TR: March 19th-23rd, Mirage, Spa, M&G of Two!

Here is a little TR of my recent trip to Vegas, sorry it took os long to post, I had a business meeting in FL right after Vegas so had only got back yesterday. Will post as reply.

TR: March 19th-23rd, Mirage, Spa, M%26amp;G of Two!

Day One:

Early morning flight out of JFK no problem and even arrived 20 mins early. Collected luggage - a little longer than I would have hoped, but isn%26#39;t always? Taxi line was ridiculous, so tried the shuttles. Bit the bullet and used exective - for $6 bucks why not. The north shuttle to the Mirage was getting ready to leave. Being solo actually paid off, when the have one seat left and everyone else was in groups I got to squeeze on and pass the line:)

Mirage was the second stop after the Venetian and the trip was actually very quick. Went right to invited guest line with only one person ahead, the regular check-in looked a little hairy by now it was about 11:30am, prime lobby time. The girl had a room right away, but, it was on the 6th floor, I opted to wait until later in the day and got a volcano view on the 15th. Checked bags with the bellman and off to see what kind of damage I could do:)

Went straight to the sports book as it was the first day of March Madness, the place was a zoo, but, not to fear my friends as I had a seat reserved for me in the race section. It was too late to bet the early games anyway, so I wiped out my handy racing form and placed some bets on the ponies. Got a burger from the BLT Burger, was actually the best burger I have had in a long time. Beat a few late games and got the call from the desk that the room was ready. Very happy with the accomadations. very modern an clean room and great view of volcano, OK yes the bathroom is small, however, I believe the BR may be a victim of poor design rather than pure lack of space, the door opens into the bathroom rather akwardly and throws you off at first. However once inside it is more that useable. I do grant you that is a single guys perspective, 3 girls getting ready for a night of clubbing might have a different opinion:) Also, as mentioned before the beds are awesome, the Mirage and MB have the best beds on the strip, IMO.

From here the action really picked up - I proceeded to take a nap! Stop the snickering out there, all of us Vegas veterans know that the arrival day nap is the key to a successful trip.

To wrap up day one, after the nap, checked out the pool area, very nice as always, not really pool weather though, but did have drink at the pool bar. Checked on my bets at the sport book and roamed the strip a little. Had a drink at the Case Fuente in Forum Shops, always visit there a least once every trip. Had dinner at the Spago bar. Great food, but the place was dead, bartender said was just an off night, and that he was packed the previous two. After that went back to Mirage played some craps and called it a night.

Coming up - M%26amp;G, spa day, etc..

TR: March 19th-23rd, Mirage, Spa, M%26amp;G of Two!

Enjoying your TR so far, looking forward to more.

Kim

Day Two:

Not feeling my best, even with the power nap Vegas has caught up to me. Between the free beers in the sports books, a giant beer at the pool, a couple of drinks at CF, another at dinner, and a few nightcap beers at the craps table I was reacquinated with the great dinner from Spago:( Kudos to the chef, great leftovers:)

Spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon recovering. Sipped some tea and a fruit bowl. Played some more craps. Had to recover because I was meeting ClagaryGamblingGirl and others for a M%26amp;G at Margaritaville at 3pm. I also had tix for the 9:30 LOVE, I picked them up at the box office the day before. I asked if any 1/2 price seats were available for that day, they said Thurs was sold out, but, they had 1/2 seats for hotel guests on Friday, got the $99 seats for 50, I seen the show before so didn%26#39;t have to spring for the $150 tixs.

Day was slowly getting better, as my color returned I decided it would be best if I got some real food in my system before what could turn out to be a wild m%26amp;g. When across the street to Venetian, had to pick up my Club Grazie card and $15 free play. Found the booth quick enough, got my card, saw quite a few slots I would have liked to have played but use can only use your free play on certain ones - LAME! Played my free 15 on some stupid no fun machine and when to the Grand Canal for some food. It was about 1:30 now so I had to be brisk. Find a nice little place with outside seating, right next to Zeffirino%26#39;s with a nice lunch special. Enjoy a fine meal, really did my system good to get some food in it.

