I was up early but have to say I didn’t sleep much last night. I mean, who could? Dee and I actually slept with our web cams on last night. She had to get up at like 1:30am to get ready, to the airport and then through customs before her early flight. We’re expecting some bad weather today with snow, ice and rain but I think we’re going beat it before it gets here. I HOPE we’re going to beat it before it gets here. She’s scheduled to leave Canada at 6am and has a connection in Newark where I’ll be meeting up with her. Everything seemed to be in order and I was on the road by 5:00am.

Today I’m heading to Newark in the rental car I picked up from Avis at my local airport, Stewart – Newburgh. I booked this car back in August and got a rate of $38 for a Standard SUV. This is cheaper than any of the other cars available. I’m guessing that it was because gas was over $4 a gallon at the time and these larger vehicles weren’t moving. The reservation was in order and I was assigned a Ford Edge with 16,000 miles on it. I wasn’t thrilled with this SUV. I found it cheap and lower end of the SUV family.

The ride to Newark was pretty uneventful but traffic was starting to build because it was a work day for most people (but not me, ha-ha). I made my usual stop at the Exxon Station not far from the Meadowlands to top off the tank. From there it was a short trip to the airport. Returning the car was easy and I was hopping onto the monorail to C terminal where Continental is located.

The first thing I did was check the monitors to see if Dee’s flight was on time and then I went to check in. The lines here were long because of so many delays and cancellations. Things were very well organized and went well.

Next up was my favorite, the security line. Here I was surprised that people were listening to the agents and doing as they were told. The only exception was the people that still try to take bottled water through. People, please get with the program and follow the rules. Also, a note to the airlines, if you stop charging for luggage people won’t try to carry on too much stuff trying to avoid the fees.

Dee’s flight wasn’t in yet so I went to my gate and waited for her to arrive. I couldn’t really go to her gate because she was landing in A terminal and had to shuttle over. I guess I could have gone but I thought it would be best to just wait over here at C terminal.

Dee arrived and we still had a while before our flight so we grabbed a bit to eat and hung out together for a while. We haven’t seen each other in person in close to 2 months (we see each other on web cams almost every day) so it was good to be together again.

When we booked our flights Dee booked a connection here in Newark and I booked my main flight on the same flight she was connecting on. Not only that, I booked the seat next to hers so we could fly together. I bought my ticket back in August through Harrah’s Passport Travel. I had redeemed my points for a ticket back when it was 50,000 points ($500 in comps) for a flight. Sadly that offer isn’t available anymore so it looks like this will be my last comped flight through Harrah’s. At the time this flight was $418 so I got pretty good bang for my buck on the use of comps.

When it was time to board just like security it was the same old song and dance. People whose rows aren’t called feel it’s ok for them to line up and board and/or stand so close to the line they might as well be in it. Christ people, you’ve all got boarding passes. You’re all going to get on the flight. Stand back and board in the order you’re called. The airlines do this for a reason and it speeds things up. All you’re doing by trying to board early is effing things up and slowing things down. I do have to say though, things were better today than they normally were. I’m thinking it was because people wanted to get on board and out before the snow started.

Today we’re on Continental flight 568. It’s non stop to Las Vegas departing at 9:00am and scheduled to arrive in Las Vegas at 11:59am. The captain came on and told us it would take 5 hours 45 minutes to get there and we should land at 12:20pm because we got a late start.

Continental used to offer meals on their flight but I recently saw on their website where it used to say breakfast and dinner for our flights it now only says snack. I’m not happy about this and not happy that yet another change since I bought my ticket was made. However they served a mini breakfast of a muffin, small bowl of cereal, and a banana.

The flight was uneventful. I had a magazine to read and a puzzle book to work on and also wanted to grab a nap during the flight. I used to hate this flight because of the length of and having no one to fly with. Now even with Dee next to me, this flight still sucks ass.

This plane was equipped with a full entertainment center in each seat. It offered music, movies, TV shows, games and more. I really liked this and if I weren’t so tired I would have spent more time on it.

We finally landed at 12:25 and taxied to the gate. I was glad to finally be here and was excited to start the trip. When we finally deplaned we made the customary first stop in the airport. Yup, that would be the bathroom!

After emptying out the next stop would be baggage claim. It used to be baggage claim was very fast in Las Vegas but I’ve noticed over the last year or two that things are getting slower and slower. We finally got our bags and were off to the rental car shuttle. Today wasn’t too bad but we did have to shuttle over from D terminal so the wait didn’t seem as long!

This trip I broke the cars up into 2 separate rentals. The first rental would be just for this weekend and will be returned Sunday afternoon. The reason for this was plain and simple, to save money. In total it was going to save me about $70 (actually $100 since I’ve since rebooked my second car for a huge savings). Today’s rental is with Avis. I have a coupon good for a free weekend rental. I got this from them earlier this year and it expires at the end of the month so I figured what a better time to use it then now! When we got to Avis my name wasn’t on the scoreboard with my name and spot number but I still had to make a quick stop at the preferred booth to turn in the coupon so it didn’t really matter. I booked a full sized car (the largest the coupon allowed). Usually in Las Vegas I have no problem getting upgraded being Avis First Preferred and today was the /was no exception. I was assigned a Chrysler 300 with 21,000 miles on it. After loading the car up and checking it over for damage we were off to security and then on our way.

Our first stop was to the Hard Rock. Dee grabbed a coffee at Starbucks & then I stopped at the dice table and chatted with Brian, a dealer I’ve been playing with for a long time. Next up was the cage. I collect Hard Rock chips and today they issued the 2008 Christmas chip. I grabbed a few of those and then we hit the casino. The goal here was a hit and run with some match plays. We hit the roulette wheel for these. I played black, Dee played odd. Up pops 17 (my mom’s birthday) and we were both winners and 2 for 2 on coupons and up $40 for the trip already. Like last time we started a kitty and will grow it during the trip and tally everything up on the last day.

When we were done at the Rock we headed out to hit the Dollar Store to pick up some supplies for the trip. We got everything from Christmas decorations and wrapping paper to snacks and water and then it was onto the hotel.

Our first two nights are at the Silverton. I booked a special birthday offer that is good for 2 nights, $100 in free play, and a special gift – a shower entertainment center. Even though we were a little bit early, we were able to check in which was welcomed. It’s been a long day at this point and we just wanted to get cleaned up and rest for a while.

After a nice break we were hungry so hit the Sundance Grill for something to eat. The place was packed so we went to Mi Casa the Mexican place instead. There was a 25 minute wait here too so we played some penny slots for fun. On the first machine I got beat up with few hits. The next machine was better and I hit back to back bonus rounds and the second on was for over 10,000 coins.

Our buzzer went off and we went to eat. I’ve never eaten here before and I thought the food was pretty good. I had the 3 taco plate. I got crunchy shells with beef and it came with rice and beans too. The restaurants were also offering 50% off if you paid with points. Our check was $26 so I got everything for $13 in points.

After dinner Dee went to the room for a bit and played some video poker. I hit the 10 plays and used the $125 in free play they gave me. This offer was for $100 but I had another offer for $25 and they combined them. I had no luck here and lost the $125 as well as another $300 of my own money. Few quads and the best dealt winner I got was trips.

Dee came back down and we played some more penny slots. I got lucky again and hit a bonus round for almost 20,000 coins. I did better today on slots than on video poker. Go figure!

It was now after 10pm and our bodies thought it was 1am, up for almost 24 hours except for a short nap on the flight. It was bed time!

Total win/loss for the day -$100
Total comps for the day $639