Aug 26 - 29: First timers in Vegas

[Ralph Mallett]

This is my trip report for our first trip to Vegas, I hope you enjoy it.

The cast was myself (30) and my two housemates. As they wish to remain anonymous, they will be known as The Frame and Dr Pepper (both 29). It wasn't a bachelor party or a birthday, or any special event. When asked why we'd come to Vegas, out there or back home, our response was simple “to party”.

SUNDAY

We landed in Vegas around 9pm after and 10.5 hour flight from London, and it was about 10pm by the time we got to the MGM Grand. We checked in and tried a $50 sandwich. We got upgraded to a strip view room, and were also told our resort fee would be comped, which was a right result. However after checking out I found this had been charged to my card which was annoying. We dumped our bags and headed straight to Centrifuge for a few beers, before hitting the casino floor to have a look round.

We played some slots, then went to find Fat Tuesdays as I'd heard good things about the cheap/strong drinks. Lets say we weren't disappointed. I went for a 190 Octane purely because it had “strong” in the description. We never went back again on the trip but I wish we had! Here's Dr Pepper & me (on the right)

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We played a but of roulette then headed back to Centrifuge. Two of us had got a foursqare newbie special for 2 for 1 Smirnoff cocktails, so we were gonna have these then head to bed, as we'd been up for hours and were pretty tired. We were just finishing our second round of white russians when a couple of ladies on the next table asked if they could join us. There were attractive, very dressed up and a little drunk so we weren't gonna decline! They were Canadian and both really cool, so we stayed in there drinking and chatting until the bar closed and we were ask to leave.

It was their last night in Vegas so they weren't ready to call it a night, and by this stage neither were we. One of them said “I really fancy going to a strip club, do you guys fancy it?”. Erm.....let me think about that! So we headed out onto this strip, and pretty much immediately were approached by a guy working for Sapphire who arranged a limo for us. Result! He said it might take a while so bough us a beer each while we waited as well as some shots!

Here is the Sapphire guy, me and the Frame.

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Here is me (on the left) and the Frame in the back of the limo. I look wrecked already.

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It came around 3am, and we had to go to another hotel to pick up some random guy, it was his birthday and he had managed to lose all his friends, so decided to go to a strip club on his own. No problem buddy! We were pretty wasted by the time we got to the club but decided to get a table, a bottle of Skyy was $450 I think. The Frame had a lap dance pretty soon after arriving, and then went off to a VIP room which left me and Dr Pepper to get acquainted with the Canadian ladies.

Its around this time that the night turns into a bit of a Hangover moment. I remember pretty much nothing. I do know a few things though; we all made our own way back to the hotel, I had 27 missed calls from Dr Pepper between 5.45 and 6.30 even though my phone had battery and wasn't on silent, at one point I was in the Venetian as I remember the sky painted on the ceiling which confused the shit out of me. But basically I don't remember leaving, I dunno what happened to the Canadians (annoyingly as I had been getting on very well with one) or what happened to the other guys, and I dunno how I got back to the MGM. I know I walked a fair distance on the strip in daylight, and got back to the room at 8am. Epic first night though, exactly what we hoped Vegas would be like! None of the others could remember much either.

MONDAY

We all got up around midday and tried to piece together the night before, but without much luck. The Frame was panicking a bit as he thought he's spent $000s in the VIP room, but after checking is online banking it wasn't too bad. We headed down to the buffet for Champagne brunch which we had from myVegas. I felt fine, as thinking about it I was blatantly still drunk, but the other two were suffering. I managed to see off about 6 plates and 3 glasses of champagne. Dr Pepper especially was in a pretty bad way and at one point had to leave the table to throw up, then messaged us to say he'd gone back to the room. The Frame finished his food so said he was going to do the same. We had intended to hit Wet Republic but the weather was pretty bad so that wasn't gonna happen.

As I was still wasted I didn't fancy chilling so I headed across the street to Hooters to drink on my own, as I'd seen they were doing $4 draft beers. Had a couple in there and then decided to walk up the strip a bit. I got as far as Planet Hollywood when I started to feel a bit ill. Probably as I was sobering up! I grabbed some water then headed back to the MGM. When I got to the room the others were asleep so I thought it might do me good to get a couple of hours, seeing as I'd only had about 4 since Saturday night in the UK.

We woke about 7 and got ready for XS, where we had a table reserved (thanks to Bobby Yeadon for arranging!) As we were all massively jetlagged/hungover still none of us were hungry so just headed to Cosmo for a few pre-drinks in Chandelier bar. The Frame was ok but Dr Pepper was still suffering and wouldn't have a beer. He claimed he had a bad neck for some reason but we all knew he was just massively hungover. Me and the Frame tried to get him to drink saying it would make him feel better but he wasn't having it. We got a cab to Encore and as we arrived Dr Pepper headed straight to the restroom. I went as well as I needed to go and I could hear him throwing up. At 10pm the following day this was poor form! I went to joint the Frame for a beer at one of the bars on the casino floor and we were getting a bit concerned that he might bail on us, which would have put the table out of our budget. When he emerged he had a water and seemed a bit better. An observation here, Encore seemed dead, although I realise it was a Monday night. Just wondering were people drink before hand, you room, where you're staying? Other resorts?

