Trip Report March 25, 2003 – April 8, 2003
Day 1 Tuesday March 25, 2003
Good morning. It’s 4am here in NY and I just got out of bed. What is the reason for being up so early today? Well of course it’s to get ready to leave for Las Vegas!
I didn’t get more than 2 hours of sleep last night having just come off of night shift at work, I’m usually still up at this hour! That combined with the excitement of a trip made it a pretty sleepless night.
I’m all packed and ready to go so after a quick shower and a quick check to make sure I have everything I need I’ll be on my way. The next portion of this report will be written on the plane!
I left the house at about 5am and headed down to Newark. I picked up a rental car at my local airport Stewart-Newburgh yesterday from Avis. The rate was pretty high at $64. It’s usually much less. They gave me an Oldsmobile Alero with over 28,000 miles on it. The car ran pretty well but this was a record for a rental car with the most miles I’ve ever seen.
The ride down to Newark was pretty uneventful with exception of stopping at a gas station just outside of Newark. I always stop at the same Exxon Station not too far from the Meadowlands to top off the tank. My total was $5.50 and I handed the attendant $6.00. He asked if I had any change, which I didn’t, and he muttered the eff word to himself. Said he had no change and they had none inside because the safe was locked and they couldn’t get it open. Said he’d give it back to me next time I came in. I told him I wouldn’t be back around here for another 4 months and he told me he’d remember me. Yeah, sure he would. Odds are he won’t even be employed there anymore after pulling this scam on every customer that pulls in.
When I got to Newark returning the car was quick and easy and in just a few minutes I was on the monorail heading to terminal A. Once again I am flying with America West since they had the best fares. Including all taxes that fare is $255. I got to the check in counter and there was no line. The agent made me unlock my suitcase and in less than 2 minutes I was on my way to security. It was a little slower here but there were no issues and I was in the terminal in no time. I had about an hour before the plane boarded. I wandered around and did a few crossword puzzles until it was time to board.
I reserved my seat in the back of the plane and was in the first group to board. I was in my window seat took it easy until it was time to leave. We left right on time and the captain said we’d be making it into Las Vegas early in just 5 hours and 10 minutes.
This is flight 78 on an Airbus A320. The flight is pretty full but not sold out. In my row there is a lady in the aisle seat but the center seat is full so it gives us a little room to breathe. There is of course no food on this flight but they handed out a can of soda and a snack. Today’s snack is a Balance Energy Bar. This is the first time I ever saw these given out on a flight. Later on in the flight we were given another soda and a bag of America West mini pretzels. When they say mini they aren’t kidding. Not only are the pretzels tiny, so is the serving.
The movie today is Die Another Day. This is the latest James Bond film. There is an entertainment fee of $5 for this film but today it will be complimentary. As you may recall I lifted my head set back in August when I was given an upgrade. I used these on my December trip and I still have them. I’m not a big fan of the James Bond films because I think they spend too much time on special effects and not enough time on the plot. This film was no exception. The other problem is it seemed to have been heavily edited which seemed to take away from the film as well. While it wasn’t the greatest movie it helped pass the time on this long flight. The movie was followed by en episode of Friends and some other stuff. After Friends it was time to take a nap. Of course it seemed as every time I would just go out, the captain decided to play tour guide and tell us where we were and which side of the plane could see what. I think I slept for a total of an hour in between the play by play. I checked the time and still had nearly an hour to go before we landed. This flight really sucks. Not only does it take forever but also today there was turbulence for about 45 minutes straight. It finally smoothed out shortly before we landed. After this the captain said we would land even earlier than expected and we would land at 10:15 local time. This is over 30 minutes early all together.
After we got off the plane I made my way to baggage claim after the customary stop at the bathroom! 2 sodas is a lot to drink on a 5 hour flight!
My bag came out in less than 10 minutes after getting to the baggage claim area and I headed out to the shuttle area to catch a bus to Alamo. Knowing that there was probably going to be a line at Alamo and that there were about 10 people on this bus I sat next to the door. As soon as we stopped I grabbed my bag off the rack and beat everyone else into the place. As I entered the lobby they had this old bag there handing out maps and stuff. She’s been here for years. Today she was telling everyone as they came in to put their luggage by the sitting area because it’s hard to maneuver it around in the line. Yeah, sure I’m going to do that. Leave my bag with all of my clothes and personal belongings and my lap top in an unsecured area so it can be stolen. I told her no way and walked right past her and took my bag in line with me.
