Is it summer yet?

[PLAGUE]

I read these forums daily, they're invaluable & our Vegas experience would not be the same without JC. Our next trip is coming up & I cannot stop thinking about Vegas, so I've decided to channel the excitement into a TR since I've shamelessly read all the others trying vicariously live through them. This is a recap from our group's second Trip in 2013, which was my first.

Pre-Trip

The people: Me, C, JC, I, H & B.

Six of us. Thursday to Monday. We're all 23-24 years old & known each other for years. Four of them have been to Vegas before together and I’m the new addition, along with JC, C’s friend who none of us have known prior. We're scattered around the country, some of us are still finishing school and the others are only a year or so into their careers, so budgets are made but we are determined to do Vegas the right way.

Leading up to the trip we start a group text and hash out all the plans on skype. As a first timer, most of the clubs and terms like “mins”, “shake”, etc. are foreign to me, but C does a great job setting it all up on a spreadsheet. We book a two bedroom suite at the Elara and then flights. The following weeks are spent planning nightclubs/pool parties, making a trip playlist on Spotify & building up the excitement.

Thursday Day

Today’s the day! Went out the night before with H, we wake up bright & early at 5am on 3 hours sleep. Doubt either of us would have got much rest anyways from the excitement so it’s no matter, we’re feeling great & running on pure adrenaline! Head to the airport and check in with everyone else via group text. We’re all due in around the same time. Everyone arrives when they’re supposed to without incident. C & JC get in early, they already have us checked-in and are a few drinks deep by time the rest of us touchdown, time to catch up. Drop the bags off, do a quick tour of the room & head to Walgreen’s for supplies aka alcohol & pedialyte.

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Thursday Night (Tao)

Grab dinner, head back to the room, everyone showers up and gets ready. Music is going, outfits are being ironed and I watch the sun fade over the strip. We make the first toast of the trip and head to Tao.

We’re greeted by Chris and walked in. As we’re lead into the dark elevator I begin to understand why everyone loves this city so much. Doors open and I’m in DisneyWorld for adults.

We had a moat table arranged but it wound up being sold last minute to someone paying much more than us. We were seated upstairs on the balcony instead & I actually really enjoyed the spot and being able to look over the entire dancefloor. Drinks are pouring, we do a few laps around the place & the night is going well. At some point one of us brings a Canadian bachelorette party back to our table. The bachelorette plays wing woman and helps everyone get acquainted. Dancing, body shots & other shenanigans ensue. JC is having problems staying awake, something C said he’s notorious for, and despite our best attempts to rally him, is asked to leave. He exits alone and we continue on

Leave the club at god knows when and bring the Canadians back to the room for an after-party. You have to walk through the Miracle Mile to get back to our hotel, this is hard enough to do sober and unfortunately we made some wrong turns & ended up going in a giant circle through the mall for what seemed like an hour (note to self: bring bread crumbs).

Finally made it to the room & no sign of JC; who left much earlier than us. No answer on his phone, okay he’s definitely face down in the middle of the desert somewhere. 10 minutes later the man of hour walks in looking like a completely different person- the guy who was taking a power nap in Tao earlier is back in it & ready to party, my man! The night was far from over. The music was on, hot tub filled, played some drinking games and when all was said & done ended up crushing a 30 pack of beer in addition to the 3 bottles we had at Tao.

The girls went their respective ways as the sun was coming up, two of us drunkenly decided to take up residence in the drained hot tub while I opted for something softer & drier. First night in Vegas was a success, time for a nice long night’s sleep- which in this town means a nap before you have to get up and ready for a pool party.

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Up next: Friday

[matt1983]

Ah, the Miracle Mile Shops, that sure is a maze when sober. Going through it after partying? Well, at least you made it.

Good that JC didn't end up dead, or missing a kidney.

[MikeK32]

Good start to the TR!

[PLAGUE]

Friday Day (Tao Beach)

Wake up feeling great, thank you pedialyte. Eat, shower and put on my bathing suit. Today we have two couches at Tao Beach, my first Vegas pool party experience. I had no idea what to expect and was instantly hooked. The reason I like Vegas so much is the pool parties, it's what sets it apart & after a night out this is exactly what I want to be doing- out in the sun and more partying.

For a Friday, it was pretty crowded. Can’t remember much other than the pitchers of mixed slushie drinks were amazing, the vibe at daytime was awesome and we spent most of the time in the pool. Towards the end beach balls were thrown out and an impromptu game of dodge ball ensued with the pool dividing itself straight down the center. I loved every minute of it & stayed in until it was time to leave.

