Trip Report May 25th - May 30th. Sorry this took so long.
Up early to catch a morning flight at Pearson International in Toronto.
I went with my best friend of 21 years. She is a very fast driver, and she managed to get a speeding ticket on the way to the airport. 42km over the speed limit, yikes.
Very few people on the flight to Chicago (American Airlines) Which was great.
Chicago to Las Vegas was another story (American as well) packed to the rafters, including a 400lb woman who sat behind me, took up two entire seats and her knees were pushing on my seat back and I couldn’t recline at all for the entire 4 hour flight. Which wouldn’t be so bad but I am afraid of flying AND claustrophobic, so it was touch and go, but I kept settled.
Background of the two travelers. I have a very physical job, athletic %26amp; organized I am 35 years old %26amp; make a good living. My girlfriend is a party girl who is a blast, fun, drinks a fair amount, eats like crap %26amp; never exercises she is 34 years old %26amp; makes a few dollars above minimum wage. We have been on lots of 3 day vacations before, but never 5 days. I NEEDED some time off work, opened a new clinic in September and have been working 15 - 20 hour days for almost a year. I just wanted to not work, go sit on a beach and read. She wanted to party, drink, eat %26amp; “do stuff”. At first she was thinking of New York or San Fran…I suggested Vegas instead, as I knew the hotels and pools were relaxing, its cheaper %26amp; less of a city than the others … she jumped all over the Vegas idea.
Since I am organized (to a fault) I put together an itinerary, keeping in mind that she gets tired very quickly due to the fact that she is generally lazy and not fit. Due to the fact that we had to go a little cheap, I decided on the Orleans, many said good value for the money %26amp; I liked the fact that they had both sushi and a prime rib restaurant and shuttle bus to the strip.
The rest to be posted as Replies.
Trip Report May 25th - 30th.
Day 1.
So we arrive in Vegas, we take the bus to the Orleans and get to drive past the MGM, NYNY, Luxor etc…which was good, give her an idea of what things look like. She seemed under impressed but said that “everything looks like a movie”.
We get to the Orleans, check in, nice peeps at the front desk, I didn’t bother with the 20 dollar trick as I knew most of the rooms were standard and it was full that night. However I did get the requested 2 queens, smoking room %26amp; asked for a fridge to be sent up.
Last time I stayed at the Luxor which took forever to get around %26amp; customer service was non-existent, so to get to our room in 2 minutes was a total joy to me. I’m already liking Vegas even more than before. The room was clean, beds were super comfy. I had read lately on the reviews of people complaining that the beds were very hard. I believe its because they were brand new mattresses, to me they were just fine. Like others I felt the bathroom set up was kinda weird, closet in bathroom, super heavy sliding door, but I didn’t care, I’m on vacation.
We get to the room, my gf seems under impressed again and says “I’m exhausted, is it okay if I lay down for awhile?”. I say, no problem…Ill go check the place out. Got my club card and free buffet coupon for breakfast or lunch!!! Blew $150 in about 2 hours. Wandered back up to the room and she was sound asleep. I sat down and started to read on of the 5 books I had brought with me. About an hour later she woke up starving so off we went to the Buffet at the Orleans.
The buffet was mediocre, the salad bar and desert bar were fantastic, which was great because those are the two stations I hang out at most. The rest of the buffet was less exciting, the roast was a good flavour but a little overcooked and grisly. The shrimp was good, but the rest was just stuff (pizza, tacos, pastas) nothing to get excited about. However, my gf thought she had died and gone to heaven, she thought it was fantastic, and who am I to say otherwise, so I kept my opinion to myself.
So via the itinerary I wanted to wait until dark, take the shuttle to the strip so she can get the greatest impact. The shuttle was fine, quick, drivers were great, came quite often. I tipped a dollar each time, my gf says “do I have to tip?” I laugh and say “no, you don’t HAVE to”.
We get off the bus on the strip and start to wander, lookin for drinks. We got the meter tall strawberry daiquiris. I’m not much of a drinker, but they were awesome. Signed up for club card at Casino Royale, got $50 in free play. Again my friend seems generally unimpressed and tells me she just wants more booze. We gradually make our way down to TI for Sirens, signed up and played at bit at the Venetian, the club card comes with a cute little chain with a V on the end, I think we got $5 or $15 worth of play for signing up.
