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

Short and sweet, all according to plan. Cut the in flight a little close, boarding was already underway but made it in plenty of time and got to town plenty early. Room was ready when I got there at 9a (!), so dropped the bag at the Park right away. Room was same as the one from Xmas, had the above view, about the closest they have to a strip view. Same paper thin walls, same meh decor, water pressure in the shower better this time. Nothing to write home about but fine for 2 quick nights, and comped. The resort is slowly closing in on being a real working hotel. More bars open now, not much food but that's coming later in the year. Totally dead in there but literally having no strip entrance will do that to a...strip resort. Reserving final judgement until the place is totally open but doesn't seem to be super exciting. Still, MC needed an upgrade and this is it if nothing else. So headed out early on the free day, rambled about hitting spots, got lunch at Twin Peaks, ...

Just a couple days out from trip #2 of '18. A quickie, so I don't have the usual hype going into this one but it should be fun none the less. Two full days and out the door, with a great show on the back end. Everything is basically ready to go, the laundry is done, the money is out of the bank. As predicted $700 per day cash and I'll have the Discover if I need a few hundy more for something, though I don't know what that would be. As stated previously I don't plan to gamble much if at all so 7 bills a day should be more than enough for food and bev. Unless something happens on the job front (which has settled down a bit) this will be trip 2 of 4 this year. It's going to be a financial drain as it always is and while I have plenty to take care of daily life AND my Vegas obsession, I need to reel a couple things in in my life that may affect future Vegas. I've managed to rack up some debt in the last couple years, with the car and the loan for the ...

Shortest freebies post ever for one of my shortest Vegas trips ever. Eh. -2 nights at Park MGM comped, just paying resort fee: saves me $163. -$25 Freeplay on slots through myVegas: saves me, duh, $25. Total of $188.  Could have delved more into myVegas for food and stuff but I don't want to be tied to having to be somewhere for a food reservation on a 2-day trip. Just want to be a tumblin' tumbleweed. Have a couple R.com certs I can use for either Carlos & Charlies (meh) or Senor Frogs (good, but will I even make it to TI?). Probably will leave everything sitting for the longer, normal August trip. K thx bai T MINUS 1 WEEK.

One of the simplest plan posts ever, this one. Not much time to plan for, as I'm only in town for 2 1/2 days. I will get in around 8a on Tuesday, need to figure out a place to hang out and day drink w/o spending too much of the limited daily funds. If I'm peckish I may grab some brekkie somewhere then hopefully be able to check in as early as possible at The Park to drop the bag and head out to start doing Vegas properly. Plenty of good day drinking spots about on that end of the strip. It's been an early wake up call that morning so if I'm tiring a bit I can head back to the room around 3p or so to grab a couple hours of sleep, but I'd love to be back out and at it around 6p after maybe a freshen up shower. Don't think I'm going to make a reservation for dinner but I'd like to grab a steak somewhere on the first night after coming down from the room, maybe the new Bavette's at Park, maybe Gallagher's or STK if I'm over there. Be goo...

Well that was...a Vegas trip. Not going to do a blow by bow on this one because there really wasn't much to distinguish this one from previous trips. Just going to make a few points: The Flights: Fine I guess. It was a royal pain in the ass to have the Long Beach connectors on both ends of the trip but the flights themselves were all on time-ish and nothing bad happened on any of them. It's probably the last time I'll fly JetBlue but they almost redeemed themselves for the colossal fuck up from last year. The dropping the car at Hotel Focus by the airport thing worked OK. The Rooms: Tropicana for one night was fine, got upgraded to the Paradise Tower. It's run down and the 50's Cuba theme to the rooms is tired but for one night it was OK. Wouldn't want to stay there for any length of time unless it was fully comped. Spent zero time in the resort. Cosmo was the City Room as expected, view of the side of Aria and the Chelsea pool below. It was fine, they a...

I suppose after 20+ trips I should have this Vegas thing down. And, I do. Everything is set. Money worked out just as I planned, should be plenty for 4 1/2 days. Have plenty of discount food possibilities so assuming I don't get drunk and put all my money into a Willie Wonka machine some night I'll be fine. If all goes to normal I'll be able to loosen up and get nicely spendy by day 3. Will have $800/day regardless so I'm not going to exactly be broke in any case. Feeling like I have a very low-level sick going on and have for a couple days, just kind of body-sore and woozy, hoping a good night's sleep tonight will crack it back and I can be 100% for the 5 days I'm there. Using actual luggage like an adult this time, though the new "carry on" I just got (via work) may be too big for my Jetblue flight so I'm using the slightly smaller, not so nice one I bought in the break between trips. Whatever, at least it's not a backpack like a 12 ...

Because every blog has to do listicle posts now, here's my TOP 10 BEST VEGAS RESORTS. RATE ME ADD ME SHARE ME BLOW ME. My 10 favorite Vegas resorts, from 10 to 1. 10: Luxor It's a bit run down, smoky, and the theme of the place is a bit tired, but there's some low brow fun to be had here. Public House is a solid sports bar, Tender is among my fave steakhouses in town and the newly renovated rooms look like they will be having me staying there in the next couple years. 9: Excalibur It's the Circus Circus of the south strip but the old clunker still has its charms. Would never stay in one of the horrid rooms again but Dicks Last Resort is a highlight, really no other place on the strip like it. The staff is jaded and ancient but fun to hang with and the Octane bar outside Thunder Down Under is a hoot. And hey - Krispy Kreme! 8: MGM Huge, impersonal, and crowded, but I have fun here occasionally. Tap sports bar is a good spot to catch a game, Whiskey Down has...