Trip Report - June 18-22
June 22nd, 2018 at 6:01:10 PM
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First off, I actually started on June 12, headed to a convention in Columbus. It is remarkable here only in that my subway ride to the airport (a) went through downtown Oakland, and (b) thanks to the Warriors sweep of the Cavs, coincided with the crowds from that area headed to downtown Oakland for the Warriors' victory parade.
Anyway, thanks to some bonus points earned from difficulties on both legs of a trip from San Francisco to London last year ("we're getting rid of the 747s; why repair the minor things?"), my trip from Columbus to Vegas was free, but included a 4-hour sit in Denver. One hour into the sit, they announce that the connecting flight had been cancelled; I go to the United customer service area, only to find (a) there are only two people serving a line of about 30, and one of them is for premier members only, and (b) when I get a kiosk to print out a boarding pass for the next flight to Vegas with seats, the seat assignment says, "See Agent" - almost certainly code for "standby." I end up paying about $35 for a "Economy Plus" seat just to guarantee a seat on what turned out to be an 8-hour sit in Denver.
On Tuesday (the 19th), I do my usual "bus tour of Vegas" (after buying a $20 3-day pass); I start with Palms, then Silver Sevens, Ellis Island, Cosmopolitan, Park MGM, Wild Wild West, Hooters, lunch at Metro Pizza on Tropicana (the "meatball sliders" were good, but there was just too much bread on them), the Pinball Hall of Fame, then back to the Strip, buy a "city" T-shirt (the one with a graphic on the back) at the Hard Rock Cafe to add to my collection (Vegas, San Francisco, London, Dublin, and Manchester), and finish with dinner at Bacchanal that I paid for with TR points. I was unimpressed by Bacchanal - it certainly does not have the variety that Wicked Spoon has - except for the dessert section. Then again, it may be the fact that I am just not into things like crab legs.
Wednesday, I look around my hotel (Bally's) for some decent games. Even at 8 AM, the cheapest craps game is $10. As for VP, I found some 25c 7/5 Jacks or Better, and I do mean "found" as most of it is actually 6/5. Across the street to the Cromwell, and I must have stumbled into the high roller area as there is 9/6 JoB. No, wait - that's 25c 9/6 JoB. I know what I'm doing for the next hour or so; I end up about $5 ahead thanks to a four of a kind after mistakenly keeping a pair of 9s over suited A-K-10. Then, more polling of casinos (Westgate, SLS, Stratosphere - mainly to get new players club cards) before heading to downtown. Lunch was at the Downtown Grand's cafe, Freedom Beat; the "pot roast sandwich" was excellent, with more than enough fries to go with it. After some time at the Mob Museum, it was back to the Strip and grabbed some pizza from JJ's Boulangerie at the Paris for dinner. I was considering going to Secret No Name Mystery Meat Pizza at the Cosmo, but it was far too hot outside to get there.
Thursday, I head up to Texas Station (who knew how many colors of dice they had), then back down to the Hard Rock Hotel, which, supposedly, is going to turn into a Virgin hotel (no word as far as I know on whether there will be a casino), so I see if I can pick up some stuff before the name change. The gift shop clerk tells me that they stopped selling dice, but wasn't sure when. I see a Checker's (known as Rally's in some places), so I go in for a couple of chili cheese dogs for lunch, then decided to walk back to the Strip rather than wait another 30 minutes for a bus to take me to somewhere where I would need to wait another 15 minutes for another bus. Oops - that's a 1 1/8 mile walk, in 100-degree heat. My mistake - it's 100 in the shade; who knows what it is in the unshaded pavement on which I am walking...
I go down to the casino at 5:00 to have dinner at Buca di Beppo. Strange; it's closed. I come back down at 5:30; strange - it's still closed. Eventually I go to Burger Brasserie and have an au jus sandwich; not bad, but not that much better than, say, Arby's. By the way - Buca was still closed when I passed it at 6:30 on the way back to my hotel room.
That day, I ended up drinking (a) about a quart of Canada Dry Ginger Ale/Lemonade (which really dried my throat for some reason), (b) about a quart of milk (half in the morning, and half at night), and (c) a milkshake at Checker's. I spent most of the night on the toilet...
You will notice there is not much gambling mentioned - this is because, due mainly to the poor games offered, that 9/6 VP was all that I played.
Anyway, thanks to some bonus points earned from difficulties on both legs of a trip from San Francisco to London last year ("we're getting rid of the 747s; why repair the minor things?"), my trip from Columbus to Vegas was free, but included a 4-hour sit in Denver. One hour into the sit, they announce that the connecting flight had been cancelled; I go to the United customer service area, only to find (a) there are only two people serving a line of about 30, and one of them is for premier members only, and (b) when I get a kiosk to print out a boarding pass for the next flight to Vegas with seats, the seat assignment says, "See Agent" - almost certainly code for "standby." I end up paying about $35 for a "Economy Plus" seat just to guarantee a seat on what turned out to be an 8-hour sit in Denver.
