Back from Sin City

Well.. what can I say. It was a good trip. We were in Vegas from Tuesday afternoon until Friday afternoon. We were extra lucky that we didn't get called back to do more flying. So we partied it up pretty good.

The first night we walked the strip and hit up a couple casino's for some drinks. The first place was Treasure Island and we had a good 5 or 6 drinks there will playing some slots. No luck on the slots but we got downright shitty off the drinks. We were staying in the Excalibur hotel which was at the other end of the strip. So as we walked back to the hotel we made stops in many other hotels and plunked a couple of bucks in the slots and made like bandits on the drinks. By 1am we were back in our hotel and totally gooned. I passed out on my bed and awoke again at 5am with very sore eyes as I forgot to take my contacts out. Ouch, that was painful.

The next day we slept in and then met for lunch around 1pm. We walked more of the strip but we were quite tired of all the walking so we got some bus passes that were good for 24hrs so we could go up and down the strip and not hurt so much. It really is quite a walk. That day we toured around more hotels, including the Wynn which is a really really nice new hotel. We also checked out that mall that Nat was so quick to point out as a tourist trap :) It's okay though, I didn't buy anything. We decided we wanted to sit down on a cheap blackjack game. Most of the casinos just have 10 dollar blackjack and it's hard to find the 5 dollar blackjack except for in some of the older ones. Success, we found what we were looking for in the Barbary Coast Casino. It was an older casino but was full of life. It was smaller and didn't have as much "bling" as the bigger casinos but that was also a great attribute. The drink girls came by every 5 mins and once again, we capitalized. We got sloshed again while playing blackjack and we were doing pretty good. Not winning lots, but not losing much either. With all the free drinks we were having we were definatly ahead. We joked it up with all the other players at the table as well, it was great fun. Even the dealers were having a good time and the pit boss would come up every once and a while and join in on the fun.

Well we played for a LONG time. After about 5 hrs of playing there I started chatting up the pit boss for some free stuff! I don't know what came over me, but I have a feeling it had something to do with the alcohol flowing through my blood. He asked if we had "comp cards" which are those credit card things that you can get to track your play while you're at the casino and sometimes you'll qualify for some free stuff or coupons off of meals and things like this. Well we said we didn't have any comp cards so he asked for our licenses. I wasn't quite sure what the hell he was talking about but the other pilot Shaun did and he threw his drivers license at the pit boss and I followed suit.

Then about 10 mins later Mark the pit boss returned and handed us each a credit card looking piece of plastic with our names on it and that of the casino. Holy cow, now we've been tagged! Well after another few mins I again started talking to Mark about some comps and he asked if we were hungry, I replied "of course!" So he actually got us a couple of free full course dinners at their restaurant! A nice big steak dinner with soup, baked potato, hot dinner rolls.. the full works. An easy $20 dollar meal for free! Woo hoo! This Vegas trip was turning out to be not too shabby!

We headed back to our hotel rooms to regroup and have a couple more drinks (we brought some booze back from our plane stock too.. shhh..). We then agreed to head out and check out the club scene in Vegas. It was now already past midnight but our sense and reasoning was a little sub par now. We started the night by going across the street to the MGM Grand and waited in line for their big club "Studio 54". It was pretty crazy in there, multiple levels with cirque du soliel type acrobatics going on in the middle of the dance floor hanging from the ceiling. Confetti every once and a while and go go dancers. There really weren't many girls there though so we decided to split.

Next stop after consulting a cabbie on the best place to party that night was Treasure Island's "Tangerine". Now this place was happening. We still had to wait in line at freaking 2:30am because it was so busy inside. We chatted up the people in front of us and turns out the young couple was from Edmonton. After a little more talk we found out they had some free passes to get in without cover. They had an extra pass that was good for 2 free covers and so they gave us one. Once inside we returned the favor by buying them drinks. Wow, a pretty nice club. It was packed to the max and had many a hot girl dancing around. They had a nice patio area too that overlooked the strip, so it was nice to get out there for some air. We partied it up for a couple hours and then realized it was time to split. We headed back to the Barbary Coast to try out their $3.45 breakfast special. It was good! We took a cab back to the hotel and we were back in the hotel room around 5am. Now that was a night of partying.

The next day was much more relaxing. We checked out some more sights and the other pilot and I split up for a while. I took this opportunity to go and check out some poker! You knew it was coming at some point. How could I go to Vegas and not play poker!? I sat in on the Excalibur's 2/4 limit hold em game. My very first 2 hands each time I had pocket 8's and won both pots. I then played rather tight over the next 40mins of play but every hand I went in on, I won! In less than an hour I had made $110! That filtered down to $76 when my table split up and I then had to wait 20 mins for a spot on the other table to open up. I played for another hour and was down to a profit of $30 at one point, but eventually made it back up to $80 and called it done. It was great fun. The play was easy and I'm sure I could make good money if I lived in Vegas and just went and prayed on all the inexperienced players that sit down while they're there.

While waiting for Shaun to meet up afterwards I went and played some slots, I was down about $20 bucks when I hit a mini jackpot and made a cool $40 bucks in one pull of the machine. So I cashed out. Not too shabby! I met up with Shaun and we headed back to the Barbary Coast for more Blackjack. But it was incredibly busy, so it took a while to find a seat. We both sat down and Shaun ended up loosing some cash while I just broke even after a good 2.5hrs of play. We were both pretty hungry at this point and tried to get another steak dinner but it was too busy to even try. So we walked down the strip and eventually went to the famous "Fatburger" for a great burger at 1am. That place was packed, it took 20mins to just get our food. Afterwards it was back to the hotel for our last nights sleep in Sin City.

The next day was really mellow as we had lunch and pretty much just got ready to head back home at 3pm. We arrived early at the airport and it was sooooooooo busy. All the private jets and turboprops coming in for Superbowl Sunday. Holy cow it was madness. We got the heck out of there, flew right over the strip on our way out and made it back into Alberta late last night.

Now I'm back at home going through Vegas withdrawl. Not a shabby way to spend 3 days!

Final results:

Money in pocket going to Vegas: $360 USD

Blackjack Profits: $ 50 USD
Poker Profits: $ 80 USD
Slot Profits: $ 40 USD

Money in pocket upon return: $385 USD

Money saved on free drinks/comps: PRICELESS!!!

Haha, it was a good trip. Not to mention I also get my food allowance from work, so it was definatly a money making trip. Can't wait for the next one!