Kori's very late hween trip report..

[kori]

First off, sorry this is so late. And thanks for reading such an old report. I wrote it shortly after I returned, but I was feeling shy. My last few trips were even better due to the information on this forum, so I wanted to post it. I just edited out like half the report because I don’t want to be known as the person who’s TR cures insomnia..

So here goes:

I’ve been to Las Vegas several times due to my close proximity combined with the lure of $49 flights. When I first started going to Vegas, I strictly gambled, drank at the tables, and would leave the hotel perhaps once to watch a show. My first two trips, I didn’t even see the Bellagio fountain show cause I was too busy grinding it out at the tables. I marvelled at the fountain show for the first time, but on DVD after Rusty and Danny Ocean rob the Bellagio vault. I had already been to Vegas twice by then.

There was a brief time when I seriously considered a career as a professional card player. Presently I can’t even remember if you’re supposed to hit a 12 against a dealer’s 2.

I was in Vegas in August, and the day I returned, I saw a deal for $300 inclusive of hotel, airfare, taxes and fees for Halloween weekend. I sent out the info in an email, and five people bit.

So finally it’s October 30, and four of the six of us head to Vegas. We are pretty close, but we never really see each other anymore, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to hang out, and spend time together. 3 males 3 females. One male and one female don’t arrive till day 2 and they are a couple.

I was already burnt out because the weekend before the Halloween trip I was just there. So my friends were kinda mad cause they thought I might be lame on the Halloween trip from having just been there.

Day one – Friday. A bad day. extreme awkwardness, putting the c&nt back into country.

Everyone tries to nap on the plane. Except me. I’m a bit superstitious when it comes to gambling, (I’m NOT one of those people waving their hands in front of the screen of a slot machine) I’m more discreet but superstitious enough that it’s slightly neurotic. A few trips ago, I determined if I don’t want to lose money when I’m gambling, I need to play and WIN Baker’s game (a bastardized but more complicated version of solitaire/Freecell) which I can now play on my iPod Touch, three times in a row on the way to Vegas. BUT, I need to win each one in succession. Yes, I know, it’s weird.

While everyone else is napping, I’m playing this game and drinking red wine. 2.5 hours later, as we’re landing, I get asked to turn off my game, but the minute the attendant can’t see me, it’s back on. When we land, everyone is turning on their cell phones and making calls/texting or conversing with each other, and I’m furiously playing a game on my Touch... all the way till I get to the front of the line at the rental car desk.

We get the hard sell to buy the insurance and extra options from an aggressive agent. “do you want to upgrade the vehicle” “how about prepaid gas” “WHAT? *GASP* You don’t you want the protection of insurance for only $20 a day” A variation of this goes on for about five minutes, and I’m just, “no, no, no, no, gosh no, no thanks.”
“Well, you better drive safely, because you know that insurance will NOT cover the lost revenues we get while the car gets repaired”

As we leave the agency, I have visions of broken windshields in my head. I look in the car mirror and I notice I have wine lips..
Total cost of car $60 for Friday to Monday. Priceline.

I’m starving at this point. We get to the hotel, and the lineup to check in is LONG. We finally get to the front desk clerk at 8pm. We’re so hungry. We have plans to go to Deadmau5 at LAX in the Luxor. We go to the buffet at the Paris hotel. We figure even though there’s a lineup to get in, it’s moving fast and we won’t have to wait to order, or wait to get our food.

I was so hungry, I had a few pounds of pasta and shrimp and assorted carved meats and desserts. I even shove a dessert in my purse, Asian style. A little close to ten, I realize I don’t want to go out. I just want to go back to my hotel room and slip into a food coma. But I don’t want to piss everyone off by being a lameass, so I leave my friends behind at the restaurant so I can go back to the room, throw it up, get ready, and then just lie down till they’re done.

I stop by the sundry store, and buy a bottle of Ketel one. I’m so lazy on my way to the room, that I just fill the plastic bag that the Ketel one came in with ice. This way, I don’t need to go back to the room, get the brand new clean plastic bag in the ice bucket and walk back to the ice machine.. If I didn’t have that plastic bag with me, I probably would have just put some ice in my hands.. yeah, i know i have class. I will prove that as you read the rest of day one..

I try to puke but to no avail. (As an aside, I don’t normally purposely throw up) With all the food I ate, I know it is going to be hard to even get a buzz. I don’t even bother to wash out the hotel glassware (I hear those things are nasty dirty) I throw in some ice, and start drinking cold vodka by myself.

