Post-mortem 7/14
2nd trip of 2014 done.
The flight in was delayed (Southwest screwing the pooch on this trip will be a theme) first by 45 minutes, then by over an hour. As a result I didn't even get into town until one in the morning. Dropped off the bag, had one at Nine Fine and headed out. Hit a bar at Aria on the way to the Cosmo.
The "stay up all the first night" thing worked out as planned, no real issues getting through the night. Spent a good part of the evening at Cosmo and then worked my way back to NYNY and was able to check in early by asking the casino host there to arrange it. Was in room by 11a-ish and asleep by noon. Probably will do this going forward to squeeze in an extra night on trips.
Saturday evening, after 3 (4?) shots on the way, got to PH and the Soundgarden/NIN show. Both bands were great. SG sounded better than I thought they would, and NIN was typically amazing. The Axis venue had good acoustics and the light show from NIN was awesome. So glad I was able to cross that off the life list.
Saturday night after the show was the standout night of the trip. The rest of Saturday early after the show is fuzzy. Sure there was more Cosmo in there. But then I went to "After" at Mandalay, an after hours club that STARTED at 3a. Grabbed a cocktail and watched the early part of the final round of the British Open on the back room TV. Really a great time, actually. Felt like I had my own little club to myself with house music and the occasional drunk person stumbling through. Saw the sun come up getting back to the room.
Sunday, woke up pretty late and went and had appetizers and beers and shots at Todd English's PUB at Aria, and got pretty wasted with one of the few personable bartenders I met on the trip. Rest of Sunday is pretty fuzzy, I took a nap and went back out late night; Vegas is really DEAD late on Sunday nights. Not sure what everyone was doing but they weren't partying. Went to MGM and hung out for a while, but it was basically "old single guy sitting alone at the bar" for me. which was actually a theme of the trip. Got in late again, probably hit the pillow around 5a.
Monday was not the best day. I woke up and was hoping to re-kindle the fun time I had at TE PUB the day before but it was dead in there and the bartender was fucking annoying. Just kind of went from bar to bar being bored, not really interacting with anyone. Had a pretty good meal at Fix at Bellagio. Basically broke even on slots all day, which was one good thing, but by around 10p I had hit the wall and was cranky and having a shit time so I just went back to the room and crashed out at around 11p. Slept ALL night until about 9 in the morning Tuesday, and felt a lot better. Just needed the sleep catch up, I guess...note to self for future trips.
Tuesday morning I checked out of NYNY (another clean, quiet, comfortable room, NY hasn't steered me wrong yet) and flirted with the idea of upgrading my room from Harrah's to something else since I still had a shit ton of money but decided to just go get breakfast at the Henry at Cosmo. This was one of the best decisions of the trip. I had steak and eggs, and it was amazing. Huge, perfectly cooked steak, eggs were fabulous, really, really great. I felt like I had eaten the Hindenburg, but it was worth it.
Worked my way over to Harrah's and checked in...wow is Harrah's the poster child for rudimentary and cheap accommodations. It was comped which is why I booked it, but yeah, never again. Had a lovely view of all the AC ducting outside my window and they are in the middle of a remodel so constant drilling noises through the paper-thin walls. Didn't end up mattering much as since I was all slept up I just headed out after checking in. Location was the one saving grace of Harrah's as it was right across the street from Mirage so I was able to work out my Mlife card over there. Continued to try to throw away money in the slots and they wouldn't let me, kept hitting little break even jackpots all day.
Made my way to a "dive" bar at Venetian called Rock House and ogled an impossibly fine bartender for a while while watching the Giants play a 14 inning game. Had a hot dog, which aside from breakfast was all I ate all day. Pretty good time in there. Then made my way over to The Linq thing in the alley across from Caesars. More "old single guy sitting alone at the bar" in a couple places. Hit the new Cromwell, which is nice in a generic sort of way. More break even gambling and drinking of shots there. Tried to get into Drai's but I had my Giants jersey on so they cock-blocked me.
Made my way back to Harrah's and break even gambled a little more in there, then hit bed by around 4a. Wednesday morning I got checked out and headed back across the street to try to throw some money away at Mirage, again no luck. I ended up leaving the strip Wednesday mid-day with the same amount of cash on hand that I had at the end of the night Monday. Got to the airport around 12:30 for a 1:45 flight that DIDN'T END UP TAKING OFF UNTIL DAMN NEAR 4P. Fuck. The goddamn POTUS flying out of SFO delayed it. By that point I just wanted to be home in my hobbit hole.
All in all, after being back for a week it was really a pretty great trip. Little hiccup on Monday when everything caught up to me but definitely a long, fun and not too financially damaging trip. Actually was able to spring for a new laptop after getting back that I'm writing this on now, so...thanks for not raping me on slots, Vegas!
Going to take a couple months off of obsessing about Vegas, now...next trip: Xmas. Probably start posting again in October when I start saving for that trip. Going to try to live something resembling a life here in the City for a while. See ya later.
