Sunday, December 28, 2014

Vegas Solo Excursion #10: Dec 2014

I was initially going to call this trip report a “Wynn-Wynn situation”. After the events that took place, I was going to call it “This trip report is so depressing, you probably shouldn’t even read it”. But things did look up! But you have to wonder about the quality of a trip when staying at Circus Circus was the highlight!


---------------------------------------------------

Mon Dec 8

I still had work over my head.

I promised myself I would finish all of my work before going on a Vegas trip, after the stress of last time. But this time I had no control over the situation.

I had taken my area qualifying exam, awaiting the results and preparing to revise any issues my committee may have had.

I brought 200 scholarly articles with me—you know, only the critical ones—to Vegas just in case. Almost 5 weeks after enduring it, the results for my 60-page examination was still not in. 

From my head to toe, I was breaking down emotionally and physically from the stress of preparing, taking the exam, awaiting the results and possibly having to revise the exam and await the results again.

I also had to complete another assignment for my advisor, for whom I am writing a manuscript.

The pressure was on.

Articles, book summaries and laptop in tow, I prepared for 4 nights luxuriating at the Wynn, while wrapping up these things of life that really shouldn’t matter. And what better place to do it?


Exhaustion is an understatement to how I felt when I got to the airport. And, what do you know, I had so kindly booked a flight with not one but two stops. FML.

Somehow I flew from the east coast to New Orleans, and then found myself in Los Angeles, before now coming to Vegas.



While in LAX, I heard a call for oversold seats and a $100 flight credit on Southwest for taking just an hour later flight. As exhausted as I was, I did not want to leave even an hour later for that small sum. But after much thought, I figured, eh what the hell, I could use it for my next trip. 

Twenty minutes later, I ask the rep if all the flight credits have been taken and *no one* had even come up to the desk yet. Lucky me! Now, the agent offered me $100 flight credit plus the base of whatever I had paid for the flight ($145) which totaled a $245 flight credit. 




And technically now my entire roundtrip flight was free, because my other flight was paid for in points! PLUS I could find some deals and get my next roundtrip free! SCOORRE! This was my first win. I used my flight credit and booked my next trip immediately right there in the airport! Things were truly looking up.



WYNN

I arrived in Vegas practically slumped over, as I had a discomfort in my knee and that extra hour truly did weigh on me. They say grad school causes premature aging. I wanted sleep and I could not wait to just chill in my Wynn room and lay on the pillow of life, after soaking all the tensions out of my body in the bathroom of life.

I came up to the Wynn desk about to fall over.

And I forgot that I had not paid the full balance, which I typically do. I had to tell the agent I would be right back. Mortification. Not having paid the balance yet would cut into the budget I had to play at Wynn. I guess I had had prelim brain when I had booked. Could it be grad-school-specific Alzheimer’s?

It was only a $300 difference. But what’s worse, I checked my account to work it out and an extra $300 was taken out of my account because apparently the flight I had booked with the flight credit….hadn’t taken the flight credit. My brain was so blown at this moment, I pretty much shut down. The world was wobbly.

Luckily the first night at Wynn was comped so I went back to the desk, completely worn, and asked them to plainly cancel the trip. Tears. Plain tears. Personally embarrassing.

I was officially vacay homeless for 4 nights.

GOLDEN GATE

Downtown I went.


Fortunately I had comps at Golden Gate downtown. Serious downgrade. BUT it was a bed…and a cozy one. I booked 2 free nights which came with $15 dining credit and $10 freeplay. It was sufficient and I was appreciative. 



But all the plans of going to the Wynn buffet or Wazuzu, watching movies on the TV, lazing and luxuriating on a cloud, getting free credit and pampering myself at the spa, had to go away. Drained, I cried myself to sleep.



Tues Dec 9

GOLDEN GATE

I had to constantly remind myself I am in Vegas. I am in Vegas. I am in Vegas. Because, honestly it would not penetrate. I had work to do.



I forced myself to go to my lovely DuPars and eat French toast with my dining credit. I also tasted a pancake. Not as great as they once were where the crust was light and crispy and the inside was also light, soaking up the butter and syrup. Now the pancakes taste a lot more filling, like the mix is more rich, less light. Still tastes good. The French toast was just great as always.






