Turkey Post Mortem.

A week back from Turkey Vegas. Highlights:

Flights:

United. Flight in fine and ahead of time, no issues. Flight back I had to check my bag which added the better part of an hour to the fly out day. Was pretty tough getting up early on that fly out morning too, 10a is really too early for an out flight. Earbuds performed well on the trip and were easier to use than the JBL's.

Room:

Mandalay Bay standard room was fine. Had yet another in-room safe snafu that wasted some of my time the first morning but other than that no issues. Room was clean and well-maintained and housekeeping was on point. Had a high floor and view of Allegiant.

Resort:

Figured it was going to be pretty mellow at MB for the holiday but it was actually pretty busy Thursday to Saturday. Couldn't even get into Mlife line to load Freeplay until Sunday the line was so damn long every day. They've gotten rid of the desks and moved everything to the cage. Spent quite a bit of time, especially at night winding down the days at the resort though and it was enjoyable as always. Wish there were another couple on-site bars that stay open late but other than that it was good.

The Strip: 

Was fine I guess. I didn't really walk around that much, mostly cabbed it everywhere. Didn't seem overly busy but not as dead as last year Thanksgiving. Spent most of the time either at MB or V/P. Went to Luxor a couple times since it's right there. Cosmo only a couple times mostly to see George at Vesper. Aria a couple times. Wandered into Caesars one night. That was pretty much it resort-wise.

Drinking:

Every night except one spent at the Collective in V/P. Lot of staff dissent about working conditions and lack of staffing. Not really what you want to hear on the other side of the bar but when you go there as much as I do I guess you'll get some of that. Went to Rematch a few times, Fuel a couple times, did Foundation Room and Skyfall on the last day. Good times in both. Other than that it was a lot of vodka tonics at VP bars. Never too overdone but had solid hangovers every morning.

Food:

Cancelled both rezzys I had. Ate almost nothing on Turkey day itself. Did do Delmonico one night which was great, redeemed themselves after a couple not great steaks in past trips. Had some good pasta at Slice in the MB shops. MomoFuku for lunch one day, meh. Stripsteak was the big splurge meal on the last night, had an undercooked chicken thing, not great. A good omelette at Della's in Delano on last morning. Nothing much else to remember or recommend. 

Body:

Mostly OK, did have pretty spotty sleep a couple nights which left me a bit tired but was able to get naps a couple days which helped. Was never out too late aside from one 4a night. Hung in there for the most part but laid off the coke for the last day as I was starting to see some blood coming out the old nose. Felt pretty terrible on fly out day but managed to make it through the ordeal and get home. Definitely was a little in need of recovery over the past week. Having a few more days off after the Xmas trip will be better than having to go right back to work.

Gambling:

Crap mostly. Always stayed within the daily budget but ran up against it a couple times. Played almost exclusively VP, outside of a couple 4OAKs it was a shitty trip until the last evening where I finally hit 4 aces and a couple 4OAKs to come out with 2 days save left at the end. After paying rent and going out yesterday put $1200 back in the bank. Meh. Would have liked to hit something and come back with most of the save but them's the breaks.

Girls:

Mostly the invisible man but did make a little time with a lady at the Dorsey one night. She was actually waiting for some other guy that night who was coming into town but it was nice to at least be in the game for an hour. It's been so long. Ah well. I'm in no shape to bring anyone back to the room anymore anyway. I'd probably just pull every muscle in my sad body.

All in all a pretty standard trip. Some good times had, some experiences into the Vegas brain bank. Didn't really tweet that much on the live tweet but hopefully somebody out there got something out of it. Now a quick 3-week turnaround to Xmas Vegas.