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

Last check in before go. It's been a strange lead up with the new job and all, but still have managed to work up a decent hype. A pretty standard trip after all the "ballerism" of the last one - staying in a standard room and flying commercial, but it's a good room and a good seat, FWIW. Back in the warm embrace of Mandalay Bay after flirting with Fontainebleau...in the end saving more than $700 over the Bleau was just too good a deal. 2nd time I've chickened out on FB, I swear I will stay there sometime. The money's out of the bank, full $6K for the 5+ days. As expected, had to float a little bit of my MGM CC debt to make it fly but unless I have another June of '23 trip (cursed be thy name), I should be able to get it all paid off in July and get back to normal. I'd love to come back more or less even so I could squeeze in a September trip but I'm not looking ahead, $6K is the budget and as long as I come back with enough to pay rent I'm not ...

Less than a week now. In keeping with tradition, a plan post. Spoiler alert: there's not much of a plan. Saturday: Dropping the car off at the parking lot at around 12p, then over to the airport. Flight's at 4p so I can hit a bar/resto to have a light snack and a couple beers, then hopefully be on time for the departure. If all goes well I'm on the ground by 5:30p, cab to MB, checked in and bag dumped by 6:30p. Then it's out to the bars. May start at MB spots like Foundation or maybe Skyfall, then may branch out a bit to the south/center strip. Don't think I'll get too adventurous on night one but I will have a full day's spend and should be slept up so no limitations there. A bit of gambling but probably nothing crazy. An ease into it night most likely. Sunday: The first full day. Thinking it'll probably be pretty mellow in town as it's the weekend before a holiday. Good for me as there should be plenty of open bar seats. May sleep in a bit then hea...

A decent haul, y'all. -6 nights at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas. $412 all in. Would be $1409 all in with the best website rate. Saved $997 over rack rate. -$30 Freeplay and $50 Resort Credit included in the deal. $80 value. -Roughly $160 in Freeplay from MGM by the time I get to town, $160 value. Total overhead saved = $1237. Not nearly an all timer but not bad for a holiday week trip. Would have been $700 more had I stayed at Fontainebleau as originally planned so a bit of frugality after the baller April trip.  1 month.

Flight locked in June/July Vegas. Back to having to deal with TSA again but at a good rate at least. $170 with Alaska. Get in around 5p on the Saturday and am out at around noon on the Friday. Solid. Could have gone with JSX again for about the same rate as last time but it would have been 3X as much and then would have to add on the crazy Uber rides from OAK again. It ends up being close to $700 all in. Just too much to do every time on non-baller trips. So as it stands 2 months out it's a very nice room at Bellagio (which may change if a banger room from elsewhere comes in) and a solid flight set with no out of pocket time issues. Total overhead well under a grand. The countdown begins again.

Went to Vegas. Drank a lot. Ate a bit. Sat in bars. Flights good, room good, no drama. Spent only $2000 after winnings, of which there were several. Came back from Vegas. The end.

In keeping with the upcoming all-baller Vegas trip, I have some new wrist candy coming along. Plunked down a little over $3K for a Longines HydroConquest full ceramic piece. Flirted with a Tudor as well, but it would have been a grand more and frankly I'm getting a lot more watch with the Longines. Love the simple, clean diver look and the full ceramic case and bezel will mean it'll look better far longer than a stainless piece. Apparently the stuff is basically scratch proof for all intents and purposes. Full ceramic from most other luxury brands are generally $10K and up. 43mm case so should be a good size for my wrist. Ordered it two-day from Jomashop, so it should be here well before the trip. Slightly worried about not having a manufacturer warranty, as it's a pretty pricey piece, but that's the chance you take getting a big discount from an online dealer. It's a $4100 watch from an AD, so I'll take my $1000 discount and my chances. So along with the privat...

MGM fucking with me again. Trying to dump rooms with 2 weeks to go, clearly. Could book the 6 nights at a $27 rate at Aria, less than $500 all in. Or Delano, NYNY or Vdara less than $400. Gah. Could save me over a grand. Could be at Encore for the same $$ as Conrad now too. Venetian $500 less. If I went with MGM props, I could be prudent and bank the extra $1K with the somewhat uncertain future RN, but I still don't want to give up the baller suite at the Conrad. The Encore suite is nice but I greatly prefer the resort at RW to the WynnCore complex. And I don't feel like I  have to scrimp, so unless that situation comes up (don't see how it could) I'll be at RW in 14 days. Plus none of the other props have the ROOM Conrad does. This thing has high ballerism to value quotient. Do I need it? No. I could get by with a 350 sq ft room and have on many occasions. Chances are extremely high no one but me is going to see it anyway. But I will see it, and appreciate it. And I c...