I forced myself to play for future comps. I played on the good ol’ MJ slot and it wasn’t paying. I played Munsters and the Addams Family slots at 9 cents per spin and got several points from sitting on these machines for hours, banging it a bit to ease my tension. I pretty much stayed even. Over 3 hours, I played through $300 but I only used $60.

I intended to play only $60 bucks the entire trip since the trip just was not as worth it anymore. Since I still had $60 after all my play, I was excited to still have a bankroll.

TROPICANA CINEMAS

I decided to take a long ride out to Tropicana Cinemas and watch $1 movies. I saw Maze Runner…and I thought it was meh. When I got back to the strip, I looked through Marshalls and did not find anything I liked.

MERMAIDS

I went back downtown and got a hot dog (the bun was particularly nice this evening) and fried oreos at Mermaids (they are completely renovating!) for $2 and called it a night—work still over my head.




Wed Dec 10

GOLDEN GATE

I decided that the work I still had to do was negatively affecting my trip, and darkly coloring all the wonder I knew was around me but I could not truly see.

But I had to wait until I moved over to Flamingo for the next couple nights, where the resort fee will give me “complimentary” internet, to do the work.

I tried my best to enjoy my time. However, usually I have a tight, well-planned schedule for my trips, and the issue with not staying at Wynn threw not one, not two but all my major plans for these 4 days off. I was planless and had to create them. But I didn’t do the whim thing so I had to map out how to rearrange my days and receive maximum entertainment value.

I also was lackadaisical about using money at this point because I no longer saw the reason, given the high entertainment value I had initially planned was now crushed. So I rebudgeted the trip as super-uber frugal.

I was so lucky to find the GO two queen view rooms at Flamingo comped on my TR account, making the 4 days I would have paid and stayed at Wynn otherwise completely comped.

Waiting to get to Flamingo meant I had to enjoy another day, forcing myself to see light where grad school had created clouds.

But I opened my school email and my advisor informed me that my entire committee had agreed to outright *pass* me on my area qualifying exam. I blinked. I blinked rapidly. I closed out the email, opened it and re-read it again. Closed again. Opened again. Wiped my eyes. Read it again. Did this repeatedly until it sunk in.

Oh the horror!

I mourned bitterly. Only grad school can give you the same very reaction to success as to failure.

As with the statistics qualifying exam I had taken anonymously and had passed unanimously in August where no one else in my cohort who took it this summer had passed outright, I had also passed outright my area qualifying exam where few students in the history of my department had gone before.

The mourning reaction was that the task was finally over. My brain and my body could finally be relieved of all of its traumas. I never in a million years thought that getting a doctorate would be as traumatic as people so claimed. I used to laugh about it. Laughing has ceased.

A 17-page list of references. No, not a 17-page paper. Just 17 pages of references. 60 pages of my entire area. Covering my entire area. About 70 seminal books and 200 articles. And this is not even the dissertation.

Passing the area exam meant that I only had one more task to complete of the work I had to do—a literature review on my advisor’s manuscript. That alone was a huge task but I will gladly take the relief.

FLAMINGO

Checked into Flamingo. A glorious room with a glorious view I received.














Work still clouded my vision. But I needed to enjoy this. I rarely get good comps and I counted this as a very good one. . I had until Friday to get it in as that was the officially last day. Procrastination commence.

ELLIS ISLAND

Ate BBQ with my 50% LVA coupon. Loved it! Tender and tasty. Glad it tastes just like the first time.



FLAMINGO

I hit up the slots and they were all cold. I did not like them.

QUAD/LINQ



I hit an old 777, cherry type of slot from the distant past and was playing 9 cents per spin. I stayed in the game with my $60 and racked up some points but then I get tempted by the fact that a lady behind me had just won $400, so I started finding “funner”, brighter, more new, shiny slots with 40 and 50 cent minimum bets. I need to always remind myself to stick to the old slots!

I finished up my $60 quickly. So I went to the ATM and took out another $60. Since I had just lost, I proceeded to the corner near the elevator where the slots were hot for me last trip. 