I then snooze for about nine minutes, Lisa shows up. So while everyone gets ready, I try to sleep. When they see I didn’t really do anything to get ready except change my clothes, I get asked, “don’t you want to brush your hair or something?” I’m too tired at this point to care. We drive to LAX and get there around 10:30-11. A security alarm has gone off, and there’s just massive amounts of people standing around the entrance. I don’t even want to be there. I want to be lying down on the hotel bed with my vodka and ice, watching a pay per view movie. So while my friends are sorting things out, I go and sit at a slot machine and drink Ketel one straight from the bottle.

I had the bottle in a black plastic bag that resembles a garbage bag and that’s how I was drinking it. (yeah, I’ve gotz kla$$). I’m not sure why I didn’t leave it in the car.

I think of something sneaky cause i don’t want to be forced to throw out my bottle and I'd rather walk around to walk off the food than move around a crowded club, but I know everyone wants to go clubbing, so I suggest we go to Tao. This would mean we would have to walk through the casino and hotel to get to tao so I can get a bit of a walk in. And I tell them we can come back to LAX afterwards since we already have passes, etc and by that time Deadmau5 will be there. Two of them were very anxious to go to Deadmau5. (They were handing out passes at the garage entrance of the casino)

Steve drives, and this time I leave my liquor and my phone and a bunch of other stuff in the car. It’s pretty happening at Tao, and now I’m starting to feel excited. But right away we lose our two guy friends during the costume contest,

[kori]

I had to go to the bathroom, so Lisa came with me, but we didn’t tell the boys, cause we figured they’d be in the same spot watching the contest. They weren’t. and I did’t have my phone on me. So we spend most of the next couple hours looking for them. Lisa doesn’t even have their numbers on her phone.



We didn’t want Jeff and Steve to think we took off on them, cause it may have appeared that way. It’s fucking packed. And it’s hard to move. Later when we compared what we were doing during certain songs, it turns out we were always quite close to each other but never saw each other “Where were you during, “black eyed peas”” by the red chandelier bar, “WHAT? We were there too. ”..

Although we were searching for our friends for the majority of the time we’re there, we are also having a good time, but I keep getting stepped on, and I’m starting to feel irritable.



An asian dude named Kevin asks us to sit with him and have a drink. Although we should be looking out for our friends, they have a table in the hall, which appears to be an ideal location to keep a lookout for our friends. There are three guys, and they have two girls sitting with them dressed like hookers or vampires. The moment we sit, we get hostile looks from the girls. I assume they must be gfs of the other two, but Kevin tells me they are not. Kevin said they just met them ten minutes before us.

But I’m in Vegas, and I figure, whatever, so I try to be gracious, and I say Hi. One of them says hi, while looking away, and the other one I kid you not, looks at us, sneers, and starts whispering to her friend and she’s snickering while she does this and looking us up and down. Wow, I was so furious, I actually tasted blood in my mouth. I know girls can be catty, and it’s one thing to glare, but to whisper and snicker? I stare her down until she looks away. But as she looks away, she semi-rolls her eyes.

Kevin is entertained by all this, and he laughing and says, yeah, get them outta here, they just sat down on their own, and started pouring their own drinks.

So I have three options. 1. Be mature and just ignore them. 2. Smash her fucking head into the table. 3. Flirt shamelessly with the guy she seems to be interested in.
The whisperer was all over the guy next to her, and doing the basic instinct for the guy next to me. In my alcohol fuelled and buffet over eating anger, I was leaning towards a combo of the last two options. So I flirt with the guy, and he bites. Hook, line, sinker. Next thing you know, he comes and sits next to me, and we head to the dance floor.
Well, the joke was on me, cause not only is this guy extremely obnoxious, he was a loser.

We end up on an extremely crowded dance floor, so we are stuck together and I can feel a body part grinding up against me. He keeps talking, and all I can smell is Worst. Breath. Ever. It smelled like a mixture of pepperoni and sour barf. So he’s grinding up on me, and saying a variation of three things. 1. Something pervy, 2. Making fun of the people around us, or 3. Telling me what a baller shot caller he is.