As always service is slower than shit here at Alamo as they had 3 agents taking care of a line full of people. I was 5th in line and it took about 20 minutes to get called to the counter. Once I got up to the counter things were fast. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t given the hard sell on insurance or an upgrade. I reserved a full size car for the 2 weeks for $232. This is one of the lowest prices I’ve ever paid. When I got out to the lot there were mostly Chevy Malibus. I’m not a big fan of the Malibu but there were a few others. There was a brand new Buick Century. I’m not a huge fan of this car either but since it was brand new I’d take it. Of course it had a temporary registration that expired on 4-2-03. Since I have the car until the 8th I passed on this car and opted for a Pontiac Grand Prix. This car was in decent shape with 11,000 miles on it. After clearing security I was on my way to the strip. Traffic was pretty bad on the strip today and it took about 20 minutes to get to Flamingo Road. I turned left on Flamingo and headed out to the Gold Coast. I have a mail offer here that is good for 3 complimentary nights, 2 tickets to see Honky Tonk Angels and a $50 food credit. This is a great deal considering when I stayed here in August on a mail offer I gave them only 1k in action for the whole 3 nights.
Although I was early they still let me check in. I was given room 717 with a view of the Palms and south end of the strip. To my surprise the rooms have been redone a little bit. The furniture is the same but they have put up new wallpaper, new light fixtures and installed new carpet. They are also in the process of doing the hallways over again.
After putting my stuff up in the room I headed over to the Riviera to meet with friends Gary and CC. We didn’t really plan to meet but I know Gary is there to meet CC for lunch every day around 1pm. We decided instead of Kady’s at the Riviera we would go over to the Stardust to Bono’s for some hot dogs. We all had hot dogs and fries. Everything was good and we were on our way.
After I left the Riviera I made a stop at Albertson’s to pick up a few needed items like soda and snacks for the room.
When I got back o the Gold Coast I unpacked and got settled into the room. It is now about 5pm and I was exhausted. I have only gotten about 7 hours of sleep in the past 2 days and I am about to take a well-needed and deserved nap!
I woke up 3 hours later at 8pm. Not surprised I had slept so long I started to get motivated. I remembered that they were going to be showing the opening of the new Celine Dion show live from Caesars Palace. I figured I’d watch the show and see what the hype was about. I’ll first say that I'm NOT a fan of Celine and think she is over rated and being VERY overpaid. After watching this show I thought the price for tickets was way out of line. The show seemed ok and was entertaining but for the price there are way better things out there. I know they didn’t show the entire show on TV tonight but I think people will be disappointed shelling out this kind of cash for a show like this. It’s NOT a Celine Dion concert which I could understand a high ticket price for. Instead it’s a variety type show with costumes and singing and different sets. By the way, Celine’s new hairdo makes her look uglier than ever! Enough about this show now!
After watching this crap I went down to the casino. You may recall on my last trip I stated away from the blackjack tables. Today I thought I’d start with blackjack. I bought in for $200 and decided I’d play lower limits that I used to. I was betting from $10-$25. The table was choppy and the dealer would from time to time get hot. Usually he was hot whenever I doubled or split. This was one of the main reasons I gave up this game after August of last year and getting my ass handed to me every time I played. After a little over an hour I dropped my $200 buy in and started the trip in the hole.
I was hungry now considering all I ate today was a hotdog and fries and a few chips later in the day. I went over to the Monterey Room for a late dinner. I was going to have the steak special here but instead I went for the Chinese menu. They had a wor wonton soup that sounded similar to the Feel Good Soup at the Fiesta. This was noodles, chicken, pork, and shrimp with spinach. It was good but seemed kind of weak to me especially at the price of $11 a bowl. There were 5 shrimp in it, a handful of chicken and 3 small slices of pork. It also had only 3 wontons. The quality of the ingredients was good but the noodles were a bit on the chewy side indicating they weren’t cooked enough. So in the noodle soup challenge the winner remains the Feel Good Soup at Fiesta Henderson.
After dinner I found a bank of deuces wild machines that they haven’t changed the pay tables on yet. Things started out pretty good here with a wild royal and a 5 of a kind right off the top. Unfortunately this was as good as it was going to get. I dropped $60 on this machine and moved to another one in the back of the casino by the buffet. This machine was a little better but not by much. I dropped another $40 here and decided being down 3 bills on the first night was enough. I was still pretty tired by now even after a 3-hour nap and it was 3am.
Total win/loss for the day -$300
Total comps for the day $62
Total out of pocket expenses $96 plus airfare and rental cars
(Note: This is a new category I have started putting on each day. It includes things like airfare, rental cars, tips, miscellaneous items and anything else that isn’t complimentary from my action)