Day 22
Tuesday July 12, 2011
Well today is the final morning of the trip and our flight is only hours away at this point. We gathered up the rest of our things and packed up for the long trip home. Our flight isn't until 5:25pm so we still had plenty of time to get ready for the trip.

We slept in this morning and went to breakfast at the buffet but they were about to close between breakfast and lunch. I was kind of glad because I didn't really want to eat that same crap again. Instead we went to the Sportsbook Deli. Dee had an omelet and I had a hot dog and a fruit cup (yeah, I know, strange breakfast). This filled the void and we were off for a final session of video poker.

We had a total of $400 left from what we were up that we were willing to lose to guarantee going home winners. We decided to take a final shot at dollar video poker with $200 each. I was doing ok but Dee got beat pretty quickly on her first bill. She moved machines and did a little better almost getting back to even. I started getting low paired to death and switched machines. Dee was getting beat up to and moved as well. We played a little longer and I got back to even but then hit the dry spell. Dee lost her second bill and I started a downward spiral. We did over $4500 in coin in and didn't hit a quad at all and lost the remaining $400 that we were willing to blow. Even though we lost for the last out of 7 days we're still going home winners folks!

We went upstairs after the final VP session to finish packing the last of our things and got ready to head out. We took our stuff up to the car and then ran back in to the casino to grab something to eat.

Before we left we hit the Sportsbook Deli. We got a few sandwiches to go to take onto the plane so we didn't have to spend a boatload of money in the airport for lunch before the flight. Hey, we're silver carded here, may as well make use of it!

We left Sam’s Town and ran over to Anne’s house to drop off our things that we store in a tote there and then went to gas up the car.

Dropping off the car went well and we were off to the airport. Checking in here was quick today and the line was very short to check baggage.

We were off to security next and again there were no lines and no one was being stupid trying to carry water through. Once we made it through security we had plenty of time to wait down at the gate. I always hate flying home from Las Vegas. Not because it's time to go home but because it's a major hassle and a long flight. I had bought the early bird check in for this flight so we didn't have to check in the day before. We were given boarding passes A20 & 21. I bought these tickets a back in April and for $179 per person. I wasn't thrilled with this fare but it never went down. I also used some old credits to pay the fare so it wasn't quite as painful.

This is flight 157 nonstop to Albany. We're scheduled to take 4 hours and 40 minutes and the captain came on to tell us it would take a little less than that and should be smooth sailing once we got out of the Vegas Valley. The flight home was a bit bumpy and a lady traveling with 5 ill mannered children made for a noisy flight home. I slept though a good portion of it despite the ruckus. We landed early and taxied to the gate. We took our time getting off the plane and headed to baggage claim where everything came out quickly.

Once we had our things we headed outside and grabbed a cab to the Best Western. They do offer a shuttle but I figured by the time we called there and the guy showed up it would be faster and easier to pay the $10 for the cab.

Once we got back to the hotel we checked in since we were spending the night here instead of making the 2 hour drive home at this hour of the morning like we did back on the Christmas trip. Checking in here was a breeze. We were given room 270 which at his point didn't matter since we were here to sleep and shower and that was it.

We finally got to bed at 3am and as far as I am concerned this trip was officially over.

Total win/loss for the day - $400
Total Comps for the day $90

Final Thoughts

• Parking at the hotel in Albany is convenient
• Other than their boarding process I really like flying Southwest Airlines
• The flight to Las Vegas was one of the best flights ever flight wise and had well behaved passengers
• It was good to return to Sam's Town
• I really like the park inside Sam's Town
• Getting a rental car for $96 a week was a great deal and getting upgraded to an SUV made it even better
• I thought the food and service at Willy & Jose's in Sam's Town was pretty good
• Scratch Cards continue to be mainly $2 at Main Street Station but really add up over a stay
• Hitting 51 quads with 13 of them being aces in a day at Main Street Station was amazing
• Monday Night Raw was a fun event
• We got 80 scratch cards at Main Street Station, 77 were for $2 and three of them were $3
• The Rooms at Suncoast are some of the largest and nicest in town
• Rick and Wendy were like good luck charms for us the week they were with us
• It was nice of the server in the Flamingo diamond lounge to give us Donny and Marie tickets
• We had quite a bit of free play this trip which really helps the bankroll
• Absinthe was a really good and funny show
• Downtown can be great place for entertainment between the stage acts and the freaks
• It was a fun surprise to have a giant suite at the Aquarius
• It sucks that the Aquarius closes the cafe at 2pm on weekdays
• I don't like that Sam's Town doesn't have a coffee shop
• We saw more shows than normal this trip
• We didn’t play as many promos or use as many coupons as we usually do this trip
• The weather was not as hot as it usually is during our summer trip with some days not even reaching 100 degrees
• We played about 140,000 hands of video poker and hit 4 royals between us
• This win brings my Las Vegas record to 25 – 17 – 1
• The next trip will in December for the 14th Annual Christmas/Birthday Trip

Eff Yous

• Eff you to the guy in Albany that tried to cut the line while boarding (the gate agent wouldn't allow it - Good Job Southwest)
• Eff you to people that allow their kids to run through the hallways of hotels at all hours of the day
• Eff you to people that slam their doors in hotels
• Eff you to people that feel the need to drop the toilet seat in hotels
• Eff you to Sam's Town for closing the pool on the hottest day of the year so far
• Eff you to Sam's Town for once again not having our room ready for us
• Eff you to Main Street Station for playing games with their parking garage
• Eff you to all of the road construction in Las Vegas
• Eff you to the Thomas and Mack Center for not opening the doors until 20 minutes before the event started
• Eff you to the Flamingo for having such worn out and filthy rooms
• Eff you to the staff at Absinthe for the way they handled themselves during a rainstorm
• Eff you to us for missing fireworks by a day
• Eff you to room service at the Aquarius for taking 90 minutes to bring up our order
• Eff you to gift shops that have super high prices
• Eff you to the Aquarius for putting an outdoor nightclub below the hotel rooms
• Eff you to Sam's Town for not having a Cafe
• Eff you to the Harrah's/Caesars properties for allowing people to pay $6 to use the diamond lines at the buffets
• Eff you to The Venetian for not honoring the $25 Free Play coupon for new sign ups for the Cousins
• Eff you to people that twirl around in circles when they don’t know where they’re going blocking walkways
• Eff you to people that try to get into an elevator before the people on it can get off
• Eff you to the guy at Planet Hollywood that allowed his baby to crawl across the casino floor
• Eff you to the Sugar Factory for selling $25 lollipops
• Eff you to the City of Laughlin for still having Casino Drive torn up after over a year
• Eff you to the crowded Strip
• Eff you to people that congregate at the top/bottom of an escalator

Total win/loss for the trip $2500
Total comps for the trip $8200
Total comps without rooms $4473