Day 8 Monday October 20, 2003
Flights:
My flight was not until almost 4pm. My first plan was to get my free 12v wet/dry vac from the slot club. Then after packing I took a drive down the strip and downtown and back to kill some time before filling up the rental car for the return. Check in at the airport was smooth and security had a very short line so I was in the terminal in no time at all. Other than a gate change this was an uneventful wait. I always hate the flight home. Not just because I’m leaving Las Vegas but because the flight just plain old sucks.

This was flight 216 non stop to Newark. I was pretty tired and was hoping to get some sleep to make this flight pass by faster. I guess I was a little more tired than I thought because I woke up after the movies was over I had missed the passing out of the soda and tiny bag of pretzels.

A look at the clock showed another 2 hours to go. This seemed like the longest flight ever even with the nap killing half of it. We finally landed right on schedule.

Baggage claim went pretty quickly and in just a few minutes I was on the monorail to Avis to pick up my rental for the way home.

Rental Car:
I had reserved a mini van for the return to Newburgh. Normally I don’t rent these but for some reason it was $20 cheaper than all of the other cars they offer. Since I only needed it to get back to my local area it was worth it to save the $20. I pulled into the driveway around 1am and the trip was over.

Dining:
I pretty much ate like a typical single guy today. I had nothing but junk food before the flight and a hot dog to hold me over. Then during the flight more junk food that I bought to take with me. When I got home it was the traditional can of soup. Go figure. 2 days ago I’m eating rib eye steaks and Feel Good Soup. Tonight I’m eating canned goods!

Total win/loss for the day $0
Total comps for the day $0 (but I did get a wet/dry vac!)

Final Thoughts

• The weather couldn’t have been better topping off at 90 every day
• I still hate the flight because it’s too long
• The town was packed the day I arrived and rental cars were scarce
• Rio has become one of my favorite places to stay
• Deuces Wild killed me this trip
• Craps of all things saved me from being a big loser this trip
• I played about 23,000 hands of video poker but didn’t hit any royals
• This is the first trip ever that I didn’t hit 4 deuces playing deuces wild
• America West still has the best fares from Newark to Las Vegas
• Dollar and Alamo compete for the best rental car rates in town
• This was my 2nd time using Dollar for my rental car without any major issues
• My bad luck with match play coupons continued this trip
• My Las Vegas record is now 12-8-1
• My next trip is planned for December 13-27 for the 6th annual Birthday/Christmas trip

• Eff You to the idiots that still have to try to board before their row is called
• Eff You to Dollar for pushing the cars through the system so fast they were all still dirty
• Eff You to Dollar for not having my correct info for Fast lane forcing me to go inside to fix the problem
• Eff You to the Lady at Fiesta that was using the floor as an ashtray while playing when there was an ashtray RIGHT NEXT TO HER
• Eff You to Cannery for excluding FPDW from all of their multi point days and promotions
• Eff You to the Boston Red Sox for thinking they could actually beat the Yankees and make it to the World Series
• And finally a huge Eff You to the deuces wild machines that kicked my ass this trip!

Total win/loss for the trip $100
Total comps for the trip $1012 (for some reason room rates were high this week making this number look inflated)