When we arrived check in went quickly and the clerk didn't charge us for the extra parking. The only issue was the clerk not knowing how to process Dee's gift card. We were assigned room 273. The room was decent with a king bed, night stands and work desk. The room also offered a fridge, microwave and the standard furnishings you'd find at many hotels. It also had a view of the indoor pool but the room smelled like chlorine and poop.

NOTE: The first leg of our trip will be taking us to Phoenix, Arizona for 2 days so if you're not interested in reading about the gaming and other activities in Phoenix pleased skip ahead to day 3.

Day 1
Tuesday June 22, 2010
This morning we were up bright and early so we could get onto the shuttle. Again, the overnight clerk didn't know how to process the gift card and told us to call back later in the day. They offer a free hot breakfast here but we needed to get on the shuttle to the airport so I grabbed a few muffins for the road. The shuttle service was fine and the airport was only a few miles from the hotel.

Today we are flying out of Albany International Airport in Albany, NY on Southwest Airlines. The main reason for this was cost. Not only were the fares cheaper than going out of Newark but it was cheaper to get to and from this airport as well as being allowed to bring luggage at no additional charge.

I've never been to this airport before and didn't know what to expect. I was happy with the size of the place. It is smaller than most of the major airports. Check in went very quickly and our bags were accepted without paying extra money. Mine was initially over the 50 pound limit but that was quickly fixed. We paid $139 per person for this flight and I looked at fares a few days ago and this same flight was $323. I'm sure glad we booked this flight back in March!

As many of you know Southwest boards differently than the other major airlines. We checked in online yesterday and got group A 55 & 56 boarding passes. Boarding went well and we were able to score 2 seats next to each other. This was Dee's biggest concern about flying Southwest. Today we are on flight 505 departing at 7:25am. This flight connects in Chicago Midway and is scheduled to land at 8:40am. Southwest keeps costs down by not serving food but we did get a beverage and a small snack. The flight was very bumpy at times and probably one of the roughest I've ever been on. Luckily the rough spots only lasted for a few minutes and we landed in Chicago right on time. Dee has never been to Illinois so she was excited to see Chicago, even if it was only from the plane!

Our connection is on flight 1170. The gate was right across the concourse from our first flight. We had some time so Dee called the hotel to try to get the gift card working and yet another employee was clueless on how to do it. He told her to call back later in the day and he'd be able to do it then.

Boarding for this flight went well .We had A 51 & 52 for this is flight and we got 2 seats together in the back of the plane. This flight is scheduled to depart at 9:30am and scheduled to arrive in Phoenix at 11:20am. This is the only thing that sucks about having to connect in Chicago. We already flew 2 hours to get here and now still have 4 hours to go to get to Phoenix. This flight was bumpy at first (the same weather issues from the first flight still lingered) and we were able to pretty much sleep through most of it.

Once we arrived in Phoenix we headed down to baggage claim to gather our things. The wait here was almost nothing and our bags were among the first few that came out. Then it was off to the rental car area to Avis on the rental car shuttle. They have a consolidated facility just like Las Vegas has. I reserved a full sized car here using a discount code through my job for a flat rate of $40 per day. This came out to about half of what the regular daily rate for the day was here. Add to this rate about 50% in taxes and it's like sticker shock compared to Las Vegas. I am Avis First Preferred, a higher level in their frequent renter program here and my name was up on the scoreboard with the CTR for my space so I had to stop at the counter. They were low on cars so they didn't have everyone pre assigned like they were supposed to. I'm also supposed to get an upgrade for this status and today I did get one to a full sized SUV, a Toyota Fore Runner in like new condition although it had over 12,000 miles on it.

From the airport it was off to Maricopa to Harrah's Ak-Chin. I visited here once a long time ago when it first opened and I know a lot has changed since then. Originally we booked this offer on Dee's card for 2 comped nights in a premium room but, between that time and now I got a coupon offer in the quarterly magazine for up to 3 nights and 15,000 in reward credits ($150 in comps) so we canceled her reservation and booked one under my name.

When we arrived at check in things were in order and the clerk congratulated us for being just married. We were assigned room 284. This was a king room with 2 night stands, a work desk, arm chair and ottoman, dresser with a fridge, 42" flat screen TV, make up counter and a balcony with a view of the pool area. The bathroom is large with a tub, glass shower, vanity and toilet. There's also a coffee station on the wall when you walk in.

After we checked in we went back to the car and I moved it to valet and had a bellman bring up the bags. This worked out well and the guy that came to the room was friendly enough.

One odd thing here is the hotel isn't attached to the casino and there's a short walk outside to get from the casino to the hotel. One other odd thing was the free WiFi in the room.

Once we got settled in we took a break for a while and then hit the casino and explored the rest of the property, and hit the diamond lounge. The diamond lounge also doubles as a restaurant but from 2:30pm on it is the diamond lounge. Today they offered a cold pasta salad, sandwiches, 2 types of chicken wings and desserts. It was a good offering and the room was nice.

When we were done eating we hit the casino. We played a variety of penny, 2¢, and 5¢ games. No real major hits for either of us except when Dee didn't realize she was on a nickel machine and made a $3 bet scoring a bonus round and getting a bonus with the bonus and racking up over $100 in credits. All in all we played for about 5 hours and Dee won $1. I dropped about $180.

One thing to note is they offer free soft drinks in the casino at a self service center but alcohol isn't free and Dee got soaked $3.50 for a non-alcoholic beer!

When we were done I stopped by the Total Rewards booth and turned in my coupon for 15,000 reward credits and also set up a PIN. For playing a half an hour I earned $30 in free play as a first time visitor to Ak-Chin (I'm guessing they weren't counting my trip here in 1998!). I ran this through a machine on the way to the room and turned it into $18 cash.

Since it was a long day we decided to come up to the room and relax before going to bed around 10pm (1am to us).

Total win/loss for the day -$200
Total comps for the day $150