Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: June 09, 2006 to June 12, 2006 Hotel Stayed At: Excalibur Report by: sparky <> From:

I was off to play in my first slot tournament and the only "plans" I had were the tournament and some serious pool time. This was one of dozens of trips to Vegas but my first one by myself. Left Austin on first non-stop flight out with plans to check into my hotel and head to the pool. I was in my room by 9:15 a.m. and ready to go....only to find out the pool doesn't open til 10:00 each day. WHAT? I know last summer I was outside basking in the sun by 8:30.....when it's 90 degrees by 9 a.m. it's silly for the pool not to be open. THAT was my only complaint about my stay at the Ex.

DAY 1: From reading many other trip reports, I decided to head to Commanders Palace on Fri. for the $18.88 lunch. YUM. I had the caesar salad, pork medallions, bananas foster and a 25 cent cosmo. I'm a lightweight so needless to say I was tipsy by the end of lunch! It was delicious and the service was impeccable. I would highly recommend this to anyone!

I had missed the Titanic Exhibit the last few trips out, so I hit the 1/2 price ticket place @ M&M world and picked up my ticket. When I got to the Trop, there was no line at their players club window so I decided to sign up for a card. They gave me a coupon for their Lucky 20 machines. You give them $20 and they give you 30 (or was it 50) credits to play. You either played out your credits and picked a prize or played til your machine locked up and played music...this meant CASH! I had 8 credits to go and darned if I didn't get the BIG ONE, I hit the $500. Not bad for my first day (although by the end of the night I was down $400 on roulette).

DAY 2: Slot tourney was invitation only and they had a nice set-up @ VIP services for us. Played in a.m. session, hit the pool for 2 hours and went back for 2nd session. Ended up being in 44th place @ end of the day. Took monorail to Harrahs and went to Caesar's, Flamingo & Bally's. Went by monorail back to MGM and played some slots there and watched the lions....first time I've seen smaller cubs in the habitat. Sat. night visited my favorite croupier and proceeded to win back all I lost on Friday night. In fact, when I went to bed I had exactly what I started out with the morning before.

Day 3: Lazy day, late nights had caught up with me. Went to Luxor's business office to print boarding pass and wandered through Mandalay awhile. Went back to Ex in time for a.m. slot session, then vegged in room til time for 2nd session. Sister's phone call woke me in time to make second session, she asked what I was doing, told her napping in Vegas (I hadn't told anyone I was going for fear someone would want to come with me!). After 2nd session I went to the spa @ the Ex for my first facial. (I have a new favorite thing now!) Our tournament's award ceremony was complete with performance by Louie Anderson, VERY FUNNY! Ended up in 45th place, making $100, not bad for my first endeavor. Lost some more at roulette before packing it in, had to be at the airport at 7 a.m. Not a bad trip, came home with a tan and $400 less than I started with. Can't wait to go back, one of these next trips I'll be getting married at the Little Chapel of the Flowers, but that's a whole other report!

sparky <> -    3108

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