Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: May 01, 2005 to May 04, 2005 Hotel Stayed At: Venetian Report by: Eric M. <EdFan44@yahoo.com> From: Louisville, KY

My wife (M) and I had an enjoyable time in Vegas last week. She was a Vegas virgin, and I had been only once previously 7 years ago. We discovered a good rate at the Venetian ($150/night) and pretty much planned our trip around the days that rate was available.

We flew out of Louisville via Southwest Sunday morning. Uneventful quick flight to Birmingham. Four-hour flight to Vegas from there. I ended up being the buffer zone between M and a somewhat foul smelling foreign guy who took a window seat but then threw a blanket over his head and slept the next four hours. We get into Vegas right on time.

I immediately headed to the sports book to make a couple of $20 bets on some NBA games. Ended up breaking even on the Kings and Spurs. Why did I bet on the Kings? They are so 2001.

Our room at the Venetian was very uhhh..phat, as the young folks say. The bathroom was my favorite. Our next house will have a Venetian style bathroom. Maybe we'll leave the big ole "V" off the inside bottom of the trashcans though.

We went to Aladdins where I won $25 on VP. I would lose it back the next day. We ended up back at Venetian for dinner at the Grill @ Valentinos. It was pretty good. I had some seafood linguini special. The steamed clams sort of scared me.

We ended up at Celine Dion at 8:30 Vegas time, which is 11:30 Louisville time. It was hard staying awake, but the show was great. I didn't know she could dance as well as she can. I thought she would just kinda stand there. Our seats were high up but dead center, and the arena in Caesars is smallish (maybe 3500 seats), so we had a GREAT view. I would recommend the balcony dead center seats. Just be sure not to bring a camera - they make you check them! - and stay clear of the $5 bottled water. I was like, "You want how much?!?" No thank you. I will repeatedly swallow my saliva throughout the performance.

DAY 2

We hit the Aladdin breakfast buffet. It was great. M especially loved it and indulged in a plateful of breakfast pasty-type goodies. I played in the "breakfast club" Hold-Em tournament at Aladdins. $40 buy-in with no add ons or rebuys. Fun experience but I couldn't catch a card to save my life. I was the first off my table after about 45 minutes. While I was playing, M was amused by the cocktail waitresses resembling Marge's sisters on "The Simpsons" seranading her (M is obviously pregnant) with "Cahktails....Cahktails." She didn't get anything.

M played some more VP at Aladdins. M was infuriated that she won $6 on a stupid Dilbert slot machine, only for the machine to malfunction and refuse to cough up her substantial winnings. Repeated requests for someone to service the machine went unanswered.

I lost $40 on Let it Ride (that game sucks) and Pai Gow Poker at New York New York and Luxor, respectively. We hit McDonalds for lunch, bought some souveniers, and went to the Hard Rock with a friend of mine from high school who now calls Vegas home. The Pink Taco was just ok. My burrito tasted funny. I ate it, and M's as well. M wasted $40 bucks on Megabucks. We called it an early night around 9 and headed back to the big V where the Spurs' victory soothed me to sleep.

DAY 3

Breakfast was an apple. It wasn't as good as Aladdins from Monday. We hoofed it alllllllllllll the way down Luxor (using the Monofail as well). I played 2/4 Hold Em at Luxor and won a grand total of $2 after playing for almost 90 minutes. I was too loose with my tips. The Luxor lunch buffet was just ok but we were starved. The shark exhibit at Mandalay Bay is overpriced for what amounts to 45 minutes of exhibit.

Dinner at Margaritaville was great! I had the best margarita ever. M indulged only a bit with due consideration for our unborn child, who will be raised a Jimmy Buffet fan. M enjoyed her cheeseburger in paradise and consumed slightly more than 50% of the key lime pie. Ok maybe 60%.

The view from the Eiffel Tower at night is fantastic. We took several pics of the Bellagio fountain show. And at $9, its probably the best deal we got the entire trip. I still felt like the whole structure was going to collapse on itself, but that's my strange phobia about big towers. M expressed regret that she had asked me to go up when she learned of my affliction. I guess she owes me.

The TI Siren's show resembled a high school production, if said high school was populated with skantily clad 22 year old women tying up bare-chested men while shouting lines like, "You cannot beat us because we're so pretty" or something to that effect. Do yourself a favor and don't bring the kiddies. Or yourself.

DAY 4

The flight home was uneventful. All in all, we had a great trip and stayed entirely on budget. I even brought home $100. Dave Ramsey will be so proud.

BEST:

Venetian bathroom
Margaritaville
Celine Dion
View from Eiffel Tower

WORST:

Smelly airline passenger
TI pirate show
$5 water at Celine Dion


Eric M. <EdFan44@yahoo.com> - Louisville, KY    2453

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