Delayed Trip Report from LDW 2012

[theflopindian]

I know this is way overdue, but I was really busy after my last trip and never got around to writing a TR. Anyway, this is for LDW 2012 (Aug. 30 – Sept. 3).

Characters:
Myself, 3rd year law student from Missouri
Jared, a friend from home in IL and current mortgage broker in Detroit
Ricky, military vet finishing his undergrad in IL
Kevin, my younger brother and financial consultant

This picture is obviously from a different trip (didn't get any group pictures on this trip), but, from left, that's Jared, Ricky, and myself, from a couple years ago. Other dude wasn't on the trip. Kevin not pictured.

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Thursday, Aug. 30
I’ve been in Vegas for 6 nights at this point (was out there the previous weekend with some other friends and stayed all week; I might get around to a trip report for that part of the trip, too), but this is the day Ricky and Jared are finally arriving. I meet them at THEHotel at Mandalay Bay and we check-in to our suite for the night (got the room on Hotwire for like $75).

After checking in, we head out to the pool area, which we all had heard was pretty cool. We understood it wasn’t a party pool, but still thought it would be fun. It was just O.K. Totally slammed and it was pretty hard to get a drink. We did our best and got a pretty good buzz on, but there was next to zero eye candy. Lots of families from what I recall. The lazy river was pretty fun, though. Anyway, I’m pretty drunk at this point and wasn’t about to let some mediocre pool get in the way of me and my addiction; so I convince the guys to head back to the room to change and gamble.

We changed and immediately headed downstairs to try to pay for the whole trip in one sitting. Mistake. Ricky and Jared lost a little bit, but I somehow managed to lose $4,000 in no more than an hour. I know, I know, it still makes me sick to my stomach; but if I’ve learned anything about myself in my 27 years, it’s that I’m a dumbass. Anyway, we go back up to the room to get ready for dinner and a show. I decide that I’m not going to let my big loss ruin everyone else’s time, so I suck it up, blocked it out, and managed to have a good time.

Dinner was at Diablo at Monte Carlo. Can’t recommend it: very overpriced Mexican food. I fully recognize most everywhere on the strip is overpriced, but, trust me, you can do better. Several Coronas and margaritas later, we head up to Planet Hollywood for some more gambling. After the debacle earlier in the day, I was wandering around the casino while the other 2 gambled when I came across this interaction. Pretty sure she made some money that day, and I don't mean gambling.

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Ricky and Jared won a little bit at PH, and then we headed down to MGM to see KA. I’ve only seen a couple shows, but KA really impressed me. Got a great rate on our seats from smartervegas.com. If you’re new to Vegas or Cirque, I definitely think you’d enjoy KA.

After the show, we headed back to THEHotel, where we pregamed in our room before heading up to Mix. At this point, I’m getting pretty hammered as I’m trying to forget all about the day’s gambling with the end goal of not feeling feelings. Success! The only thing I remember from Mix is that the view of the Strip is amazing…on second thought, I don’t remember it at all, but this pic I took informs me it was pretty sweet.

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Don’t worry, the days to come are more entertaining..

[mikey_rfc]

where is the rest...!

[theflopindian]

I've been working on this here and there, but have been pretty busy. Will keep updating this as I can.

Friday, Aug. 31

Thursday night ended up being an add-on, so we were only staying at THEHotel one night. We woke up Friday morning and headed to Palazzo, where we were staying for the rest of the weekend. We checked in early, around 9 a.m., so that we could get in the room before heading to EBC. Because of my gambling, ahem, problem that you're well aware of by now, we had a 2-bed suite comped for Friday-Monday. At check-in, I slipped the desk clerk a $20 sandwich; he seemed very appreciative and, per my request, upgraded us to the rooms above the Venetian facing the center of the strip. I'm not sure if the comped room had anything to do with the upgrade, but I didn't get the impression that it did. Here's a pic of the view from our room.

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After getting settled in the room, we started pregaming hard in the room. And I mean hard. There were several "you guys are my best friends; you're gonna be in my wedding" type comments made before 11 a.m. We had presales to EBC and arrived a little before noon. There was absolutely no wait. We get inside and somebody buys a round of double vodka-Red Bulls. $100 later we're sipping drinks and soaking up the sun at my favorite place in Vegas.

