Day 1 Wednesday August 7, 2002

Good morning. It’s just about 4:45am, about the same time I usually get up to go to work. Today is different though. I won’t be going to work today. Instead I’ll be heading out to my favorite place, Las Vegas! Whooo!

Everything is packed and ready to go. Actually, for the first time in years, I have actually been packed for days. Everything else is in order, the flight is confirmed and it’s time to head out of here and drive on down to Newark.

Like I usually do I rented a car at my local airport, Stewart-Newburgh from Avis and will be dropping it off in Newark. I rented a mid sized car this time and the price was almost double what it was for a full size back in March the last time I went out to Las Vegas. I picked this car up yesterday while I was on break at work. They gave me an Oldsmobile Alero. Not normally a bad car but this thing is beat to hell. Damn shame too since it only has 12,000 miles on it. It’s filthy, beat up, and smells. If I were doing anything more than taking it to Newark I would have refused this car. Odds are I‘ll write Avis a letter about this and see what they decide to say. The other thing I’m not thrilled with is they cut the discount that I get from my motor club in half from 10% to 5%.

My flight leaves at 8am so it’s time to shut this computer down and get on the road. I have a non-stop flight but it’s still going to be a really long day.

The ride to Newark went fine and there were no hang ups along the way. I stopped on Route 17 just outside the Meadowlands to gas up the car. They always look at me funny when the thing only takes $4 worth and wonder if it’s really full. It is and there is no way that I’m paying $4.59 per gallon to let Avis fill it!

When I got to the America West counter I saw there was a lengthy line but I wasn’t worried. Normally I would be but not today because I’m flying in the front of the plane. Yes, that’s right I’m in first class for this trip so I’ll have my own special check in line! No, of course I’m not paying those ridiculous prices to fly first class. Those of you that read my reports on a regular basis may remember my last trip with America West back in March of this year where the service from reservations was second rate, to the plane being filthy, to them cutting meals totally out on all flights. Based on this crap I wrote the president and CEO a letter and one of his “people” replied to me with a phone call and letter offering me a 1 way upgrade to first class. Cheap bastards, I was hoping for something a little better than that like a credit for a future flight or even a round trip upgrade. I’ll take what I got though. When I got to the line I noticed something. There was no first class check in line. I had to wait with the coach travelers. This line better move I thought. It did because fortunately there were 4 agents moving people along. My check in took less than 3 minutes. I always wonder why everyone else can’t seem to get checked in as quickly as I do.

My trip through security was much better than it usually is when I travel too. There were 3 lines that were all empty when I got there and there were no assholes trying to cram a trunk or full sized suitcase through the x-ray machine like there normally are.

I had about an hour before my flight left so I wandered around the terminal for a while. Closer to boarding time I go to my gate and no one is boarding and there is a line of panic. Seems the following flight is cancelled but my flight will be on time, just at another gate so I made my way over there. As they say in the airline business I was allowed “to board at my leisure” being that I’m in first class today! I got to my window seat, got my pre flight beverage and watched as the common people boarded!

Take off was fine and soon we were 35,000 feet in the air. This is flight 429 and is on board an Airbus A319. The flight is full and there are only 4 seats open, 2 being in first class.

While all of the people in coach are awaiting their tiny bag of pretzels and can of soda, our flight attendant was handing out menus to those of us in first class! Today’s menu offers my choice of beverage, followed with a fruit plate consisting of Hawaiian pineapple with papaya, and cantaloupe dusted with powdered sugar. Dusted? If you consider one little spot on the plate with a nickel sized blob of sugar a dusting than I guess it is! The fruit was actually very good and sweet. While there was no papaya on the plate, it did have some grapes and a half of a strawberry!

Our entrée selection gave us a choice of deep-dish omelet pie with fresh spinach, tomato, & cheese. Applewood smoked bacon, accompanied by roasted potato wedges in a Swiss Parmesan cheese sauce. Really, this is how it is right on the menu. The next selection is a crisp baked Scandinavian pancake with smoked chicken medallions, topped with blueberries and bananas finished with pure Vermont maple syrup.

I chose the pancake selection. It arrived and looked kind of odd. Topped with blueberries? Yeah, all 4 of them! There were 5 slices of banana that were pre soaked in lemon juice probably to prevent them from turning brown. There were also cinnamon apples topping the pancake. The pancake was a bit odd. It looked like a slice of raw dough and had a rubbery texture to it. It actually had the look and feel of a sheet of plastic. Oddly it tasted pretty good. The 4 chicken medallions were pretty good too. The meal also came with bread service. This consisted of a piece of garlic toast, about the size and thickness of a $1 slot token and a half slice of marble rye/pumpernickel bread that was toasted on one side only.

Today’s movie presentation is ShowTime starring Eddie Murphy, Robert DeNiro, and Renee Russo. To put it lightly this movie suh huh huh huh hucked. Yeah, it sucked really bad. Not to mention it was edited and there were no dirty words in it. There is nothing I hate more than hearing Eddie say heck when you can read his lips and see he is saying the eff word!

