Trip to airport:
As usual I rented a car from Avis at my local airport Stewart Newburgh. I reserved a premium car for a price of $58. I don't normally go for the larger cars out of this airport since the rates are too high and the trip is so short but this time the larger car was only $3 more than the full size so I thought it was a good deal. When I got to the counter I was handed my keys and on my way in less than a minute. I was given a Ford Crown Victoria with 7150 miles on it. The car was in good shape and I ran all my pre trip errands with it yesterday.
I took my normal route to the airport with no major issues. Being that it is a Saturday morning there was very little traffic and everything went well. Dropping off the car was a breeze and I made my way to the terminal via the monorail.
Flight:
Check in at the airport went quick and easy as it usually does at the America West counter. However, for some unknown reason my flight was going out of a different wing of the terminal than usual and the line for security was huge. Eventually a security person came through the line pulling out people with 8:00am flights. I got through security after 4 different people checked my ID and boarding pass and 4 people just cut in front of my AFTER I placed my items on the conveyor. By the time I got through the line security was rifling through my stuff.
After racing to get through security I got to the terminal expecting the boarding process to already have begun but it hadn’t. In fact my plane wasn’t even there yet. We did eventually get a plane and boarded taking of about an hour late.
Today’s fare is the highest I’ve ever paid to fly to Las Vegas thanks to the higher fuel costs and increased travel. The fare today including all taxes was $342. I’m on flight 218 departing at 8:00am (now 9:00 am) non-stop to Las Vegas and arriving at 10:26am. The flight was smooth the whole way and we arrived at 11:20am due to the initial late departure.
Baggage claim at McCarran seems to be getting worse and worse each trip. I remember not too long ago that my bags would be waiting for me when I made it to baggage claim. Now I end up waiting 20-30 minutes every trip.
Rental Car:
Usually I look for the cheapest full size or better car I can find but this trip I thought I’d try something different. I reserved a Cadillac with Avis. This car is anything but cheap at $325/week but I thought it would be a nice change of pace, especially since this is a long trip and I’ll be doing quite a bit of driving. I did have a $25 coupon that was given to me by the manager of the local Avis because the car I rented to get home from Newark last trip was filthy. Since I’m a preferred member I was dropped off in front of my row of cars and was on my way to the gate in no time after giving the car a quick look over for damage. It’s a silver Cadillac Deville with only 4200 miles on it. It’s got all of the extra bells and whistles that you don’t need, but they are fun to screw with!
Entertainment:
While it isn’t really your typical entertainment my first stop after getting the rental car was to the Riviera to catch the tail end of the chip collecting convention. For those that may not know I dabble in the collecting of casino chips and memorabilia and this is the first time the convention sort of fit into my schedule. I spent a few hours here looking at all the stuff the vendors had out and even met a few people I trade, buy, and sell with.
Hotel:
After the chip show at the Riviera I headed to the Rio where I will be checking in for the next 4 nights. All 4 nights are complimentary and were obtained with a coupon that I got in the Summer Harrah*s World magazine. I don’t play much at Rio these days since the little bit of decent video poker they had is now gone. I made my way to the Diamond Check in area and was given room 2015 in the Ipanema Tower. It’s the same floor as the giant suite I had back in May. I asked for an upgrade at check in but being that it’s a weekend there wasn’t anything available for me.
Dining:
Before leaving the Riviera I made a quick stop at the food court and hit Panda Express for a bowl of Egg Flower Soup (Egg Drop to us East Coasters!). From here it was on to the Rio to check in.
Dinner this evening was in the Diamond Lounge at Rio. Tonight they were serving sandwich wraps, fruit, cheese, and crackers. The hot items were chicken wings and crab cakes (yuck). I loaded upon this stuff and then topped it all off with a few small pastries for dessert.
Gaming:
The Cannery is running a special promotion this month where if you earn just 600 points ($600 coin in) on Saturday and Sunday you can redeem them for either $1 cash (this is the normal rate) or a $15 VISA gift card. This is a good deal and you’re allowed to get up to 2 per day. After getting settled into the Rio and running for some survival items (water, soda, snacks) I headed up there to hit and run on this promo. I can run the required $1200 through a single line game in a little over an hour or a triple play machine in about 30 minutes. My game of choice today was 8/5-bonus triple play. Things started out terrible and I was down $50 in less than 5 minutes. I did hit a quad followed by a straight flush and another quad. I was up just under $100 but still short a few hundred points for the next card. I finished the session with exactly 1200 points and a $50 win. After a short wait in the long line at the slot club booth I was on my way back to the Rio with a $50 win AND $30 in VISA gift cards. Now that’s the way promos are supposed to work!
Total win/loss for the day: $50
Total comps for the day: $359 <--- inflated due to Rio charging $329 tonight