I've read pretty much every TR here and yet haven't gotten around to writing my own. I figured it was time. Please note that this was in July 2012 so my memory of some nights is sketchy - in part to the time that has passed but largely part to the excessive consumed amounts of everything. In saying that though I do want to give this trip justice so expect detailed accounts of what I do remember. So with that out of the way I present to you, 12 Nights in July...
First, a bit of background.
S - 21, single.
Bob - S' dad. The gambler.
T - 22, in a relationship.
G - 22, in a relationship.
C - 22, in a relationship. Identical twins with G.
With T, G & C all in fairly committed relationships, S & myself spent the majority of 2012 killing brain cells by wasting away every weekend leading up to the trip. We didn't exactly save ourselves for Vegas, but with the newly opened Marquee Sydney, the nightlife in Australia changed completely. Bottle service in Sydney was a pretty foreign concept until Marquee arrived - now it's all the hype.
For everyone else, it was their first trip to Vegas. I however had been visiting since 2008 for an annual conference. Though being under 21 for every trip - nights were mostly spent in my room alone with Vodka. It was also in the middle of winter so a trip in July, being of age and actually with friends this time - as far as I was concerned it was my first visit to Vegas too.
Bored yet? Sorry. Let's begin. Sort of.
Day -1
Yeah -1. The night before S and Bob had booked a 3 bedroom apartment at the casino in Sydney to have a pre-send off party. Being a Wednesday we kept the night relatively quiet. Ordered room service and settled in to have a relaxing night - until I get a call from a girl that I had met at Marquee earlier in the year. She's around and wants to visit. Cool. She comes to the room in a tight white semi see-through dress that you can clearly see her lingerie through. Well ok then. A quick introduction to the boys and we're off to my room. Fantastic pre-start to the pre-trip party.
A side note - while I've made her sound like a whore the girl is actually really nice.
After doing what had to be done I discover that she works for the airline we're flying on the next day. This night just keeps getting better and better. 14 hours in economy is not fun so I beg for an upgrade, but only if it meant all of us could be upgraded. Total long shot but she promised she'd do whatever she could.
By the time she left all of the boys were ready to sleep. So that we did. Or at least tried to. The excitement was ridiculous at this point.
Day 0
We all wake up around the same time. Order breakfast as we all find out that we just about got as much sleep as each other. But never mind, its not like we'll need the energy to sit down for 14 hours. We realise that we're cutting it pretty close so we quickly check out and head down to valet - of course there's a stunning black BMW to take us to the airport. Of course. The perfect start gets perfect-er.
Thankfully the line for check in is short. Sure enough, girl-from-night-before is at the desk and calls us over. Bad news - flight's completely full so no upgrade. Good news - priority passes for immigration/customs in Sydney and at LAX. Apparently the flight the day before was half empty and she would've been able to upgrade us all. Oh well. Alcohol it is.
Bob's booked into business class because well, he's Bob and he can. So we board the plane, he turns left into heaven and we turn right into hell. I think the only thing that kept us sane was that we were traveling at 950kmh/590mph towards our happy place. There's always a point during a long haul flight, especially when you can't sleep, where you wish that you just didn't bother and stayed home. What's the point of this trip. I'm over it.
Day 1
So we land at LAX. It's probably fatigue but every time I land in America it feels totally surreal. As if I've stepped out of my body and am watching a dream. Until the immigration officers snap you back to reality and interrogate you.
Surprisingly it didn't take too long so we have time to grab something to eat. For the past 4 years they've had to listen to me praise God's food. The food from heaven itself...
Needless to say they ALL thought the hype was totally justified and this would become somewhat of a staple for the rest of the trip.
