Around noon I hopped into the rental car I picked up yesterday at the local airport, Stewart – Newburgh with Avis. I reserved a mid sized SUV for a base rate of $60 which was cheaper than all of the other cars. They assigned me a Toyota Highlander with 31,000 miles on it. It was in pretty good condition considering how many miles were on it.

Today's drive takes me to Newark. I took a different route than normal and stopped at a local diner on the way to get some lunch.

I gassed up the car and got to Avis to return it.

Returning the car was quick and I hopped on the monorail to the terminal. I was flying out of Terminal A today in an unusual event flying on American Airlines. Normally I fly United out of Newark but a fare of $85 one way quickly changed that even though it was that stupid basic economy fare. The only draw back is that it's not non stop and I have to connect.

Checking in was great with no one there. I didn't have to pay any stupid luggage fee because I have the American Airlines MasterCard. I actually ended up with a window seat in the premium area.

Next up was security and the typical assholes that can't follow simple instruction. I was through and off to the gate.

When it was time to board it was again more people just being stupid.

This is flight 1216 scheduled to depart at 4:30pm arriving in Phoenix at 8:24pm with a flight time of 5 hours and 54 minutes. This is miserably long but the captain said it was “only going to take 5:11.

The flight was long and miserable. I passed the time by watching some free entertainment on my phone and playing some games along with a nap.

We landed at 7:50pm and taxied to the gate. I only had about a 40 minute lay over so just enough time to hit the bathroom and get to the next gate.

Boarding was similar to Newark with people that had group 8 boarding passes trying to board way earlier.

This is flight 2106 scheduled to depart at 9:07pm and arrive in Las Vegas at 9:16pm with a flight time of 1 hour and 9 minutes. The captain announced that the flight would take 45 minutes meaning we would land in negative minutes from the time we departed. He also said it was going to be bumpy. We actually took off at 9:22pm and landed t 9:05pm so minus 17 minutes.

I made my way to baggage claim to get my suitcase and then it was off to the rental car shuttle.

The car rates were very high the whole time I had been planning this trip. I locked in a car just to have something in January with Budget. I booked a mid sized SUV at a base rate of $321 using a discount code and a coupon for $25 off which was cheaper than all of the smaller cars. I did catch a price drop on February 3rd with the base price of $223 and all in for $361 for a standard SUV. This larger vehicle was the cheapest of the bunch and a nice savings of $127.

My name was on the board to stop by the Fast Break desk instead of a space number. After punching around on the computer and calling a few people they had me assigned to brand new Nissan Rogue with 1250 miles on it. After a quick look for damage and I was on my way.

I hadn't eaten all day other than the snack on the plane so stop #1 was at Jack in the Box for 2 tacos using the gift card Yahtzee Mike gave me. Thanks for the the food Mike!

The first part of this trip I'll be staying downtown at the D. No better place to start the trip than where I popped an $8,000 royal back in December.

Being a Saturday night it was a bit of a zoo downtown but checking in wasn't bad. I booked this room on a mail offer for 4 nights. The mailer also came with $100 in food, $75 free play and $100 in match play.

No one was at check in so I was quickly given room 3322. The only issue was when I got up there the room was occupied. Luckily they weren't in the room.

I went back downstairs and it was almost like they didn't believe me. They wanted to have housekeeping check because the room was supposed to be empty. Well no shit. I told her she had 2 minutes to get me a new room or I was going to get a manager.

Instantly I was given room 2235. It is a double room with a nightstand, a dresser and TV. The bathroom is basic with shower, toilet and vanity. This room has a view of El Cortez and Boulder Highway.

I had no real plans of playing tonight but did play some penny slots with no card for a little while. I did OK but only hit one bonus round. No major wins or losses.

I finally got to be around 2am.

Total coin in for the day: $0
Total win/loss for the day: $0
Total comps for the day: $159
Room $159