This is the final portion of @Snickers99Poker’s massive trip report. You can get caught up on previous sections here.
Friday, July 1:
Alarm goes off at 7. Yeah, who am I kidding? I’m not getting up. I reset it for 9 and fall back asleep. Alarm goes off at 9. Argh. I guess I have to get up since I have to pack and check out. I’ll have to return the MyVegas MGM breakfast buffet and maybe try again next time. I love breakfast buffets but I just couldn’t get up in time this week. Too many late nights talking to hookers.
All week I’ve been stashing away the free stuff from the bathroom. I have quite the collection of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, a couple of toothbrushes, some mouthwash, a bunch of chocolates, etc. I feel slightly embarrassed as I pick up the bag I’ve been stashing all this stuff in. It’s pretty heavy. And I felt weird about taking all the stuff so I didn’t take everything every day. A little here, a little there. I wouldn’t have taken the shampoo/conditioner but I hear it’s good stuff. I’ve been using it all week and, well, you saw how many women came up to me last night. (OK, last time I talk about hookers. My girlfriend is going to read this. She’s awesomely good at letting me go to Las Vegas alone so I better cool it with the hooker talk.)
I mentioned several times on Twitter during the last few days that I didn’t want to leave. Except for my first of the yearly trips five or six years ago when I almost cut my trip short, I never want to leave when it’s over. But this trip especially. It’s been my favorite trip although I still haven’t gotten downtown.
I think it’s been my favorite due to the room at the Aria (very nice) and all that came with it…airport transportation, the lounge, etc. And I think I like staying on the Strip in that area. My first couple of years I stayed at the Rio due to the WSOP. Then I switched to staying at the Linq, which is in a good location too. But I liked it here with access to the casinos up this way. While Aria and MGM, and even New York-New York at times, are too rich for my blood, it’s easy to get to Monte Carlo, the Trop, PH, Paris, Bally’s. You like the ritzy places? Bellagio and Caesars are nearby too. And at this time I thought I was up for the trip but after figuring it out when I got home, I was actually down $81 at this point. At any rate, it always makes the trip much better when you don’t lose hundreds of dollars.
Staying at the Linq did get me closer to Mirage, Wynn, TI, etc. But I pretty much just played at the Linq. I’m not sure I’m much of a Harrah’s/Flamingo fan. So with PH, Paris, and Bally’s so close by (all Total Rewards casinos), I felt I had more choices up this way. I think next time, since I won’t be blowing so much money on a room at Aria, I’m going to try Bally’s.
I’m all packed up and I guess I have to leave now. I head out the door after saying goodbye to everything. Goodbye two TVs (forgetting the one in the bathroom). Goodbye wet bar and expensive snacks that I looked at but didn’t dare pick up. Goodbye fridge that stored my cheap Mountain Dew and single bottles of alcohol I wanted to try. Goodbye remote controlled curtains and view. Goodbye warmed toilet seat and bidet. Goodbye comfortable bed. And goodbye cool view of the Strip. I will miss you all.
I head downstairs and check out. They call the bellhop who takes my luggage and my book bag. I usually carry my book bag around with me because it’s got all my electronic stuff…portable DVD player, etc. But I guess I can trust the Aria staff not to go through my stuff and it’ll be nice to kill five hours without having to carry around the book bag.
I hang out in the lounge for a bit and do some phone stuff….catch up on email and Twitter, etc. That killed about an hour but it’s my last chance to gamble so let’s get out there and do something!
I end up at Bally’s again for probably my last Ultimate Texas Hold’em session. Awesome…I get to sit in the last seat. I think that’s my favorite.
Things are going very well for me and I’m up a bunch. Eventually a guy sits down next to me and he’s betting pretty big. But he’s not having a good day and eventually he’s down to his last bet. So he places his bets and decides to play blind. Why not, he says. And it pays off. He gets a big hand and wins a bunch. Not enough to get him back to even, but enough to lighten his mood a bit and keep him in the game. Unfortunately, he starts losing again and he’s back to playing his last bet blind.
I’m not usually a social person but it is nice to sit at an UTH table with people who are sociable. I mentioned before that I like it this way because I can listen to everybody and can contribute when I want…I don’t have the pressure of HAVING to contribute. So the whole table is pulling for this guy because we all know he isn’t having the best time. His last bet, playing blind, and he hits another big hand. Of course the jokes come out saying maybe he should just play blind since it seems to be working. He was playing Trips and maybe the 6-card bonus…I forget. And I forget what hand he had but it was big enough that he got paid on the Trips bet as well. He hits a couple more hands and by the time I leave, he’s actually up a little. And he’s much happier.
