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

One more go-out weekend in the City this coming weekend, then the Big Rut starts. Nearly 3 months of nothing. No going out, no buying anything, just saving up for 5 days in Vegas, almost 90 days in the future. It's a game I've played constantly for the past 6 years now. 3 months of saving and scrimping and having nothing to show for the time in things or experiences. it's just a big wait, a wait for a (not even a) week in the desert. It's almost like I'm putting my life on hold for half of the year, if I'm doing (minimum) 3 trips. In truth I'm sure I'll manage to get out at least a couple weekends of the 3 months, I'll go stir-crazy and put off a Vegas fund payment by two weeks, increasing the pain down the line for a furtive excursion on a Saturday. Usually that will be the first month (in this case October) of the save. Then reality will hit in November and there will be nothing but the Big Rut. Gotta have that $4K to blow on liters of liq...

A little over 3 months out from Vegas trip #4, VegasXmasalidocious. The hangover (literally and figuratively) from the last trip has more or less worn off. I still have a lingering sense of wariness about the way forward when it comes to my trips (i.e. am I going to continue to exclusively vacation in Vegas), but I'm getting jazzed for the Xmas trip, which is always my fave of the year. I've said it many times, I love the vibe and atmosphere in town over the holiday. I'm also jazzed to be staying at Caesars, which is a pretty amazing place to explore. Going to try to work in a show or two this time possibly, need to have more of plan for this trip but DAMN seeing a show in Vegas is expensive. At least $75+ for any decent show, and that's in the nosebleeds. Could do the myVegas redemption thing but that's only for two shows I've already seen. Maybe the "vary up the routine" will be more geographical rather than entertainment oriented. Maybe this ...

Finally all set for Xmas Vegas transportation. Used part of my left-over funds from last trip to pay for a flight back. I had booked the flight in a couple months ago with SWA points, but now finally had a good price drop show up on United so I booked it. Only $79. So with the $6 ticket for the flight in it's $85 on flight overhead, pretty good. I would like to have used my JetBlue $75 credit on this flight but all of their flights out of Vegas on that day are with a stop in fucking Long Beach which, no. So I'll save it for the next one, whenever that will be. That good price comes with a caveat though, it's a 6a flight. Normally that would be horrifying after 5 days in Vegas but since the night before is Xmas day it will likely be a pretty mellow night in town so I'll just party it up during the day and get into bed by about midnight so I can get a few hours of sleep then head to the airport. I'll be back here by 7:30a, which will give me a nice full two da...

Huh. What to say about this one. Not much TO say, really. It was about as standard a trip as there is for me...and there may be a problem brewing on that. Just some general impressions on this one as frankly a blow by blow would be boring for anyone reading this (like myself). -The flight in: Hell. I arrived at the airport before 4p. Early, but I figured, heck, I'll have time to relax, reset my head, have a couple beers and it'll be fine. That was when the flight was scheduled to leave at 7:04p. It didn't leave until after 11p. Thanks, JetBlue. I sat in the airport stewing for 7 fucking hours, totally ruined the first night in Vegas. I was supposed to be in town by 8:45, I wasn't there until 12:30a. JetBlue's compensation for all that? A $15 dollar food credit in the airport (no alcohol) and a $75 flight voucher afterwards. -The room: once I finally got into town, got over to Bally's and settled in. Changed my 2 queens room to a single king. It was plenty...

24 hours from...NOW I will be in the air on the way to the Veg-yaassss. All is ready. Laundry is done, I'm checked into my flight, the money's out of the bank and the plan is good. I lucked out tonight and finally sold my 2 tennis rackets that had been collecting dust for the past 3 years, so another $150 into the 1st night fund. Keeps me from having to worry about taking it easy so much. Maybe a beacon of good luck on the eve of the trip? Been trying to sell the bastards for a year or more. I'm 48, chubby and have a right knee held together with baling wire and bubble gum. It was time. One normal, hopefully full night of sleep. A go-through-the-motions half day of work tomorrow. Print all the stuff I need to print, then come home around 1p, park the car on the right side of the street, shave, shower, then...off to the bus to take me to the airport to get me on the plane to fly me to Vegas to make with the funning. Nothing else to say except goodbye and hope I don...

A hibernation weekend, 3 1/2 easy days of work, then it's off to El Happy Land for 5 nights, 4 days of get down. No illusions about what will happen, this will be trip 21 in a series of who knows how many more, and I know what they look like at this point. Drinking, bad gambling, good eating, more drinking, sleep, shower, repeat. I've set minimum expectations for my trips at just relaxing, being on a bender and enjoying soaking up the vibes of my favorite place. If anything gets sideways it can only really be a good thing. The money is out of the bank aside from having to go pull basically all of this next paycheck out on Friday. That'll take me out northwest of the strip and I considered making a few stops at say Palace Station or Artisan or Lucky Dragon but the only real reason to do that during the daytime would be to gamble and I don't plan to do much of that. Besides, whatever gambling I do will likely be at Cosmo again, as it's the only place I ...

Back on the myVegas train again, back with some freebies to tally up. not the haul of past years as there's no Freeplay/resort credit on this trip, but... -5 nights comped in a Jubilee Strip View room at Bally's: $800 value on Caesars site as of today. Only paying $164 resort fees/taxes so $636 saved. -Jetblue flight: used all points, paid $6 for a $150 round trip flight so $144 saved. -myVegas: $35 Nine Fine Irishmen credit, $75 Tender Steakhouse credit, $20 off of $40 at Public House = $130 value. -$25 Restaurant.com coupon for Senor Frog's, paid $2 so $23 value. Also have a couple coupons for Lettuce Entertain You eateries that I may or may not use, could end up saving me another $50 or so if I use them. Altogether the savings/comped value comes out to $933. Pretty tidy, definitely a huge reason why LAS is still the airport I type into the vacation finder every few months. I honestly don't know how I'm going to be able to swing all that if I ha...