the sauce.  No thank you.

I dick around the room, and much to my surprise, a host actually calls me to tell me he is putting $30 free play on my account.  I was not expecting that at all.  I feel like this is a huge win and since I have won something, I don’t need to go out to gamble.   I am in bed at 11:45 PM.

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27 thoughts on “That Time I Went to Las Vegas During a Pandemic

  1. David

    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!

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      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 🙂

      Reply
  2. NANCY

    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..

    Reply
  3. Jan Poole

    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!

    Reply
  4. NANCY

    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

    Reply
  5. Tony b

    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.

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      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.

      Reply
  6. Janice Hart

    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.

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      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.

      Reply
  7. Rick Cicotta

    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

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      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.

      Reply
  8. Cathie

    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!

    Reply
  9. Vice

    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.

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      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.

      Reply
  10. Christina Marie

    “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.

    Reply
  11. Joanne

    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?

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      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.

      Reply
  12. NANCY

    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…

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      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.

      Reply
  13. Mike/ mbny2000

    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.

    Reply
    1. jennifer Post author

      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.

      Reply
  14. Pingback: Las Vegas Travel Blog: Yes, I Packed 9 Hotels Into an 11 Night Stay - i put my life on a shelf

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