Next.

Back to the Vegas in mid July to see Alice In Chains at the Palms.

Going to try to replicate the pretty great trip I had last year seeing NIN/Soundgarden at about the same time of year. I've never seen AIC and have seen some of the new vocalist's work on Youtube and he certainly has chops. Is it the same as seeing the band with Layne? No, but it's not the rest of the band's fault that the dumbass OD'd. General admission (floor) ticket bought, should be hot and loud and close to the stage. Nice.

Flight booked for less than $200, fly in Friday night late and will stay Sat/Sun/Mon and fly back in the afternoon Tuesday. No room Friday night, squeezing in the extra night of fun. Should have no trouble arranging early check-in and out as I did last time which was great. Will only miss two days of work as per usual.

No room booked yet, I have a couple offers in hand for three nights with a little Freeplay and RC that are bookable until the end of this month, so holding out for perhaps a better offer before pulling the trigger. As it stands I could stay 3 nights at any of Monte Carlo, NYNY or Mandalay. Mandalay probably out as it's just so damn far away from where I hang out on the Strip. Other two are fine, just might see if something for Aria or Bellagio comes through. Unlikely. Also have a 2-night comp offer for Cosmopolitan but that would mean having to shuffle between resorts again which sucked the last time I did it.

And so the hype train revs up again. Will start saving up on the next check, so 2 1/2 full months of save up time, about normal. Shoot for around $3500 spending money for the 3 days and a night. Should be no problem.

Bring on July and let it Rain When I Die.

UPDATE: 

So the hotel is booked and it is...NYNY!!! (yawn.)

Was a little worried about waiting too long to book a room in the middle of the summer so I decided to take advantage of the Mlife offer I had in hand and just go with Old Trustworthy. This will be the 4th time I've stayed at NYNY. I've finally started seeing some offers from the "big dogs" of MGM resorts, I could have booked two nights at Bellagio or Aria or Delano, but it was Su-Thu only which wasn't going to work on this trip, as I come in on Friday. Same thing w/Cosmopolitan.

Eh, I imagine those offers will be around in some form when the Xmas trip happens so maybe I'll get into a higher end place on that trip. I do love NYNY, the rooms are smallish but always clean and quiet and the location works fine for me. I'm actually up for the year money wise there too so there's that whole "luck" thing. Uh huh.

Same basic terms as the MC trip last time, $50 in Freeplay, $25 resort credit and I didn't use any of my Express Comps last time so I have $50 of that built up too. Rooms as of tonight are running $120 a night during that weekend so already nearly $500 of freebies in play.

Let's do this. Hard rock and heat mid-Summer Vegas.