A quick taxi ride to the other terminal as we wait for our quick flight to Vegas. But wait! It's delayed. What a surprise. After an hour or so the plane finally turns up and the queuing begins. But wait again! It's overbooked. We might be bumped from this flight to a later one that evening. If its one thing you guys don't do right it's domestic flights. Every time I fly within the country its a total shitfight. The absolute last thing you want to deal with after a sleepless 14 hour flight. One by one we're called up the counter and receive our boarding passes. The flight begins boarding but G still hasn't received one. It looks like he'll be bumped. He says not to worry and go ahead, he'll catch up with us later. We're all pretty bummed and take our seats on the plane -- "wait is that G?" Yes he made it on! "... wait why is he sitting in the 1st row?"
... He'd been upgraded to first class. Asshole.
After 40 minutes we land. The landing in Vegas always scares the shit out of me. I always seem to be on the plane that catches a massive crosswind and sends it swaying. But whatever we made it alive. There's no gate available so we'll be disembarking onto the tarmac. The doors open and BAM -the 40C/104F wind hits us. Ahh yes. I love heat so the next 12 nights will be amazing.
So we all collect our luggage. Except for the twins. Delta had left theirs at LAX. Thanks again. To their credit though they said it would be delivered to the hotel as soon as it arrives and they were given a "survival kit" with toiletries, pj's and a shirt. They were also told that $50 would be reimbursed if they had to buy anything else.
So Bob was put in contact with a host at Wynn/Encore before we left and organised the rooms etc. Sure enough a beautiful Wynn limo was waiting for us at the airport. Sinatra playing very softly, probably not the best for 21-22 year olds but after being up for 30 hours we're not in the mood for Champagne Showers just yet. Few nice little details inside...
Around 15 minutes later we're at Encore. Bob's host greets us at the limo and we head straight into the elevator. Keys have already been cut. This was our first indication that host service here is on a totally different level. As we walk through the hotel we quickly realise just how incredible it is. Pictures don't do the place justice - the quality of materials, the smell and general feel of the place is (at least at the time) unmatched by any other hotel.
Let's check out the main suite first. We all smile as we approach the big black HEAVY double doors. They open...
Oh my. The salon suite. To be continued...
First, a bit of background.
S - 21, single.
Bob - S' dad. The gambler.
T - 22, in a relationship.
G - 22, in a relationship.
C - 22, in a relationship. Identical twins with G.
With T, G & C all in fairly committed relationships, S & myself spent the majority of 2012 killing brain cells by wasting away every weekend leading up to the trip. We didn't exactly save ourselves for Vegas, but with the newly opened Marquee Sydney, the nightlife in Australia changed completely. Bottle service in Sydney was a pretty foreign concept until Marquee arrived - now it's all the hype.
For everyone else, it was their first trip to Vegas. I however had been visiting since 2008 for an annual conference. Though being under 21 for every trip - nights were mostly spent in my room alone with Vodka. It was also in the middle of winter so a trip in July, being of age and actually with friends this time - as far as I was concerned it was my first visit to Vegas too.
Bored yet? Sorry. Let's begin. Sort of.
Day -1
Yeah -1. The night before S and Bob had booked a 3 bedroom apartment at the casino in Sydney to have a pre-send off party. Being a Wednesday we kept the night relatively quiet. Ordered room service and settled in to have a relaxing night - until I get a call from a girl that I had met at Marquee earlier in the year. She's around and wants to visit. Cool. She comes to the room in a tight white semi see-through dress that you can clearly see her lingerie through. Well ok then. A quick introduction to the boys and we're off to my room. Fantastic pre-start to the pre-trip party.
A side note - while I've made her sound like a whore the girl is actually really nice.
After doing what had to be done I discover that she works for the airline we're flying on the next day. This night just keeps getting better and better. 14 hours in economy is not fun so I beg for an upgrade, but only if it meant all of us could be upgraded. Total long shot but she promised she'd do whatever she could.
By the time she left all of the boys were ready to sleep. So that we did. Or at least tried to. The excitement was ridiculous at this point.
Day 0
We all wake up around the same time. Order breakfast as we all find out that we just about got as much sleep as each other. But never mind, its not like we'll need the energy to sit down for 14 hours. We realise that we're cutting it pretty close so we quickly check out and head down to valet - of course there's a stunning black BMW to take us to the airport. Of course. The perfect start gets perfect-er.
