Day 1
Thursday December 14, 2006

I was up really early today at 3:45am to get ready and to make the drive to Newark. This is really early and I hate getting up this early but for a trip to Vegas, I’m doing it!

Yesterday I picked up a rental car at the local airport, Stewart – Newburgh from Avis. I reserved a full sized car for a rate of $72. The rates seem to be climbing here in Newburgh on these cars (like everything else is these days). I recall getting cars for way less than this in the not too distant past. It was my lucky day though as a buddy of mine got the rate lowered to $42! They gave me a Mitsubishi Galant with 16,000 miles on it. The car was in good condition and would work fine for the 75 mile drive to Newark although I think this car is kind of crappy as far as quality goes.

The ride was pretty uneventful having left the house so early but it was pretty foggy out. I was wondering how the weather would be down in Newark and if flights were on time. After gassing up at my usual Exxon just outside the Meadowlands I made my way into the airport. Retuning the car was a drag because the lot attendants don’t start until 6am and I got here at 5:45am. I had to go inside and return it but it went well. My only issue was the guy that handled my return was the same guy that screwed me a few years ago not honoring my discount code. In a few minutes I was on the monorail to the terminal.

Today’s flight is NOT on my typical America West/USAir. Instead it’s on Continental. The reason for this is simple. This flight was comped by Harrah*s by redeeming 30,000 reward credits ($300 in comps) from my Total Rewards card and this was one of the flights they offered. This flight was $347 on the Continental website so redeeming $300 in comps got me the equivalent of $347 in cash as far as I’m concerned.

When I got to the terminal check in was very quick. Next it was on to security where the lines were moderate but weren’t too bad. Things moved and I think people now know not to try to bring liquids. The thing about removing your shoes is a real pain in the ass though. These airports really need to invest a few bucks on some signs.

Before the flight I grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds that I ate as soon as I boarded. I forgot the Continental actually serves food on their flights.

I am on flight 768 this morning. It’s departing at 7:20am and scheduled to arrive in Las at 10:07am. This is a non stop flight but the scheduled time for this flight is nearly 6 hours. I’m guessing this is because of high head winds this time of year. I’m also hoping they aren’t that strong and we get there early. I really hate these long flights. The captain came on the PA and said the flight would be 5 hours and 8 minutes.

I was amazed at how empty this plane was. It’s a 757 and if there were 30-40 people on it, that’s a lot. Then the airlines wonder why they lose money. The flight was pretty good with exception of about a 30 minute stretch where it got really bumpy. For breakfast we got a small muffin, a bowl of Cheerios and a small yogurt. I managed to sleep through a good part of the flight to pass the time and next thing I knew we were making our final descent into Las Vegas.

We arrived in Vegas exactly on time and after my traditional stop at the can I went to baggage claim. It took about 10 minutes for the luggage to arrive but my bag was one of the first ones out.

Next stop was the Alamo shuttle to go pick up the rental car for the trip. I reserved a Luxury Car for what I thought was a fair price. I used Alamo’s pre-pay option and saved an additional $80 off the price they had listed plus I have a coupon for 1 free day worth an additional $38 off. For the 15 day rental the car is $464 before taxes. This isn’t the greatest rate but I wanted to drive a Cadillac for my birthday. Also note that Avis wanted just under $800 for the same car this week. I tried to check in with one of the kiosks but the rate it was showing was about $50 higher than the confirmation I had. I tried to go to the quicksilver booth but there was no one there. Instead I had to wait in line. Of course when I got to the counter the agent started the scare tactic sales pitch for insurance. Nothing pisses me off more than this tactic especially since I’m not even supposed to stop at the counter with quicksilver and my profile shows I don’t take this coverage.

When I got out into the lot an attendant asked what type of car and I told him Luxury. He pointed out a Pacifica and a Magnum (the only 2 cars in the row) and I quickly told him those weren’t going to do. He asked if I wanted a Cadillac and I told him yes, that’s what I reserved. He had another attendant run and get one. It’s a Cadillac DTS with only 4,700 miles on it. The car was in good shape although could use a better cleaning. I will be contacting Alamo about this when I return home. This is the 2nd rental in a row that they tried to make me take in inferior car for a Luxury rental here.