And do you know what? ALL of the Michael Jackson slots (and all of the Cheers slots were gone). All of my personal ATMs from last trip, which helped me get the huge amount of points which allowed me to be comped at Flamingo now, were gone. I asked the slot people and they confirmed that they were all gone, taken out, eradicated. In fact, the slot person I asked said that I was the third person to ask about the Micheal Jackson slots that day.  They must have seen how much money people were making on those machines. Thus, I proceeded to plunk my new $60 away in all the losing machines they had left.

I was really only playing to relieve my extreme anxiety about this manuscript. And like I was tell myself, I should never play when I am moody. I should only play when I am happy. My mood can ruin things.

HARRAHS

I went ahead and fed into the extreme anxiety and went against all my plans to stick to a $60 bankroll for the entire trip. I took out another $40 at Harrahs and proceeded to move around to find good slots.

After getting down to $20, I found a Buffalo bank that was so hot, one woman was almost at $1000 from back to back wins. The security hinted to me that that bank had  been hot since yesterday (someone had won $1500 the prior day), so I hopped on! And while every machine was hot and getting big or small hits, mine was cold, giving no hits whatsoever. It must have been my energy.

I finished up again, and took out another $60 bucks from the atm. ONE last shot I told myself. Even though this was going no where. This was my third straight atm withdrawal in less than two hours.

And…I came out with nothing. I felt terrible. Horrible.  Of course this was extremely well within my initial budget for the trip (having wanted to keep comps at the luxurious Wynn, plus subsequently not staying at Wynn saved uber dollars) but this was bad, bad, bad for a super-uber frugal trip.

Down $220, cycled through only $600 (which was a testament to how much I was losing—could barely win even a little bit after upping the bet…at least with my 9 cent bet, I was winning $1), and played between 2 and 3 hours BUT given that this is CET and I split it between 3 properties, this play couldn’t be much good.

FLAMINGO

Shuffling my feet, I hit Margaritaville casino, walking by all the rodeo guys and gals. Hit the atm for the fourth time that evening for $20. It is never this bad. Usually I used the atm possibly once every few days. I just wanted to have fun and remove these procrastination-guilt feelings. Luckily a Sex in the City machine came through. I hit two bonuses and cashed out at $80. Total profit was only $60 but I’d take that to the bank! It was my first win all night.

Now I was down only $160…and that felt much better. Even better, I learned that they were waiving my resort fees at Flamingo for no apparent reason, so I psychologically counted the extra $60 I lost as what I would have “lost” if I paid the resort fees, which, if a psyched myself out, only meant that I lost $100 total! I could *live* with that!



Thurs Dec 11

FLAMINGO

I realized this morning that I was also moody because for several days while I was in vegas, it was not sunny outside. I am not used to a cloudy Vegas but it sure was. When I opened up my curtains to see the view, I was unimpressed because of the clouds.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD

To perk up my spirits, I ate at the spice market lunch buffet for $15 using the 25% coupon. Tasty. Let me not forget the awesome meatloaf and mashed potatoes I discovered here. Or the vanilla custard, strawberries and whip cream. They also have Krispy Kreme donuts here at breakfast.





FLAMINGO

Back at Flamingo, continued procrastination. Played on the internet for hours, anticipating getting work done. 

No such thing.

LINQ

Did I tell you how dead the LINQ hotel is? Without the dealertainers, the casino felt lifeless. There was no music, no energy, no excitement…and of course all the good slots were gone. This was nothing like its original incarnation.

I also find the new carpet drab.

I had a groupon for Recycled Percussion that I wanted to use for tonight but apparently the boys wouldn’t be playing until Dec 23, at which point I would be gone. It was bad enough all the shows I had wanted to see were dark this trip. Annoyance.

FLAMINGO

Procrastination.

Fri Dec 12

FLAMINGO

It was the final day to do it, but I got it done. 

Checked my grades. All good. Happiness. 

Got all my next courses registered. Happiness. 

Finished up the manuscript literature review. Happiness. 

Half way through my trip, I was FINALLY free!

MANDALAY BAY

Checked into my Great Room Suite at MB (I was lucky to find this for $65 on a Friday night through booking.com), and I agree with many VMB members on how underwhelming this room is if you are expecting a suite. This is no suite, just a room (a suitable bed and nice bathroom). For what I paid, I was not complaining. It was a large space but it did not feel that much bigger than standard.







