Day 23
Wednesday July 14, 2010
This sucks. We are up at the crack of Dawn to head out of Bally's and home. I looked on the TV and sure enough last night hadn’t been taken out of my comp dollars so I had to stop at the front desk to check out and have comps applied. This went well and it was off to valet to get the car. I gassed up the car and from there it was off to the rental car return. This was painless since there weren’t many people returning cars and then it was over to the shuttle bus to go to the terminal. We had pre checked in yesterday for Dee and I had purchased the advanced early bird check in for myself a few weeks ago. Normally I wouldn't pay to have this added but while we were out here I didn’t want to have to be somewhere with WiFi to check in at 8am. We still had to check in to drop our bags off though. This took a small amount of time. Somehow our bags were a little overweight so I eliminated a few items and shuffled a few to Dee’s bag. Once the baggage was squared away it was up the escalators to security. This was pretty quick and we were off to gate C18.

Having checked in early I had a boarding pass with A-26. Dee was farther back but I secured us seats near the rear of the plane when I boarded. The boarding process was smooth.

At the airport we grabbed some over priced food to eat to get us through the flight home. I got Dee a turkey hero and OJ that ran me almost $13. I got a Uno’s Pizza for $6

Today we are on flight 3903 non stop to Albany. We were scheduled to leave at 8:05am and arrive in Albany at 3:50pm. The captain came on the loud speaker and informed us the flight would be shorter and we’d arrive in Albany a bit early. I originally booked this flight back on March 18 for $234 each. This was a little high but what can you do? Then 2 days later the fare dropped to $189 so I rebooked and we both have $45 credits in our accounts.

The flight was uneventful except for one area of bumps over Lake Michigan. We landed in Albany a bit early. We hit baggage claim to get our things and they came out very quickly. Next up we called over to the Best Western to have the shuttle come get us to take us to the hotel where we parked the car. It took quite a while for this van to show up but when it did we had a friendly driver that took us right over to the car and unloaded our luggage for us. We loaded our things into the car and away we went.

Since we hadn’t eaten since early this morning we made a quick stop at McDonald’s for a couple of McDouble’s and Sweet Teas. I know this stuff is crap but where else can 2 people get lunch for $4?

The drive home was smooth sailing. We pulled into the driveway about 2 hours later as another Las Vegas trip came to an end!

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

Final Thoughts

• I like Southwest Airlines
• Harrah's Ak-Chin was a really nice place with the friendliest casino employees I've ever seen
• It was cool getting a brand new rental car in Las Vegas
• The suite at Silverton was really cool
• Portions at Hash House a Go-Go are absurdly huge
• It was fun playing tourist and tour guide for Rick and Wendy
• The suite at Aquarius was huge and well appointed and was exciting to be in
• Looking for bargains at Bealls & Burkes Outlets is fun
• Ten Play video poker is fun but streaky
• The gifts worth getting promo was a decent perk at the Aquarius
• The scratch cards at Main Street Station seem to continue to be downgraded with even fewer $3 & $5 cards
• We got 86 scratch cards at Main Street Station and all but 3 were for $2
• The staff and service at Main Street Station continue to be good
• It was fun being upgraded to the Emerald level on my B-Connected card and not knowing why
• Scratch cards at Main Street Station help ease the pain of losing if you hit enough quads
• Viva Mercado's is a fun Mexican Restaurant
• I like Main Street Station overall
• I was sorry to hear Bob was no longer at Main Street Station
• 5 night stays at a hotel seem to work best for us
• I'm amazed at how much they've cleaned up the Plaza
• I thought Ping Pang Pong had great food
• Matsuri was a decent show but a bit pricey
• M is a really nice property with great rooms
• Not hitting bonus rounds on penny slots can be a killer
• The Pinball Hall of Fame is a lot of fun
• The food at the Bougainvillea Cafe at Terrible's is good but the service is consistently slow
• The staff at M is excellent
• It was good to see Ned the dealer again at Paris
• I thought Zumanity was a good show
• Food prices on the strip are out of control
• Flying has become a major hassle and really sucks
• We didn’t do much couponing this trip
• The weather was sunny and in the low 100’s every day with no rain at all
• We played about 149,000 hands of video poker and hit 5 royals between us
• It sucked hitting 5 royals and losing for the trip
• This trip brings my Las Vegas record to 24-16-1
• The next trip will be the 13th Annual Christmas/Birthday trip for my 40th birthday

Eff Yous

• Eff you to Best Western Albany Airport for giving us the run around with the gift card
• Eff you to people that feel they are exempt from the seat belt sign on a flight
• Eff you to crowds on the Strip
• Eff you to the people that dress up like characters on the strip
• Eff you to the service in the Aquarius Cafe on June 27th & 29th
• Eff you to the Aquarius for keeping the casino so cold
• Eff you to the guy at the bar in the Aquarius that played Keno for 3 straight hours
• Eff you to four to a royal as a finishing hand
• Eff you to parents that drag very young children though casino and to restaurants late at night
• Eff you to penny slots with bonus rounds that pay zero coins
• Eff you to Harlow's at the Golden Nugget in Laughlin for serving a Dee side dish sized entree
• Eff you to the City of Laughlin for tearing up Casino drive as you enter town and making a detour
• Eff you to the douche bag the set off the fire alarm 2 mornings in a row
• Eff you to the girl at the California salad bar the kept using the same plate each time she went back
• Eff you to people the drop the toilet seat in their hotel bathrooms
• Eff you to both downtown McDonald's for not having any ice cream
• Eff you to Main Street Station for not having a bellman available when we checked out
• Eff you to M for taking away free internet
• Eff you to the maid at M for slamming doors all morning long
• Eff you to the front desk girl at M who said our keys would remain active throughout our stay but didn't
• Eff you to the Strip
• Eff you to losing 6 days in a row towards the end of the trip
• Eff you to the sandwich maker at Nosh in Bally's for working in slow motion
• Eff you to rude cigarette smokers
• Eff you to people that feels the captain’s orders to fasten seatbelts and remain seated don’t apply to them
• Eff you to hitting 5 royals and losing for the trip