On Tuesday (the 19th), I do my usual "bus tour of Vegas" (after buying a $20 3-day pass); I start with Palms, then Silver Sevens, Ellis Island, Cosmopolitan, Park MGM, Wild Wild West, Hooters, lunch at Metro Pizza on Tropicana (the "meatball sliders" were good, but there was just too much bread on them), the Pinball Hall of Fame, then back to the Strip, buy a "city" T-shirt (the one with a graphic on the back) at the Hard Rock Cafe to add to my collection (Vegas, San Francisco, London, Dublin, and Manchester), and finish with dinner at Bacchanal that I paid for with TR points. I was unimpressed by Bacchanal - it certainly does not have the variety that Wicked Spoon has - except for the dessert section. Then again, it may be the fact that I am just not into things like crab legs.
Wednesday, I look around my hotel (Bally's) for some decent games. Even at 8 AM, the cheapest craps game is $10. As for VP, I found some 25c 7/5 Jacks or Better, and I do mean "found" as most of it is actually 6/5. Across the street to the Cromwell, and I must have stumbled into the high roller area as there is 9/6 JoB. No, wait - that's 25c 9/6 JoB. I know what I'm doing for the next hour or so; I end up about $5 ahead thanks to a four of a kind after mistakenly keeping a pair of 9s over suited A-K-10. Then, more polling of casinos (Westgate, SLS, Stratosphere - mainly to get new players club cards) before heading to downtown. Lunch was at the Downtown Grand's cafe, Freedom Beat; the "pot roast sandwich" was excellent, with more than enough fries to go with it. After some time at the Mob Museum, it was back to the Strip and grabbed some pizza from JJ's Boulangerie at the Paris for dinner. I was considering going to Secret No Name Mystery Meat Pizza at the Cosmo, but it was far too hot outside to get there.
Thursday, I head up to Texas Station (who knew how many colors of dice they had), then back down to the Hard Rock Hotel, which, supposedly, is going to turn into a Virgin hotel (no word as far as I know on whether there will be a casino), so I see if I can pick up some stuff before the name change. The gift shop clerk tells me that they stopped selling dice, but wasn't sure when. I see a Checker's (known as Rally's in some places), so I go in for a couple of chili cheese dogs for lunch, then decided to walk back to the Strip rather than wait another 30 minutes for a bus to take me to somewhere where I would need to wait another 15 minutes for another bus. Oops - that's a 1 1/8 mile walk, in 100-degree heat. My mistake - it's 100 in the shade; who knows what it is in the unshaded pavement on which I am walking...
I go down to the casino at 5:00 to have dinner at Buca di Beppo. Strange; it's closed. I come back down at 5:30; strange - it's still closed. Eventually I go to Burger Brasserie and have an au jus sandwich; not bad, but not that much better than, say, Arby's. By the way - Buca was still closed when I passed it at 6:30 on the way back to my hotel room.
That day, I ended up drinking (a) about a quart of Canada Dry Ginger Ale/Lemonade (which really dried my throat for some reason), (b) about a quart of milk (half in the morning, and half at night), and (c) a milkshake at Checker's. I spent most of the night on the toilet...
You will notice there is not much gambling mentioned - this is because, due mainly to the poor games offered, that 9/6 VP was all that I played.
June 22nd, 2018 at 6:45:28 PM
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Nice little report.
Cromwell is currently promoting their good odds (for a strip casino) hard. Good VP pay tables, 3:2 BJ, 100x odds on craps. There are ads for it all over the place.
Cromwell is currently promoting their good odds (for a strip casino) hard. Good VP pay tables, 3:2 BJ, 100x odds on craps. There are ads for it all over the place.
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead
June 22nd, 2018 at 7:14:50 PM
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Thanks for the report. Sounds like you did a lot of walking. And spent a lot of time on the buses. You likely have a few interesting stories about your bus adventures while prospecting...
June 25th, 2018 at 4:55:52 PM
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I just remembered an incident leaving the airport to get to the hotel. Normally, I take a shuttle to my hotel, but because of the delayed flight, I wasn't sure how long it would be before I got there, so, for the first time, I took a taxi from the airport instead. The driver asked me if I wanted to take surface streets or "the faster freeway."
Two questions:
1. Did he just ask me if I wanted to be "tunneled", and
2. Do passengers normally get asked nowadays?
Two questions:
1. Did he just ask me if I wanted to be "tunneled", and
2. Do passengers normally get asked nowadays?
June 25th, 2018 at 5:17:22 PM
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Nice report - what possessed you to walk the Strip in +100˚ heat?
All that milk - in that heat - now I need to go to the restroom
Good report!
All that milk - in that heat - now I need to go to the restroom
Good report!
June 25th, 2018 at 5:42:16 PM
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Quote: aceofspadesNice report - what possessed you to walk the Strip in +100˚ heat?
All that milk - in that heat - now I need to go to the restroom
It wasn't the Strip - and that was the problem. With the Strip, I could duck in and out of the casinos (well, except for between Planet Hollywood and MGM Grand). However, my walk was along Harmon from Paradise to the Strip, and there isn't very much shade, much less "indoors," available.
