It's Not A Bender, It's A Lifestyle.

  I use what I call the "algorithm" to decide where to stay in Vegas. The algorithm consists of several factors, more or less evenly weighted. Resort:  Do I want to stay in this place from an amenity and poshness standpoint. Is there enough food/bev/VP onsite to make this the place I want to start and end my day every day. Do I like the vibe? Have I stayed here in the past and enjoyed myself? Am I going to have "fun" here over the course of 5 days, relatively speaking?  Room: Standard room for full comp or suite for $300/night? Strip view for $50 more a night? Is this an "occasion" trip like a birthday, and therefore I want to go baller, or just a run of the mill June trip where I can save some $$ on the room. Also, is this a resort or room I want to tick off my "been there" list? Location: Where on the strip is this, relative to dead center strip, i.e. Bellagio. Am I going to have to cab or walk a lot to get here on a daily basis, and what...

  SeptemberVegas. Happening. Decided to make this a 4 trip year. Going to wrap a few PTO days around a weekend and fit in a 5-night, 4-day semi-quickie at the end of September. I'll fly in after the day of work on a Thursday then have 4 full days in town. As of now I have a bog standard room at MGM Grand booked for around $100 all in, but that may change as offers and time roll in/on. $120 FP, $100 RC. So MGM is giving me $120 to come to Vegas again. FB is giving me 2 nights and no resort fees but that's still $500 all in, we'll see what I can coax out of RW when those offers come in. I'll have nailed down MGM Gold a couple weeks from now, so I can be a free agent if I want. As always it'll be hard to beat the dirt cheap MGM rates, and for fuck's sake I've earned them, but it's nice to have a little flexibility the rest of the year if I want it. Thought about driving but with no cool down days before going back to work I thought better of it. A 9 hour dr...

Yep. Vegas. Flights: Fine, no issues. About a half hour delay on the in, 10 mins on the out. Room: Cosmo Terrace Studio, Boulevard, 69th floor, Aria view. Good room, clean, good view, little loud at night. Tons of emergency vehicles all the time. Also was about a half hour late getting into it on the Sunday. But otherwise no issues. Resort: I love the 'Mo, always have always will. Spent a ton of time in there at the start and end of days, never let me down. Spent a lot of time and money at Vesper. Strip: Slow week, and didn't see much of it. Mostly shuttled between Cosmo and FB. Got to Rematch a couple times, a couple Fuels, RW for about an hour, but no new ground covered really. Easy to get around, started getting busier on the 2nd for the holiday WE. Drinking: I don't want to talk about it. Food: Pretty good, had the steak at Jean Georges, the Conos at Jaleo, and made it down for the Bolognese at Carama, all fantastic. Got a couple lunches in there too so overall ate OK, ...

And so it (nearly) begins. Tomorrow is Las Vegas. Really happy I'm doing the vacation the way I am. The trips where I leave and come back mid-week are dildos. You get off of work and head straight to the airport, then on the come back you're right back to work the next day after 5 days of punishment. This way I have a night and a half to relax, clear my mind, and have time to prep for the trip, then when I'm back next Friday, I have 2 days to recover. Civilized. I checked into the flight this morning. Despite buying a row 2 seat, I still had to pay another $16 for priority boarding. Southwest you fucking whores. Whatever, sunk cost at this point, whatever gets me in and out of the airport as expeditiously as possible is worth it.  Woke up this morning and immediately started a flurry of activity, got the dopp kit set up, got all my drugs, legal and otherwise, collected, charging all the electronics, etc. The bag is 90% packed, I'm checked into the Cosmo and ...

T-minus two weeks and change. Still locked down, there won't be any itinerary changes now. I had Carama on the books for Monday, with their unspeakably good Bolognese, but decided that might be a stretch to be that far away from home base (center strip), so I re-added Jean George at Aria instead. It's stumbling distance from the room, the filet is always solid, and that miso steak sauce is top tier. I plan to be at MB for Xmas so the Bolognese will have to wait until then, unless I make it down there. Which I might! Pulled another $1200 out of the bank today for the cash spend fund, only $500 left to pull to make the number. One check left so no problem. Will be at the full $5K plus will probably have a couple hundy extra for walking around money. I get another check literally on the day I come back, so no issues with any bill payment or carrying of debt. Coming back with a few grand, as I did in April, makes the following Vegas save much more relaxed. Been playing 30 or so han...

  I've done plan posts since I started this thing, for pretty much every trip. I don't really plan much on these trips, anymore. This may be the last plan post, unless or until I do some actual planning for a Vegas trip. Which I don't. The bulk of my planning now usually consists of a couple food reservations, so that I'm more or less forced to eat. I have seen pretty much all the shows I want to see, and I generally don't leave the strip to GO anywhere, so these posts have become low quality, really.  So: I get there around 11:30a on a Sunday. I have reservations Mon-Tue-Wed at Jean Georges, Jaleo and Zuma. They will all be very good. I have a no plans day at the start of the trip, and a no plans day at the end of the trip, as is my wont. I will drink heavily, eat (mostly) well and gamble badly for 5 days. It will be hot, as it will be Las Vegas in June/July. Then I will leave on Friday, if I have a pulse. Done! Anything weird that comes up will be covered in the p...