After viewing this fine feature, enjoying such a great meal and typing up this portion of the report, I’m beat and it’s time for a nap in this super wide seat with all this leg room. The captain came on and said we would be landing about 20 minutes early. Yes, that means an extra 20 minutes of vacation for me!

Towards the end of the flight I was beginning to think something was missing. It was the hot towels! I thought I might have slept through them but just as I thought about it here was the flight attendant coming through with them! Hot towels my ass though. They are nothing but warm, wet, paper-thin washcloths with some fake lemon scent on them. Fortunately it’s a mild lemon scent and not over powering like the crap they use at the Plaza that reminds me of piss!

We landed early just as the captain said we would. As always after getting off the plane we all know what the first stop is. No, not the 6/5 bonus poker machines with no slot club. The first stop as always is the can! You know how it is. After over 5 hours of being trapped in a metal tube you just gotta go!

Ahhh, what relief! The next stop was the Dollar rental car counter. Yes, I went to get the car paperwork done before going to get my luggage. Why stand there waiting for my bag when I can do something productive! I booked a full sized car using the DESTC discount code making this rental $125 per week plus and extra day for this 2 week trip. I booked through the Internet and have a fast lane membership. I’ve seen varying reports about whether or not I had to stop at the desk so I did just to avoid having any possible problems if I didn’t. The reports are correct. You don’t need to wait in line at all even the first time.

The wait for luggage was longer than it usually is. They have about 20 carousels and for some reason they decided to put 3 different flights on 1. I finally got my suitcase and headed to the Dollar shuttle. When you get to the lot the driver tells you to pick out a car you’d like in your class. After giving the car a once over it was time to head to the strip and made my way down to Circus-Circus. I stopped at the guard booth on the way out to do the paper work and I was on my way.

It looked like Dollar just got a whole new fleet of cars in. Every full sized car on the lot was a white Dodge Intrepid. None had plates but instead had temporary registrations in the windows. The one I picked has only 1049 miles on it.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking about Circus-Circus but I got an offer from them for 2 free night and 100 comp dollars. This offer must have come from my play in March over at Slots a fun when I played there one afternoon on a 2X points day. Although the room will be taken out of the $100 there will still be about $25 left over. Since today is Wednesday I’ll be playing some VP next door at Slots a fun again since it’s 2X points day today. As I made my way past the Imperial Palace I saw that the armless-legless guy in the wheelchair was not there. I had to wonder where he was.

When I got to Circus-Circus it was still a little early to check in so I went over to the Riviera and met up with my friends Gary and CC. We went to lunch at Kady’s, the coffee shop in the Riviera. I had the hot open roast beef and it was very good and had a good portion of meat, potatoes, and veggies. After lunch I went back over to Circus-Circus to check in. I saw the lines and thought back to the days of the Flamingo and the hour long waits. Then I remembered one time I went to the regular line on a comped room offer and the told me I could have used the VIP office. Even though that was years ago I decided to try it again. There was no line at all in there, and I was checked in, and on my way to the room in less than 5 minutes. I’m in the main tower in room 758. It’s a basic room with the standard king sized bed, nightstands, desk, and TV cabinet/dresser combo. The view out the window is the Westward Ho rooms, Stardust, Treasure Island and Mirage. In the distance I can also see the Rio, Gold Coast, Palms, and Orleans.

After I got settled into the room it was time to gamble. Since today is Wednesday Slots a Fun next door is running double points. This is one of my favorite plays on the strip now that they are part of the One Card and play here counts as if it were played at Circus-Circus. The best play here is the 1 lone FPDW machine. With cash back this is a 101.4% game plus comps. Of course, there was someone playing it so I opted for my other game here. They have quarter triple play machines with 9/6 Jacks or Better. I did well here hitting enough quads to keep me going. This is what kept me alive because I wasn’t getting the dealt hands that you need to do well on this type of game. Another thing I like about this place is the card of the day promotion. Today the card is 9. It pays an extra $10 when you get 4 of a kind in the card of the day. I actually hit the 9’s twice for an extra $20. After about 2 hours I quit up $100 after running over 5k through the machine. Hopefully this action will keep the offers coming. One odd thing that happened here was some little kid came running through the casino and knocked my beer right off the edge of the VP machine. A security guard saw this happen and actually apologized and went over to the waitress station and had one of the girls bring me a new one. I thought that was pretty nice but I also had to think, why the hell is there a little kid running through the casino to begin with.

My next plan was to play some low limit craps but the table was packed so I tried next door at Westward Ho. Their table was packed too so I played some low limit blackjack instead. I was glad I was playing low limits too because I lost $40 betting only $5 a hand. I normally play $25 but I’m trying to cut back my blackjack play because of bad luck on this game in the last year.

It was only about 10pm by now but I was tired since I am still on Eastern Time so I grabbed a quick snack and went to bed.

Total win/loss for the day +$50
Total comps for the day $39