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

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...

  Oh yes, it's June. It's a Vegas month. Freebies and discounts, as we do. -5 nights at Cosmopolitan in a Terrace Studio King, 3 nights comped, $108 all in, would be $1233 on rack rate, savings of $1125. -$120 Freeplay from booking package, $282 Slot Dollars from CC, value $402. Potential value: trillions.  -$50 RC from the booking package, $33 in Rewards Points, $83 in value. So $1610 of pre-trip value this time. Not remotely an all-timer, and that was never going to be the case since this is a quick turnaround trip. Won't have much in the way of RC. Still tidy though, especially on the room at Cosmo which is a nice one. Have stayed in it several times, plenty of space for a single boy and it's always nice to have a terrace in the summer. Coming back to your room at 3a, altered, sitting on your terrace in 90 degree weather while eating an ice cream bar is next level Vegas. So a little over 3 weeks now from yet another Vegas, looking good, feeling good. Hell, I may even...

Put JuneVegas to bed today. Got a little bump on Freeplay in my June offers from my April spend, so I rebooked the same room at Cosmo to get the added value. +$40 in FP above the old offer, same RC, about $20 out of pocket more to book so I come out $20 ahead from rebooking, with no penalty on room qual or resort. I'm still getting paid to come to Vegas, at least room-wise. Still the Terrace Studio King, probably with an Aria view but whatev. I already have the pictures from the other side. So that's it. Great resort, it's a plus room, and perfect placement on center strip to be able to branch out and have a live trip. Good flight and transportation package set, some good food reservations in the queue, and it should be a nice, mellow week on strip, perhaps until the day I leave, when the July 4th-ers start slinking in. I'll be happy to turn it over to them. World Cup round of 32 will be on all week while I'm there, I don't expect it to impact me much but it mig...

  Threw a "why not" reservation on for Xmas. 6 nights at W Las Vegas, Dec. 22nd - 28th. 4 nights comped, $120/$100 booking package, all in cost $120. Strip View King Suite. I figured what the hell, might as well get something on the books, if my offers go up after June I can rebook with no penalty, and if my offers go down, I'm locked into a great resort and a good package. As previously chronicled, I love the Mandalay Bay complex and it's always a good time to stay there over Xmas week. Have done it a couple times now, I like the remoteness of the resort on the strip that week for some reason, it's like a retreat to come back to at the end of the day. TheHotel/Delano/W (make up your fucking mind) rooms are nice enough, a step up from a standard room anywhere else in the MGM pantheon. I will have MGM Gold locked in well before even hitting ground in December, so I may very well book somewhere else if I get a tasty offer. Maybe FB or RW, since those are the only 2...

  June is coming up fast.  Just over a month now. It'll be a skinnier trip, no crazy upgrade like last time, no flouncing around with an Emerald suite, and no big spending in general. I'll be having JUST the number on per-day cash spend budget. And right now, I have a good terrace room at Cosmo locked in for a little over $120 all in, no reason to dick with that unless my offers go up in May or June, pretty significantly ( UPDATE : they didn't, at least in May). 3/$120/$50 and just over a hundy all in out of pocket for my favorite resort and a non-standard room with a terrace (even if it's just looking at the ass end of Aria) is nails. I like being paid to stay in a top-tier resort in Vegas. This will be, while skinnier, a pretty relaxed trip money-wise. If I do come back with some pay it forward funds and I haven't wrecked the CC, then a late summer/early fall trip may be doable. If not, and my ass is handed to me, I can just shrivel up into a ball and financially...