TR: 23rd Oct - 5th Nov, Vegas #5 & LA
10-16-2016
, 03:44 PM
I think starting a trip report is, in many ways, as exciting as leaving for the airport: they both herald the beginning of another trip to Las Vegas, but the trip report gets there first and allows the excitement to really crescendo rather than having the excitement sneaking up and suddenly appearing from behind the daze of the 9-5 grind. The anticipation is the source of a lot of the enjoyment, and the reading and writing of a TR really embellishes that anticipation, for me.
And so, it’s with such excitement that I start another 2+2 LVL trip report! If I ever went inexplicably missing, the LVL archives would be a good starting point for detectives to trace the path of my life thus far.
2011 (Click me!): at university, turned 21, went to Vegas with best friend. Acted like a child throughout and largely unapologetic for that. A formative trip, and one we still laugh (and cringe) about now. The chip collection from this trip still sits proudly in my lounge! (RIP Bills!)
2013: in first grad job, book a solo Vegas trip, bunch of friends from work also join. A great time, with many learnings from the first trip! First CUT visit - a seminal life moment.
2015, 1: mum and I visit brother in San Francisco, inevitable LV long weekend tied in. Unfinished TR, mainly because brother is fairly nitty and family vibe shackled the degen demons.
2015, 2: Vegas weekend with two friends, one from 2011 TR, who at the time was cabin crew for British Airways and hooked us up. Excellent trip with delayed return flight adding a couple of unexpected days.
2016: the 5th anniversary trip!
It largely came out of nothing, this imminent trip. With some leave to take from work, I’d been mulling over where to go for ages with various ideas going through the ringer. Then, reading LVL during one lunch break, I couldn't help myself and just had to click it off on another Vegas visit. Tom, from the 2013 TR would be in Vegas at the same time, and so would a great friend of mine, Vity, from back home who happens to be one of the most admirable degens I’ve ever had the pleasure of befriending (quite an accolade).
Vity will be driving in with two mates on the 23rd Oct and we’re all staying at the Linq for 6 nights. They leave on the 29th, I move to the Excalibur (F hotel prices over Halloween, even this dump was like $700 for a few nights), and Tom arrives with a friend from his previous TR (Check it out here, well worth a read.) at some point in the middle.
On the 1st Nov, I fly to LA for 4 nights, solo. I’ve booked 2 nights Air BnB in Santa Monica, followed by 2 nights in Downtown LA where I’ll be heading to the Breeders Cup at Santa Anita. In my head, this solo element of the trip is a vision of bohemian, blowing-in-the-wind exploration and excitement, but it’ll probably be more like me holed up in a bar talking to no-one and updating this TR. Similarly, in my head, my Breeders Cup trip will be a channelling of Hunter S Thompson at the Kentucky Derby. In reality, it’ll probably be meek observation and wry note-making for the TR. Nonetheless, hopefully I can make it fun to follow!
Tom and Vity are great characters to weave into the TR. Tom is a pure creature of habit who has been to Vegas 4 times, stayed at Venetian 3 of those, plays relentless hours at Venetian, and eats Earl every meal except one where CUT gets extravagantly subbed in. This trip will be no different for Tom: Venetian, Earl, CUT. He knows what he likes and he likes what he knows.
Vity will be making his first Vegas appearance, and long overdue it is too. This is a man who once turned £60 into £10k on the wheel in a London casino (no comment on how much of the £10k was still retained a week later) and has few to no qualms whatsoever dumping his salary in the pit. I’m really looking forward to some heroic degen sessions with him.
Another good Vity story is when I went to London one day with the mothership for a day out, and we hit up the Hippodrome casino in central London for a drink and a punt in the evening. We met Vity there, played some dice and other stuff, before mum and I left. Vity maintained the grind, and an hour later sent me this picture:
The Vegas agenda for this trip is largely undefined I think, but I keep a directory of restaurants/bars/things to do that I’ve built up from endless reading of this forum so I’ll keep it open and see how things pan out. Constants will be:
- Poker, all around the place including firing a Venetian DSE event or two.
