Casino Royale Baby
First trip to Vegas - New Years 2002 - 3 months after 9/11
5 college buddies no more than 6 months past their 21st birthday embark on their first trip to Vegas for New Years. Our accomodations, none other than the Casino Royale, complete with free daily margaritas.
We check into the hotel which really bairly qualifies as a hotel. It's more like a casino from the 70s with a bunch of bathroom stalls that they stuck TVs in. Our rooms are on the ground floor with a view of the alley next to harrahs. I felt pretty safe though because the wooden rod used to secure the window seemed to be crafted from some sort of oak, durable I figured.
Day 1 - the minibar
The hotel informs us that they are discontinuing their minibar service and we are given the contents for free. We drank a lot of little bottles that day until we were down to nothing but Cutty Sark, which I still loathe to this day. We spend the rest of the afternoon bartering with our neighbors for bottles. We end up over at Caesars at a craps table at roughly 4am to learn the game. A gentleman that looks just like the old dude on the dos xx commercials saunters up and gets about 3 grand in blacks and proceeds to lay them allover the board just before they pass me the dice. I'm seeing big winnings, afterparties in VIP suites, bottles of Cristal, supermodels, etc....hot dice in hand....I throw for an 8 good solid number, followed by a 7. And so ends my first night in Vegas.
Day 2
New Years Eve and the arrest.
No pool, at least not that I would use at the Royale, so we dine at their 4 class restaurant...Denny's, grab a free margarita and sleep off the day. That night we pack the streets with thousands of other drunks and partake in the best New Years party I've ever been to. We had our plastic beers, posed for some pictures on LVPD motorcycles (beer in hand) and wandered endlessly. Just after the fireworks, my buddy, we'll call him Steve, spots an anti Patriotic sign being held by an older hippie dude. Steve complains to the nearest officer about how his brother is over in Afganistan and we all agree it's pretty lame of the old guy. Well, the cop in his wisdom, tells Steve he can rip the guy's sign down and he would look the other way. He looked the other way all right, the other 20 or so cops in the vicinity did not. Steve was hauled over the baracade, zip tied and taken away. He wandered back in at 7 am with a jack and coke in one hand and a brown paper bag with his belongings in the other. We proceed to hit the tables to celebrate his freedom.
Day 3
The pickpocket.
We found ourselves splitting up pretty often as many do during a trip like this. 3am and in rolls Vince bitching about losing a hundred bucks in the ally outside the hotel. Apparently 1 very hot woman approaches him with a very large female friend and they proceed to chat him up a bit. Well, the big girl gets real friendly and starts going at him like he's a chicken wing covered in blue cheese. Come to find out later, she had an alterior motive to being in his pocket. Word to the wise, loose cash in your pocket can be a bad idea.
Day 4
Did we really book 4 nights in Vegas? and the strip club.
I'm a firm believer in the 3 night Vegas trip, anything longer and I'm usually ready to go home and detox. So we tough it out and decide to make this our first strip club experience in vegas. In our youthful wisdom we ask a cabbie to drive us to a good strip club that is fully nude, none of that topless crap. He says it's no alcohol, but suggests we stop at a liquor store to buy pints to drink inside. 5 pints of Southern Comfort and we're off. Dancers were scarey and wanted us to buy them 18 dollar milk shakes, which I believe we actually did...f'ing stupid kids. The soco and coke was a good combo at least.
So no great clubs, suites, pools or fine dining, but even at its most simplistic and cheapest form, Vegas always leaves you smiling. That being said, next weekend we're staying at the signature and it should be a much better experience...at least I can sit on the bedspread without contracting a disease.
First trip to Vegas - New Years 2002 - 3 months after 9/11
5 college buddies no more than 6 months past their 21st birthday embark on their first trip to Vegas for New Years. Our accomodations, none other than the Casino Royale, complete with free daily margaritas.
We check into the hotel which really bairly qualifies as a hotel. It's more like a casino from the 70s with a bunch of bathroom stalls that they stuck TVs in. Our rooms are on the ground floor with a view of the alley next to harrahs. I felt pretty safe though because the wooden rod used to secure the window seemed to be crafted from some sort of oak, durable I figured.
Day 1 - the minibar
The hotel informs us that they are discontinuing their minibar service and we are given the contents for free. We drank a lot of little bottles that day until we were down to nothing but Cutty Sark, which I still loathe to this day. We spend the rest of the afternoon bartering with our neighbors for bottles. We end up over at Caesars at a craps table at roughly 4am to learn the game. A gentleman that looks just like the old dude on the dos xx commercials saunters up and gets about 3 grand in blacks and proceeds to lay them allover the board just before they pass me the dice. I'm seeing big winnings, afterparties in VIP suites, bottles of Cristal, supermodels, etc....hot dice in hand....I throw for an 8 good solid number, followed by a 7. And so ends my first night in Vegas.
Day 2
New Years Eve and the arrest.
No pool, at least not that I would use at the Royale, so we dine at their 4 class restaurant...Denny's, grab a free margarita and sleep off the day. That night we pack the streets with thousands of other drunks and partake in the best New Years party I've ever been to. We had our plastic beers, posed for some pictures on LVPD motorcycles (beer in hand) and wandered endlessly. Just after the fireworks, my buddy, we'll call him Steve, spots an anti Patriotic sign being held by an older hippie dude. Steve complains to the nearest officer about how his brother is over in Afganistan and we all agree it's pretty lame of the old guy. Well, the cop in his wisdom, tells Steve he can rip the guy's sign down and he would look the other way. He looked the other way all right, the other 20 or so cops in the vicinity did not. Steve was hauled over the baracade, zip tied and taken away. He wandered back in at 7 am with a jack and coke in one hand and a brown paper bag with his belongings in the other. We proceed to hit the tables to celebrate his freedom.
Day 3
The pickpocket.
We found ourselves splitting up pretty often as many do during a trip like this. 3am and in rolls Vince bitching about losing a hundred bucks in the ally outside the hotel. Apparently 1 very hot woman approaches him with a very large female friend and they proceed to chat him up a bit. Well, the big girl gets real friendly and starts going at him like he's a chicken wing covered in blue cheese. Come to find out later, she had an alterior motive to being in his pocket. Word to the wise, loose cash in your pocket can be a bad idea.
Day 4
Did we really book 4 nights in Vegas? and the strip club.
I'm a firm believer in the 3 night Vegas trip, anything longer and I'm usually ready to go home and detox. So we tough it out and decide to make this our first strip club experience in vegas. In our youthful wisdom we ask a cabbie to drive us to a good strip club that is fully nude, none of that topless crap. He says it's no alcohol, but suggests we stop at a liquor store to buy pints to drink inside. 5 pints of Southern Comfort and we're off. Dancers were scarey and wanted us to buy them 18 dollar milk shakes, which I believe we actually did...f'ing stupid kids. The soco and coke was a good combo at least.
So no great clubs, suites, pools or fine dining, but even at its most simplistic and cheapest form, Vegas always leaves you smiling. That being said, next weekend we're staying at the signature and it should be a much better experience...at least I can sit on the bedspread without contracting a disease.
haha.
Can't wait for next time!!!
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