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Friday Night (1OAK)

We have a dancefloor table at 1OAK. 1OAK gets a lot of praise on this forum but I just did not enjoy the club, even in 2013. The music was a good mix, but the layout felt very narrow and like there were too many tables for the space. Still had a great time though. The bachelorette group from Tao joined us, again. Our table at this point was pretty slammed and there was no room to find some different women so we all kind of had to collectively commit to them.

As the night went on a few of them danced on the stripper pole that was conveniently behind us. JC began fading again and I turn around to find him catching some z’s at our table in the middle of a crowded Vegas nightclub. After an obligatory picture we were able to get him up & moving without being asked to leave. Sure enough he’s back from the dead and keeps partying without skipping a beat, this would become his trademark move.

The length of time since the trip & alcohol make it difficult to remember details at each of the clubs, but it was a good time for all. The last communication on this particular night was from I. at 1:05am-
"Hey guys, I'm hammered. Anything after this point can't be held against me"


Have an after-party in the room again. At some point I excused myself to go on a quest for food & discovered the glorious establishment that is Earl of Sandwich. This was also a first time Vegas experience, I forget what I got but I’m pretty sure that I heard angels sing after each bite.

Headed back to the room, drank a pedialyte and passed out til it was time to do it all over again at Daylight.

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Next Up: Money showers at Daylight

[PLAGUE]

Good start to the TR!

Thanks! Memory is a bit fuzzy, but I'm trying

Ah, the Miracle Mile Shops, that sure is a maze when sober. Going through it after partying? Well, at least you made it.

Good that JC didn't end up dead, or missing a kidney.

Lol yeah he said he wanted to leave alone & at that point nobody was leaving the party to escort him, so glad it worked out. With us you pay your share for the night regardless if you're too hungover to go or if you have to leave early, you're on your own. Ruthless, but nobody in our group has ever not made it out to the club

Sidenote- He lost his phone in a random/ possibly working girl's car after the club that night.

[Crysis]

C checking in! Keep the TR going I won't jack it. It was a great trip, so many crazy things

[jdubya3]

Great TR! Keep it coming

[ArmyVegas]

Nice! Pedialyte does do wonders! When is your next trip to Vegas?

[eboettne]

Got a trip in 13 days and this TR is getting me so pumped! Earl of Sandwich is amazing.

Everytime someone is going to Vegas for the 1st time and ask me for what to see I say Earl of Sandwich haha

[PLAGUE]

Thanks everyone, pedialyte is indeed a lifesaver. Our next trip is July 30th-August 3rd. Feel free to chime in Crysis, two sleep deprived & drunk minds are better than one.

[ArmyVegas]

Thanks everyone, pedialyte is indeed a lifesaver. Our next trip is July 30th-August 3rd. Feel free to chime in Crysis, two sleep deprived & drunk minds are better than one.

That just so happens to be my Birthday weekend....Might see you guys while i'm out there. I'll look for a guy sleeping at a DF table.

[PLAGUE]

That just so happens to be my Birthday weekend....Might see you guys while i'm out there. I'll look for a guy sleeping at a DF table.

Haha won't be hard to miss, would love to meet up with some fellow JC'ers

[PLAGUE]

Saturday Day (Daylight)

B. wants a new bathing suit, so him & I make a trip to the Quiksilver shop in Miracle Mile & grab him a new one. I decide to pick one up for myself too just because I was there, I reason that anything under $50 in Vegas is a drop in the bucket and doesn't count lol. We picked out the same one, I’m stubborn & not putting this down, so whatever #twinning.

Eat, shower and put on my bathing suit: part 2. We've been drunk for over 36 hours straight. Can’t slow down or stop now & I think my body is in too much shock from the audacity of what I've been doing to it to betray me.

We woke up to a rare overcast sky with rain & spent an hour in the hotel lobby debating if we should go. After much deliberation, it begins to clear up just a bit & we start walking (yes, walking). The hotels are deceptively far apart and we learned the hard way. The good news is the sun is back out and it’s shaping up to be a great pool day. The bad news is by time we made the trek to Mandalay Bay, our daybed had been sold. Damn. For a higher min we were offered a better one & came too far to turn around defeated. Higher minimum just means more alcohol, on we go


This was Daylight’s first season, Bassjackers were scheduled & it absolutely slammed. The daybed location was excellent & was extra money well spent.

Our spot was between the pool and stage. The weather cleared up, but it still rained because we were also located right below a glass balcony overflowing with ASU girls and a few lucky gentlemen who spent their afternoon shooting STACKS of ones out a cannon, #VegasGoals. Without trying we gathered a few hundred dollars that landed on our bed throughout the day just for being in the fire radius.