- Craps, all around the place wherever the dice are hot yo.
- Drinking, and plenty thereof.
- Good food, as much as viable. CUT is a given and I’ll also be trying to steer companions along to some other good places.
- Elton John! We have tickets to Elton on Friday 28th. Super excited for this, the guy is a complete boss.
So, there’s one more week of office grind ahead of me, until I swap this:
For this:
Pics of shoes and currency to follow in due course. Thanks for reading!
And so, it’s with such excitement that I start another 2+2 LVL trip report! If I ever went inexplicably missing, the LVL archives would be a good starting point for detectives to trace the path of my life thus far.
2011 (Click me!): at university, turned 21, went to Vegas with best friend. Acted like a child throughout and largely unapologetic for that. A formative trip, and one we still laugh (and cringe) about now. The chip collection from this trip still sits proudly in my lounge! (RIP Bills!)
2013: in first grad job, book a solo Vegas trip, bunch of friends from work also join. A great time, with many learnings from the first trip! First CUT visit - a seminal life moment.
2015, 1: mum and I visit brother in San Francisco, inevitable LV long weekend tied in. Unfinished TR, mainly because brother is fairly nitty and family vibe shackled the degen demons.
2015, 2: Vegas weekend with two friends, one from 2011 TR, who at the time was cabin crew for British Airways and hooked us up. Excellent trip with delayed return flight adding a couple of unexpected days.
2016: the 5th anniversary trip!
It largely came out of nothing, this imminent trip. With some leave to take from work, I’d been mulling over where to go for ages with various ideas going through the ringer. Then, reading LVL during one lunch break, I couldn't help myself and just had to click it off on another Vegas visit. Tom, from the 2013 TR would be in Vegas at the same time, and so would a great friend of mine, Vity, from back home who happens to be one of the most admirable degens I’ve ever had the pleasure of befriending (quite an accolade).
Vity will be driving in with two mates on the 23rd Oct and we’re all staying at the Linq for 6 nights. They leave on the 29th, I move to the Excalibur (F hotel prices over Halloween, even this dump was like $700 for a few nights), and Tom arrives with a friend from his previous TR (Check it out here, well worth a read.) at some point in the middle.
On the 1st Nov, I fly to LA for 4 nights, solo. I’ve booked 2 nights Air BnB in Santa Monica, followed by 2 nights in Downtown LA where I’ll be heading to the Breeders Cup at Santa Anita. In my head, this solo element of the trip is a vision of bohemian, blowing-in-the-wind exploration and excitement, but it’ll probably be more like me holed up in a bar talking to no-one and updating this TR. Similarly, in my head, my Breeders Cup trip will be a channelling of Hunter S Thompson at the Kentucky Derby. In reality, it’ll probably be meek observation and wry note-making for the TR. Nonetheless, hopefully I can make it fun to follow!
Tom and Vity are great characters to weave into the TR. Tom is a pure creature of habit who has been to Vegas 4 times, stayed at Venetian 3 of those, plays relentless hours at Venetian, and eats Earl every meal except one where CUT gets extravagantly subbed in. This trip will be no different for Tom: Venetian, Earl, CUT. He knows what he likes and he likes what he knows.
Vity will be making his first Vegas appearance, and long overdue it is too. This is a man who once turned £60 into £10k on the wheel in a London casino (no comment on how much of the £10k was still retained a week later) and has few to no qualms whatsoever dumping his salary in the pit. I’m really looking forward to some heroic degen sessions with him.
Another good Vity story is when I went to London one day with the mothership for a day out, and we hit up the Hippodrome casino in central London for a drink and a punt in the evening. We met Vity there, played some dice and other stuff, before mum and I left. Vity maintained the grind, and an hour later sent me this picture:
The Vegas agenda for this trip is largely undefined I think, but I keep a directory of restaurants/bars/things to do that I’ve built up from endless reading of this forum so I’ll keep it open and see how things pan out. Constants will be:
- Poker, all around the place including firing a Venetian DSE event or two.
