Long overdue, TR

[ricky_clemons]

Wow, considering that it's been almost a month since I went out to Vegas, it's probably a good time to do a trip report. It will be pretty lengthy and I'll try to be as detailed as possible. So, it will likely take a few installments. I hope it's enjoyable


GETTING STARTED

Alright, flew out on Friday afternoon and arrived in Vegas around 4pm. I've built up a ridiculous amount of Southwest free drink coupons so I figured it would be a good time to build some karma. Boarded the plane with 15 books of drink coupons (that's 60 drinks), handed them to the stewardess and told her to give out free drinks to people until they were gone. My only stipulation was that she save four of them for me.

Get off the plane and luggage is a breeze and we're (I've met up with my boy Tony_Key who has flown in on a different flight) off to the rental car center. Since I don't have to drive, I actually catch a draft beer at the Home Turf in the terminal before heading down to pickup baggage. Good idea. Rental car takes forever and that last boost allows me to generate a minor buzz that stays. Stop at convenience store for beer, water, gatorade and most imporantly Beef Jerky. LOL. Make it to the Mandalay at about 6pm. Ask about upgrades and they are being pretty tough on them. There's some car-show/auction being hosted there so the place is pretty full and they aren't in the giving mood. That's cool, we at least got a strip view.

Run upstairs, crack beer (24 oz coors light can if you are interested, gotta keep it classy). Head out to elevators, hit the floor for about 30 minutes. After some gambling and the usual walking around to get the lay of the land and just be happy that we're in Vegas, it's off to the laughing Jackalope across the street. Went there in July and rocked because it was so cheap. Tried in October and it blew because it was out of business.

Oh well. Back to the Mandalay and now it's time to get ready. We've got dinner reservations at Sensi and then we've got a table set-up at Tryst.

By now, it's about 7:30 or so and things start to go pretty well.....

[AK2Vegas]

Nice TR can't wait to read more.

[DJ Ran]

Good start, let's hear some more.

[ricky_clemons]

Friday night

Alright, so we get ready to hop in the shower (seperately, I like my boy, but not that much!) so that we can scoot over to Bellagio and meet our group for dinner. So, I hop into the shower first and the water is nice and warm. In fact, it's mothergrubbin booling hot! No matter where I turn the darn thing, it's coming out hellfire hot. I can't believe this is happening. Line at the rental car place, no upgrades available, the laughing jackalope is closed and now I'm standing here naked doing the shower dance/hop just trying to steal a second of water here or there. I check the tub, same thing. Where the heck is all of this good karma buying half my plane drinks was supposed to get me?

Furious, I call the front desk to report my problem. They say they'll have somebody up to take care of it within 15 minutes. 15 minutes pass and nobody from Mandalay so I call back. Now, it's going to be at least another half an hour. I explain to them that this won't work because we are already running late for dinner. Here, is where our luck starts to turn for the better.

Very sympathetic to my situation, the manager at the front desk offers me two choices. They can open up another room on our floor that nobody has checked into yet and let us shower. She will also comp our room for the night for the trouble. Or, it just so happens that they have a freaking Vista suite available and she'll move us into it for the duration of our stay.....NO EXTRA CHARGE.

Needless to say, we take the suite!

We pack our things real quick and go up to the room. Holy hell is this room ridiculous. Because there's only one bed, one of us will have to pass out on the couch later on. But, that's no big deal since we've got a room with over 1700 feet of awesomeness. Tony looks at me and deadpans "If this night doesn't end with me doing blow off some chicks ass, we screwed up." I agree.

Alright, save some time and move ahead here. We go, meet our group at sensi and are only running about a half an hour late. I get a steak and this unbelievably good jalapeno creamed corn. Wow. Great restaurant. I got one of their specialty drinks, the Matador, and didn't like it so on to vodka cranberry for me.

By the time dinner finishes up, we are almost an hour late for our reservation at Tryst. Call my host and he says it's no problem, just come on over. So everybody but me heads over and meets with him.

