Vegas Week.

It's a Vegas week.

It almost doesn't seem real after four full months of NoVegas, but the wait is finally almost over, and I have a good almost 5 days coming up. Boozing, fooding, chasing tail and winning enough money to quit my job are the orders of the trip.

The iPad is all loaded up with the 10th anniversary playlist. It's a greatest hits list of all the memorable playlists from the past 37 trips. From Animation on trip 1 to Exercise 4 from last year. Also have a few other playlists loaded up in case I'm feeling a different mood. One with smooth, classy stuff, another with all "fun" songs, and a couple others for various vibes. Alongside the iPad the trusty JBL wireless cans and the UE Boom II will be along for the ride as always. In the charge up mode on all devices and getting them ready to roll.

Southwest early bird check in hits tomorrow. Should get me closer to the head of the line on the normal SW cattle call boarding. Haven't done SW in years, hope it goes as smoothly as Alaska normally does. This rate was half of what anyone else was running so a no-brainer. Will leave the Corolla in the work garage and just Uber to SFO Wednesday morn. I could have left it in the hood this time but I feel better leaving it in a controlled, secured environment. It's worth a couple Uber rides for that.

I booked Aria for this trip in the first week of January, literally a couple days back from the last trip. And for once I stuck with an original reservation instead of booking/rebooking constantly. A better offer combo of resort/price/location just never came along. Totally fine with it. The Deluxe rooms at Aria are a tad bland and aged, but as I've said ad nauseum it's an upgraded room at a 5-star for around $80 a night all in. That's just silly. If I can't stay at Cosmo this is about the best 2nd option, all factors considered. In the end I got good offers from Wynn and V/P too, but both still would have worked out to double what I'm paying at Aria. Shouldn't have to worry about desk check in, I have a non-upgradable room and can mobile check in before I'm wheels down so I should be able to hit the kiosk for keys and head straight up.

The weather forecast for the week is even better as it gets closer, looking like high 80's day for most of the trip, maybe touching low 90's on the last day. Ideal. It's been so cold here it will be nice to feel some heat on my face for once.

This may be the last restricted trip I'll have to take to town. Apparently if all stays quiet on the virus the state is 100% reopening on June 1st. Masks will still be in place but aside from that no capacity or distance restrictions. Truly hope that's the case. If it can be done safely it'll make for a rager of a July trip. In reality though the 50% restrictions I'm walking into won't hinder my enjoyment much. For weeks that don't have big events or conventions in town the strip runs at less than 50% cap anyway. The restrictions are mostly symbolic at this point.

So a milestone 10th anniversary trip will help celebrate another milestone of surviving another year of life. Let's get the 10/53 trip popping off, already.