But it felt like HEAVEN, because I was on top of the whole world…and with my view from the top of MB, it really felt like so.

It was rainy, but the rain could not bring me down. I was free. And free indeed. This was how I was supposed to feel at the beginning of a trip.




I jumped and hopped all around the room. I drew a bath in the spa tub (the bathroom was much smaller than I imagined). I turned on the TVs. I turned up the radio and just listened to all types of music while dancing and prancing around the room. You couldn’t tell me nothing!

I think I lied. This in fact was the highlight of my trip. This very moment in a nice “suite” with lovely sounds of good music, running water, ocean waves sounds on the TV, with floor-to-ceiling Strip views behind my bed. Bliss.  

Simulation of an aquarium on the television


The spa tub was very nice, and I enjoyed every bit of it.




Hit up Slice with a restaurant.com coupon. Tried a dish and a pizza. Meh. Would not come back.



LUXOR

Saw Carrot Top for $37. Entertaining and definitely funny. Because his routine changes, I would watch it again.

MANDALAY BAY

Walked by eyecandy but never came back to dance. Spent the night watching Frankie and Alice with Halle Berry, which was a great movie. Used the stereo to simulate a club setting and jammed out a little. Used the spa tub to relax all the muscles, for what made a good night.

Sat Dec 13

MANDALAY BAY

Turned up the stereo to listen to more tunes and embrace the ambiance. I could finally feel that I was in Vegas. Went to the lovely, lovely, lovely spa at 7 am (charged $25 to the room) and stayed for 3 hours in the hot tub, sauna and steam room.




Came back and watched the movie Belle. I enjoyed it.

EXCALIBUR

Ate at Buca di Beppo for lunch (they have nice specials). I ordered a baked ziti and an Italian crème cake. Buca is Buca--great. Can you imagine that that cake was $14? Can you imagine that after tasting it this second time around, I happily paid it…and would pay it again? OMG. I dreamed of this cake being catered for my future wedding. Let me not forget that I need raspberry sauce and mascarpone cream in a lemon cake for my wedding. That cake is life.




CIRCUS CIRCUS

Checked into Circus Circus which I received comped through MyVEGAS. I would be in Circus Circus for 4 nights straight in a fav room of mine: the Casino Tower King room. Beautiful royal purple envelopes the bed.



What made this trip so exciting was how the front desk lady treated me. Usually Circus Circus keeps all my MyVegas nights separate, telling me I have to check out and check in again every day of the trip.  

This front desk lady not only connected all my nights so I don’t have to check in again, she charged me the old resort fee because that’s what it was at the time of booking, she did not do an incidental hold (which I used to love about cheap hotels in Vegas before), and she literally gave me a few fun booklets with a ton of savings to make up for having booked multiple reservations.

Why is this so important to me? She did this without me asking her, she did it without me offering anything, and she did it cheerfully just wanting to please me. Oh my God! I was so happy. Usually Circus Circus reps get a little surly with me about every little thing even though these are basic things that should be no problem at all. I never ask for multiple fun booklets though, so that was quite kind of her.

I tipped her $20 bucks just for being her.

She was so happy and confused.

I skipped to my lovely room. I am also in love with the carpet on the Casino Tower floor; it makes me feel very cozy. Four nights comped--$60 total for resort fees—I am winning….finally.

WYNN

I headed over to Wynn to put some slot points on my card, and ultimately use the freeplay I had accumulated.

I started off slowly playing *only* slots with 30 cents minimum bets or less. I stuck with this plan throughout the session.

I would play a dollar or so to find out if the machine was hitting or not…At 4 units of 30 cents, this is enough for me to feel the machine. I hit up a ton of machines in this range. Though Wynn’s slot area is so deceptive that you do not realize when the denomination has changed. I put in $5 and played a few units, only to see the whole $4-5 get eaten up in one spin on a higher denomination that I had not checked for. Lesson learned…again and again.

I hopped onto one of those penny machines with the pigs, cherries and pennies…not sure what it’s called. 

And I was doing fairly well, especially when it came to recycling money and racking up points.

