Las Vegas, Sin City, Home
Well as you can surely tell I went back to Vegas again and I enjoyed every minute of it like I always do. I don't know if its the gambling since I'm a gambler or just the general atmosphere but I really can't get tired of that city. Went there with Bove (Justin) this time, his cousin Tristan, and his two friends from college, Leigh and Yuriko for a total of just three days.
As usual tho, we didn't lack things to do. We toured all of the casinos on the strip and all of the various free shows that they offered. If you haven't been to Vegas and ever go you should definately check out the shows - its a big part of the trip and saves money for those ppl on losing streaks ;) I think the Bellagio's fountain show out front and garden of fountains had to be one of the best.
Aside from the free shows, first time visitors gotta see at least one magic show and one comedy show. We only managed to get to a comedy show this time but it was well worth the time. Vegas really does its best to only have the best of the best. Our comedy show cost us $20 each, and for that we got an hour to an hour an a half show and two free drinks (NY city priced drinks in Vegas unless you're drinkin at the tables which are free) And its not like the comedians are so so. They were hilarious, especially the brittish guy and the guy who'd been on comedy central a few times before.
All in all I did well gambling. We tried to stay away from gambling til that night so we spent the better part of the day getting to know each other, hanging out and making plans for the rest of the few days we were there (like things we wanted to do and things we had to do) The afternoon was spent in the pool for the most part and tanning - the small enjoyable things that I never really got around to my last two trips to Vegas. I'm sure everyone whose been gambling with me or knows me well enough realizes how much of a feat it is that I wasn't gambling non-stop in this city ;) Later on I find out that Leigh is another April birthday, the 17th, so my numbers for the weekend were 4, 17 and 29 for roulette. I was doing so so until I hit a 17 I had totally surrounded and made $100 on it - til then I was just going up a few dollars at a time then breaking even over and over. According to them I make it look easy (it isn't so easy when its your money lol)
Anyways, at that point we headed up for the night. Next day we walked the entire strip and caught a ton of shows during the day and that night was my big gambling night. Early morning I hit the tables with Justin since we were the only ones awake and around 12:00 the others woke and Justin went with them to the pool. I said I'd be there in a few and finished up a few hands of blackjack. At this point I was down to the last bit of my winnings so I head for the pool. On the way I pass a $5 roulette table and figure, why not? since my luck seemed better with that game at this point anyways so I just toss $2 on 4, $2 on 17, and $2 on 29 - bam, 29 hits... I just take the money and leave the chips... bam, 17 hits... do the same thing again, bam, 29. It was unreal. So after that I sit at the table for a while (I think you coulda guessed that being up over $200 outta nowhere) and I walk away about an hour later with my pretty pink chip and head for the pool. I get there, spot em pretty quick and tell Leigh that she's my permenant good luck charm and show off my chip. I walked away from the roulette table up $500 of their money - very nice for me. The facial expressions were priceless when they noticed it wasn't a chip color they'd seen before lol. That night I put away the money I'd brought with me and a couple hundred in winnings.
Over the course of the next day, every time I gambled in a group I'd win. $200 at a mechanical horse race game, a $200 random game of blackjack, $150 at casino war, roulette (tho I ended up breaking even by the time I got up from this one this time) any random slot machine that I walked over to (I don't play slots, but if I have change from meals I pick machines at random and play em - this time every one hit) you get the idea. Now had our flight been that afternoon it woulda been a happy ending.
I ended up staying up all night while they went to sleep. I ended up going down to my last $100 quite a few times... I ended up being on my last $50 at blackjack (the place that took all my winnings back) and I left, played $1 slots for an hour and won about 100 back, got propositioned by a hooker (oddly my first proposition by one even tho I'd been to Vegas twice before) and ended up losing the last $100 when I went to try blackjack again. So its 8am and check out day so I go up to the room and figure I'll take some money outta what I put away, leave my origional money and come out even if I lose it all. I pass Tristan on the way and find out where he's going so I can let everyone know when they wake up, get back to the room and justin is just getting up. I look for the money and its gone - the maid took the money I put away the previous afternoon - how much does that suck? I ended up spending about an hour looking thru the room for it before I called the front desk to complain - which they basically blew me off since I was leaving that day (not that I think they could really do much else)
In the end it was all worth it - I didn't bring any more money then I was willing to lose, so I wasn't as upset as I coulda been about it and I definately didn't let it ruin my trip. Next time I plan on keeping all my money on me at all times tho - being told sorry we can't prove that anything was really taken sure helped me make that decision. Anyways - all in all I had a blast, its just a great city and the vacation still didn't cost much at all, all things considered. I got to have a great time, see great shows and make a few new friends. Besides who knows, maybe the casino is going to call the number I left with them and tell me that they found out what happened and are sending me money and a free hotel comp.... yeah right ;)
As usual tho, we didn't lack things to do. We toured all of the casinos on the strip and all of the various free shows that they offered. If you haven't been to Vegas and ever go you should definately check out the shows - its a big part of the trip and saves money for those ppl on losing streaks ;) I think the Bellagio's fountain show out front and garden of fountains had to be one of the best.
