The ride to Newark was uneventful. I stopped at my usual Exxon Station just outside the Meadowlands and gassed up before making the final trek into the Newark area. I think we woke up the clerk here!

Returning the rental car was quick and easy as it usually is at this hour of the morning and we were on the monorail to terminal C to check in with Continental. Everything here was a zoo. The lines to check in were huge. The only thing I despise about the airlines is them charging to take luggage now. I’d rather they just raised their fares a few bucks and allowed a checked bag. All these fees do is slow down the check in process because no one knows how to use automated kiosks and slows down security lines and boarding because people take too much stuff through in carry on bags to avoid the fees. Even though the lines were long they moved well. We did spend close to an hour in line though.

Next up was security and it was about as smooth as it goes. No one was wearing a Mr. T starter kit, no one had water or liquids they were trying get through with, no one tried to go through with their shoes on and I didn’t even see anyone with giant sized carry-on bags. Was it a fluke or could it be people are finally getting it?

We had planned to have plenty of time before boarding but when we finally got checked in and through security our row was already boarding.

We are on flight 768 and scheduled to depart at 7:35am and arrive in Las Vegas at 9:47am. This is actually the first ticket I’ve had to buy in a few years because I was using my points at Harrah’s to “buy” airfare. Unfortunately that deal isn’t offered anymore. For this ticket I paid $318 plus taxes for a total of $339. I booked this back in February when oil was down to $35 a barrel. I checked the fares regularly after we booked and they were in the $450 range and just a week ago they were up to over $700. I’m sure partly due to oil being up and because the flight is pretty full.

This flight was uneventful. I really hate this flight because it’s too long but it is nice to have Dee to fly with now. It really helps pass the time having someone to play with! Continental still serves food on their flights and we got a banana, a bowl of corn flakes with milk & a muffin. Dee didn’t want any so I ate hers. Today’s movie on the flight was Pink Panther 2. I opted to not watch this as Steve Martin in this role makes me sick. I tried to nap a bit to pass the time on this flight and got to sleep through half of it.

Next thing I knew we were starting to drop down and on our final approach! A few minutes later we were finally in Las Vegas! Whoo hoo. We actually landed 1 minute early so we were having bonus time in Vegas!

After we got off the plane we made the customary first stop (you know where that is) and then to the monorail to baggage claim. The bags came out fast (mine was on the belt when we got there) and then we were off to the rental car shuttle.

I had 2 reservations for a rental, one with Avis and one with Dollar. I booked the Avis rate back in January and Dollar back in March. Since then the rates have skyrocketed. My base rate with Dollar is cheaper than my rate at Avis after a coupon by about $20 but I’ve read too many stories about poor service and crappy cars with Dollar the last few months so I’ve opted to use Avis this time. I’m also a few notches up on their preferred rental program and typically get upgraded. I reserved a full sized car at a base rate of $279 for the 2 week period. I also have a coupon for $40 off a rental of 10 days or more. When we got there my name was up on the scoreboard but I still had to stop by the booth to drop off the coupon. I didn’t get upgraded today and I found it odd as there were 100’s of cars on the lot. They gave us a Chevy Impala. It had 5000 miles on it and was in pretty good shape but wasn’t properly cleaned.

Once we checked over the car it was onward to officially start the trip. Our first stop was the Sonic on Warm Springs. I never had their food and we had a 2 for 1 burger in the LVA MRB. I liked the burger but at this point we were so hungry almost anything would have done. Next stop was going to be 99c only store on Flamingo to pick up snacks and water for the week. However on the way there from Sonic I passed one on Trop so we went there and it was 100X cleaner and nicer than the one on Flamingo!

Next up it was off to the Las Vegas Hilton where we’d be spending the next 4 nights. This deal came from a mail offer that featured coupons on it for 4 free nights, 6 free buffets & 2 free show tickets. I figured the show was going to be one of their lower tier shows but to my surprise the agent offered Barry Manilow but only on the first night because that’s his last night this time around. I took her up on those as Dee & I had talked about maybe seeing his show someday.

When we got to the Hilton there wasn’t a line to check in. Dee asked for a room with a Jacuzzi and we got it. Once we got checked in we stopped by the box office to get the tickets for Barry and were informed he cancelled all of his June dates. I asked if we could get something else and the clueless girl at the desk said to ask at the check in desk. I passed on this as there really wasn’t anything else we wanted to see anyway. We were bit disappointed to say the least and it would have been nice to have known ahead of time about this cancellation as I planned a good portion of the trip around these tickets.

From the box office were on our way to room 2249 in the Central tower. The room is at the end of the hallway behind special doors! This is a king room with 2 nights stands, a long work desk, dresser, flat screen TV, arm chair and small table. There’s also a huge walk in closet. The bathroom has toilet and jetted tub. It’s not a big full sized Jacuzzi but just a standard tub. There is a view of Wynn, Encore, The Riviera, Circus – Circus, Sahara and everything else the north strip has to offer. Out of the little window on the corner there’s a slight view of the pool and the center-south strip.

Once we got settled into the room it was time for a much needed nap. This much needed nap lasted over 3 hours! I know I was still groggy but it was getting late and time for dinner but first up was a stop at the casino to do some match plays.

Much like we did in December we put together a little kitty for our coupons. At the end of the trip we’ll split the pot. We hit the roulette table and Dee played her usual odd and 5 came up. Next spin up I played my normal black and the dreaded green zero came up. This was a good start and we’re 1 for 2 on match plays so far.

After this we went over to the buffet using 2 of our buffet coupons that came with the room. I have only been to this buffet one time a few years ago and honestly I don’t recall much about it other than it being small. Dinner was $18 each. They have a decent selection and I’d rank it as an average buffet. The foods were all fresh and there was something for everyone. This buffet at a local’s casino would run about $10 though.

After dinner we stopped by the Steakhouse real quick to see Mark. When we stopped by in December he wasn’t here so it was good to see him for a few minutes. Since he was working we couldn’t keep him long.

It was now time to play. I wanted to take it easy tonight as I usually do on my first day. We played a variety of penny slots. We played on Dee’s card since I didn’t plan on showing any activity on my card. I wanted to give the appearance I wasn’t here at all as opposed to short playing and killing my future offers. Sometimes this works when you use a mailed offer and sometimes it doesn’t.

I didn’t do well tonight. I hit a few bonus rounds but nothing major. Dee did much better. I ended up the evening down between $30 & $50.

It was about midnight now or 3am to us so we went up to the room and used the Jacuzzi for a bit before crashing and some much more needed sleep.

Total win/loss for the day -$50
Total comps for the day $106