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

Slightly hard to fathom, but I sit here, typing this, one week from a fucking Vegas trip. I had hoped early June would be the time frame, but it had been put off so many times since this mess started that when it finally came together it was/is a bit of a shock. A week from this moment I will be just about arriving at the airport to kick off a 5 day, 6 night boozy bonanza in the desert. I'm ready. Shit, I've BEEN ready, since March, when this trip was supposed to happen. That trip would have been at the Delano, which won't even be open when I'm there next week. Seems like a year ago that I was within a few days of going then had the rug pulled out from under me. It's good to have the rug back. I like my Vegas rug. It keeps me going.  Took a little stress off the Mlife credit card last night, bumped up my credit limit to $6000, I was never going to seriously threaten the limit I had, but this just gives me a bit of cushion so I don't have to even think about it w...

Finally, our long (not very) National (personal) nightmare (mild inconvenience) is over. I'm talking about me being able to go back to Vegas, of course. What did you think I was talking about? The date is official  - June 4. I will arrive 2 days later, triumphantly. Gov Sisolak made the state call yesterday and all the resorts are getting signed off on their reopen plans today. A bunch of them have already announced for day one, 6/4. Cosmo of course. Wynn too. No Venetian yet, but presumably just a matter of time as they are accepting reservations for that date. The best news to come out of the last 24 hours? Bars will part of reopening. Socially distanced, but bars. BARS. My hopes for a more sober, relaxing vacation without liver assault are dashed. I'm gutted, really. To be sure this won't be the full-service Vegas I've become used to - many resorts will be closed. In that first week, on the MGM side it'll just be Bellagio, NYNY, and the Grand. For CET, just Cae...

Ah, it feels lovely to be able to create a plan post again. It's been 5 months since I could.  Feels like eons since the Xmas trip. That was a cold, rainy week, and while it was fun as always, 2019 had been a year of 7 (!) Vegas trips, so it was a bit washed out in the way that it wasn't very out of the ordinary last year. This upcoming trip will be the longest gap between trips since the 2013/14 era. It was long and feels longer. So much uncertainty this year since I was forced to cancel the March trip literally a few days before going. Since then it's been the great unknown, in Vegas life and in life life. Nearly 3 months later here we are, finally, 2 weeks away from trip one of 2020. There's still more than a bit of uncertainty. Assuming the June 4th announcement is made tomorrow for casino reopen, there are still a lot of details to be worked out. I've written about those things in previous posts so I won't rehash them to death here. Suffice to say it could...

Not much to speak of on this one.The big savings come from the room rate. -6 nights at Cosmopolitan in a Terrace Studio Room, all-in cost $650.80 would be $1399.12 if booking standard rate online. Savings of $748.32. Crazy. -Will have right on $150 in MGM Express Comps to utilize, probably 1 1/2 splurge meals. That's...pretty much it this time. Total savings of $898.12. Not bad. Paid full boat on the flight, the flight credit I had with Alaska got used to book the August trip. I still have those two bullshit $25 Restaurant.com certs but I doubt seriously I'll ever use them as I'm trying to pump meals on the Mlife card (MGM restos) to max points. No more myVegas things anymore, thank Jeebus for being free of that scam. Still, six nights including a Saturday in a 5-Star resort in the center of the strip for the all-in cost of less than $110/night? Can't beat that. The room will likely have a south strip view, which, whatever. The one tower that will be open won't have...

  Possible light at end of dark tunnel The Gov of Nevada has announced casinos to be "on track" for a June 4 opening. Of course, he's going to make us all edge through the long weekend until making an "official" announcement on Tuesday, but I would submit that if he tweeted this now then changed his mind Tuesday he'd have the Holy Roman Empire beating down the gates of the Nevada statehouse shortly after. Of which I would be part. So working on the assumption this date is set, that will be March 17 - June 4. Only a little over two months but it feels like two years. Two months of cancelled reservations, booking and re-booking based on best guesses, and general hand-wringing look to nearly be over. As it stands, my June 7th booking at Cosmopolitan is a motherfucking GO. That open date gives them 2 days to sort out the various new physical procedures that'll be happening around the resorts before I would arrive. Looks like most will do temperature scanning...

Potentially less than 3 weeks out from a Vegas trip. Maybe. Nobody knows. Nevada still tight lipped about the opening date for resorts. They've opened up retail and dining to some extent, still no drink-only bars. Doing some feverish math in my head, and based on the current best guesses, June 1st is the consensus earliest date that can happen at this point. If Sisolak announces resorts can open that date, that gives exactly 10 days for the resorts to get their shit together before opening. That date would be about perfect for me, as my current first booking is 6/6. That would give the resorts a week of open time to get settled and into a routine before I would arrive. I don't really want to be a guinea pig that first week as there will no doubt be a lot of confusion and uncertainty. I don't do well with confusion and uncertainty. There may be a lot of changes. Will bars be open? Will masks be required? Will guests wear them? Will enough resorts be open to even make strip w...

Still no clarity on Vegas, but more clarity in life. We would appear to be closer on the timescale to the resorts opening than how long it's been since they closed. Nevada has begun a very slow process to start re-opening, starting with low-density things like parks and golf courses. Casinos would seem to be several phases later in the plan. The problem is the governor has not made the timeline for the plan clear, so the resorts and all their potential patrons are still in a waiting game. Even well connected sources like the @VitalVegas Twitter feed/blog have no solid info beyond rumor, really. A few of the resorts have said they are going to start bringing back staff to prepare for opening, but that seems almost as much hopeful thinking than having any idea what the "go" date will be. Some resorts are still taking reservations in May, others have blacked out May and still others are saying they definitely WON'T reopen until mid June. The smart thinking/g...