It's Not A Bender, It's A Lifestyle.

Countdown almost done. 4 days at the lovely Aria begins Tuesday at around noon. Pretty much everything good to go. Money is pulled out of the bank, $3800 will be the final number. A little less than my usual $4K for 4 days but even with a couple beers at the airport and tipping the limo driver at LAS it's still $3700+, AND I just got a $1500 unsolicited bump in my Capitol One card credit limit, so I'm more than covered. I never go to Vegas with money as no object, but for the way I do Vegas it usually covers everything comfortably. I gamble but I don't like to lose much, so if I'm getting my ass handed to me it's off to the bars. No matter how much I drink I can't drink a thousand dollars a day. Looking at "The Plan" for this one, it IS quite the plan, I have most of my time pretty well mapped except for Friday, but that was the goal this time, to NOT be rambling up and down the Strip getting exhausted and pissed off. Aside from Wednes...

Starting to wonder if my Vegas obsession is beginning to wane. Doing another 4-trip year again, barring something dramatic happening at work or in life, but the laser-focus I had on Vegas-as-end-all-and-be-all of my vacation life is beginning to dull a bit. I still look forward to my trips, I'm certainly looking forward to next week, but I'm not as fevered as I used to be in say 2013 or 2014, where if I wasn't IN Vegas I was planning or thinking or dreaming about Vegas. Has Vegas become, dare I say, a little too routine? If there's one thing that I'm realizing about my trips is, they really aren't very relaxing. I mean, I have fun while I'm there, but it's tiring and draining too. There's a lot of walking, dealing with crowds, drinking heavily, handling logistics. I come back from a Vegas trip generally tired out and needing a couple days to decompress and get over it, which I seldom have. I'm thankful that next week I'll at least have...

Another good haul on Mlife and myVegas this trip. On paper the best yet. -1 comped room night and a $69 rate on the other 3, normally $180 X 4 so saves about $500. -$50 in Freeplay (slots) -$150 in resort credit (food/bev) -myVegas Times Square drinks credit: $50 -myVegas Public House credit: $20 =$750 saved over what a non Mlife/myVegas person would pay. That's offset by the fact that I actually AM paying for a room this time. as opposed to my normal full comp, but a little over $200 for 4 nights at Aria is a steal, and even with tax and the devil Resort Fees I come in not too much over $300. I've always said I want to start staying at the nicer MGM properties, and if I can bad gamble close to Mlife Gold again the full comp offers for the better places may start coming my way. I got a taste for the good life last Xmas staying at Cosmopolitan; I think my days of staying at NYNY or MC may be nearly over (nice as NYNY is). Add to all this the insane $100 flight I...

Flight gets in around 12:30p, I booked a "shared" limo ride to Aria, so hopefully that's seamless and at $32 round trip (plus tip) it'll save me a little dosh. Drop my bag and stake out a spot in a bar (Alibi?) and hopefully have just a couple before being able to check in. Check in around 2p hopefully (doing mobile check in), head up, freshen up; doubtful I'll need a nap as it'll be a normal night's sleep the night before, no super early wake up call this time. Then down to the casino floor, hit a bar or 5, play a few slots, see what shakes out. 6p reservations at Carbone in Aria, gotta start using up the $150 in resort credit. Then after eating my night is open. Depending on the weather I may stick around Aria until it cools down a bit. The rest of the night - no plans at all. Giants game at 7p, so there's that. Undoubtedly will spend time at the always happening Cosmopolitan, and probably shuttle between there and Aria, drinking heavily and...

Aaaand we're back to Vegas again the first week of September. Seeing Coldplay at the new T-Mobile Arena. Been looking for an act to get me to check out the new joint and one of my fave bands is as good a reason as any, Flying in on a Wednesday, out on a Sunday. Bit of a late out again (after 7p) but the price for the flight was too good. Getting away from Jetblue this time b/c for some strange reason they were charging over $200 for every return flight on that Sunday. So it's United this time, $115 done and dusted on the fare. Whatever. It's an hour and a half flight, I don't need a damn entertainment system in my seat anyway. The seats aren't the greatest, but for about a hundie they're decently close. It's in the upper deck but at least it's a seat, no SRO this time like the Cure will be. Snuck in early on a Citi card pre-sale. I don't have a Citi card. Don't ask. Should be fun, Coldplay has slowly lost my attention in rece...

Little over a month to Vegas trip #2 of the year. Not really hyped yet. Should be a good one, most likely. Going to see one of my favorite bands, almost certainly for the last time. Can't imagine there'll be many more Cure tours after this one. Don't see Robert getting out there with teased out hair in his 70's. Money should be in a good place. Have $1500 socked away already and just need to double that with my last two checks before going. That with the $1K I'll have on the last day there from another paycheck will give me my full normal 1K per day complement. Besides seeing the show I don't really have much planned. I'll have a $150 resort credit at Aria so I'll likely book a couple dinner reservations there. As previously mentioned I'm probably going to spend a lot of time at Aria to stay away from the general fuckery of walking the strip in summer. Sure I'll spend most of the trip shuttling between Aria and Cosmo. Might try to make i...

I went to Vegas. I did things. This is a very delayed Post Mortem as I had no keyboard on my laptop. Killed it with liquid. This is a new keyboard on a new computer. EXCITING. Not the best, not the worst trip. As it's been a while I only have generalities in my head. Pretty much went according to plan, though there wasn't much of a plan. Flight in was good, not too busy, landed and went to MGM to hang out at Whiskey Down for a few hours. Worked over to NY to check in and had to wait around as nothing was available, so had a beverage in Nine Fine while waiting. Finally got up to room, typical clean, comfy NYNY room. 5 stays, 5 good rooms. Was on a corner so not much of a view. Went out, drank a lot in bars. Gambled a little, more or less broke even. I saw Beatles LOVE on the second day. Not quite as great as I remember from the first time, but still enjoyable. Ate at Portofino, it was meh. Went out, drank a lot in bars. Gambled a little, lost a lot. 3rd day, went out, ...