Well I finally made it down the proverbial yellow brick road of time to the morning I head back to Vegas.
As I reside in the suburbs of New York City, neither Über nor Lyft are ubiquitous. Therefore, I booked a car service from home to the airport. The driver arrived right on time - she was friendly and did the best thing a driver could do for a passenger at 6:30 a.m. - she let me sleep (rather than wanting to converse for the entirety of the trip).
Upon arrival at the airport, the security line became labyrinthine, culminating in having people line up in pairs (I might be engaged after this) and walk slowly so a german shepherd and his handler could encircle us twice as we walked forward towards the TSA screener. Interesting.
As I was placing my carry-on bag in the conveyor belt for screening, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, the woman in line behind me gesticulating towards me - apparently, my license had fallen out of my pocket - that would have led to some fine shenanigans had I lost my license. Phew!
Oh, and apparently, the airport is celebrating Christmas and Chanukah two months early:
Approximately 15 minutes prior to boarding, the herd mentality kicked in. By this I mean that one or two passengers inched their way towards the stantions guarding the plane’s entryway. Within moments, the rest of the herd pricked their respective ears up and joined their leaders in milling about the entryway area. Do they all think they will somehow gain entry to the plane merely by reason of their congregating and loitering?
Various happenings on the plane:
A woman just asked the stewardess if her husband and she could move up to first class during the flight if there were open seats because…wait for it…her foot hurts. The stewardess informed her that the seats were already sold. However, the seats remained empty the entire flight.
A young guy walking through first class during boarding stated: “Look at y’all bougie asses!”;
A middle-aged gentleman calling the stewardess over to complain that there was a woman in his row that was refusing to "social distance" from him - a gate agent had to board the plane and, 15 minutes later it was resolved (although I am unsure as to how) - come on people, we are on a plane - there is no such thing as social distancing - you will be breathing the same air that everyone else does.
The flight was turbulent for the first 2 hours but I was able to sleep on and off. I then had some yogurt with granola and fruit, watched some tv and then, as quickly as that, we were landing in Sin City.
Thanks to Mitch from the Tipping the Odds Law Vegas podcast, I booked a car from Presidential Limo and they had me booked in a Tesla Model X - very cool:
Just minutes later, after an enjoyable conversation with the driver, I had arrived at The Cromwell and checked in.
My host had booked me in a Parlour Suite but, before going up to the room, I had to head over to the Caesars Rewards desk to activate $500 in free slot play. However, they did not find the other $150 in free slot play in the system. I texted me host and she said she would have to take care of it. She asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat for lunch - we made plans to meet up to take care of the additional $150 in free slot play and grab a quick bite.
Room tour:
After lunch, I headed to stock up on some beverages and snacks for the room. On my walk, I encountered a seemingly homeless gentleman with a half-empty gallon of water holding a sign that stated: Sip of water 25¢ — luckily, I was not thirsty.
Upon returning to The Cromwell, at the request of Penny’s, I asked the bartender if they had any drink or happy hour specials - she informed me that they do not and she is not sure if or when any specials would return — I then walked over to the “to go” food counter to ask if they still had the 3 Barbary Dogs for $5 special — the woman behind the counter informed me that there entire menu has been revamped and they no longer offer the Barbary Dogs at all.
I then took a walk over to Caesars Palace and the Forum Shops.
Out of the $650 in FSP, $150 thereof can only be played at The Cromwell. I ventured down to the casino floor and realized 90% of the machines were penny machines while all the machines in the High Limit room were $5/spin so, to get the bonus you would have to play $10/spin.
I settled on a $1/spin machine playing max credits - after playing through $70 of the $150 in FSP, all I had to show for it was $24. I then saw a machine I enjoyed playing last time I was in Vegas - “Cash Machine” - if you play $1 you only get the value of the first real, $5 you receive the first real in the 10s place and the second reel in the 1s place and, if you play $10, you get the 100s place, 10s place and 1s place, with a chance of the first reel having a bonus 1000s place. On the first 7 spins I won a total of $2. Then, on my last spin, the first reel showed a 1 and the second and third reels showed a diamond - some lights started flashing and the word “RESPIN” flashed - the 1 remained on the first reel, then a 0 on the second reel and a 5 on the third reel - making it a win of $105 to add to the $2 I won on my first 7 spins.
So, on the $150 in FSP, I won $131 - I’ll take it.
I decided to go to my all-time favorite restaurant, Delmonico’s Steakhouse inside the Venetian, for dinner. I ordered my traditional meal, 9 oz. filet mignon, a side of Béarnaise sauce and parmesan and truffle potato chips - everything literally melts in your mouth. Couple that with the outstanding service and you can understand why it is my favorite.
The walk back to The Cromwell:
As I was walking through The Linq, I heard someone call my name - lo and behold, it was BlackjackROI, who somehow recognized me with my mask on. I have not seen him in years and it was great to catch up. I wish him a safe trip home tomorrow.
After freshening up in the room, I headed over to Flamingo to see if they had any Wheel of Fortune slots on which I could use some of my FSP - however, each time I attempted to draw from my “E-cash” on my rewards card, I kept receiving an error message. After consulting with the Caesars Rewards desk, they informed me that their system has been down all over Vegas for an hour or so and that I should try later tonight. Does this mean that people are not earning Resorts and Tier credits during this outage?
As I was not able to access my FSP, I decided to hit up the High Limit room for some blackjack. The table was 6D, DOA, DAS. S17, late Surrender.
Naturally, the dealer made a 21 on her first hand to beat my 19. However, the next hand I was dealt a natural and began pressing my bets up to $200. After some back and forth, I was +$1k after half a shoe and took a break with a quick win in my pocket. The dealers and put boss were so happy to have people back and we all had a grand time chatting about the lockdown and even Circa. Let’s see where the rest of the night takes me.
I slipped my rewards card into a slot machine to see if the system was working and yes, it was - so, I loaded in $50 of $500 FSP and played 10 spins - winning $20. I then went back to the well of the “Cash Machine” slot and loaded in another $50 if the remaining $450 in FSP - I was rewarded on the second spin with $100, the third spin with $20 and the final spin with $2 — leaving this slot session +$142.
Trip is now +$1273
I headed up to the room and, having been awake for approximately 20 hours, I promptly fell asleep watching Friday the 13th, Part IV (the one with Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover).
See you all tomorrow!