Got to TI at midnight and couldn’t even get CLOSE to seeing the show…and why??? Because there were too many strollers. Yes, that’s right. The best free ADULT show on the strip and we couldn’t get close to it AT MIDNIGHT because everyone had at least 2 kids under 4 and a stroller with them. Full on sidewalk jams because of the number of strollers. We stopped and moved to the side, this group was coming towards us, shoulder to shoulder, jam packed, all of the sudden this lady reaches down and picks this kid up off the sidewalk, he couldn’t have been 3. I was disgusted, offended %26amp; just wanted to yell out “GO TO DISNEYLAND” and save the booze and sex for the adults. Don’t get me wrong, kids in kid places are fine. I expected to see lots of kids at the pools, restaurants and definitely our hotel, but come on people.
Vegas Time Warp…since we couldn’t get to see Sirens, we decided to go into TI and go to the ladies. My gf walks into one stall, I walk into the one beside her, we do our girl things, 45 seconds tops. I come out and there are pylons around our stall and janitorial staff with a mop and bucket. I walk around, wash my hands and look towards my gf stall. Right in front of it, there is a puke. So when she walks out I say “careful on the floor” she sees, walks around. Here is the time warp. In the 45 seconds it took for us to pee, someone barfed, notified staff %26amp; she got there, put the pylons up…WTF? I tipped her $5 and said “wow, great job”. just cuz.
We walk back out onto the strip and my gf looks at me and says “Im exhausted, can we please go back to the hotel?” Im surprised but sure, we take a cab back. She gets a sub at subway and heads to bed, I gamble and win back some of the money I had lost earlier. My budget being $100 per day for slots. I wander up to the room around 3 and crash, after reading for a bit.
Trip Report May 25th - 30th.
I enjoyed your report so far, I will be interested in reading the rest of it. Sounds as if your gf needs a lot of sleep! Wondering if she might have slept her way through Vegas!
Hmmmmm... I remember going on a cruise and one of my buddies was a Mgr of a ToysRus at busy season...slept the first 3 days of the cruise!
But your girl wanted to party??!!! Salp that woman...or maybe better yet...she%26#39;s helping you read more...lol
Slap even!
Nice TR so far but geez, wonder if you%26#39;re goig to bash your g/ the whole time. Nice freind
Day 2.
As I said before, my friend gets tired quickly, so when I did up the itinerary I put the busiest day at the beginning and less and less as the week goes on.
Today is the busiest, centre strip, all day. Bacon Breakfast Buffet at the Orleans. No that is not what it is called, I call it that because my gf LOVES bacon, so on the itinerary I called it that, and I sure wasn’t wrong, lots and lots of bacon. Stay away from the Eggs Benedict…I wont give an explanation just “yuck”. However lots of good fruit, and a few other things that were pretty good, and I’m not much of a breakfast person.
Off we go on the shuttle, things are a blur for this day but here it goes.
Signed up for club card at Paris (free t shirt and coupon book),
Gondola ride at the Venetian,
club cards at bill’s,
Club card at Planet Hollywood free $15 in play and free entry into the slot tourney, won $100+ on wheel of fortune!!! I thought the casino at Planet Hollywood was great, I loved the glass balls…I did however manage to get hoodwinked by the time share guy, he was good, blindsided me, but we said no. Slot tourney was weird could have been fun except this woman beside me was crazy, put me off my game, but it was so funny I couldn’t even play.
Went to the Flamingo to check out the wildlife there, my gf liked that a lot and took tonnes of pics.
Went to Harrah’s for the buffet lunch, had a $5 off coupon. The buffet there was pretty good, but I wasn’t overly hungry, had some sushi rolls, salad, roast beef…couldn’t even bring myself to have desert.
Got a shirt for my DH at Margaritaville
Stopped at one of the junk shops and checked out the Henna shop at the back, my gf and I got a henna tattoo from Guy, then I went and got beer and we stood on the strip admiring our tats and shared a beer with Guy.
By this time my gf is exhausted its about 8pm, we get on the bus and head back to the Orleans. My gf went for a nap and I went to gamble…COULD NOT LOSE. Up another $100 at this point. I had my accumulated ticked changed into cash at the booth by a human, tipped her and she was super thankful. So for the trip spent approximately $200 and won $200 and that is just fine with me. Read some more and hit the bed around 2am.
I’m sure I missed stuff, but the day was a blur.
Day 3.
Pool day and Freemont Night. We missed the bacon breakfast buffet but had the lunch buffet instead %26amp; she headed out to the pool.
I went on a mission to find the Frank Sinatra Stamp…I called the closest post office to the Orleans, but they didn’t have it, so I had to go to the main Post office. I got a cab he drove me there, turned OFF the meter while he waited for me, I got two pages of the stamps, one for collection for my DH and the other for a request. He wanted a post card sent to him, with the Sinatra Stamp and it would have the Vegas post stamp on it too…the stamps cost like $20 the cab ride came to $26 total but I gave him $40 cuz his conversation was great, he got the doors for me and of course he turned off the meter to wait, great service, His name was Andy. Took the post card with the stamps to the Biz Centre at the Orleans so they could mail it, the guy at the counter just about had a heart attack “Those are collector stamps?!?!” I laughed and said I know, I took out the page of stamps that I keep for the collection to show him. They are beautiful, we ooo’d and aaaa d about them and he told me about being there on the strip for the unveiling.