Anyway we got into the club and got our table where we had the Goose and Moet deal for $395. I think our table was 350 which was fine. Our security guard Chris was a great guy, and absolute gent and hilarious as well. Pretty soon after arriving he brought over a group of girls from Liverpool! They were nice enough but we said to him we didn't travel 5,500 miles just to chat to British girls in the club. Later we had a group of girls from LA, and some Irish girls, all of which turned out to be bottle rats. There was also a really cool mixed group from Seattle on the table next to us so we partied with them for a bit. One of the guys took a trip to Vegas about one a month!! In the meatime Dr Pepper had been drinking plenty of Goose & Ginger Ale so had perked up, as we knew he would! A little later however, the Frame started to fall asleep. He has a habit of doing so when he's drunk...Chris came over and was really apologetic and said unless he stayed awake we'd have to leave. We tried to wake him but it wasn't gonna happen. It was about 3am I think and we'd finished our bottles so decided to call it a night.

Here's Dr Pepper and the Frame;

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And me posing;

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We got a cab back to MGM and when walking though the lobby, after seeing the Frame a random guy said to me “dude, your buddy's wasted!” which amused me. The Frame went to bed whilst me and Dr Pepper had a bit of a gamble and a few free drinks. I think we called it a night about 4am.


To be continued....

[Ralph Mallett]

TUESDAY

We got up about 12ish again and I called Papillion to confirm our Grand Canyon helicopter tour which was booked for Wednesday. After quoting my reservation number I was put on hold for a couple of minutes which I knew wasn't a good sign. I was then told our trip was cancelled as the aircraft had been taken out of service. I was offered an alternate date but the first available was Saturday, and we were only in town until Thursday, so took a refund. This was a huge disappointment as we'd all been really looking forward to it. Just one of those things I guess.

After getting ready we headed to the Bellagio as we had a lunch buffet through myVegas. We decided to walk as it wasn't too hot, and the other two hadn't really seen the strip in the daytime. At the buffet none of us ate that much as we were all really hungover. From what I did have, it was fine but not exceptional. From reading that it is one of the best buffets, I was a little underwhelmed. I certainly would have been disappointed if I'd had to queue and pay for it.

We headed outside with the intention of watching the fountains. We waited for 20 minutes or so and nothing happened so we gave up and got a cab back to MGM as it was warming up by then. We later discovered that they don't start until 3pm. We'd been there from about 1.45! When we got back to MGM we decided to hit the pool for a bit. I thought it was cool, we were by the lazy river and there was quite a party atmosphere. We got a bucket of beer and admired the view for a few hours!

Headed back to the room to get ready for the evening. I'm pretty sure it was this night I decided to head down to the casino floor for a smoke while one of the others was in the shower, and I needed to get cash out too. Now I had read on foursquare that the mystic lion slots near the elevator pay more regularly than average. Whether or not this is true who knows, but on the $5 machines I won $150 with my second spin so I was happy with that! And I meant for this night I didn't need to get any more cash out.

When we were all ready we got a cab over to the Palms as we had a reservation at N9NE. We had arrived there about 7.30 I think so had a couple of drinks at a bar there and played a few slots. I remember the bar we were in had an excellent whisky selection. The meal at N9NE was simply the best steak I've ever had. I went for the surf n turn with a side of mac n cheese, the Frame had bone-in rib eye with truffle fries, and I can't remember what Dr Pepper had. He had vodka redbull to drink which I thought was odd with a really nice meal, but he was still claiming to be tired/jetlagged, while me and the Frame had a really nice Spanish red which was about $50. The service was excellent as well. After the meal we headed to ghostbar for a few drinks. The music was mainly hip hop, which we're not particularly into, although we did hear a great tune “Return of the Mack” by British legend Mark Morrison! So we all enjoyed that. It was pretty quiet but that was fine as we weren't fussed about a crazy night so we were happy to chill and take in the views.

After a couple of hours we got a cab back to MGM and I decided to play some poker . I had intended on entering one of the daily tournaments at MGM. I never got round to it but I was determined to play at least once. I would say I'm a competent player. I play with guys from work about once a month, and a bit of online. I went for a $2/$4 limit table which had a minimum buy in of $40. I would say the standard was similar to our after work games, but I had no luck whatsoever. I was also pretty drunk by then and being more reckless than usual so my $40 didn't last very long! It was enjoyable a good experience though, and I got a couple of free drinks. I went to join the guys who were at the roulette tables having mixed fortunes. Again, I think we called it a night about 4am.