We ordered a few pitchers to start us off, as well as a bottle of vodka & got situated. Not 5 minutes go by and the bachelorette group appears. Sigh.They were a cool, mostly had their own drinks and I’m in Vegas so nothing can ruin my fun but a few of us wanted some new faces & you could see that it was beginning to wear on the group by attaching ourselves to them 3 days in a row. No worries though, made light of the situation and joked that it was cuffing season, several handcuff poses were made throughout the day in good spirits. Everyone was having a great time, hop in the pool for a bit, dance/splash, head back to the daybed to grab a drink and dry off in the sun before repeating.

It was mid-afternoon now. The bachelorettes left.The sun was scorching, Bassjackers just came on and Daylight was going insane. In a stroke of genius, Crysis poured whatever was left of our vodka into a water bottle (to keep from water splashing into it) and headed right to the center of it all. We threw it around the pool to each other, splashing, dancing and taking shot after shot until the party wound down and the bottle was empty.

Left Daylight obliterated from the alcohol and hot sun. We all hopped in a cab and made our way to this expensive new bistro called Chipotle for sustenance. Used whatever energy we had left at that point to shovel the food in our mouths, my apologies to whoever was in the restaurant that day; eating burritos while wasted gets sloppy.

After our meal we head back to the room, I. splits to do a bit of gambling, JC passes out on the couch covered in ones and the rest of us just nap and chill. I wasn't able to fall asleep though, my body is on autopilot & I’m way too amped for more partying to get any sleep. I’m surprised by the feats that we are accomplishing, but guess that’s Vegas for you & a group mentality of “just keep going” goes a long way.

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Cuffing Season
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Saturday Night (Light)

Music gets put back on and the room starts to regain some life. Nap time is over kids. I head down to the Starbucks in the lobby and grab a coffee; everyone has their vices, even when hammered. Everyone is still considerably drunk & fatigued from Daylight, it’s difficult to get back to speed, but we rally. We start getting ready for Light & text I. who is still gambling to come back to the room and do the same

His response: “F*ck”. Not gonna shower, too drunk to care.”

Alright then.

Light is only a few months old at this point and anticipate it being packed on a Saturday night so we’re sure to be there on time. Cab it there and play no games. At 11pm the line is absurd, even for tables. After a while of not moving we shake the door man $100 just to get in the place and we’re immediately lead right in- I love this city.

We had a table 2 rows off the df. The club itself is amazing, the dancers, screens & atmosphere assault all of your senses. Tao and 1OAK back then were good clubs, but this is the type of experience I come to Vegas for. Only complaint was the location of the table, it was on the side so not directly facing the dj booth/screen & the stadium seating didn't allow for much foot traffic in our particular row, but security did a good job and there were no shortage of women at our table that night.

Still buzzed from the pool party, I knew this was going to get out of hand fast. This night is an absolute blur. We tore through our bottles (a little too quickly), the club was going off & our table was cycling through what seemed like endless groups of women, all fun people that added to the party. Stafford Brothers were playing and the only recollection of them I have is a picture I took while on the dance floor.

Crysis and I did a long lap around the entire club towards the end of the night taking it all in, I have to say even having a table on the mezzanine level looks like a good time. From the balcony we noticed our table clearing out so we decided to leave shortly after.

Last communication from the night:

Crysis: “I’m on the df, where you at?”
I: “On our way. It’s sloppy.”

We agreed to not invite the bachelorette group to Light, but afterwards they wanted to meet up so we cabbed it back to the hotel, ordered room service beers and kept the party going. After some food it was time for much needed rest. Crysis ended up passed out across the bed with a box of pizza, but not for long, while I took up a couch.

A few minutes later B. walked in and the three of us wound up staying up all night shooting the shit. #TeamNoSleep. I could hear my body crying inside, but watching the sunrise over the strip was worth it- if only we had a balcony.

As mentioned before, JC lost his phone the first night into the trip, so when he met a girl at Daylight earlier on Saturday, Crysis gave her his # so she could keep in touch with JC. Around 6am while the three of us were still up, Crysis gets a text from her while JC was sound asleep. Since she can’t tell who it is, Crysis and her are texting back & forth & gets invited to her room. This man puts in all of the leg work and then wakes up JC from his sleep, gives him the room info and sends him on his way. WINGMAN OF THE YEAR.

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Next Up: Who knows, all the days are becoming one collective sh*tshow

[Cirilo Medina]

Some damn fine Wingman-ing there! Loving all the blur and non-stop

[xAmrit]

Great TR man. Well done to Crysis, I hope he repaid the favour at some point during the trip.