Post Mortem, April 2021.

Back in the hobbit hole after 5 days in the desert.

Twas a trip. Fairly normal as trips for me go these days, with a couple twists. One being the above photo. But we'll get to that. Again not a blow by blow because ain't nobody got time for that. Just some general impressions again.

Flights:

Southwest came through fine on this trip. Both flights were on time and uneventful, which is all I ask. Buying Early Bird check in for both flights was money well spent. Got first 6 rows aisle seat both times. Today's flight would have been awful if in the last groups boarded. Played the airport game well, TSA lines not too crazy nor was my wait time for either flight.

Resort:

Aria was fine. Got up to the room right away on Wednesday with mobile check in. Room was just what was expected, the normal vanilla standard room with a strip facing view. Could see everything from PH to MGM from the 15th floor. Nothing compared to the Cosmo FV but not bad for the price. Aria really showing that it hasn't been reno'd since opening. Chips/bumps on furniture, discoloration on carpets, and as I've chronicled the blandness of the room does nothing for me in general. But it was a comfortable bed, had little to no neighbor noise and I was able to sleep OK. Again overall fine for what it is. A good base to attack the strip if nothing else.

Food: 

Only made it to one reservation, the one at Carbone on my birthday last night. Not really that great. Expensive and the veal parm was whatever. Spicy Rigatoni pretty good. Overall OK. Used up my Ex Comps but forgot to use the $50 or resort credit I had so that went unused, which was a bummer. Everything else was random drop in meals. Did Holstein's in Cosmo for the excellent buffalo dip they do. Javier's for chicken mole. The Pub at Aria and the Hollywood cafe at PH two mornings for brekkie. Yardhouse one lunch and Ri Ra another. Rock House a couple nights for popcorn shrimp, because it was easy and I was there to watch the Giants anyway. Nothing really memorable this time on food. Never did use any Identity points so that'll be a decent amount next trip.

Drinking:

Plentiful, but actually pretty controlled this time. I was "drinking" all day every day, but not just shoving shots into me every 20 minutes like on past trips. Never felt like I was wrecked at any point. Don't feel wrecked now after 5 days of bendering. Mostly mixed drinks at Electra and Vesper and a few other random places, shots at Chandelier while playing VP. Saw Evan and Dan so that was good. Evan and I were texting almost all trip it was nice to have a virtual Vegas buddy. As above Rock House a couple nights, Fuel once but it's still not the real deal, Bird Bar one night which was fun. Didn't overdo it this trip so good for me. 

Body:

Mostly fine. Was a little tired after the first long day so was in pretty early that night, probably before 1a, slept OK and was mostly fine the next day, then after some not great sleep on the Friday I decided for some reason to get an IV at Cosmo. I didn't think it really made me feel any better but that night I went deep until 4a so maybe it did. In any case not worth the $200 I spent on it. Then last night after the "thing" I stayed up a little later but was still out by 2a. Again not feeling terrible right now but will probably sleep well tonight. Insulin in the mornings went fine. I'm sure it helped but I didn't feel any different/better from previous trips that I could tell. Not doing shitty blow like the previous trip probably helped a lot. All in all I survived, which is always job one on these abuse-a-thons.

The Strip:

FUCK weekends on the strip. Now I remember why I don't do them anymore. The crowd right now on weekends is 90% trash and 100% pre-COVID levels. I seriously am going to look at re-scheduling my July trip to be a weekday-er. I was never happier Saturday night to be back in a hotel room after a night on the strip after having to walk from Venetian to Cosmo. Nightmare. Taxi lines too deep to be able to get one. Stupid people everywhere. Scammers. Hookers. No seats at any bar. Just impossible. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday were fine, and I was out so late Friday that it didn't seem SO bad, but fuck that Saturday.

Gambling:

Oh, the gambling. Despite having a should have been comfortable $1K budget each day the gambling was the thorn in the side on this trip. Actually had a good first day, hit $600 on a Crazy Rich Asians machine (which I ended up paying back over the course of the rest of the trip), and $300 on VP late Thursday so I was up for the trip to start day 2. Then I went Foreigner...Cold As Ice. Could not hit anything anywhere for 3 days straight. Was just blowing through cash like a republican president. Got a little angry and sad and was having the same luck early Sunday. by the end of the day I was resolved to coming home with almost nothing, and when "it" happened I was just randomly throwing money in random machines at Cosmo on the way up to the room in a state of angergamble. 

In this state I threw what was probably going to be my last $100 in a floor VP machine before going upstairs, played $1 which I usually don't do and hit 4 aces with the kicker. $4000 hand pay. The biggest hand pay I've ever had in Vegas, by double. Instantly I was up cash in pocket for the trip, about 20 minutes before I intended it to end. It was almost like Vegas saying fuck you for all the tweets about how bad the gambling had been the last 3 days. This was an instant mood improver, and I stupidly threw about $600 back in more random machines trying to chase the win, but still left town with $4200 in cash out of the $5K I came in with. Again, still not up for a trip, as ever, but I'll take it. I'm both sad and happy it didn't happen earlier in the tip, I would have been in a better mood if it had but I also probably would have had time to give most of it back.

So yeah.

This will be a trip that will be remembered for something that happened about an hour before it in effect ended. It'll allow me to pay off some debt and start the summer with a clean financial slate and be in a good seed position to save for the July trip in 3 months.