Myself, I have a small detour to make. That's right, I've got to hit the Imperial Palace. Now I know some of you are wondering WTF? Well, let me explain. I love the IMperial Palace more than life itself I think. I know it's a dump, but it's centrally located, has cheap gambling and has always been very, very good to me. Also, it just so happens that they've comped me a room for the three days I'm in town. This is where my cagey Vegas vet comes out. Since the IP is always willing to give me a free room, or at least damn close, we always take them up on their offer so that we have a few places to crash. It really comes in handy during situations with trying to find places to go with members of the opposite sex. It's nice if it's five in the morning and you don't want to go all the way back down to the Mandalay and it's just a huge convenience. If you can ever do this (no matter which places you use), do it. I can't possibly explain how nice it is to have an extra room option.

Anyway, no line at check in at the IP and I get a nice girl named Lena checking me in. I chat her up and include a 20 dollar sandwich with my driver's license and ccard. Sure enough, she puts me in a suite. Now, this ain't the vista suite at Mandalay, but it's a suite, mid strip and it's free. Time to hustle over to Tryst.

How funny is this, I've managed to beat my group to Tryst from Bellagio despite stopping at the IP to check in. Dummies went to the Venetian first (why, because they are idiots is all I can figure) and then they went to the Encore. Well, they show up and within minutes of talking to the host, our group of nine is in.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Tryst is the best club in Vegas. Other places may be bigger and even more opulent, but something about Tryst makes it home for me. It's big, but not so huge you feel like you get lost in there. It's very nice, but not totally ostentatious.

We are settled in off towards the right of the dance floor as you face it walking in. Back by the stripper pole on a huge L shaped red couch that is right on the window between inside and outside seating. Perfect spot. Big ass table that easily accommodates our group of nine, but we also end up with some privacy and easy access to either the dance floor or the stripper pole. We order three bottles of Belvedere and our mixers and the night is on.

You know, for a Friday night, we actually thought that things were kind of slow. The area back where we were never really got too busy, but it was busy enough that we could all get loose and do our thing. We've got girl after girl coming by trying to scam drinks but we've got a great system in place. We've talked to the security guy in our area (sorry can't remember his, our waitress or our barback's name, I know. Awful. They were all great and well taken care of, though) and we've got this thing locked up.

Any lady who approaches our table is allowed to sit down. However, they are not offered drinks immediately. You don't just get to scam a drink off of us. You either have to do something to earn it, or preferably, you be cool and fun to hang/dance/ and share a table and drinks with. If you are an obvious scammer, we give you a few minutes and then give our security guy the sign (just a simple head nod) and he removes you from our table.

Now would be a good time to mention that one of the guys in our group is in the FBI. Even though he's off duty, he's strapped (ankle holster if you are wondering). Because of this, we feel invincible but really don't start any trouble. One because none of us is a fighter, and two, we don't want him to have to use that thing! But, some guy ends up getting really aggressive with him because the girl he was trying to get is all over Mr. FBI. Dude makes a move, FBI pulls up his pant leg to show his piece and swear to god the guy almost wets his pants. Totally awesome. Even more awesome is that he tries to get us thrown out and gets tossed (along with his crew) for his trouble once things are explained.

By now, it's winding down. Music has been great, service has been great and I've had at least 10-12 vodka & Crans. I'm a total wreck and have been drinking for about 16 hours straight at this point. Three in our group have hooked up and are off wherever doing whatever it is you do in Vegas. Alas, me and my boy are still rollin solo when we leave at about 330.

So, we head to the IP for some late night roulette and video poker. The roulette table is good to me and I win back my portion of the table (awesome, now I can do another on Saturday). I also meet a nice young lady who wouldn't mind headed back to the Mandalay. Even better, she's not a hooker! So, at about 6am I walk out of the IP, Tony_Key is still there, hail a cab and head back to the Mandalay. Victory will be mine, at least I think.

[Drew]

Very sympathetic to my situation, the manager at the front desk offers me two choices. They can open up another room on our floor that nobody has checked into yet and let us shower. She will also comp our room for the night for the trouble. Or, it just so happens that they have a freaking Vista suite available and she'll move us into it for the duration of our stay.....NO EXTRA CHARGE.

Nice!

My boy looks at me and deadpans "If this night doesn't end with me doing blow off some chicks ass, we screwed up." I agree.

LOL. So did you guys screw up? lol

If you can ever do this (no matter which places you use), do it. I can't possibly explain how nice it is to have an extra room option.

Interesting move. I don't really gamble so I doubt I'll get comped, but good one.

