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

It is nearly upon us. My retirement fund withered away ( before I retire) in a hostile desert not meant for humankind despite my full knowledge that it's a complete and total scam. Another fucking Vegas trip! Yay! Ah well. I'm not long for the world anyway, might as well spend it before I go. Buying more useless shit with what little money I have won't do me any good when I'm dead either. Might as well have some experiences with the time left instead. So, in one week I will have signed off of work and will be busily packing the carry on bag full of mushrooms and cocaine. And socks, I guess. No change to anything. Still flying, the TSA thing shouldn't be a problem now that they're being paid. Still at the Grand for 5 nights. With fucking WWE in town next week, I'd much rather be further upstrip to avoid the wrestling mouth breathers, but I know if I rebook to Aria or Bellagio now it'll be a huge bump in room cost, and I'm just not going to do that an...

The final MGM Rewards have dropped in pre-trip, so time to tally. -5 nights at MGM Grand in a MGM King Strip View: $212 all in, would be $1769 at rack rate, savings of $1557. -$85 Freeplay and $100 resort credit from the booking package: $185 in value. -$100 resort credit for getting to Gold last year: $100 in value. -$277 in Slot Dollars accrued: $277 in value. All together $2119 in savings over some sad shitbag with no MGM status. Very tidy indeed. Over $2K in value before I even step foot off the plane is pretty killer. It also explains why when it comes to vacation time the answer is always Vegas. The $200 in resort credit will mean a couple good meals for the price of a tip, and the slot credit could mean millions. I intend to use the slot dollars on actual slots this time, instead of on VP, where I can't really win much from it. If I throw it into a high paying bonus slot I might actually hit something and walk away up for the trip. Unlikely, but hope abounds in Vegas. So a g...

  Wouldn't be a Vegas trip without a plan post. It's the law. Wednesday 4/15 Fly in day. If all goes well with United, should be on the ground by 12:30p, in the cab and to the Grand by 1p, up to the room to unpack and out to the strip by 1:30p. Then it's a no-plan day, probably will hit some of my spots to warm up, maybe Fuel or Rematch, will need to grab some foodz at some point in the afternoon too. No evening plans either, so probably some gambles at some point to start BUILDING the bankroll, and maybe a grab and go dinner somewhere, then tits to the wind as usual in the dark hours. No early wake up call this day so could be a rager. Thursday 4/16 First full day in town. No need to rush the get up, if the previous night was a banger I can sleep in a bit. Want to make sure I'm taking care of my body on this trip. Trying to feel close to functional on the last day, not just today. Once up, the day is open, can wander a bit, maybe upstrip for a while if I want. Giants a...

  I'm due for a bit of a windfall in July. It won't be in time for my next trip, or possibly even my next, next trip, but there are finally some big benefits that will be hitting in July from getting the Iconic MGM card. Several "card anniversary" bonuses will kick in. -A yearly $200 resort credit benefit.  -A yearly "comped night" benefit, which will pay out as $250 in resort credit, and... -An additional 10,000 tier credit bonus after spending $25K on the card, which I already have. All that in addition to the $100 in Rewards Points (resort credit) that I already earned for making Gold last year, which I will likely use in April. And the monthly tier points and Freeplay based on my daily spend, which as noted in prior posts add up quickly. It's usually something like 4K tier points per month and a clutch of $50 or so Freeplay. By the time I get to the Xmas trip (or the late summer trip?), I could have like $500 in resort credit built up. That's eat...

Possible next trip on the books. I found out that my work will be doing a summer shut down. It'll be closed for a week from 6/29 through the 3rd of July, during which we can "work from home" minimally, or take the time off. Rates in MGM land, it turns out, are cheeeeep for that week. I was able to book Sun-Fri at Cosmo in a Terrace Studio for less than $90 all in. Booked as fuck. I won't ask for the time off until after the April trip...if I get my ass handed to me financially on that trip then I'll likely just cancel this one, no harm no foul. Also won't book a flight (or decide to drive) until after April.  If I come home with a couple grand in hand from April though, this makes a good no stress summer trip, that I would likely be looking to do anyway. I already had a Bellagio trip planned for August, but if a save is not a factor this makes more sense. Me likely.

Got the 401k loan in the bank today. Sucks that I had to use it, but TBH it's just sitting there anyway, the market's been getting killed lately it's not like I'm losing a lot of gained interest on $4K. Doesn't hurt the cushion too much either. Would I love to have had the discipline to do the save organically, sure, but honestly I just don't care that much about Vegas anymore to make the daily sacrifice. It's something I haven't talked about much here, since this a Vegas blog, after all. But I don't have the passion for the trips that I used to. I was obsessed with Vegas, for the better part of a decade. I was more than willing to make the life compromises needed to fund the trips, and more of them. Yes, I have more financial obligations now (the car, mainly), but I also used to give up weekends out, or skimping on food and basic spending, to make the save number. It's really the only time in my life that I have been able to save for a goal. I...