I try to put some more space between us, but the crowd just pushes me closer to him. It was unreasonable how bad it was. Then on the dance floor, he takes out his phone, and tries to look important by checking his texts. At this point, I can’t help but laugh at what a loser he is. Then he tries to put his phone under my skirt and take a picture. I wish I stayed in the hotel and gambled instead. Hell, I wish I stayed in the hotel room and banged my head on the wall. I’m thinking, WHY THE FUCK am I wasting even five minutes with this guy. Because of the WHISPERER??? Fuck i’m an idiot.

He then asks me how wet I am? This is the final straw. I just stop and look at him. I ask him, are you fucking kidding me? And he starts laughing. So I take off to the bathroom to wash my hands. As I’m washing my hands, I look outside, and he is just standing there being a creep waiting for me.

I have to return to the table to get my friend. The Whisperers and my friend are all gone, and are now replaced by two nurses.

Kevin tells me she’s in the bathroom and that I just missed her. I tell him his friend is a creep, and he agrees, turns out he is Kevin’s friend’s younger brother that came along for the trip. Meanwhile Kevin’s probably thinking I’m an idiot for flirting with him in the first place.

So me and Lisa leave, and decide to WALK BACK to the hotel because we both still feel gross from all the food and now from too much alcohol and I fear a taxi ride will make me nauseous.

The walk down the strip is fun, as we got closer to our hotel, we noticed these three guys were always right behind us, and saying stupid catcalls here and there..By the time we get to Flamingo, they ask us to party with them. we’re like, uh, no, thanks. and they got really mad and start calling us names.

then these two guys “rescue” us. It is their first time in Vegas. They are only in vegas because one of them won the trip through their work. They insist on walking us back to our hotel. When we get to the hotel, they ask us to spend time with them the next day.

My friend looks at me, cause she expects me to answer, cause she probably doesn’t want to look like the mean one saying no. But I feel bad saying no, cause these guys were genuinely nice, and almost got beaten up from the idiots harassing us. So I suggest we go for a drink NOW instead. They seem happy about that. Besides, what is half an hour having a drink? I wouldn’t mind a glass of something at that point anyways. Looking back now, I should have just said no.

They’re like, GREAT. We ask them to meet us by the slots in ten minutes so we can change.

We are in the hallway going to our room, when we run into our two friends that we lost, Jeff and Steve. They are mad, they say they were worried, no one’s answering their phone blah blah blah. We were scared to tell them we were about to go meet some guys, so we just keep trying to end each conversation, hoping that they’ll just go back to the room since it’s late. but after ten minutes, they’re still talking to us. So i finally have to say, we have to go meet someone for a drink. “Where are you going now??” So I tell them, we’re meeting these two guys. They’re like, “what?!??” So now they really think we took off on them. So I try to explain, and then I make the mistake of asking them if they want to join us. They say YES.

So the four of us head to the slots, and when we see the two guys, they look relieved that we showed up, cause by now, it’s probably been about 20 minutes. Then we introduce them to Jeff and Steve, and they go from relief, to WTF?!? They must have thought we were really stupid/rude. So it’s awkward, and I try to explain how we lost them all night, and then we just found them, but my explanation seems to make it even more awkward. Yet we all walk over to the bar.

I was kinda drunk before this, but the awkwardness sobered me up. Thankfully Steve buys everyone a round. So one of them starts to warm up a bit. But the other one looks disturbed.

As soon as I got my drink, I drink it in record speed cause I just want to get out of there. But i notice my friends are slowly nursing their drinks. I feel like shoving their drinks down their throats, and asking if they would like to get a fucking bottle of whiskey and polish that off slowly, and wait for the Miracle Mile shops to open up. We actually sit for a good 25 minutes together. And make the most awkward small talk about what we do for a living. The whole time I’m thinking of how to get out of there. But I want someone else to make the move. But no one does. I can’t imagine enduring another minute of this awkwardness, i think about drinking everyone’s drink really fast, and just puking all over the table fire hydrant style.. that’ll shut down our little party real quick..

Instead I just say I don’t feel well, and that I need to lie down pronto.. everyone stands up really fast, and as the four of us leave, I actually walk back and apologize to them. They say it’s okay, but I know they are probably thinking those three creeps on the strip were right, we are in fact bitches.
as I’m lying in bed, I can’t sleep, I keep cringeing about the night’s events. And maybe it’s the alcohol talking, but I guess I’m so full of myself, that I think we ruined their night and their trip. I keep thinking how sad it is that these two guys from a small town win a trip and excited to see Las Vegas, and the first night they meet some girls, and the girls bring boys to their “date”

My roommate is making weird sounds in the night. I think I fall asleep around 7am.