WEDNESDAY

Got up about 11 I think and decided to go for breakfast somewhere in the MGM. The Frame was keen to go to rainforest cafe so we went with that. They had officially stopped doing breakfast as it was about 12 when we got there but they said we could still have some which was good of them. The food was really good, I had sausages, scrambled egg and toast, the Frame had waffles and Dr Pepper had an omelette. After eating we headed onto the strip as the Frame had read there was a cheap ATM inside M&M World. (It turned out it was $5 vs $6 inside the MGM!). Question: are there ANY cheap ATMs?? While he was doing that I had a look the adidas shop as I'm a huge fan of adidas originals gear. Found a couple of t-shirts I liked which were on offer 2 for $30 but unavailable in my size which was a shame. After that we went for a wander up the strip again, and had a look inside Planet Hollywood, then Ballys, before getting the monorail back to MGM. When we got there the Frame went back to bed, while me and Dr Pepper hit the pool for a few hours. It seemed much quieter and more chilled than it had been on Monday. At some point in the afternoon we headed over the NYNY for a few beers in the Sporting House as it looked like a cool spot. NYNY seemed really busy compared to some of the other places we'd popped into.

We headed back to the room and got changed into more beachwear as we were heading to Eclipse at Daylight at night (thanks to Noah Ortiz for sorting). We walked to Mandalay Bay as it didn't look far, but as with walking anywhere on the strip it took longer than you think! We were all pretty hungry when we got there so headed straight to Burger Bar as I had heard good things about in. Me and the Frame had a create your own, and Dr Pepper had a chicken burger. I though it was excellent. They had a really good beer selection as well. After eating we headed to the casino floor for some drinks. This night we were all feeling pretty tired so had some vodka redbulls to perk us up! As with Encore on Monday, the casino seemed pretty dead.

We made our way to Eclipse about 10.30pm and were met by Noah who took us to our daybed. We had a one bottle minimum but the location was perfect, on the left had side and one back from the stage. We went for Goose which was around $550 I think and had a really good night. I think its a really cool venue and a good layout. Unfortunately (or fortunately if they're bottle rats) there didn't seem to be many groups of ladies so we didn't have company most of the night, but we still managed to get through of vodka no problem, and once it had gone left around 3am I think, getting a cab back to MGM. The Frame went straight to bed as he was driving the next morning, but me and Dr Pepper gambled for a coupled of hours and had some free drinks.

Here we are at Daylight;

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THURSDAY

Our check out was 11am, so we were up earlier than previous days. The Frame was ok but me and Dr Pepper were both suffering. After checking out we got a cab to McCarran car rental to pick up our car. We had booked a Dodge Avenger “or similar” which we all thought looked quite badass, but when we got there the only mid sized vehicles were a Mitsubishi or a VW Passat. We went for the latter, not sure why but it was fine. After picking up the car we drove to In N Out burger which was good, but I was too hungover to fully appreciate it, and barely touched my animal style fries. At least I did better than Dr Pepper though, who went to throw up pretty much straight after finishing it! We headed onto the Freeway, and drove to LA where we spent a week.

Overall I was a great trip. We did most of the things we'd planned to do, but on the other hand from reading the forums there are loads of things, places we'd like to go to but didn't get chance to.

I thought staying at the MGM was fine, the room was really good and the choice of bars, restaurants pools etc was good. I would probably stay elsewhere next time though just for variety. PH or the Venetian I think or Cosmo if we could afford it! Madalay Bay seemed cool and benefits from having Light and Daylight but the location would put me off.

This just gives us an excuse to go back! And one thing is for sure, we will be back.

[MikeK32]

Good read! Sounds like you had a great first trip!

[AusVIP]

Fantastic trip report. Pity about the helicopter ride. How did you go with the ladies?

[CisternaChyli]

Excellent read, sounds like you guys had a blast for your first time. I will say all the British trip reports ive read on here have been fantastic, you Brits know how to party thats for sure!

[UKIan]

Great report. I hope that kind of thing doesn't happen too often with the copter companies. Planning to do the canyon when we head over.

[Our man in the Desert]

Sounds like you enjoyed your first trip, my only advice would be if you do go again make sure you are there Thursday to Monday. You will see that the weekends just take it up another level.

[Freshness]

Very nice report...and it's always a good night when you hear Return of the Mack!

[ocam]

Great report. Glad to hear you had a mint time

[wt661x]

Great report man. You guys look like you had a blast. As far as bottle rats... the ones who come to Vegas more often tend to know the name of the game and are ones to watch out for. LOL. I know since I know women who are like that. Ones that are least like that are ones that are new to Vegas or from far away. So ya just have to feel them out.

[vietnamtouris]

Great report. Glad to hear you had a mint time

[teooet]

7/11 down the block from planet hollywood has a cheap ATM