A new year a new Vegas trip. My flight out of New York this morning was scheduled for 5:30 am, meaning I had to leave home about 3:30 am for the airport.
A few days ago, I found out that you could actually schedule a LYFT up to 7 days in advance. As there are rarely LYFT drivers out in the suburbs, I decided to schedule my ride to the airport. I did this on Monday of this week and the next morning received a message that a driver had confirmed my ride. Great!
Last night, after packing, I attempted to get some sleep. It was not to be as the Vegas excitement had overcome me and, alas, I did not fall asleep until 1:30 am, with my alarm set for 3 am. It felt as if the alarm buzzed from inside my skull the second my eyes were closed. I woke up, showered and did a last minute check to ensure everything I needed for the trip was indeed in my suitcase.
I then received a notification on the LYFT app that they were “searching for a nearby driver”. WTF‽ I thought a driver had already confirmed my ride—was I going to have to figure out a new way to get to the airport? A few minutes later LYFT notified me that my driver was in the area and was 5 minutes away. My phone rang and the driver had called to alert me he was stopping to put air in his tires and would pick me up shortly. Phew!
The driver arrived and I was in and out of consciousness the entire ride, my eyes refusing to stay open.
Upon arrival at JFK, I checked my bags and waited at the gate for boarding. The wait was not long at all and everyone boarded the plane for Sin City. I was in dreamland within 20 minutes of takeoff and was awakened by the voice of the Captain over the loudspeaker informing the temporary residents of his aircraft that we were beginning our final descent into Las Vegas.
Moments later, we landed, I grabbed my luggage and began the trip by being picked up by the inimitable LuckysLasVegas.
We made our way to Palace Station for some Starbucks and met “Mr. Hollywood”, an Asian gentleman who looked to be about 75 years old carrying an old school transistor radio. He approached me and introduced himself as Mr. Hollywood, smiling intently with a mouth full of missing and dead teeth. I told him my name and he then began signing “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee. Lucky, who was grabbing some napkins from the counter just behind Mr. Hollywood, looked at me and rolled his eyes. Mr. Hollywood then asked if I would treat him to a Starbucks. I smiled and politely declined. He then told me his other name was Mr. Macau and, as he shook my hand again, I thanked him for transmitting the Coronavirus to me. Lucky erupted in laughter and we vacated the casino, back on the road.
On our way to Fremont Street to check out the early morning sites, including the new canopy, which looked incredible, we drove through historic Las Vegas, which seemed to be frozen in time from the 1950’s but was quiet with beautiful homes.
Main Street Station casino floor and the piece of the Berlin Wall in the men’s restroom:
From there, we wandered Fremont Street and checked out the Plaza and Golden Gate:
Evel Pie:
Leaving downtown, we headed to check out a Casino Chip convention at Arizona Charlie’s. Each attendee had to fill out a name tag to wear on their shirt.
After checking out the collectibles, including one casino chip for sale at the astronomical price of $45,000, and meeting the Duke of Fremont who was trying to sell a comic book based on his life, and who, for some reason, felt compelled to tell me of his “mafia” connections in New York, winking at me while stating “us Italians have to stick together”. I did not tell him that I was not Italian and, as Lucky and exited the convention, I noticed that Lucky used the fake name “John” on his name tag and I used the fake name “Johnny” on my name tag — we burst out laughing at the fact we both chose virtually the same fake name to use on our name tags.
Lucky then bid me adieu at Caesars Palace, where I would be checking into the Nobu Hotel for the next few days.
My room was not ready and so I checked my bags at the desk and made my way to the Caesars Rewards desk to print out a new player’s card. As usual, nobody paid attention to the individual lines for the different tiers but, I eventually made my way to the clerk. She informed me that I was no longer Diamond, that I was now only Gold. I was perplexed and she then asked if I obtained my Diamond level via the Founder’s Card - to which I nodded my head in the affirmative. She said I should contact Founder’s Card customer support and find out what the issue was. I walked away dejected with a mere Gold card in my wallet.
I was informed, by Founder’s Card customer support, that they were finalizing their deal with Caesars Rewards and my Diamond status would be reinstated on Wednesday, just in time for me to check out.
I then sauntered over to the sports book to place some Super Bowl bets. I was greeted by a line for the betting windows that, in my estimate, would cause me to wait about an hour before being at the front. I noticed that there were 2 kiosks available that nobody seemed to be using so I walked up and was able to place my first bet of the trip: $100 to win on the 49’rs outright at +107. When I then attempted to bet the under (54), the screen kept showing “Chiefs” next to the preview of my betting ticket. I did not know why it said “Chiefs” so I canceled that bet and headed to wait in the line so I could place a bet with a human being. While in line, a Caesars employee made the rounds informing bettors that the kiosk was open. I explained to her my issue and she invited me over tot he kiosk where she informed me that, due to screen size restrictions on the kiosk, the full title of the bet would only show up on my actual ticket. I punched in my $100 under 54 bet and, voila, the clerk was correct and I was quickly finished with my Super Bowl bets.
As I walked away from the kiosk, my phone rang and it was the Nobu front desk informing me that my room was ready.
I retrieved my room key and learned that the Nobu elevators are called by swiping your card and pressing the floor number on a touchscreen. I swiped my room key, pressed my floor number and was promptly brought to the wrong floor, where I met a woman going through the same thing as me. Eventually, I made it to my room and what a beautiful room it is.
After a recuperative nap in the room I set out on the Strip. As I walked through the crowded Caesars Palace, I noticed they added extra table games right inside the main entrance (presumably for Super Bowl weekend):
The high limit lounge was decorated for the Chinese New Year:
I then took a walk on the Strip in the beautifully crisp evening air:
I am now back in the room relaxing and attempting find a Super Bowl party that is not sold out. No such luck - perhaps I will walk the Strip in the morning and see which restaurants still have guaranteed seating packages available. It’s been a long day of travel and running around Vegas so, I bid you all a goodnight.