[kori]

Day two. Tryst, Tao and Lavo. I am convinced Lavo exists as a remora to Tao’s great white shark.

I get up early and go play blackjack by myself. I keep drinking pineapple juice. I read somewhere it helps with bloating, but after further research, it actually helps with bruising. I do well at first and double my chips, but I get too greedy and lose it all, and then some. Then end up back at square one. I consider this a good start. After last night, things are looking up.

We drive to in-and-out, I end up eating more than the guys, and then we go shopping at the outlets. The American Apparel outlet is worth the trip to the outlets. I get dresses for $12 at AA, and buy bikinis at 70% off the lowest ticketed price at Juicy. We head to Miracle Mile and Fashion Show Mall as well. There’s nothing like cracking open a big can of beer and getting your Christmas shopping done. No one advises me “no food/drink” allowed in store. In fact, someone at Crazy Shirt asks me for some. I wonder how I’m gonna bring all that shit back. I need to convince my friends not to buy so much so they can put my purchases in any extra space.

We then get back to the hotel, and hang out at the pool (which was surprisingly open) for 20 minutes before it closes. Just enough time to get a quick nap in.

I don’t really remember much else we did except for eating at my favorite Japanese restaurant off-strip.

We decide to walk down to Tryst. tons of people on the strip and everyone is dressed up. Some points, you can barely move because there are so many people.


We go to Tryst around 11 pm, I find a guy with a clipboard, and tell him Patrick said we can ask for him, and he writes out a voucher for free admission and lets us in without checking. I end up meeting Patrick. He’s a nice guy. He said if we want to go to Drai’s later he could help us get in there.

I get to meet a couple of JC members which was nice. This is my first time meeting people from “online” so I was a little apprehensive, but it was a positive experience. There were other JC members there, but I only met two of them, since I only talked to two of them before the trip. Apparently everyone was really cool/nice though, so I regret not getting a chance to meet more JC’ers.

Shortly after my friends and I head over to Tao cause some of the “True Blood” cast is there, and I want to see them. It’s busier than the night before (Friday) and even Tao Beach is open. The costumes weren’t as elaborate, but it was still fun to people watch.

After Tao we go to Lavo cause the TB cast are supposed to be there too. I didn’t see anybody from True Blood. Apparently Lloyd from Entourage was there, but I didn’t see him either.

[kori]

Day 3 – Sunday - Love, Revolution,Lavo, some really bad club, Drai’s.

During the day, gambling, sightseeing, shopping.

Dinner at Postrio in the Venetian. The food is mediocre. I’m no food snob but I really didn’t like the food, and the service was mediocre as well.

We pick up our tickets for Love at the Mirage, and because we’re early, we head over to Revolution Lounge.
It’s a nice bar with an interesting mix of people. It’s basically the pre-theatre crowd, as well as people that probably are doing the Sunday to Thursday vegas trip and just wanna be in a club type atmosphere.

There were this really cool screen behind the bar showing these interesting graphics, and I was mesmerized by them. One of them is of a bird flying around, and I can’t stop staring at it. I saw a picture someone took later of our group, and I’m not even really sitting with my friends, I’m sort of sitting off to the side, I might as well have been sitting at another table by myself. The bartender thought I was flirting with him cause I was staring at the wall behind him with a smile on my face. People would try to talk to me, and I’d be like, can’t talk, watching bird. After a couple drinks, we head over to watch the Cirque show, Love

Love, love, love LOVE. Best cirque show I’ve seen. Even better than Mystere/O.

There is this amazing ethereal, dream-like quality about this show. You can clearly see the conceptualization of someone’s Shrooms/LSD/weed/X drug-induced vision. At one point I had tears in my eyes from the beauty of it all. And I felt love for everyone, and I wanted to stand up and give a standing ovation, and buy the program, and the LOVE t-shirt and wear it immediately. And I put my hand in my pocket to make sure I still had the ticket stubs so when I got back home, I can gingerly place it into my shoebox with other mementos. I wished my grandma was still alive so I could take her to see the show.

After the show, the boys decided they’ve had enough, and just want to chill out back at the hotel.

So the three of us girls go to Lavo cause we got wristbands for free vodka drinks. I drink a LOT. I think I can match/outdrink any guy shot for shot. By the time we left, I was dancing on top of the little stages and apparently I fell off. It’s about four feet high.. I don’t remember any of this. I looked at pictures later on, and I was like, WTF am I doing there, and various other questions..

