Day 8: Leaving Las Vegas
Fratie’s phone wakes me up around 05:30. Fratie doesn’t seem to bothered by the sound as he continues to sleep like the little princess that he is. The phone is nearly in Fratie’s ear and still ringing when I get out of the shower but Fratie is out cold. I pack my suitcase, wake his ass up and head downstairs to check the both of us out.
It’s just unreal how fast this week went by. Of course, we we’re only in town for six complete days which is way to short for the distance that has to be travelled but we get about 26 free days back home and my girlfriend appreciates it if I spend some those days wondering around the planet with her instead of hanging in bars with the boys in Vegas. My girlfriend had her birthday actually last Tuesday while we were Clubbin’ it up in the Rockhouse but at least this year I remembered to call. Last year I was pounding on some Spanish dance floor when she turned 30 and I forgot to call, which was highly appreciated obviously….
Leaving Las Vegas
Last Vanilla Latte
We hop into a cap which drops us of at McCarren International. After a swift check-in we score our last Vanilla Latte and wait for our 9AM flight to Philly. I can’t sleep in the plane so I decide to give Bozzie another free lesson in strategically perfect Monopoly on the iPad. Bozzie has a hard time getting outplayed on every aspect of the game and forfeits like a little girl when he realizes he’s outmatched.
I don’t eat in airplanes so I eat equally terrible food at McDonalds in Philly despite not being hungry. Once again US Airways has mistaken us for sardines and puts us in a ridicules airplane for the nine hour flight. I play some Fifa and think about some of these changes we’ve seen the past week in Vegas compared to the previous trips. For starters, cabbies don’t promote strip clubs anymore. On our previous trips you could be in the taxi with you mother in law and bones sticking out of your arms, legs and neck on your way to the hospital and the cabby would still suggest ‘some ladies’ first. We used to bet on how long it would take the cabby to come up with the strip club suggestion. Not a single time this trip.
Limo’s. We used to tumble over Hummerlimo’s back in 2009 & 2010 but I don’t think I saw more than two on this trip and last but no least, way less female entertainment industry workers, much to the dismay of Peltinho. You can see they cleaned The Strip up rather nicely. The bright yellow jerseys of the mobile security teams are always in the neighborhood which is a good thing obviously considering how many nutcases wonder around the area.
I spend the rest of the time thinking about all the stuff we did and didn’t do the past week and start setting out the fundaments for this trip report in my head. I also think about what game plan I should be developing to get back to Vegas asap. I haven’t played any poker the past six months and the – lack off – results in Vegas aren’t motivating me to get back to the felt quickly. I can’t get started soon anyways because I need to pay off the dent I created in our mutual account first.
I will be back in Vegas. 100%. I’ll probably try to win my next trip on the felt for a while and if that isn’t meant to be I’ll go back to good old fashion money saving. If I had to guess I think my next Vegas trip would be 2014’s WSOP. I can’t quit this poker hobby without having walked into a packed Amazon Room, that’s for sure. I might hit Vegas up for a couple of days next year though because the misses is getting interested in Sin City after my third trip and we might combine that with a trip to New York we’re planning for 2013.
For some reason I actually like being bored sometimes so the nine hours towards Amsterdam pass more quickly than expected. Due to my keen planning skills we meet Hugo & Baars directly after touchdown in the gateway. They left Vegas a couple of hours before us and flew trough Houston again. My suitcase looks like it was strung to the back of the plane with a rope and basically is broken in half. The top seal just disappeared entirely and my shirts are hanging out of whatever is left of the damn thing. Lovely. Pretty sick how airlines / airports handle your properties. Baars went on a shopping spree yesterday and had to buy an extra suitcase in Vegas to get all his stuff across the ocean. Luckily Baars has good taste.
Nice suitcase, sir.
Hugo’s sister is already waiting for us so the pact gets separated here at Schiphol Airport. We agree on a ‘Vegas BBQ’ to meet up with the entire group again in a couple of weeks because it’s likely some of the guys won’t see each other until the very next Vegas trip. We drop of Hugo’s sister and I have to try really hard not to fall asleep on the two hour drive back to Venlo. I arrive back home in an empty house around 1PM that Friday and don’t have the energy to bring my suitcase upstairs. I see the girlfriend ceased the opportunity to make several changes around the house the past week. Our kitchen is purple, the are at least two new closets upstairs and I hardly recognize our garden. Oh well, she can paint the entire house pink for all I care as long as she keeps granting me my Vegas trips. I kick my clothes into the corner as if am still at IP and jump into the bed. I can feel myself falling asleep thinking nothing else then; fock, the end.
That’s it then. VPC went Vegas has come to and end. Our stories have been told. Not much left to do than thank everyone for their great reactions on the report both here and on pokerinfo.nl. It’s a lot work to make a decent TR but your reactions kept me motivated. Of course also a big thank you to the eight companions who made this trip – yet again - a great memory