Vegas in January - Part 1
Not a usual time for a trip to Las Vegas, so how did this come about? Well, I got an invitation in the mail for a slot tournament at the Gold Coast Hotel/Casino, a place I've visited only oncee. I've always wanted to play in a big tournament and the price was pretty good. $99 for the tournament entry and 3 nights hotel stay. The more I thought about it, the more fun it sounded. So I started looking at airfares and at using my Aeroplan miles. And I started talking to Nyssa about it. The more we talked, the more interested she got but the time off was an issue, as was the cost of airfare.
So what if we just go to Vegas and skip the tournament? Time it so it covers her regular days off as much as possible so she she doesn't have to book many days off. Finally I offer up the use of my remaining air miles, you know, the ones I was going to use for the trip to San Antonio in March. That seals the deal, assuming we can find suitable flights with only one stopover. Surprisingly, suitable flights are found and booked. Pretty much the same flights we would have chosen if we were paying for them, except for a slightly earlier evening departure for home (by only an hour, so no big deal).
Using your air miles makes it very clear why flights in Canada are so expensive. We had a number of flight options, some going through Toronto or Montreal, others changing planes in either Chicago or Newark. Taxes must be paid on these flights and this is where it makes choosing a route interesting. If we had opted to fly through a Canadian hub, taxes would have come to just over $199. Flying through the US hubs brings the taxes down to about $98 each - half the cost! Is it any wonder the good flight prices I always find are consistenly on United Airlines? While Air Canada has nicer seats (wider and more comfortable) and better inflight entertainment (free, lots of selection), it's not worth A) the extra $100+ in airfare or B) having to deal with Pearson airport.
Airfare booked at minimal cost, it's time to start looking at hotels and meals. We have been playing MyVegas on Facebook for a while and have racked up a nice stack of LPs (Loyalty points). These can be redeemed for various things - hotels, meals, shows, attractions, drinks and so forth. So we take stock of our points and start seeing what we can do. In the end, we spend 2 nights at our usual downtown hotel. These are comped on my account, so no cost except for the expectation that we will gamble there. We did, but not enough for me to continue getting comped rooms. I still get a hefty discount, just not free. I redeem some LPs for a night at the Excalibur, our first time staying on the Strip. So hotels booked, and no cost to us at all.
We also used LPs for 2 tickets to Siegfied and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat (value $40), 2 passes for the Bellagio lunch buffet (value $42), 2 passes for afternoon tea the the Bellagio's Petrossian Bar (valur $70) and 2 passes for the Mirage dinner buffet (value $60). Total value received for killing time playing virtual slots on FB? Including the $80 for the room ($65 + $15 daily resort fee) - $292.
This was definitely our least expensive trip - $99 for airfare, free hotel rooms, free meals and an attraction, $20 each for public transit, $8 shuttle fare on arrival and $30 cabfare back to airport. So we also paid for a couple meals and our gambling.
Time to think about getting ready for work, so more will have to wait until another time. And once I'm done with Vegas I can deal with adventures on Greyhound and fun in San Antonio. :)
So what if we just go to Vegas and skip the tournament? Time it so it covers her regular days off as much as possible so she she doesn't have to book many days off. Finally I offer up the use of my remaining air miles, you know, the ones I was going to use for the trip to San Antonio in March. That seals the deal, assuming we can find suitable flights with only one stopover. Surprisingly, suitable flights are found and booked. Pretty much the same flights we would have chosen if we were paying for them, except for a slightly earlier evening departure for home (by only an hour, so no big deal).
Using your air miles makes it very clear why flights in Canada are so expensive. We had a number of flight options, some going through Toronto or Montreal, others changing planes in either Chicago or Newark. Taxes must be paid on these flights and this is where it makes choosing a route interesting. If we had opted to fly through a Canadian hub, taxes would have come to just over $199. Flying through the US hubs brings the taxes down to about $98 each - half the cost! Is it any wonder the good flight prices I always find are consistenly on United Airlines? While Air Canada has nicer seats (wider and more comfortable) and better inflight entertainment (free, lots of selection), it's not worth A) the extra $100+ in airfare or B) having to deal with Pearson airport.
Airfare booked at minimal cost, it's time to start looking at hotels and meals. We have been playing MyVegas on Facebook for a while and have racked up a nice stack of LPs (Loyalty points). These can be redeemed for various things - hotels, meals, shows, attractions, drinks and so forth. So we take stock of our points and start seeing what we can do. In the end, we spend 2 nights at our usual downtown hotel. These are comped on my account, so no cost except for the expectation that we will gamble there. We did, but not enough for me to continue getting comped rooms. I still get a hefty discount, just not free. I redeem some LPs for a night at the Excalibur, our first time staying on the Strip. So hotels booked, and no cost to us at all.
We also used LPs for 2 tickets to Siegfied and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat (value $40), 2 passes for the Bellagio lunch buffet (value $42), 2 passes for afternoon tea the the Bellagio's Petrossian Bar (valur $70) and 2 passes for the Mirage dinner buffet (value $60). Total value received for killing time playing virtual slots on FB? Including the $80 for the room ($65 + $15 daily resort fee) - $292.
This was definitely our least expensive trip - $99 for airfare, free hotel rooms, free meals and an attraction, $20 each for public transit, $8 shuttle fare on arrival and $30 cabfare back to airport. So we also paid for a couple meals and our gambling.
Time to think about getting ready for work, so more will have to wait until another time. And once I'm done with Vegas I can deal with adventures on Greyhound and fun in San Antonio. :)