It's that time again. Time for a trip to Las Vegas. This is what I'd call a mini trip coming in at just 2 days. Normally I wouldn't take a trip this short but a huge amount of free play is going to make it worthwhile for such a short trip. There won't be much time for all of the usual activities but it's still going to be fun. The report also won't have as much detail is it usually does because there won't be enough downtime to spend writing.
Security was a little slow because of the usual idiots. I still don't understand what part of no liquids, take off your shoes and empty your pockets is so hard.
I found my gate and had plenty of time before the flight so grabbed a snack at the CNBC store.
It was finally time to board. Since I bought the El cheapo flight I didn't get to choose my seat. I ended up in 22A, a window seat. Because of the cheap ticket I was in the last boarding group. I get to my seat and there is a shriveled up old prune sitting in it. Flight attendant asks which seat I'm in, I show her the boarding pass and she asked the prune for hers. Old prune says it's not her seat but she likes to sit by the window. Flight attendant explains that's not how it works. The other guy who was sitting in the aisle seat fessed up and said it wasn't his seat either, he's in the middle. I agree to take the aisle. Seriously though, WTF?
This is flight 2081 non-stop to Las Vegas. We are scheduled to depart at 8:00pm and arrive in Las Vegas at 10:31pm. It has a scheduled flight time of 5 hours and 31 minutes. It was announced that it was only going to take 5:15.
When we took off I spend the flight watching TV, napping and playing games on my phone. One thing I like about Jet Blue is there is a TV at every seat and they offer free WiFi. The flight itself was pretty smooth.
We landed at 10:15pm and taxied to the gate. With no luggage I didn't have to go to baggage claim and went right to the rental car bus.
Because I have been reading that rental cars have been tough to come by and there have been long waits even with a reservation, I booked 2 different reservations. One with Hertz and one with Avis. Hertz was a bit of a gamble because according to their website they close at 10pm. I'm not sure if they've extended their hours now that things are a lot busier out there. My rental with Hertz is actually cheaper by a few bucks so that would be my preference.
The wait for the rental car shuttle was quite long. It took 3 buses before I got on and barely made it onto that one.
When I got to the rental car facility Hertz was NOT open. Instead I went to Avis.
I booked this car using a discount code through my company and got a mid sized for $31/day or $95 all in. Once again my name wasn't on the preferred board. However the Avis app had me in spot 23 in a Subaru with just 4,000 miles on it.
I ended get to security and he says nothing is showing for me. I showed him the app and he said it's still not showing anything. Now I have to go back to the preferred booth and find out WTF is going on. The supervisor in there figured it out. I also asked him why I'm preferred and rarely is my name on the board and this is the case once again. He had no explanation.
I finally got out of there at fucking midnight.
From the car facility it was a quick drive to my first hotel of the trip, Silverton. I booked this using a mail offer that also comes with $100 free play and a $50 food voucher. Checking in at this hour was a breeze and I was off to room 2084. This is a king room with nightstands a work desk, dresser, TV and a view of the pool. The bathroom is small and basic but will be all I need for the night.
I threw my stuff in the room and hit the casino. Just a short run through popping some twenties into some slots. Not much happened but won a few dollars.
It was now going on 2am (5am my time) so I came back to the room and wrapped up the night.
Total win/loss for the day + $13
Total Comps for the day $49