As for the milk, I drank it in my hotel room - in the past, I had a habit of doing my "rounds" on an empty stomach before lunch.
June 25th, 2018 at 10:15:09 PM
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Quote: ThatDonGuyI just remembered an incident leaving the airport to get to the hotel. Normally, I take a shuttle to my hotel, but because of the delayed flight, I wasn't sure how long it would be before I got there, so, for the first time, I took a taxi from the airport instead. The driver asked me if I wanted to take surface streets or "the faster freeway."
Two questions:
1. Did he just ask me if I wanted to be "tunneled", and
2. Do passengers normally get asked nowadays?
He was likely asking you "politely" if you wanted to be longhauled (through the tunnel under the airport property) on a more expensive trip fare. The best things to say when getting in a cab from the LAS airport are (other than "Is the A/C on high"):
No tunnel.
No longhauling.
Shortest distance please.
June 26th, 2018 at 1:50:00 AM
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Best thing is to take the shuttle.
Long Hauling results in a few extra pennies in the cab driver's pocket, what's the big worry about it.
I'd hate to ask where you obtained that quart of milk.
Walk that far in that heat??? l'd rather be long hauled past the M a few times than even attempt such a walk.
EVERY cab/limo driver in town knows that "convenient store". You have the driver stop there and you get anything you need on the cheap at that place. Even the driver gets a good deal if he has a fare waiting and can settle his tab with the store the next time he is there.
Long Hauling results in a few extra pennies in the cab driver's pocket, what's the big worry about it.
I'd hate to ask where you obtained that quart of milk.
Walk that far in that heat??? l'd rather be long hauled past the M a few times than even attempt such a walk.
EVERY cab/limo driver in town knows that "convenient store". You have the driver stop there and you get anything you need on the cheap at that place. Even the driver gets a good deal if he has a fare waiting and can settle his tab with the store the next time he is there.
June 26th, 2018 at 7:56:35 AM
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Quote: FleaStiff
Walk that far in that heat??? l'd rather be long hauled past the M a few times than even attempt such a walk.
Quote of the year.
When a rock is thrown into a pack of dogs, the one that yells the loudest is the one who got hit.
June 26th, 2018 at 7:46:34 PM
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Quote: FleaStiffBest thing is to take the shuttle.
Long Hauling results in a few extra pennies in the cab driver's pocket, what's the big worry about it.
I'd hate to ask where you obtained that quart of milk.
Like I said - usually I do take the shuttle, but I got in rather late and didn't want to wait too much longer to get to my room.
I got the milk at the CVS between Bally's and Paris.
June 27th, 2018 at 2:21:12 AM
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Gee, thanks. By the way I really do mean it: a sixteen mile "long haul" would indeed really be preferable to me than having to walk a mile in such heat. Casino wandering is fine, even collecting knick knacks such as key chains or a free deck of cards is fine and dandy but you can go up to your average Vegas Panhandler and they will value their time and will avoid walking in the blazing sun.Quote: DeMangoQuote of the year.
I find its cheaper in the long run to go to quality casinos than deal with filth or possible violence in the cheaper places.
I know its now called Silver Sevens or Something but the Old Terribles was just a place of inedible food, cheap rooms filled with losers roaming the halls in their undershirts and puffing away despite the 'no smoking' room designation, loud drunks, watered-down drinks. I don't go to Vegas in order to go slumming. Or to go strolling in the hot sun. That doesn't mean one has to pay Venetian rates for rooms and great security but it does mean one should avoid ordeals even if the posts about them make for an entertaining trip report.
June 27th, 2018 at 6:04:28 AM
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Quote: FleaStiff
I find its cheaper in the long run to go to quality casinos than deal with filth or possible violence in the cheaper places.
I know its now called Silver Sevens or Something
Please post additional names and if possible, the same type of reviews. I'm looking for a safe hotel/motel room for football season. I can walk but not far. I don't want a "weekly" places because I want daily maid service and flexibility. Anyhow, please advise where you suggest avoiding. Thanks.
June 27th, 2018 at 6:51:21 AM
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Quote: ThatDonGuyLike I said - usually I do take the shuttle, but I got in rather late and didn't want to wait too much longer to get to my room.
I got the milk at the CVS between Bally's and Paris.
Gasp! You shopped at CVS? How could you! ;)
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June 27th, 2018 at 7:06:35 AM
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Sorry, but I'm not really qualified to do this or possessed of sufficient up to date knowledge. I do hope others can help you thoughQuote: NokTangPlease post additional names and if possible, the same type of reviews. I'm looking for a safe hotel/motel room for football season. I can walk but not far. I don't want a "weekly" places because I want daily maid service and flexibility. Anyhow, please advise where you suggest avoiding. Thanks.
My example of the former Terribles casino, now the Silver Sevens casino, does show the lower levels of Vegas casinos. And of course my selection of The Venetian as an upscale and very safe casino is probably on target. But I would only mislead you if I supplied out of date or third hand information.