As for me, I’m doing quite well and start using my winning stop limit. If I get down to X, I’m stopping. So I’m up $150…if I get down to $100, I’m stopping. My way of locking in a profit. Luckily, my stop limit keeps going up. If I get down to $150, I’ll stop. $175…$200. Things are going so well the dealer has to start paying me with $25 chips because she’s running out of $5 chips.
Now I’m up over $300. Sweet. I play a little more and am now up exactly $300. I could have $60 out there on every hand so say I do for the next two hands and lose. I’ll quickly be up only $180. Of course I could win those two hands. But variance is going to catch me eventually and $300 is not only a nice round number, it’s also double my buyin. Seems like a good place to stop…so I do.
Have to wait awhile during the color up as the dealer needed to get permission from the pit boss and she couldn’t get his attention and/or he was at another table. I feel like I should apologize to the table for slowing the game down to a stop even though it’s not my fault. Finally I gets paid and I wish everybody good luck. I asked the guy next to me…the one that bet blind twice…if he got all his money back. That’s when I learned that not only did he get it all back, he’s now up. I tell him awesome, pat him on the shoulder and say something like keep it going.
I cash in my chips and still have about two hours to kill before my ride to the airport. It’s too hot for me to walk around and I am clutching my $300 winnings like it was a child of mine…I am NOT risking losing it! So I head back to the Sky lounge to chill with some snacks and soda, and wait for my ride.
(I forgot to mention something but I’m not sure when it happened so I’ll throw it in here. I bet on another two baseball games and same thing happened as before…won one, lost one for another $4’ish profit. I think I bet these games today (Friday) because I took the ticket home with me. If they were Thursday night games, I would have cashed it in.)
It doesn’t seem like it took long but it’s time for me to head to the airport. I wasn’t sure where my luggage was coming from, if I had to ask for it, or they would bring it to me since the bellhop asked what time my ride was. Maybe it’s by the doors leading to the transportation area. So I head out there, don’t see it, and I ask someone. I’m in the right spot but they have to go get it.
Here comes my luggage and another tip. I forget how much. I really should keep track of how much I spend in tips. One of the drivers asks if I’m ready, I say yep and I’m standing next to the bellhop chick as I’m waiting for him to pull the car around. She asks how my trip was…I complained about the heat…she said I should come back between October and May. I tell her that I think I already figured out that this was my last summer trip.
The car pulls up…another Escalade or whatever the first car was when I got here…she puts my luggage in the back and the driver guy opens the back door for me. Really…I could get used to this. He offers me a water, which he has up front on the passenger seat in a cooler. But I say I’m good.
We chat as he makes his way to the airport. He loves living there. He and his wife get to go to fancy restaurants when they want and now they’re getting a hockey team and maybe even a football team. I will say that everybody at the Aria was super nice. Housekeeping, people at the buffet, the front desk, the drivers. Don’t think I had a bad experience with anybody there. Other than a couple bad dealers (and that horrible one at PH), everybody was nice and professional.
Oh shoot! That reminds me of a story I forgot. Not sure when it happened but I was playing UTH at Bally’s and a chick in seat one was not doing well. At one point, she throws her cards down and the dealer went off on her. Stop doing that! You’re going to mess up the game (because she flung her cards hard enough they were getting near the community cards and the 6-card bonus cards)! Nobody else is doing that! The chick half apologizes but that’s not enough as the dealer continues. “He’s not throwing his cards…HE’S not throwing his cards!” as she goes around the table pointing at me and the other players. Now I’m starting to feel bad for the chick. She got yelled at, she sorta apologized and the dealer kept going. Now the chick says “I said I was sorry…what else do you want me to do?” I’m surprised she didn’t get up and leave, which I’m sure the dealer was trying to make her do. She sticks around for another hand or two, then leaves.
OK back to my airport ride. The driver drops me off at the Southwest baggage area and gets my luggage. Another tip…forget how much. Maybe $10 since he didn’t have to do as much as the guy who picked me up…he had to park the car and come in and wait for me. And carry my luggage from the carousel to the car. This guy just had to get it from the back since we were right there at the baggage area.
It’s a short line and soon my bag is on its way, I get my boarding pass and give up another tip. Walk to the security area and it’s a bit of a wait (not super crowded though…I’ve been there when it was much worse) but not too bad. I put my stuff on the belt, take off my sneakers and belt, and am standing in line for the X-ray thing. Since it’s a little backed up, I’m asked to please go through the old style metal detector. I do and don’t set it off.
