Hey there. What month is this??
So. Went to Vegas. Again. It was rainy. Rainy and cold. You expect Sin City to be blazingly hot. When it’s not, the surrealism of that place sinks teeth through the skin of your soul and takes a giant chunk of whatever sanity you have left. Neon in drizzle is just not a good look.
Okay. Here’s where I admit my naive stupidity or, perhaps, indifference to being part of those who wish to scam me out of a large chunk o’change. Yes, got sucked into the ‘free stuff’ in exchange for a ‘half hour’ lecture on [real estate stuff]. My friend and I walked into Treasure Island, last June, and yes, signed up for three ‘free nights’ blah blah, with some ‘gifts’ attached and promises that the money we paid for deposits would be returned.
I know. I knew it was way too good to be remotely true but it’s Vegas and the entire Strip is designed to confuse and tire ya out so that slipping a twenty into a slot machine seems normal. And that’s the penny slot machines, btw. They don’t let you play a penny a turn, however. It’s thirty or eighty a turn, at the low end. So that if you want to play longer than ten seconds, you need to put that twenty in…yeppity. Same with the other denominations. Not that I have the cash to play dollar machines or would want to, because the stress of that makes me a bit sobby.
Okay, so this outfit, some offshoot of the Wynn collection of resort stuff, does not cover the taxes or such of whatever hotel you choose to stay at for ‘free’. You end up paying almost three hundred bucks, plus whatever you spent to get to Vegas in the first place. Plane tickets, driving there. It adds up quickly. But hey, have a steady paycheck right now and got my taxes done in January, so yeah and– upgraded for twenty bucks a night or so so we could have a coffee pot and fridge in our room. That’s right. Hotel rooms did not include a coffee pot or fridge unless you paid a fee or, ahem, went for the ‘upgrade’. Fuck me, is all of Vegas just a rampant scam?
Yes. Yes, it is.
I’ll make this a short post.
My friend picks me up at the airport, now called the Harry Reid Airport, instead of McCarron. I nearly lose my bag, because I have yet to find the baggage thingie it was supposed to be at. It’s at the Delta lost bags area, so yay!
Our room is basic but nice, at the Stratosphere and parking is twenty bucks a day, done right in the front through valet. Yay! Not much of a walk, either, to get to our room.
So, after signing up for that now two hour lecture time the next day, we enjoy the Strat. Go to dinner, play some slots, gab and giggle as old friends do.
Wednesday. Yikes.
It’s a harsh, high-pressure one on one type of deal, with the sales people as pushy as vultures over a fresh carcass. I just get more and more creeped out and more and more uncomfortable as I’m told how pretty I am and how being a teacher is…ugh. Ugh! Finally, after I refuse to buy a timeshare or whatever it is, and get hit with an even pushier sales demon, I snap. I just can’t take this anymore. It’s been almost THREE FUCKING HOURS of hardcore buy buy buy, one day only deal, just today, buy buy buy shit.
My friend, who is nicer than I am, endured another hour of this before they released her back into the wild. Oh and we both had ‘deals’ and were told to pretend we made so much a year and did not know each other by those signing people up for this crap.
We lost almost half a day. We went in before nine and did not leave until almost one thirty or so.
Also, the goodies? Sigh. Our coupons for food could only be used at one place and they closed at two in the afternoon. The gambling money? Was a promotional thing that could only be used at the Casino Royale, which was nowhere near the Strat. Had to find it beforehand and then drive there, but found a place to park for free that was easy to get in and out of.
Anyway!
It was an okay trip. I had fun and we got blasted the last night we were there.
And then my flight home got cancelled. I had to scramble and get a room at Circus Circus, plus taxis to and from airport. Sigh. But I got home and here I am, typing all this willy-nilly.
Okay. Checking in, it’s March now and spring break is next week. Hurray!
Might do a part two and go over some of the stuff and things we did there while in the city of sin and rain for two days straight.