The Plan, June 2020.

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 be a very different, somewhat challenging trip. So - here we go, and this post could and probably will update the closer we get.

-Saturday

Fly in day. I'll get the first taste today of what air travel looks like. What will be the level of mask use when on the ground? What will resort entry look like in a temp-checking world? I'm going to try to be patient with all of it. Getting to the resort should be normal-ish, if flight on time should be there around 6:30p. Then once I'm there it's a cab to Cosmo and can check in right away since I arrive late-ish. This was the added night so I'm probably going to take it relatively easy. Getting some dinner at Crush at the Grand; after that, have a few drinks, ease into it. Maybe hang pretty close to the Cosmo. Likely not much gambling as the spend limit will be slightly lower. Still intend to have fun, fun good time.

-Sunday

TOTAL feeling out process for this first day. Again - patience, bars may not be open, much of the strip will NOT be open, this will be the day to feel out the situation on the ground and hopefully find some touchpoints to orient the trip. If I can map out 5-10 places I can comfortably do my Vegas thing on the strip, those might be the places I spend the bulk of my time. This will be the day/night to scope those out. Maybe some light gambling, probably not much more than some warm-up V/P to help pass the time. Night time - after a dinner reservation at the awesome Jaleo in the Cosmo, more exploration time, to set the stage for how the rest of the trip will go.

-Monday

Most definitely going to try to pace my body on this trip, I'm in no shape for a 5-day rager right now after having sat on my ass for most of the last 2 1/2 months. So the mantra in the mornings will be relax. Sleep in, read the news on the iPad, listen to some music, take in the (hopefully nice) view, enjoy what a 5-star resort room has to offer. Not even getting out of the room until noon will not be a shame on this trip. So, having probably stuck to some comfort zones the first day, maybe branch out a bit today. Check out the new Sahara and Strat up north during the day maybe, or even cab out to Red Rock this day or Tues for some discovery. Back to the strip by 5:30p for a reservation at Yellowtail at Bellagio, to start using up those Express Comps. Go go go after dinner, until I stop going.

-Tuesday

More of same from Monday, no actual plans aside from dinner, hopefully by this time I will have mapped out the best ins and outs to do at least something resembling a normal trip. Can start to more industriously gamble at this point, no reason to leave the $900/day bankroll in pocket. Plan to eat well, do some exploration and see if maybe I can add a few new tricks to my Vegas dog. The eating well will be helped as I will be having my Mlife points splurge meal at Prime steakhouse in Bellagio. Supposed to be a good one, will knock it off my list of the big steakhouses I've done in Vegas. 

-Wednesday

Lounge in room early, see what we can see daytime as on previous two days. In the evening I will be among the first to get back into the stellar Delmonico at Venetian, it's their reopening night which should be fun. After that we'll do what we can do on the party tip. Not sure what that will look like but by this point there's no use leaving any ammo in the guns. Hopefully lounges will be open at least to table service if no room at-bar.

-Thursday

Last day in town. No plans at all as I always try to leave the last day. Gamble the money. No matter what I'm not coming back broke from this trip so unless the machines are beating me down now's the time to try to get back some of what has presumably been lost. All Mlife resorts, all the time. Which is likely to mean Bellagio, the Grand and NYNY. No reason to hold back this day in any sense. I will likely have a nice bankroll built up so no need to scale back the party, as I have a late afternoon flight out, so I can sleep in as much as possible. Party. On. Wayne.

-Friday

Fly out day. 3p flight, sleeping in and recovering as much as possible before making the taxi ride of shame to the airport. Maybe get late check out? Hopefully all on time and back to the hobbit hole by 5p, with the weekend to recover from my wounds.

And there you have it. Despite the ifs, ands or buts it should prove to be if nothing else an interesting trip, and frankly that may be all it needs to be at this point to help me salvage some sanity after being largely locked in my room for the last nearly 3 months. 

Governor Steve, make the call tomorrow and let's get this one in the books.