- Craps, all around the place wherever the dice are hot yo.
- Drinking, and plenty thereof.
- Good food, as much as viable. CUT is a given and I’ll also be trying to steer companions along to some other good places.
- Elton John! We have tickets to Elton on Friday 28th. Super excited for this, the guy is a complete boss.
So, there’s one more week of office grind ahead of me, until I swap this:
For this:
Pics of shoes and currency to follow in due course. Thanks for reading!
10-21-2016
, 04:56 PM
I can only echo what Ice Cube once asserted: today was a good day. There's no finer day to be at work than the final day before taking leave for Las Vegas. I spent the majority of the morning drinking coffee and telling Vegas stories to colleagues, unable and largely unwilling to focus on tasks at hand on such a day.
Picked up some Bennys at lunch.
My morning basking made for a packed afternoon of getting things in good shape before I'll flat-out forget about work for 2 weeks. Seldom is there a more justified use for the office beer fridge than the Friday afternoon before Vegas.
And so, at 19:15 I left the office for the walk home with the vision of Las Vegas suddenly all the clearer in the distance. There's very little between us now!
Tomorrow evening, I fly from Leeds, UK to Dublin. Arriving around 8pm, I'm staying at the airport hotel, before an early Sunday morning flight Dublin to London Heathrow. Then, its a direct Virgin Atlantic to Vegas, arriving 1pm local time on Sunday.
Let's ****ing go!
Picked up some Bennys at lunch.
My morning basking made for a packed afternoon of getting things in good shape before I'll flat-out forget about work for 2 weeks. Seldom is there a more justified use for the office beer fridge than the Friday afternoon before Vegas.
And so, at 19:15 I left the office for the walk home with the vision of Las Vegas suddenly all the clearer in the distance. There's very little between us now!
Tomorrow evening, I fly from Leeds, UK to Dublin. Arriving around 8pm, I'm staying at the airport hotel, before an early Sunday morning flight Dublin to London Heathrow. Then, its a direct Virgin Atlantic to Vegas, arriving 1pm local time on Sunday.
Let's ****ing go!
Last edited by joist; 10-21-2016 at 05:07 PM.
10-22-2016
, 01:47 PM
The journey is underway! Waiting to board Leeds - Dublin.
There's a classic group of meathead blokes doing their best to debunk the idea that Neanderthals are extinct. I've not been able to decipher any words yet, they seem to have eroded the English language to such an extent that they just communicate in abrasive, booming noises of "ooowaaay!" and "oiii oi!"
Thankfully it's only a 1hr flight...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There's a classic group of meathead blokes doing their best to debunk the idea that Neanderthals are extinct. I've not been able to decipher any words yet, they seem to have eroded the English language to such an extent that they just communicate in abrasive, booming noises of "ooowaaay!" and "oiii oi!"
Thankfully it's only a 1hr flight...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited by joist; 10-22-2016 at 02:11 PM.
10-23-2016
, 01:14 AM
Sat in Dublin Airport departures awaiting the Dublin - London leg. Excellent automated check in/bag drop procedure was a piece of cake and super convenient in a vacuum for me here, but less convenient for humankind's reluctance to be wiped out by robots in the not-too-distant future.
Last couple airport trips have had me close to pulling the trigger on some new sunglasses. Went through with it this morning and now have a swanky new pair of Persols to lurk the strip with.
In around 14-15 hours it'll be Vegas touchdown time. Upon arrival, will have a few hours until the other guys arrive so it's a perfect spot to get in the Aria 1/3 mixer. I can nearly taste the vodka-watermelon!
Had a few goes at taking this to reduce the degree to which I look like a moron. Gave up, clearly.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last couple airport trips have had me close to pulling the trigger on some new sunglasses. Went through with it this morning and now have a swanky new pair of Persols to lurk the strip with.
