Finally, a month later… Here is my trip report compiled from mental notes from my trip to Las Vegas at the end of February. It’s a long read so I broke it into sections for people like me that skip around when reading.

I used the Guaranteed Expectations promo from the CasinoTripReports blog to place a reservation at Monte Carlo before the top of it had caught fire from the welding incident. It was a non-refundable reservation… I was really worried that the fire would affect my stay, but it was business as usual and I detected no problems. In fact, I felt very safe since I knew that the place had been examined closely by all sorts of inspectors after the fire! Access The Full Report

Flying out on Sat afternoon originally, but bad weather was coming in so I was able to catch the morning flight. Arrived in Vegas by 11am. I took a shuttle to the Flamingo. As a Total Rewards member I was able to get in a shorter check-in line.

I did the $20 trick, but used a $50 instead & asked for a suite. It paid off! Grin Thanks Big MIKEY MIKE! Kiss

I did check-in early telling her that I didn’t mind waiting for a nice room to becaome available later in the day. We got a mini-suite on the top (28th) floor (28151) None of the mini-suites face the strip. Instead the look out on the gardens & pools. Access The Full Report

Some random thoughts/reports from my trip to the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas from 10/5 to 10/7.

PRE-TRIP HOTEL RESERVATIONS:

After much research through countless websites, I found a great deal on a room at the Golden Nugget that had a few days left before expiring. It came with a coupon book that had match-play coupons, 2-for-1 deals, free drinks, etc. by using a special posted on casinotripreports.com.

PRE-TRIP CAR RESERVATIONS:

I wanted the bling bling Nissan Maxima from 702carrentals.com. I called them on Monday before the trip and they said that it was going into the shop for routine maintenance and would probably be available for the weekend. They took down my number and said that they would call me as soon as it returned from the shop. I heard nothing by Wednesday, so I called them and they told me that it was unavailable… I don’t know if they rented it out from under me or if it had an issue that required mechanical attention… I didn’t ask… Disappointed, I went with Hertz using a Car & Driver promo code that I found on fatwallet.com to request a Lincoln MKX at a good rate.   Access The Full Report

back from my trip and wanted to make a short trip report.

Drove in from CA and swung by Red Rock Canyon on my way in. It was worth the time. Nature always has a way to wow you.

then we drove up to Ballys where we had our reservations. I slipped the guy a twenty between my cc and license as I asked if he had a complimentary upgrade. He said he could put me in a newly remodeled room on the 24th floor of the North tower. I went with it. I was satisfied.

Largest hotel room that wasn’t a suite that I have ever had. Nice marble bath that satisfied my wife. I don’t know what I would have received w/o the twenty, maybe the same, but I was satisfied. Access The Full Report

Figured I would sit down and type this one out…to the best I can recall….

Left NC on uneventful USAir flight (which was suprisingly ON SCHEDULE). Note to those on USAir, I believe it was an Airbus 319 that I flew from CLT to LAS and I was happy in that I had a window seat on an emergency row with NO seat in front of me, or so I thought. If I was like 4′9″, it would have been great, but I am 6′2″ and where there is no seat in front of me, there is an emergency door which juts out. My knees were almost in my stomach…even the FA winced when they saw how uncomfortable I was….

right before takeoff though, I pissed off a couple about 3 rows in front of me when I moved to the open window seat. The bitch wife was making huffing noises about how she thought they were going to have an open seat….I basically told her and her husband, tough shit, you try sitting back there for 5 hours…I AM NOT MOVING…they ended up being ok as I pretty much put on a DVD movie and kept to myself. My friend was back a few rows and didn’t see the commotion.   Access The Full Report