Thankfully the line for check in is short. Sure enough, girl-from-night-before is at the desk and calls us over. Bad news - flight's completely full so no upgrade. Good news - priority passes for immigration/customs in Sydney and at LAX. Apparently the flight the day before was half empty and she would've been able to upgrade us all. Oh well. Alcohol it is.
Bob's booked into business class because well, he's Bob and he can. So we board the plane, he turns left into heaven and we turn right into hell. I think the only thing that kept us sane was that we were traveling at 950kmh/590mph towards our happy place. There's always a point during a long haul flight, especially when you can't sleep, where you wish that you just didn't bother and stayed home. What's the point of this trip. I'm over it.
Day 1
So we land at LAX. It's probably fatigue but every time I land in America it feels totally surreal. As if I've stepped out of my body and am watching a dream. Until the immigration officers snap you back to reality and interrogate you.
Surprisingly it didn't take too long so we have time to grab something to eat. For the past 4 years they've had to listen to me praise God's food. The food from heaven itself...
Needless to say they ALL thought the hype was totally justified and this would become somewhat of a staple for the rest of the trip.
A quick taxi ride to the other terminal as we wait for our quick flight to Vegas. But wait! It's delayed. What a surprise. After an hour or so the plane finally turns up and the queuing begins. But wait again! It's overbooked. We might be bumped from this flight to a later one that evening. If its one thing you guys don't do right it's domestic flights. Every time I fly within the country its a total shitfight. The absolute last thing you want to deal with after a sleepless 14 hour flight. One by one we're called up the counter and receive our boarding passes. The flight begins boarding but G still hasn't received one. It looks like he'll be bumped. He says not to worry and go ahead, he'll catch up with us later. We're all pretty bummed and take our seats on the plane -- "wait is that G?" Yes he made it on! "... wait why is he sitting in the 1st row?"
... He'd been upgraded to first class. Asshole.
After 40 minutes we land. The landing in Vegas always scares the shit out of me. I always seem to be on the plane that catches a massive crosswind and sends it swaying. But whatever we made it alive. There's no gate available so we'll be disembarking onto the tarmac. The doors open and BAM -the 40C/104F wind hits us. Ahh yes. I love heat so the next 12 nights will be amazing.
So we all collect our luggage. Except for the twins. Delta had left theirs at LAX. Thanks again. To their credit though they said it would be delivered to the hotel as soon as it arrives and they were given a "survival kit" with toiletries, pj's and a shirt. They were also told that $50 would be reimbursed if they had to buy anything else.
So Bob was put in contact with a host at Wynn/Encore before we left and organised the rooms etc. Sure enough a beautiful Wynn limo was waiting for us at the airport. Sinatra playing very softly, probably not the best for 21-22 year olds but after being up for 30 hours we're not in the mood for Champagne Showers just yet. Few nice little details inside...
Around 15 minutes later we're at Encore. Bob's host greets us at the limo and we head straight into the elevator. Keys have already been cut. This was our first indication that host service here is on a totally different level. As we walk through the hotel we quickly realise just how incredible it is. Pictures don't do the place justice - the quality of materials, the smell and general feel of the place is (at least at the time) unmatched by any other hotel.
Let's check out the main suite first. We all smile as we approach the big black HEAVY double doors. They open...
Oh my. The salon suite. To be continued...
First impressions were wow this club is beautiful but SHIT this club is rammed. I was actually gobsmacked at the amount of people they let in. At a bottleneck you would have to force your way through crowds. It was crazy. We looked at the lines at the bars and decided on a table with a $1k min. We waited for about 30 mins before our table was allocated - once again the power of tipping (or lack thereof) coming into play. The host brings us to an outside table, all the way at the very back on the grass. You literally could not be any further away from the action. We all decide that if this is where they want to seat us we'll just leave and go somewhere else. S messages the host to cancel the table and sure enough, he's found a table right beside the pool. Still a little far away for my liking but infinitely better than what we were initially given. 
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