Vegas, baby!

Flight in on Virgin was notable only for it’s annoyingness.  Some teenager with Napoleonic tendencies and the mind of a bureaucrat wouldn’t allow me to bring my one carry-on bag onto the plane – despite pointing out that I had carried-on this exact same bag on this exact same airline using the exact same aircraft.  No dice.  So, I had to unpack all the non-checkables (Bette Midler tix, computer, life-preserving medications) and juggle them in my arms along with the giant hardbound novel I was already carrying, as I cursed my way down the jetway.  The overhead bins on the plane were, of course, filled with bags identical in size to my own…

Lucky for me, though, when the chief FA asked how I was doing, I told her not very well and explained why.  She took care of it and got my bag (along with the three other bags that were marked for gate check) onto the aircraft. Would’ve been a very pleasant flight, too, if her colleague hadn’t refused to allow me to use the bathroom when her cart was adjacent to me. “We only have a certain amount of time to serve drinks.”  Well, I only have a certain amount of time before I piss myself…  Oh, and needless to say, in the time it would’ve taken me to get to the john and back, she was still in the exact same location in the aisle…

Anyhoo, through the airport and checked into Vdara.  It’s quite nice.  The rooms all have different layouts, and mine isn’t quite a nice as the one pictured online in terms of layout.  But it is well-appointed with a great bathroom (I took two showers and a bath yesterday, just because I could – and housekeeping replaced all the many, many towels I’d used when they did turn-down service…)

Headed out to Ben Sherman, hoping for more sale stuff… And they were having the same sale as in SF, but it had all been picked over…  I may go back today just to double-check. Wandered around the Planet Hollywood casino, won $50 and grabbed a sandwich and headed back to my hotel.

Spent the rest of the afternoon checking out casino/hotels.  Aria, the Vdara’s sister across the way is quite nice – even the casino is rather tasteful.  But the slots seemed to be mostly penny slots or $1 slots – one too rich for my blood, the other too poor (who wants to win 10,000 pennies? Ugh.) Popped into Monte Carlo, which ate my money immediately without so much as a cocktail waitress showing up to offer me a watered-down cocktail.  Au revoir, Monte Carlo!

Next door is New York, New York, one of the sort of medium-grade places.  But I had good luck – choosing a Lucky 7 slot that paid me a $400 spin and a couple of others in the $100s.  And I had a really nice cocktail waitress who ensured drinks arrived in a timely manner…

So now what?  It’s only around 7PM – nightlife at the clubs doesn’t start until after midnight. A pit stop at my hotel to have a lie-down, then I headed to Casino Royale.  I’d read somewhere that the more downscale casinos (and this one certainly is downscale by standards of the Strip – for example, their casino restaurant is a Subway sandwich shop) have looser slots.  Now I don’t know if this is actually true, but I did walk out of their with $300 more than I’d gone in with.

I’d also heard that Outback Steakhouse has really good burgers – so I went.  And the burger was, in fact, excellent.  Too bad the fries were limp and mealy…

Then off to explore the gay bars…  Yikes…  Pretty pathetic.  Of the two larger ones in the little gay area, one was closed and the other was playing Latin hip-hop or something…  I also tried Krave, on the Strip…  A bit livelier, but still yawn city – and crazy expensive.  $5 for a Bud Light.  A Bud Light! I didn’t stay long…  But I spent a couple hours parked in front of another slot machine in the adjacent Planet Hollywood casino. I was up $150 when I left.  Hope my luck holds out for the rest of the trip…