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

Another good haul of freebies from Mlife and myVegas on this trip. -3 comped room nights at NYNY: $117 a night so $351. -No resort fees for those 3 nights: $33.60 X 3 so $100.80 -$100 resort credit -$75 Freeplay -Shark Reef at MB myVegas ticket: $20 -$75 off $150 Tender Steakhouse myVegas reward: $75 -Free drink at Hexx: $14 Total freebies: $736. Damn. The overhead (1 night's room, resort fee and the flight) is only about $200 so a hell of a net haul on this trip. Far better than the Aria trip. I'm up $500+ before I step off the plane. So despite my love/hate thing with Mlife, and especially myVegas, it's still worth the bother at this point. I may jump ship again and go back to Cosmopolitan for the Xmas trip, as it was pretty awesome last year to close out the year feeling like a prince in that amazing room, but MGM is still keeping me in the 4 trips a year game when I might not be otherwise. 5 weeks.

The plan for trip #3 this year is set. A little planning, but not too much. Wednesday, early flight in, doing the Bell Limo thing again, good value and no potential long-hauling by the shitty taxi drivers. Find a bar to hang out in for a while until check-in, then maybe get a quick nap depending on how I feel. Probably just get around after that, do the Cosmo thing, wander the strip and see what turns up, get something to eat somewhere, no plans at all on day one, nice "ease into it" day. Thursday is "plan day". Probably will sleep in a bit to recover from the early wakeup call Wed, then the morning/afternoon is a myVegas redemption day. Going to see the Shark Reef attraction there, probably will be touristy but I'm fascinated by sharks and have never been up close to one, so eh. Then around 5p-ish I want to head up to the Foundation Room lounge at MB to check out what's supposed to be one of the best views in town. If there's any time I may go ...

T-minus 2 months until Vegas #3 of '16. Happenings are afoot. Got rid of my Mido watch, crown kept breaking, so a big Amazon gift card refund will result in some Vegas swag and other related buys. Got a few new golf-style polos to upgrade the appearance. I'm not a 20-year old anymore, I can't keep showing up at the Cosmo on Saturday nights wearing a faded old t-shirt. Looking at maybe a luggage piece - would be my first, I've always just thrown the Vegas trip stuff in a backpack, but as many times as I go to town per year now it's probably time to get a damn rolling carry-on bag and be done with it. The backpack gets tedious to carry on those long airport walks. Also got a Kindle and some new quality earbuds for the airport/waiting around time while traveling. Got a new watch as well, kind of a splurge purchase that I'll have to pay down a bit before the trip. Was on a German watch retailer site and they had Bruno Sohnle Glasshutte watches at half price...