Next After Next.

Took advantage of low rates still in place due to the coof, and booked the summer Vegas trip.

Going to do almost a carbon copy trip of the April one, going in on the 15th of July, a Thursday, and bouncing on Tuesday the 20th, so five nights again, like April. Booked up at Aria again, if they continue to give me weekend room rates of less than $30/night for a strip view room I'll continue to take them. Again total room overhead with resort fees just over $400, for a 5-star joint center strip. Depending on how I do on Identity on the April trip I may do some or all nights at Cosmo if they are comped, but otherwise being right next door is fine.

No flights booked yet, round trips with a bag are around $200 right now so we'll see if they drop a bit before booking. I could use Allegiant vouchers for one of the legs if need be, but flying out of Oakland is never ideal, especially since I'm a 10 minute Uber ride from SFO from work. Speaking of work, since I'm going over a weekend it'll only cost me 3 PTO days. 

After this cold winter here I'm looking forward to a nice warm Vegas trip in summer. Should be toasty which never really bothers me. Assuming all goes well with the virus, things should be opened up for the most part by then too, according to the reopening road map Nevada pushed out last week. Maybe the first normal Vegas trip in what will be over a year and a half by that point. To be able to see a show, go to places like Fuel in full flow and sit within 6 feet of someone at the bars (assuming cute female) will be nice as hell.

Resorts World hopefully will be open by then, they are targeting "summer" as their opening window, so that would be fun to check out. First fully new from the ground up resort on strip in the entire time I've been going there. Virgin (the old Hard Rock) off-strip will be open by then too. Good reason to cab over there and check it (and Double Down up the street) out, if I don't make it in April.

So with April booked, now July and the inevitable Xmas trip, that's 3 trips almost surely happening this year. We'll see where we are with the finances and work situation later in the year, I may be able to squeeze in one more short trip over a weekend somewhere, maybe Labor Day? I'll have $300 in monthly debt payments coming off the books in July so I may be able to afford a quickie. Hell, if it ends up being a 4-trip year, three of them might end up being normal fucking Vegas trips, knock wood. 

Liking the over-weekend, 5-night/4-day trip structure for these first two 2021 trips too. Backing off on last year's mega trips is a good idea to make sure I've got gas in my tank for the full time on the ground and not hitting the wall like on the Xmas marathon. Vegas on the weekends should be busier, more fun and more open than the ghost town I experienced over weekdays in 2020. Lessons learned and applied.

Things may be looking up - optimism abounds, and I'm getting the Vegas bug back.