After finishing that first round, we decide to get in the water. Jared waltzes right in with his iPhone in his pocket and completely soaks it. We've managed to ruin a cell phone before 1:00 p.m. Jared's pissed about the iPhone and heads straight to the gaming tables to try to get some money to make-up for it. Ricky joins in the fun, but I sit out as I'm still bitter from 4k loss the night before. They snuck me some of their free drinks, though, so at least I'm reaping some benefits.

After awhile of watching, I started getting bored, so I took my free drink over to the pool and got back in by myself. I met some Canadian girls that I precede to hang out with for about the next hour and a half. Not that it's hard to meet people in EBC, but I'm feeling pretty good about myself for making some attractive friends without the help of a wingman. I left the girls in the pool to see why the hell those two jokers are still sitting at the gaming tables while we're at EBC. They've been sucking on free drinks this whole time, so they're totally hammered at this point. Jared's up a little bit, but Ricky's down several hundred. The minimums there are around $50 (maybe less other times), so you can definitely have some pretty big swings for those free drinks. I told them that I met some new friends and that they should come back to the pool with me, but they're having none of it. Ricky has a long-term girlfriend, so that was somewhat understandable. Regardless, I was really annoyed that neither of them would come wing me.

I waited for them awhile trying to convince them to have some fun and finally convinced them to head back to the pool with me. The waitress brought over one more round of drinks, and I was finally able to convince them to take the free drinks and get back in the pool. This is where things start to get a little hazy. I know we were in the pool for awhile and chitchatted with some people here and there, but I never did spot the Canadian girls again. At some point, Jared went to the restroom and never came back. It turns out he decided that a bush looked like a comfortable spot to take a little nap, but, apparently, EBC security frowns upon that. What's the world coming to when a guy can't even get some shut-eye in the bush of his choice?

So Jared got kicked out, and Ricky and I are left wondering what happened to him. Eventually, we left to go see what happened to him and found him passed out in our room. I'm pretty tired and want to get some sleep before XS that night, so I decided to take a nap as well. Ricky skipped the nap to head downstairs to gamble.

I woke up from the nap to find that I had about 27 missed calls from my brother, Kevin. He arrived in Vegas late that afternoon and didn't get to Palazzo until after I had passed out. Being the dickhead older brother that I am, I didn't think to text him our room number before going to sleep. Because Kevin didn't know our room number and none of us we're responding to his calls, he went to check-in to see if they'd give him our room number and possibly a key. The front desk refused to even give him the room number, so he was stuck calling me over and over. Eventually, he gave up and went to gamble by himself. I called him but now he's not picking up. I texted him that I would call the front desk and tell them to give him a key. When he finally walked into the room, he found me splayed out in front of the toilet in our luxury bathroom. I distinctly remember looking up at him and saying "help me...". Shockingly, he wasn't in the mood for my shit. Welcome to Vegas, Kevin!

We pulled it together and were able to start getting ready for Tiesto at XS. We all got showered and changed and went downstairs to the Walgreen's in front of Palazzo to get more booze for pregaming. Jared's definitely seen better days.

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We head back to the room to pregame, and Kevin's arrival has added some new excitement to the group: he was a Vegas virgin so he was pretty pumped for his first night. Once again, we take the predrinking pretty hard because we didn't have a table or anything and wanted to be plenty drunk on arrival.

Got into XS pretty smoothly with our presales and went straight to ordering round after round of vodka-Red Bulls. We were standing outside in the pool area because the inside of the club was slammed. Around the time Tiesto went on, I changed Ricky's number in my phone and started showing this screenshot to any random chick that happened to be near me.

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Yes, some of them actually believed that was from Tiesto. Even convinced a few that we were hanging out with him after the show.

Post continued below. Think I'm at my size limit for pictures.

[theflopindian]

So we’re fist pumping and jumping around in the shallow part of the pool (maybe 6 inches deep) behind the DJ stage. In a sign of how old and, apparently, out of shape I’m getting, my shoulders were killing me the next day just from fist pumping. Seriously. Also, I'm a fist-pumping douchebag tool.

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So shit's getting pretty crazy, and I decide to take advantage of Jared's severely inebriated state. I told him he should be a trend-setter and jump in the pool and dance. So this drunk mother fucker takes off his shoes and jumps right in. Swam out to the center, where he was fist-pumping and a bunch of people in the crowd were cheering him on.