I love being in town this week because it’s so slow. Traffic was very light and I headed down the strip to Caesars Palace. I had 2 things to do here. First was to redeem my holiday gift points for a few gifts and to cash in a few cash back vouchers they sent me. The Great Gift Wrap Up took place in the Palace Tower in one of the ball rooms. They had lots of items on display that were also on their website. I got a couple of tools and hit the check out which went very quickly. From there I went to cash in my coupons and then headed out of Caesars.

After a quick stop at Walgreen’s I went to the California where I’d be staying for the next 3 nights. I got an offer out of the blue and since I never stayed here I thought it would be a good opportunity to finally add this place to my list of over 40 hotels I’ve stayed at here in Las Vegas.

The offer I got was for their Strike it Rich promotion. I haven’t played at the Cal in years and even when I did it was minimal at best. I know the Cal isn’t like the hotels I’ve been staying in for the last few trips like Caesars and Paris but it’ll be fine. This offer is good for 4 nights (I’m only staying for 3 although I booked 4), 15 Fully Loaded Spins on one of their Cash Fall $1 Slot Machines, $30 in food vouchers, and triple points.

Check in was quick and I was given room 518 with a view of Binion’s Parking Garage. I wasn’t expecting much with the rooms here but I have to say I was a little disappointed with the room I got. It’s very small and the condition of it isn’t great. I think it needs a full renovation and/or a good cleaning. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not awful, it’s just I had been told the rooms here were pretty good and I find them to be a notch below my expectations. This room has a king bed, 2 nightstands, TV cabinet/dresser, work desk, dining table and a few chairs. The bathroom is split into 2 sections. One section is with the tub & toilet which is very small. The sink area is separated from the bedroom area by a small wall. This is where the “closet” is. All in all there isn’t much room to maneuver in here but it’ll do fine for the next few days until I move on to some better digs.

After I got my stuff up to the room I went to the slot club to get my food coupons and slot play entry. While there Yahtzee Mike arrived and we toured the downtown area. First up was Binion’s. Mike had some free play and other coupons to use and I got my card.

After he used his free play we went to the coffee shop and had lunch. He had a $10 comp and we both had their pasta special. For $3.99 you got all you can eat pasta with Penne, Fettuccini, or Spaghetti with marinara, meat, or Alfredo sauce. I went with the Penne Alfredo and one bowl was more than enough.

After over eating at Binion’s Mike had another coupon to use and while I waited for him I put $1 in a penny slot. I hit a bonus round and cashed out with a $3 win. I also activated a coupon for $10 in free play from the POV. It takes 72 hours to add this to your account but will come in handy on Sunday when I plan to play their gift card promotion.

We also scouted out some VP plays at the other casinos down here and have found there isn’t that much left downtown these days. It’s still better than the strip but not nearly as good as it used to be.

Now it was time to play. We went over to Main Street Station and played some slant top 8/5 bonus. I got my ass kicked here and dropped $60 in about 15 minutes. I switched to DDB and lost the other $40 in 5 more minutes. It was really bad and I only got about $200 in action out of the $100 bill I put in.

While we were checking out VP here we ran into Steve who knows us from the boards. He also spotted us at Caesars back in October. Mike tried his luck on some triple deuces game. This game pays 3000 coins for deuces and has over a 99% return but is VERY volatile, about 5X that of jacks or better. I hit the craps table and bought in for $200. I was taking it easy and instead of my normal play I was just betting the line and placing the inside numbers. I’d go up by a unit every other time I hit one. The table was choppy and a few shooters went out on their first roll and hurt me. I was down $200 but it was my turn to shoot and bought in for another $100. I did pretty good and got back into it again. A girl shooter took the dice and had a nice roll hitting lots of numbers. I actually got my place bets all up to $25/$30 each. I cashed out of the session with a $25 win. This put me about even for the day.

It was early but I was exhausted from a long day of travel and very little sleep. I made plans for tomorrow with Mike and headed up here to hit the bed. I think I was out like a light by 9pm.

Total win/loss for the day $0
Total comps for the day $471