The flight in was delayed (Southwest screwing the pooch on this trip will be a theme) first by 45 minutes, then by over an hour. As a result I didn't even get into town until one in the morning. Dropped off the bag, had one at Nine Fine and headed out. Hit a bar at Aria on the way to the Cosmo.
The "stay up all the first night" thing worked out as planned, no real issues getting through the night. Spent a good part of the evening at Cosmo and then worked my way back to NYNY and was able to check in early by asking the casino host there to arrange it. Was in room by 11a-ish and asleep by noon. Probably will do this going forward to squeeze in an extra night on trips.
Saturday evening, after 3 (4?) shots on the way, got to PH and the Soundgarden/NIN show. Both bands were great. SG sounded better than I thought they would, and NIN was typically amazing. The Axis venue had good acoustics and the light show from NIN was awesome. So glad I was able to cross that off the life list.
Saturday night after the show was the standout night of the trip. The rest of Saturday early after the show is fuzzy. Sure there was more Cosmo in there. But then I went to "After" at Mandalay, an after hours club that STARTED at 3a. Grabbed a cocktail and watched the early part of the final round of the British Open on the back room TV. Really a great time, actually. Felt like I had my own little club to myself with house music and the occasional drunk person stumbling through. Saw the sun come up getting back to the room.
Sunday, woke up pretty late and went and had appetizers and beers and shots at Todd English's PUB at Aria, and got pretty wasted with one of the few personable bartenders I met on the trip. Rest of Sunday is pretty fuzzy, I took a nap and went back out late night; Vegas is really DEAD late on Sunday nights. Not sure what everyone was doing but they weren't partying. Went to MGM and hung out for a while, but it was basically "old single guy sitting alone at the bar" for me. which was actually a theme of the trip. Got in late again, probably hit the pillow around 5a.
Monday was not the best day. I woke up and was hoping to re-kindle the fun time I had at TE PUB the day before but it was dead in there and the bartender was fucking annoying. Just kind of went from bar to bar being bored, not really interacting with anyone. Had a pretty good meal at Fix at Bellagio. Basically broke even on slots all day, which was one good thing, but by around 10p I had hit the wall and was cranky and having a shit time so I just went back to the room and crashed out at around 11p. Slept ALL night until about 9 in the morning Tuesday, and felt a lot better. Just needed the sleep catch up, I guess...note to self for future trips.
Tuesday morning I checked out of NYNY (another clean, quiet, comfortable room, NY hasn't steered me wrong yet) and flirted with the idea of upgrading my room from Harrah's to something else since I still had a shit ton of money but decided to just go get breakfast at the Henry at Cosmo. This was one of the best decisions of the trip. I had steak and eggs, and it was amazing. Huge, perfectly cooked steak, eggs were fabulous, really, really great. I felt like I had eaten the Hindenburg, but it was worth it.
Worked my way over to Harrah's and checked in...wow is Harrah's the poster child for rudimentary and cheap accommodations. It was comped which is why I booked it, but yeah, never again. Had a lovely view of all the AC ducting outside my window and they are in the middle of a remodel so constant drilling noises through the paper-thin walls. Didn't end up mattering much as since I was all slept up I just headed out after checking in. Location was the one saving grace of Harrah's as it was right across the street from Mirage so I was able to work out my Mlife card over there. Continued to try to throw away money in the slots and they wouldn't let me, kept hitting little break even jackpots all day.
Made my way to a "dive" bar at Venetian called Rock House and ogled an impossibly fine bartender for a while while watching the Giants play a 14 inning game. Had a hot dog, which aside from breakfast was all I ate all day. Pretty good time in there. Then made my way over to The Linq thing in the alley across from Caesars. More "old single guy sitting alone at the bar" in a couple places. Hit the new Cromwell, which is nice in a generic sort of way. More break even gambling and drinking of shots there. Tried to get into Drai's but I had my Giants jersey on so they cock-blocked me.
Made my way back to Harrah's and break even gambled a little more in there, then hit bed by around 4a. Wednesday morning I got checked out and headed back across the street to try to throw some money away at Mirage, again no luck. I ended up leaving the strip Wednesday mid-day with the same amount of cash on hand that I had at the end of the night Monday. Got to the airport around 12:30 for a 1:45 flight that DIDN'T END UP TAKING OFF UNTIL DAMN NEAR 4P. Fuck. The goddamn POTUS flying out of SFO delayed it. By that point I just wanted to be home in my hobbit hole.
All in all, after being back for a week it was really a pretty great trip. Little hiccup on Monday when everything caught up to me but definitely a long, fun and not too financially damaging trip. Actually was able to spring for a new laptop after getting back that I'm writing this on now, so...thanks for not raping me on slots, Vegas!
Going to take a couple months off of obsessing about Vegas, now...next trip: Xmas. Probably start posting again in October when I start saving for that trip. Going to try to live something resembling a life here in the City for a while. See ya later.
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