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When he swam back security instantly told him he had to leave. In the course of a mere 12 hours, he had been kicked out of 2 separate Wynncore venues. I felt kind of responsible for instigating it, but didn't want to leave while Tiesto was still on. We left him on his own and he walked back to Palazzo by himself. He lost his shoes when he left them on the edge of the pool, so picture what the people on the strip saw as he walked by: a hammered drunk, shoeless staggering man who is soaking wet from head to toe. I mean there should be a poster of him walking down the Strip like that with the Wynn in the background with a simple caption: "Vegas." That son of a bitch broke his iPhone, got kicked out of EBC, got the boot from XS, and lost his shoes all in the same day. Some guys just can't handle Vegas. We stayed at XS awhile longer and, when we eventually made it back to the hotel, we found him in the room like this.

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Man I bet those room service people see some shit.

I'll continue with the rest of the weekend when I can. I'm used to writing boring legal shit, so I don't know how entertaining this is. Hopefully I'm doing it justice.

[shawndescoteaux]

Day 2 was actually very entertaining! Keep on

[BuckeyeFan]

When he finally walked into the room, he found me splayed out in front of the toilet in our luxury bathroom. I distinctly remember looking up at him and saying "help me...". Shockingly, he wasn't in the mood for my shit. Welcome to Vegas, Kevin!

This part is very funny... lol

[not a vet but no rookie]

This guy Jared...hahahaa

[sbar49]

Entertaining trip report. Hopefully we will get the rest soon and find out if you won back some of the lost gambling money

[mikey_rfc]

hope you can finish this.. been good so far!

[msavard]

Moar!

[CupCakess]

we want more, we want more

[SuavePenguin]

That son of a bitch broke his iPhone, got kicked out of EBC, got the boot from XS, and lost his shoes all in the same day.

hahahaah this is a classic line

[Ango]

Haha great trip report! Jared sounds like a top man, the photo of him on his own in the pool is amazing.

[theflopindian]

Alright, so I'm going to finish this off. Literally typing this on my phone 30,000 in the air on my way to Vegas. You know the feeling- it's amazing. Anyway...

Saturday, Sept. 1

We planned to wake up pretty hungover, so we didn't plan on any pools for the day. Couple of Vegas virgins that wanted to spend the day walking the strip. So we sweated our asses off and bounced up and down from Palazzo to Cosmo and back. I was still sitting out on the gambling on account of my earlier loss.

Dinner was at First Food and Bar in the shoppes at Palazzo. Tough place to find, but pretty solid food. We had a restaurant.com coupon for $60 off a meal of $200 or more.

From there, we headed to Palms for bottle service at Moon. Now I know Moon is far from the hottest club around, but on Sat night
of LDW, prices were ridiculous everywhere. Had 2 bottles for 4 guys out on the patio. By the time we got there, I was already pretty hammered between pregaming and wine at dinner. Start in on the bottles and soon after meet some girls from Missouri (I go to school in Missouri). So I hit it of with one of the girls: pretty much talk to her the whole night. Around 2 I went to the restroom by myself ad all of a sudden completely hit that wall of drunkenness. Next thing I know, the guys are walking into our room and I'm once again I'm front of the toilet. Literally have no idea how I got back or even found the room once I was. Totally blacked out.

Wake up hungover on Sunday and get a text from a random number I don't recognize. It's from an area code that I know is Missouri, so I'm pretty pumped that I must've given that girl my number before I left. The text says "what are you guys up to today?" Well, we had a daybed at Tao Beach, so I tell her to come by and bring all her friends. She says they'll try to make it, but if not we should meet up that night at Bellagio to shoot craps. I'm like this girl is fucking awesome. I had been live-tweeting the trip, so I took a screenshot of that text and tweeted it with the caption "Now this is my kind of girl." One of my buddies from law school responds awhile later "you and Abby have fun out there." I'm like how the hell does he know this chick's name? And then realize that the girl texting me is this girl Abby from my class. Didn't have her number as we're just acquaintances. She had heard I was going to Vegas and mentioned to me at some point that we should meet up. And she follows me on twitter and found out later on that I had 0 idea it was her texting me. Pretty embarrassing.

Anyway, nothing to eventful the rest of the trip. Tao Beach was pretty fun and we hit up Rhino that night. We had been there not 2 minutes before Jared was on the way to the VIP rooms with the first stripper that approached him. What a sucker. Ricky and I stayed there for a bit, but headed home early to get some sleep before our early flight. Jared walked in about the time we were leaving for the airport.

Hopefully I'll have some decent stories to share after this weekend.