While I’m waiting for my stuff to come through, a TSA agent holds up a book bag and asks who’s it is. Uh oh. It’s mine. She asks me to come over to a table off to the side and asks me how many tablets do I have in the book bag. Uh, a Nook…does that count? Just the one, she asks? Yep…one Nook. She asks for me to take it out of the bag and then takes my bag away to get scanned again. Minute or so, she comes back. You have more than one tablet in here sir. Um…OK. What do you consider a tablet? And she answers any electronic device. Well, OK…I have a portable DVD player. Sorry, I don’t consider that a tablet is what I said even though I shouldn’t be apologizing. She asked me specifically how many tablets and I don’t know if you would even consider a Nook a tablet.
She says that’s probably what is causing the issue and asks that I take it out. She goes back to the machine but now there’s another issue and she says she’ll have to hand scan it at another table and starts walking away. I ask if I should follow her or just stay here. She tells me to just stay there.
It’s a couple minutes, she comes back and says I’m all good. By this time I have my sneakers and belt on but now have to put the Nook and DVD player back in my bag. Luckily, I got to the airport early so I still have plenty of time (too much time, really).
I walk to my gate and I’m getting hungry. Not starved but my flight doesn’t leave until 6:25 and won’t get into Pittsburgh until 1:30am when everything at the airport will be closed. There’s a Burger King right across from my gate and there’s no empty seats at my gate so I’ll get some BK and hang in there for a while. Takes some time as it’s crowded but I finally order and get my food. There’s a seat at this counter thing with stools and I can sit and face my gate. Plus, they have outlets so I can kill time on my phone and charge it up at the same time. So that worked out.
I got the A1 bacon burger combo or whatever it’s called. $12!! Airport prices are crazy.
As I’m eating, it looks like my flight is delayed. I can’t really make out the time but I know it doesn’t say 6:25 anymore. I don’t want to lose my seat so I bring up the Southwest app on my phone and sure enough, now we’re leaving at 6:55. Which means I won’t get into Pittsburgh until 2am. Man, 1:30 was bad enough. I text my girlfriend as she’s my ride from the airport. She’ll watch on the web site to see if there are more delays but last time there was a delay and it never showed up on the web site so she got to the airport way too early. Southwest tried to warn me of this delay by sending me an alert via email at 5:00. But I didn’t see it since I wasn’t checking email. I should change that so I get alerts via text instead.
Even with the delay, it doesn’t seem like it took to long before we’re allowed to board. This time the early bird check-in gave me A-28. For some reason I usually get lousy positions on my return flights…A-40 and up. So 28 is good for me. We board and I have no problem getting my preferred seat…window seat before the wing.
We’re told it’s a full flight and find a seat as quickly as you can so we can get off the ground quickly. By the time we’re all settled, we’re taxiing off to the runaway close to the adjusted departure time of 6:50. I took a few pics of the Las Vegas skyline from my window. I know I had someone sit next to me but I honestly can’t remember who. So they must have been a good seating partner. Oh wait…it was a younger Asian guy. Was doing stuff on his laptop the whole time.
I play some games on my phone and eventually pull out the DVD player and watch MacGruber. I’ve seen it before but it’s been awhile. It was OK, certainly has some pretty funny parts, but I remember liking it a lot more when I first saw it. Maybe I’m growing up.
We have WIFI on this flight. I didn’t pay for it but Southwest lets you do some things, like watch TV for free. They also have a page that shows you information on your flight…where you are, how fast you’re going, etc. I forget if it was on the way out or on the way back but I was watching a baseball game. Forget who and I didn’t feel like getting my headphones out so no sound. Oh…OK. I thought it was Reds/Padres and sure enough, they played on the day I flew out. So I was watching free baseball on the way out. I don’t think there was much on during the flight back.
Like every pilot says when the flight is delayed, our pilot said he will try to make up some time in the air. He must have a hot date in Pittsburgh because I checked our flight status as we got closer and we’re due to arrive at our originally scheduled 1:30am. So he made up a whole half hour. I remember a comedian asking that if they can make up time in the air, then why not just go as fast as you can all the time? Good question but I’m guessing planes are like cars…the faster you go, the less miles per gallon you get.
I’m glad we made up the time but there’s no way of letting my girlfriend know and I don’t trust the Southwest web page to update correctly. We land and as soon as I can, I text my GF that we made up time and just landed. She texts me back that she just left. It’s going to take a while for her to get here but it takes forever to get your luggage at the Pittsburgh airport so things should work out.
Most of the people rush off the plane…I don’t know why. If you’re picking up luggage, you’ll have to wait so just relax and stop rushing around. I get to the people mover that takes you to the landside terminal and gee…here are all the people that just rushed by me, waiting for the same tram.