I joined my gf out by the pool and I read and read and read, my girlfriend did some word searches %26amp; we just chilled, it was wonderful. We didn’t actually go in the pool, but the palm trees and our chaise lounge’s in the shade were heavenly. Had soda from the bar there, the guy was not friendly…blah, I gave him $1 anyway.
She went in for a nap, 2 hours later I went in, we got ready and had dinner at the Orleans buffet AGAIN, any time I suggested otherwise she declined cuz she loved the buffet.
Shuttle to the stip, caught the Deuce to downtown. We sat on the top 2nd row back from the front, there was a crazy youngish lady in front of us who would NOT stop talking %26amp; she smelled funny. I felt bad cuz no one would talk to her, but then once I talked to her she wouldn’t stop…arg .
Freemont was WAAAAAAAAAAY more fun than I remember, in fact, next time I think Id like to stay down there. It was clean and fun, we signed up for all the club cards, free plays, free dice, big drinks, caught 3 of the canopy shows…Queen (good), fire %26amp; girl dancing (blah), Free Bird (Cannot Change) by Lynyrd Skynyrd (fantastic).
At this point it is 1am %26amp; my party girl gf looks at me and says…I need sleep, I’m exhausted. I’m pretty easy going, but at this point I have to admit I was a little miffed. We have yet to “party” in Vegas, and I was havin a great time downtown %26amp; we had only been there for 2 hours, otherwise we had basically done nothing all day. The line-up for the Deuce was ridiculous so we took a cab. $30 from Freemont to the Orleans including tip.
Got back to the Orleans, my gf went to bed, I went and gambled and won again…by the time I went back to the room around 4, I was now up $100 (penny slots btw) I read for a bit and then fell asleep, I have now read 2 books and I am on my 3rd. If you’re a reader then you know that a vacation that you can get in a few good books is fantastic.
Day 4
Today was the day I surprised my gf with some upper scale surprises. As I told you she doesn’t make much $$ but I wanted to have at least one day and night that she can see how Vegas “should” be done.
We packed an overnight bag with evening clothes, bathing suits and makeup. Took the shuttle to the Gold Coast, had the lunch buffet there. It was different from the Orleans, but similar in quality, again the salad bar and desert bar were good. Wandered over to the Palms.
My gf LOVED the Palms, she decided that next time she wants to stay there. The casino was nice, signed up for the club card, put in $5 in a penny slot and won about $50...I was happy with that. Also, I needed a new Hoodie and so far had not even seen a sweatshirt for sale. I found a beautiful pink hoodie with Palms across the front, very good quality, very happy. Back to the Gold Coast to take the shuttle to the MGM Grand where I had booked a night.
She wandered off to the restroom and I checked in, the first thing I said was “You may be surprised and happy, but I DON’T care if I have a strip view” “Really?” she says…”well that may work out really well for you, please wait one minute” She picked up the phone, talked to someone and VOILA we were upgraded to the Signature at MGM. After about a 30 minute walk, we finally got to our room. It was really nice. I forgot to ask for 2 queens, so there was a King and a pull out. Flat screen HD tv, tv in the rest room, glass shower, Jacuzzi tub, blender, toaster, doorbell…just nice. My gf LOVED it.
Off to NYNY for Zumanity. While we were waiting we had chocolate shakes %26amp; I put $5 into the GIANT $1 SLOT. Could not lose. $5 turned into $15, then $30 then my gf said “max bet max bet” so I did. 777 and I won $100!!!! No tickets when you cash out tho…nope, clang clang clang for must have been 10 minutes, I think I wont about $150 total of these giant coins. Now its time for the show, and I don’t have time to cash these things in, so we split them up into 2 buckets and took them into Zumanity with us…hehehe
I know many people disliked Zumanity, but I loved it. It was fun, funny, crass, stupid, sexy, amazing. I was never bored and many times amazed. I would recommend it to certain people, and although I typically hate when there is audience participation, for some reason they made it fun and comfortable to watch others. If you are in anyway uptight or expect the see the awesome stage productions of Ka or Mystere then you may be disappointed, but I liked it.
Made our way back to the MGM, stopped at the Lions, had no desire to gamble. Tried and tried to find a place to buy snacks, soda and gum…to no avail.