My good ol’ HOOT LOOT machine in the back was as cold as ice….so were all others in the back.

I also found the Cleopatra machine and Da Vinci Diamonds machines to be fun and give a good time. I put in $5 and got back $20 from Cleopatra. The game with Tabasco sauce was good too at 9 cents a spin. I put in $5 and got near $20. Also a Buffalo machine off to the side gave me a cool $40 hit after putting in $5.
I had only started the session with $80 bucks, turned my money into all $5 bills and just enjoyed the casino like it was an arcade. After I looked around, I went back to the machines I liked.

The penny-penny machine I played at 32 cent per spin. When I went back, I put in $5, and I hit for $80 bucks! I was so excited!! I finally felt like I was in the game this trip. I cashed out at $70 and put in another $5 and hit another $70. Cashed out. WHOOOOO!!! Yeaaaaah! I now have $140 in hand.



With my $20 in freeplay I had accumulated, I go back to Cleopatra, tabasco, da vinci, buffalo and I have fun. I take another $5 and play the buffalo near the restaurant off to the side in the middle of the casino. Within a few minutes, I hit for a total of $150!!! I cash out at $140. I racked up 600 points in 3 hours, which is not much but at least I used my freeplay!





I truly feel that the random tip I gave the front desk lady gave me good Karma. I walked out of Wynn with $280. I had officially won back everything I lost plus more!

PARIS

I watched Jersey Boys for the second time and while I enjoyed it, I kept nodding off probably from all the activity from the day.

CIRCUS CIRCUS

I used my fun booklets to get a few midway games in. And I won a teddy bear! I call it Baby!
Afterwards, I could not resist the Krispy Kreme. We can’t win all the time…alternatively, we keep winning.




Sun Dec 14

CIRCUS CIRCUS

Played some arcade (fun car, truck, motorcycle and boat simulators though I prefer the space at Fun Dungeon in Excalibur) and midway games, and then I browsed at Ross and found nothing interesting.

RIVIERA

I was finally able to play $1 BJ on the Riv tables (they also have $3 and $5 tables regularly!) after several attempts the past few trips. The trick is to come around 5am! Haha. Those tables are always packed. Just be mindful that BJ pays 1:1 on $1 BJ.

While waiting about an hour to get a spot on the table, I chatted up this UK guy from a country named Jersey who was also waiting for a spot. Apparently in a country he suggests is smaller than a London airport, it is a norm for people to take yearlong vacations….hmmm can I live there? It is also a country that people hoard dough tax-free.

He liked vegas but he found it too expensive. He had been traveling all over the world and his next stop was New Orleans which he was really looking forward to because he is into jazz. Because he was soon ending his trip and he was low on cash, I gave him one of my ACG Riviera comedy coupons to use with his girlfriend who craved to see a show. He was appreciative!

I only played $20 and it all went away but it was nice. I smiled walking away.

M&M SOUL FOOD

Used a restaurant.com coupon to indulge in this lovely place. The waffles, yams, koolaid and complimentary cornbread pancakes were smashing. The oxtails were good too. 





RIVIERA

Watched comedians at the comedy club using the free ACG coupon, and as always they were recycled comics I had already seen at Riviera, Ballys and Rio before. At this point, though it has long since been my favorite coupon, it is now time to give it a rest. Still great comedy.

Used the arcade at Riviera and played fun car games.

Then used their $1 massage chair which is beginning to unnerve me. It squeezes my calves way too tight—it feels like it’s checking my blood pressure. And then it tries to massage my butt area by making a poking motion….it is rudely uncomfortable and I am sure some guys would have a hard time using these chairs again.



I should probably stick to the nice massage chair near the monorail in the back of LINQ hotel (hope they still have it). No poking.




Mon Dec 15

PALMS

Took out $40 and played through it rather quickly at the Palms even at 30 cent minimum machines. Used a 50% off Nathans coupon for fries, paid $2.50, and bought my new-and-improved cheap Mcds order. I get a plain cheeseburger with just cheese and add mac sauce with shredded lettuce. A bootlegged Big Mac. A simulated Mac Jr. Costs about $1.60 and hits the spot.