We get on the tram, take off, it stops, doors open and off we rush again! OK, I think to myself…see you at the luggage carousel!
I get to the carousel and look! It’s all the people who rushed off the tram! I read an article that the reason the luggage takes so long at this airport is because Southwest is using the older baggage system. US Air used to own this airport. I mean, not literally own it. But they pretty much had the run of the place. Pittsburgh used to be a US Air hub and US Air was one of the biggest employers in the Pittsburgh area.
That all changed with 9-11. It’s no longer a hub and with all the mergers and cost cutting, US Air is just another airline here and if anything, is shunned by Pittsburghers because they left us. (My girlfriend was a US Air flight attendant when 9-11 happened and she lost her job due to what 9-11 did to the airline industry and what the airline industry did to itself.)
The point I trying to get to is that the article said that Southwest will now be using the more modern baggage system and it shouldn’t take as long anymore. LIES!! It took maybe 30 minutes for the luggage to start flowing out. So long that my girlfriend arrived to pick me up, saw me through the window at the carousel, and had to sit there and wait.
Finally, I get my bag, get to my ride, get a kiss, and get on the road back to my own bed.
Post-Game:
Like I mentioned, best trip ever. So good that I made the mistake of looking at flights in early December. And they’re super cheap. Around $260 round trip. I’m happy when the price is under $400. I use points to pay for the flights but the lower the price, the less points (obviously) too. I looked at some rooms…Aria included. I really liked the way I was treated at Aria and loved the room but the room was too expensive for December. I looked at others…Linq is starting to raise their rates. I read somewhere that someone thought this would happen. The rates were dirt cheap for a while and this person figured they were keeping them low to get people to go to the newly remodeled Linq and create a buzz on how nice it is now…then they would raise the prices. Bally’s is cheaper than the Linq and I think my room for five nights (Sun-Thurs) was around $450, everything included. Not too bad but I’m not sure Bally’s has refrigerators in their rooms.
But I don’t know what is going on with my job situation. I’m still unemployed and who knows what would be going on in December. If I’m still unemployed, should I really be spending money in Las Vegas? If I get a job before December, am I going to get vacation time and should I take a vacation so soon after starting a new job? I can cancel the room up until 72 hours (I think) prior to the dates and get my money back. I could also cancel the flight. Normally I would then have credit that I would have to use within one year of the purchase date. But since I’m paying with points I’m not sure how that would work. Would I have to use those points in a year or lose them? Or do they just go back into my total?
At any rate, I decided not to go. I’m hoping to have a job interview soon for a contractor position that would last at least a year (but these things are often extended). Hopefully I’ll get it and maybe plan something for next fall. And we might go away this Christmas so I don’t want a trip to Las Vegas to get in the way. I tried to talk my girlfriend into Christmas in Las Vegas, but that would be a no. Too expensive anyway and I don’t want to fly around Christmas. Too many people traveling.
There were a few things I didn’t get to do that I wanted to do…the breakfast buffet, the flowers at Bellagio…eat at a nice place. And go downtown. I was all excited and had it somewhat planned depending on which day since the tournament I wanted to play was at either one or three, depending on the day. I was going to take Lyft and even looked up where they pick you up at Aria. But I kept pushing it off until I ran out of time. Maybe next time. You can tell how disappointed I am since I mentioned this a couple times.
But I did get to the Las Vegas sign and I did pick up some $1 chips for my collection. Three hookers tried to pick me up and while it wasn’t on the list, it felt good to be wanted. I got my UTH bets up to $10 and got comfortable with that level. But I don’t know if I’ll be betting $10 when Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh finally gets UTH (it’s ‘coming soon’). It’s one thing to bet that in Las Vegas where it’s once a year and you’re on vacation. It’s another to be betting that at a casino that’s 15 minutes away and you hope to be going to a couple times a month.
Some numbers:
I won $223 gambling.
My flight: $41.20 (paid with points plus taxes, early bird boarding, government fees I can’t pay w/points)
Other: $191.62 (charges on credit card related to trip, probably mostly food)
I didn’t keep track of actual cash I spent, although I think I only used cash for tips.
Basically, my costs were my room and cash spent. My winnings just about covered air/other.
Things I need to take with me next time:
Winning baseball wager ticket
3-day monorail pass I never used
(I think both are good for a year so I better make sure I go to Las Vegas before June 2017. Maybe in February for my birthday)
Things to do next time:
OMG, go frickin’ downtown!!
Get at least one good meal!!
I think that’s it! Hope you enjoyed reading!
Thanks again to @Snickers99Poker for the great series. If you have a trip report you’d like to share, feel free to email me via the Contact page!