Any lady who approaches our table is allowed to sit down. However, they are not offered drinks immediately. You don't just get to scam a drink off of us. You either have to do something to earn it, or preferably, you be cool and fun to hang/dance/ and share a table and drinks with. If you are an obvious scammer, we give you a few minutes and then give our security guy the sign (just a simple head nod) and he removes you from our table.

Another good strategy. Will have to try it. Did you have to give the security guy a nod? How did the girls react to being kicked out of the table??? Love to see their reactions.

So, we head to the IP for some late night roulette and video poker. The roulette table is good to me and I win back my portion of the table (awesome, now I can do another on Saturday). I also meet a nice young lady who wouldn't mind headed back to the Mandalay. Even better, she's not a hooker! So, at about 6am I walk out of the IP, hail a cab and head back to the Mandalay. Victory will be mine, at least I think.

Score! Did you do blow off her...? lol

[AK2Vegas]

Great tr! Truly some masterful moves. The ip thing is similar to a hunting technique of setting up base camp and then moving out and setting up a satelite camp called a spite camp. It allows the hunter to cover a greater range. And the sequence for processing girls at the table: priceless. There are some things money can't buy: for everything else there's jackcolton.com!

[BarrelO]

Come on, don't leave us hanging! Just when it was starting to get good!

[Cisco419]

Awesome first day!!!

[NoCo81]

Great move on the 2 places to crash. Looking forward to day 2.

[kaneda33]

But, some guy ends up getting really aggressive with him because the girl he was trying to get is all over Mr. FBI. Dude makes a move, FBI pulls up his pant leg to show his piece and swear to god the guy almost wets his pants. Totally awesome. Even more awesome is that he tries to get us thrown out and gets tossed (along with his crew) for his trouble once things are explained.

That is awesome man...I can't wait for more!

[ricky_clemons]

Snatching Defeat Out of The Jaws Of Victory

So, we finally make it back to the room at the Mandalay Bay. If I have any concerns about what's about to happen, I know that opening up to our palacial suite should take care of any issues. However, there's a problem. And, it is a big one. I can't find my room key! Not only that, I can't find my driver's license. This, is going to be a major issue.

Crap, now we have to go all the way down to the front desk and I have to prove that I really do belong to that room. By the time we get back up to the room it's pretty clear that nothing is going to happen. You know what, though, it's cool. The girl who is now hanging with me is a really cool person. She's funny, she can take some punches and roll with it and she's an absolute trooper for putting up with everything. Hell, she even cracks a beer and gives me crap for not drinking one (and it's after 7 am at this point). So, after an exchange of numbers and some goodbye pleasantries, I walk her down and she takes a cab back to where she's staying (Planet Hollywood).

About 1pm, I wake up and I feel surprisingly good. I've got a text message from last night/this morning's girl thanking me for being such a gentleman and she wants to hang again before she leaves (monday). I call and we set up to do something on Sunday night.

Back to the business at hand, I need to figure out where my boy Tony_Key is. Last I saw him, it was 6am and he was seated next to the most broken down nearing 50 hooker I've ever seen while playing VP at the Geisha Bar in IP. I call his phone, no answer. I text, no answer. Even after a shower, still nothing.

Concerned and curious, I don't know which one moreso, I hop in the rental car and head over to the IP. Somewhere around 230/245 pm I bang on the door of our room and sure enough my man Tony answers and he's giggling like a school girl. He has all my room keys and my driver's license so at least that mystery is solved. Next, he solves the mystery of what happened to him last night. And, if it weren't so freaking unbelievable, I would swear he was lying to me.

As it turns out, he had hung out at the IP bar until a little after 8 in the morning. That's when an off duty bartender from T.I. -- who is about 6-foot-2 and two or three inches taller than him, and likely in her mid 40's -- who happened to be rolling through the casino decided to have a drink with him. In the room. And yes, he sealed the deal and I don't have to question him because there's proof in the form of a bartender asleep on the bed in the bedroom part of the suite. YIKES!!!!!

Surveying the situation, we decide that there's only one thing to be done. We head immediately to the car and head downtown for an afternoon of drinking and cheap gambling!

[dogeaters]

very nice ricky... looked forward to the rest

[ChappStick]

Awesome TR crackin up reading this shit! Keep it coming!

[dnix]

nice TR...............

[BarrelO]

Best TR ever?

Best TR ever.