Came to Palms to watch $5 Movie Mondays. Paid $10 for two movies. Like much of the entertainment this trip, the movies I most looked forward to were lacking. Hunger Games was so dark…like in color. Most of the other Hunger Games were colorful, beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, which is mostly why I watch it lol.

The themes of course have always been dark. Even the lady who usually has crazy, colorful makeup had none on. Maybe it is because they are mourning as a cast. It was just awful in that regard.

The movie Top Five had an amazing cast (including Cedric the Entertainment, Seinfeld, Whoopi Goldberg, Gabrielle Union, Kevin Hart) and was created by the intelligent comedian Chris Rock. But it was so terrible. It was painful to watch.

RIVIERA

Played some more $1 BJ. Put $20 on the table. Lost it all. But  when I first started going to the casino, there were $1 tables and THAT’S when playing was fun. This felt like pure, unadulterated fun. I felt happy even when I lost because I received some entertainment value!

I played for at least an hour. The dealer kept getting 10s and blackjack. This is a great way to relax and just have fun. I once traveled all the way to joker’s wild casino for $1 craps and western for $1 BJ…how refreshing it is to have it on the strip!

I played some more arcade games and used the poking massage chair.

I saw 40 is the new 20. I bought the tickets on halfpriceshows.com for $26. Even though it is well-rated on yelp, I thought it was a little lame. Not a ton of laughs. But it may have been the night because the following Riviera comedy show afterwards was so light on laughs, the comedian resorted to notes to find anything funny to make the dry crowd laugh. It was the most tense comedy show I had ever been to because the comedian kept saying repeatedly “I feel like I am holding you guys”…and I have never felt like that at a comedy club before but I kept thinking, “oh my gosh, when is this going to be over?” Goodnight comedy at Riviera…for a while crocodile.



Tues Dec 16

GOLD COAST

Paid $2 after using all of my points on a lunch buffet, and it certainly wasn’t worth it because in all my trips, it was the first time I could not find things I liked. They had no strawberry cheesecake soft serve and no good pound cake anymore, which were my fav parts of the buffet. The options were not to my taste, so after a plate of barely eaten food, I left.

ORLEANS

I watched the boring movie Interstellar for $5 Movie Tuesdays at the Orleans. I could only make it through an hour of the total 3 hours. I watched the Pyramid and though it got bad reviews, it saved the entertainment value of most of the trip because I was thoroughly entertained! I got some In-and-Out burger…and for the 3rd time, I was very underwhelmed. When will I give up on this chain? I keep wanting to see what I have not seen.

WYNN

I took out $60 to do a last hurrah. I won up to $120 on the buffalo machine off to the side, and when I was trying to cash it out, there was line to the machine. 





And on my way to the cashier, I fell for the biggest psychological trick in the game…I got disoriented by the carpet colors and the slot arrangement, being lured by all the pretty slots. Thoughts: “I’ll just bet this one time before I get over there”. One machine. Two machine. Three machine. All gone.

I was at 100% profit for the session and I lost everything. Then I wanted to chase so I took out another $40 and lost that too. It was my final night. So much for Wynn-Wynn.

As you can tell the joy of the trip shifted around Mandalay Bay after freedom from bondage and confusion, improving along the way. But entertainment overall was gravely lacking for me…and as you may have noticed, it was too cold and dreary to use a pool. Typically entertainment is 90-10; it was 50-50 this time.

Relaxing, entertainment, ambiance, sunny weather, and going to the pool settings most entice me about Vegas…and let’s say the polls were down slightly in all areas.

This was definitely a least favorite trip for me like March 2012, but it could have been worse.

However, another thing that entices me about Vegas is the opportunities to use my frugal muscles and that’s what this trip turned into.

1- 2 free roundtrip flights more or less

2-  4 nights comped at Circus Circus, 2 nights comped at Golden Gate, 2 nights comped in a GO view at Flamingo and a $65 suite on the weekend night in Mandalay Bay, for a total of $65 (not including resort fees) for a 9-day trip!

3- Lost only $200 bucks total playing-wise

4- Coupon savings on all my meals (or complimentary)

5- Uber-low entertainment options: $5 Movie days at Palms and Orleans, $1 movie day at Tropicana Cinemas, $1 BJ at Riviera


Hakuna Matata. No qualms.