Aside from the free shows, first time visitors gotta see at least one magic show and one comedy show. We only managed to get to a comedy show this time but it was well worth the time. Vegas really does its best to only have the best of the best. Our comedy show cost us $20 each, and for that we got an hour to an hour an a half show and two free drinks (NY city priced drinks in Vegas unless you're drinkin at the tables which are free) And its not like the comedians are so so. They were hilarious, especially the brittish guy and the guy who'd been on comedy central a few times before.
All in all I did well gambling. We tried to stay away from gambling til that night so we spent the better part of the day getting to know each other, hanging out and making plans for the rest of the few days we were there (like things we wanted to do and things we had to do) The afternoon was spent in the pool for the most part and tanning - the small enjoyable things that I never really got around to my last two trips to Vegas. I'm sure everyone whose been gambling with me or knows me well enough realizes how much of a feat it is that I wasn't gambling non-stop in this city ;) Later on I find out that Leigh is another April birthday, the 17th, so my numbers for the weekend were 4, 17 and 29 for roulette. I was doing so so until I hit a 17 I had totally surrounded and made $100 on it - til then I was just going up a few dollars at a time then breaking even over and over. According to them I make it look easy (it isn't so easy when its your money lol)
Anyways, at that point we headed up for the night. Next day we walked the entire strip and caught a ton of shows during the day and that night was my big gambling night. Early morning I hit the tables with Justin since we were the only ones awake and around 12:00 the others woke and Justin went with them to the pool. I said I'd be there in a few and finished up a few hands of blackjack. At this point I was down to the last bit of my winnings so I head for the pool. On the way I pass a $5 roulette table and figure, why not? since my luck seemed better with that game at this point anyways so I just toss $2 on 4, $2 on 17, and $2 on 29 - bam, 29 hits... I just take the money and leave the chips... bam, 17 hits... do the same thing again, bam, 29. It was unreal. So after that I sit at the table for a while (I think you coulda guessed that being up over $200 outta nowhere) and I walk away about an hour later with my pretty pink chip and head for the pool. I get there, spot em pretty quick and tell Leigh that she's my permenant good luck charm and show off my chip. I walked away from the roulette table up $500 of their money - very nice for me. The facial expressions were priceless when they noticed it wasn't a chip color they'd seen before lol. That night I put away the money I'd brought with me and a couple hundred in winnings.
Over the course of the next day, every time I gambled in a group I'd win. $200 at a mechanical horse race game, a $200 random game of blackjack, $150 at casino war, roulette (tho I ended up breaking even by the time I got up from this one this time) any random slot machine that I walked over to (I don't play slots, but if I have change from meals I pick machines at random and play em - this time every one hit) you get the idea. Now had our flight been that afternoon it woulda been a happy ending.
I ended up staying up all night while they went to sleep. I ended up going down to my last $100 quite a few times... I ended up being on my last $50 at blackjack (the place that took all my winnings back) and I left, played $1 slots for an hour and won about 100 back, got propositioned by a hooker (oddly my first proposition by one even tho I'd been to Vegas twice before) and ended up losing the last $100 when I went to try blackjack again. So its 8am and check out day so I go up to the room and figure I'll take some money outta what I put away, leave my origional money and come out even if I lose it all. I pass Tristan on the way and find out where he's going so I can let everyone know when they wake up, get back to the room and justin is just getting up. I look for the money and its gone - the maid took the money I put away the previous afternoon - how much does that suck? I ended up spending about an hour looking thru the room for it before I called the front desk to complain - which they basically blew me off since I was leaving that day (not that I think they could really do much else)
In the end it was all worth it - I didn't bring any more money then I was willing to lose, so I wasn't as upset as I coulda been about it and I definately didn't let it ruin my trip. Next time I plan on keeping all my money on me at all times tho - being told sorry we can't prove that anything was really taken sure helped me make that decision. Anyways - all in all I had a blast, its just a great city and the vacation still didn't cost much at all, all things considered. I got to have a great time, see great shows and make a few new friends. Besides who knows, maybe the casino is going to call the number I left with them and tell me that they found out what happened and are sending me money and a free hotel comp.... yeah right ;)