There’s tons of girls there, and they’re all VERY drunk cause of the free booze and how easily accessible it is.

We leave Lavo around 2 am. And by that time, there is only Lisa and I left, cause Jo has disappeared, and she is not answering her phone. We find out later, she just took off. No phone call, nothing.

We still want to party, and we end up going into a club that is very close to Imperial Palace. We walked in, and we walked back out in 30 seconds. The crowd was so bad. I have no idea what it’s called, but I took this very dorky photo.. so maybe someone can tell me what club it is. In contrast to most clubs, this club turns away no one. The stamp that looks like a crab is Drai’s.. it’s the one below it.


We then went to Drai’s and partied till the sun came up. This place looks like an old Italian restaurant. I met “Bobbi”, someone that got mentioned a lot on the forums when I first joined, so to me, it felt like meeting a celebrity..He is nice. I can see the appeal of why nydoll was was so crazy about him.

*edited to remove photo of bobbi*

The crowd at Drai’s is very mixed. There were a lot of locals, banker types, bar stars, burn-outs, and just plain weirdos. I think there was even one homeless guy in there.
My roommate brings some guy back to the hotel. There’s still some leftover booze so we finish it off.
I sleep with my purse and my cell in the other hand..

Judging by the lack of certain noises from their bed, I figure he must be blue-balling..

It’s early morning when I finally fall asleep.

Day 4

I get up at 10:45, pack. And brush my teeth, but putting the toothbrush in my mouth makes me queasy..

I am so hungover. The level of hangover I’ve experienced in the past seldom gets to the point where I can’t even eat, but I can’t even eat a cracker or dry toast. I drink a sip of ginger ale, but I almost throw up the sugary syrupy liquid.

We return the scratchless car and take the shuttle back to McCarran. I am feeling ill. My friend tells me my face looks green. The guy acoss the aisle from me shows me a tattoo he got in Vegas on his arm. It’s scabbing over, and I’m reminded of a guy that I once read about that collected his scabs and peeled skin in a plastic box.

I take two ibuprofens and a Tylenol and the candy coating makes me want to vomit. I close my eyes, and hope for sleep. When I wake up, we are landing. It’s dark, and it’s raining hard. Welcome back to the Pacific Northwest. The post vegas depression has already begun. And I’m starving again.

Despite the crappy first day, overall I had a great time. I would do the first day over again, just to experience a few hours in Vegas. I met some great people whom I still keep in touch with, and it was loads of fun.

Thank you for reading my trip report and thanks for all the great advice people post! I’m looking forward to my next trip!!

[Cisco419]

Sounds like even though you had rough times you also had some good times! Can't wait to party with you in May!

Also can't see your pics

[dnix]

Your TR is funny. You shouldnt have deleted any of it.

Are you coming in May????

[travhast]

Kori, outstanding TR. Good to know what really goes through women's minds

[Bababooey323]

lol 'lotta negative experiences

[KC2Vegas]

Nice TR. Sounds like did a snooki move falling off the stage haha

[HELL5BELL5]

Thanks Kori! What a story. Content is stunning and as my swedish friend Travhast says, gives some explanation for a behavior of the ladies sometimes. All trips are not just walk in the paradise : ) Hope that your next trip is much more fun!

[Guest]

Hmmm mystery women is a gambler I see! The question is, if she shows up in May would you guys even know?

[kori]

Hmm, I don't know why all the pics aren't posting?

Your TR is funny. You shouldnt have deleted any of it.

Are you coming in May????

haha, umm, my original was like 16 pages long.. not joking.. I can type and type and type and type..

I'm definitely going to try, would like to meet y'all in person

[kori]

Hmmm mystery women is a gambler I see! The question is, if she shows up in May would you guys even know?

haha, not so much anymore.. All I seem to do is lose or break even these days..
maybe i gotta think of some better superstitious rituals i gotta do first. lol.

yeah, you would recognize me cause i'll be wearing a nametag.
I had to "blur" my face..i don't mind regular posters seeing the actual pics, but i just don't want all the anonymous lurkers to see them so huge. lol.

[dnix]

Hmm, I don't know why all the pics aren't posting?

I fixed all the ones I could find. Let me know if theres more.

[BritishV]

This is such an awesome TR!! Love it! Can't believe we were in so many places at the same time! Shame we didn't meet :-( See you in May!