Day 19
Wednesday December 29, 2010
Well believe it or not today is the day we go back home. Luckily the flight isn't until later this afternoon so we've got plenty of time to play a bit and get something to eat.

We started the day by packing our things up and then hitting the buffet for a quick breakfast. Things were good as usual here and the Kahlua pork was back to normal.

We grabbed our things after breakfast and headed out. The next stop was to Terrible's to use my $100 loss rebate coupon. I was amazed when I got there and there was no line at the slot club. I turned in my coupon with no issues headed to the VP machines. I took a shot a $1 double-double bonus hoping for a quad on a free shot. I wasn't able to hit a quad and lost my $100 fairly quickly and headed back to the booth to have the free play added to my card. I ran the free play through a quarter machine and it was down to $75 when I was done. On the way out used a match play on roulette and scored on black. In total I lost $5 at Terrible's but that wasn't too bad considering.

It was time to head to the airport and we stopped off at Anne's house to drop off our tote of things and then went to gas up the car.

Returning the car was easy even though they only had 1 agent and it was off to the shuttle back to the airport to the security lines. Things were slow here today.

I was surprised when we got to the airport how slow it was. I was expecting things to be busy with people traveling home after the holidays. Check in was quick and we were through security very quickly as well.

We arrived at our gate to find out we were delayed because there were some flights coming in from the LA area that were delayed and there were a lot of passengers connecting to this flight. While we waited I walked down to the other end of the terminal and got a pizza and Dee got a sub in the part we were in at Port of Subs.

We finally boarded and found seats together. We weren't sure with high numbered B passes that we would. Dee was relieved that we were though.

The flight home is on Southwest flight 239 non stop from Las Vegas to Albany. I originally booked this flight back in August for $189 which I found high but I needed to lock it in. About a month later the flight dropped to $164 and that's as low as it ever went. I was ok with the fare especially when combined with the $109 out for a total fare of $273. That's about the cheapest I've flown in a few years. It's not the $178 round trip I used to get but until fuel prices drop and the airlines stop pinching us for every dime they can, we'll never see those fares again.

The flight home is supposed to be 4 hours and 45 minutes but the captain came on and said it was going to take less but that would only partially make up for the delay. I slept through a good portion of the flight except for when the captain came on and said it was going to get bumpy. He even told the flight attendants to be seated. Of course this was an alert for the dumb asses on the flight to get up out of their seats and start going to the bathroom and grabbing things from the overheads. Hey assholes, use some sense. When the captain tells the flight attendants to be seated, it's going to be bad. Sit the eff down.

We arrived in Albany at 1am and gathered up our luggage and headed back to the hotel where the car was. It was late and the ride home was uneventful.

At about 4am we pulled into the driveway as the 13th annual Christmas/Birthday Trip came to an end.

Total win/loss for the day $0
Total comps for the day $116

Final Thoughts

• Parking at the hotel is pretty convenient and cheap
• I like the Southwest doesn't rip us off on Luggage fees
• I like that Southwest allows you to rebook your fares at a lower price with no penalty
• The rental car price I had this trip was the lowest I've had in year, maybe of all time
• M is a great property and their service is excellent
• It was exciting being dealt a royal on a progressive triple play
• It was even more exciting to see Dee hit a royal minutes later
• The swings on video poker really sucked this trip
• The M buffet is one of the best in town
• Scratch cards at Main Street Station continue to be worth less
• Portions at Hash House A Go-Go are just WAY too big
• We got 74 scratch cards at Main Street Station and all but 2 were for $2
• George Wallace puts on a good show
• We didn't use as many coupons as we normally do this trip
• Wranglers Hockey is a cheap, fun way to spend en evening if you like hockey
• I missed not getting a chance to go to the Pinball Hall of Fame this trip
• The weather was nice with above average temperatures in the mid to upper 60's
• We played about 140,000 hands of video poker and hit 6 royals (1 dealt triple play, 3 drawn)
• This loss brings my Las Vegas record to 24-17-1
• The next trip will be this summer for Dee's birthday and our first anniversary

Eff Yous

• Eff you to people that stand in line behind me and crawl up my ass like it'll make things go faster
• Eff you to getting killed for 3 straight days after hitting 4 royals and losing half of it
• Eff you to people that feel they are allowed to wander in the plane when the seat belt sign is on
• Eff you to the swings on video poker this trip
• Eff you to Panera Bread stopping breakfast at 10:30am
• Eff you to Bill's for having only 6-5 blackjack
• Eff you to Golden Nugget Laughlin for not allowing hosts to do anything for their guests
• Eff you to the waiter in the Aquarius Cafe that forgot our appetizers
• Eff you to the silent farter at the hockey game
• Eff you to casinos that close most of their restaurants at night these days
• Eff you to Flamingo gift shop for charging $6 for a $1.39 bag of chips (I didn't buy them)
• Eff you to Main Street Station housekeeping for not servicing our room one day
• Eff you to losing this trip after such a great start

Total win/loss for the trip -$1200
Total comps for the trip $3664
Total comps without rooms $2340