Got to the room, my gf said she was exhausted and could we please stay in. Wow…this was our last evening in Vegas and my party girl gf has not even whooped it up once…strange %26amp; somewhat disappointing.
However, never one to dwell on it, I got naked, got into the most incredibly comfortable robe on the planet and said “let’s get room service” I’m excited cuz finally I get to eat some food of quality. I ordered the chicken Caesar Salad, 2 bottles of water %26amp; 2 bottles of Sprite/7up, she got a cosmo, chicken fingers and fries and some fancy ice cream thing, Then I took my comfy body to the shower…ahhhhhh
I turned on the movie Love Actually, which I could see perfectly though the glass shower door, as it didn’t fog up and I could actually hear it, any other place I have stayed with a tv in the room, as soon as you turn on the shower or turn on the jets of the tub you cant hear the tv unless you crank it right up…I felt a little guilty about being in the desert and having a 30 minute shower…but I did it anyway. The soap was amazing, citrus %26amp; the water was conditioned, so my skin and hair were like silk afterwards. I kept the soap to bring home.
The food arrived, we ate while in our robes, I sat on the side of the bed and the attendant pushed it right up to me and got my gf a chair. We ate and finished the movie. My Caesar salad was deconstructed %26amp; fantastic…the elements are so simple yet quality dressing, quality lettuce %26amp; quality chicken turn a plain ole salad into a meal of delight. I tried some of her chicken fingers with the honey mustard dip, amazing. The bill came to $85 and I tipped $20. I finished off a book and started another and fell asleep on a cloud. We shared the bed for a bit, then she got too hot and pulled out the sofa bed and told me it was comfy as well.
Day 5 - Last Day in Vegas, MGM Pool Day.
The MGM Pools are to die for…we checked out at 11 (were not charged the resort fee of $15) and headed straight to the pool, found a couple of lounges away from lots of people, right on the lazy river. We took turns going around it…so fun.
Had a couple of drinks, the bartender was super cool, had the best sandwich EVER. The ham and cheese toasted thing…$12 and it was worth every penny…so good. We sat around the pool for about 5 hours, I finished off my 4th book and my gf slept most of the day.
Back to the Orleans, she napped, I gambled. Checked out, NO RESORT FEE was charged and we were not charged for the fridge at $15 per day.
Took a cab to the airport, looked at my gf, she was STILL exhausted and truly never seemed to recover from the trip there…she isn’t sick, just needs to eat better and get some exercise. I had a good time, but we could have gone to Cuba or the Dominican for a ¼ of the price to sit around, tan, nap and read. Ill know for next time…she was ready to go home. She asked me “what about you” I said I could stay for weeks and no I am not really ready to go home. Got the flight out at Midnight, uneventful.
Although the trip wasn’t anything like I had expected, I had a good time and got the much needed R%26amp;R that I was looking for %26amp; of course read a whole bunch. After the flight back to Toronto I had officially finished 5 books. 4 cheezy romance novels and a who dun
Buf.
Hell yes Im gonna bash my friend a bit...and I am a fantastic friend...I am however honest.
I went along with whatever SHE wanted to do, I did not complain about anything while we were there. I made the most of it %26amp; had a good time.
I however feel it is my right to at the very least be able to b!tch about it.
Vegas was HER choice, so she could party %26amp; all she did was sleep.
Stacey : )
Ace,
OK! LOL After I read your trip report I can see why you were saying what you were. I am 36-older then you both LOl and you better believe when I go in July I will be out partying more then that! I wish you would%26#39;ve. Sounds like you had a nice time, but could%26#39;ve been better. Thanks for the TR, every time I read one makes me wish I was leaving today instead of in a month.
buf.
My disspointment is actually not for myself but for her. I did actually warn her ahead of time that we would be walking ALOT so I asked her to ';train'; for Vegas by getting more exercise than normal.
I feel bad because I really wanted her to have a good time, and she says she did, but I dont really think she did.
Im not sure if its because she didnt like Vegas or because she was so tired.
Anyway, she wasnt the fun, crazy, party girl that I am used to.
In fact, funny enough the week before we left I said to my DH ';What if she gets arrested in Vegas?'; THATS how crazy she is...so the person I took to Vegas was a mere shadow of the friend I know.
I has me concerned for her health, and after she recovered from the trip (which took 2 nights of 14 hour sleep) I did talk to her about eating better and getting more exercise.
Cuz she is my best friend, and after 21 years I want her around and healthy for at least 63 more.
I personally feel like a new woman, focused, energized etc...so the trip was perfect for me...who knows maybe if we had have partied I would be so refreshed...so be it.
Stace
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