In around 14-15 hours it'll be Vegas touchdown time. Upon arrival, will have a few hours until the other guys arrive so it's a perfect spot to get in the Aria 1/3 mixer. I can nearly taste the vodka-watermelon!
Had a few goes at taking this to reduce the degree to which I look like a moron. Gave up, clearly.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
10-23-2016
, 07:02 PM
Arrived! But would struggle to have arrived with a more tilting set of circumstances...
10hr flight is absolutely chronic on the arse cheeks. Had a few wines on the plane and now have a brutal headache to contend with.
Get to baggage claim, start to think that I'm probably due some bag run-bad as I've ever had one lost. Bingo, no bag. I register a claim and get told to expect a call tomorrow but at the moment they can't tell me where it is. Fun players.
So I order an Uber and Uber tells me to go Floor V of the parking garage. I go to the parking garage, find the elevator and hit floor 5. Nothing going on up here so must be my mistake; I check Uber again which clearly states "Floor V". I've gone back to floor 1 at this point so I go back again to floor 5. Tilted by now, I check the sign to realise floor V is Valet not Roman numeral 5, lol.
Arrived at the Linq and neither credit cards go through to register the deposit and room rate, so have had to dump a load of cash.
Shoddy start. But headache pills have been taken and rehydration has begun, so hopefully we're ready to grind.
Cool landscape of western Greenland:
My suitcase cannot yet enjoy this view:
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
10hr flight is absolutely chronic on the arse cheeks. Had a few wines on the plane and now have a brutal headache to contend with.
Get to baggage claim, start to think that I'm probably due some bag run-bad as I've ever had one lost. Bingo, no bag. I register a claim and get told to expect a call tomorrow but at the moment they can't tell me where it is. Fun players.
So I order an Uber and Uber tells me to go Floor V of the parking garage. I go to the parking garage, find the elevator and hit floor 5. Nothing going on up here so must be my mistake; I check Uber again which clearly states "Floor V". I've gone back to floor 1 at this point so I go back again to floor 5. Tilted by now, I check the sign to realise floor V is Valet not Roman numeral 5, lol.
Arrived at the Linq and neither credit cards go through to register the deposit and room rate, so have had to dump a load of cash.
Shoddy start. But headache pills have been taken and rehydration has begun, so hopefully we're ready to grind.
Cool landscape of western Greenland:
My suitcase cannot yet enjoy this view:
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
10-23-2016
, 08:20 PM
Took a short while to de-tilt, but got some fruit and a drink and wandered around and now headache gone, back in the zone and absolutely pumped to be in Vegas!
Splashing around at Flamingo waiting for the team from LA to arrive:
Thanks everyone for the nice comments!
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Splashing around at Flamingo waiting for the team from LA to arrive:
Thanks everyone for the nice comments!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
10-24-2016
, 08:50 AM
Last night was fairly low key in the end, had to fold at around 10pm exhausted from travel and time difference.
We squeezed in some gamble though. Played Casino War for the first time. I've always walked straight by previously, thinking it sounds like there will a lot of rules etc to learn. Turns out it's the easiest game in the place: get a higher single card than the dealer, lol.
Then played some Blackjack at Planet Hollywood and took a walk across to Caesars to play there too. After that I had to get to sleep, was struggling a lot to stay interested. Low key day 0.5 summary:
Poker: +50
Casino War: +30
Blackjack: -160
Running total: -80
It's 5.48am and I post this fresh after some sleep from the B poker room. Vamo!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
We squeezed in some gamble though. Played Casino War for the first time. I've always walked straight by previously, thinking it sounds like there will a lot of rules etc to learn. Turns out it's the easiest game in the place: get a higher single card than the dealer, lol.
Then played some Blackjack at Planet Hollywood and took a walk across to Caesars to play there too. After that I had to get to sleep, was struggling a lot to stay interested. Low key day 0.5 summary:
Poker: +50
Casino War: +30
Blackjack: -160
Running total: -80
It's 5.48am and I post this fresh after some sleep from the B poker room. Vamo!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