Off to the M%26amp;G, get to Margaritaville about 20 mins early. Do a quick once around the place to get my bearings. Calgary girl, PM%26#39;d met before hand to tell me see would be easy to find because she recently broke her arm and would be in a sling. For my part, I wore a Mets jersey. I didn%26#39;t know who else was joining us as CG put the thread together, but, it looked like we had a few people interested. Ok, it%26#39;s 3, then 3:15, then 3:30, no CG or anyone else. Now I am bummed, have I really been stood up by fellow TA%26#39;ers? All the while I am talking to some guys from St. Louis at the bar watching the BB games. At one point, after hearing my story puts his arm around me and says ';don%26#39;t worry young man it%26#39;s happened to the best of us';, ';keep your head up and keep swinging.'; I am now cursing this site.

Say goodbye to my SL friends and roam the bars one more time. While finishing the last of my beer and about to walk out, who appears, but a lovely young lady in a sling! Could it be? Yes, it%26#39;s Calgary girl! See too is appearently a fan of the power nap, however, being Canadian doesn%26#39;t know how to work the alarm clock on her phone:) Didn%26#39;t think I%26#39;d let you get away with that did you CG:) To be serious, she was completely upset over the miscue, she woke up late and was stuck in traffic for over 1/2 an hour, it was our fault for not exchanging cell #%26#39;s before hand, she even ran in to the Flamingo and sent a PM through the site on the off chance someone had a laptop. After a few laughs over the adventure and a drink at the bar, we go to the upstairs bar to get a table. She has a few funny storeis about some of the others who were suppose to come, but, those are her tales and I%26#39;ll let her tell them if she wants. Had a great late lunch together and shared a lot of laughs. I had a show later that night and wanted to freshen up and she had plans as well. We exchanged numbers and decided to try and get together again if we could make it happen.

Dressed for LOVE, great show as always! A little different from last summer when I saw it last. Theather not 100% full, but close too. Gambled a little more, had a nightcap at the new Mirage bar Rhumbar and called it a day.

Coming up Spa Day...

Day Three:

Trying the Mirage Spa today, booked one of the packages. Massage is at 3 so have tiem to roam around. Get my bets in at the sports book. Get some breakfast from the coffee shop. Go to TI and play some craps. TI was sold a few days before and the dealers were saying how the new owners auditors were touring the property today. Wonder how this shakes out for MGM/Mirage players? Anyway, I won some so I was happy. Went back to Mirage and played some roulette to pass the time, no luck.

Went to the Spa at about 1:30. Got my locker and settled in. First impressions were a very nicely appointed spa, but, a little smaller than others such as Qua and Spa Mandalay, nicer than the spa at MGM. Normal juices, waters, teas, nuts and fruits were available. Facilties were all operational working great. Still would have liked a little more room, the spa wasn%26#39;t too crowed, but had a decent crowd, but, if it was full would not have been relaxing. The services however, were exceptional! The massage itself was the best I%26#39;ve had in Vegas, even slightly better than Qua. My package the Just for Him included a men%26#39;s facial, I%26#39;ve had a facial before, but the thearpist assured me I would like it. A very unique experience. Very relaxing and had mini massage aspect to it as well. Used the facilties a little more and dressed for dinner.

I had ran into a HS friend and his finance earlier in the day and we all met up for the Rio seafood for dinner, a bit of a wait, but it was a Sat night at around 7:30 so we expected it. Rio seafood get mixed reviews, but we all enjoyed it.

We parted ways and I went south to the MGM area. Played the lion slots at MGM one of my fav%26#39;s as always win some money, they didn%26#39;t disappoint. Went across the street to NYNY to play my absolute fav Star Wars slots! Now as not to have my post deleted I will refrain from quoting the actually language used. They took them out about 2 weeks ago! My Brooklyn was starting to show, but, composed myself and reminded my self it wasn%26#39;t the slot attendants fault. Walked around the village and got a drink, as a native NY%26#39;er, my view of the NYNY may be skewed, but I look at it this way the place is so bad it%26#39;s awesome. By bad I mean tacky and overdone, not bad in a poorly run operation.

Hopped the tram to MB, which Calgary Girl had told me wasn%26#39;t working the day before, no wonder Canadians don%26#39;t rule the world:) Just kidding, love ya Cal Girl! At MB things didn%26#39;t improve they took out my fav MB slots - the Soprano%26#39;s. OK, I said I%26#39;ll just find a craps game, no luck again, all of the tables were being used for a dice tournament - invited guests only. Rejected, I tramed it back to Excal and crossed back to MGM, played the lions again, hit again, so the trip wasn%26#39;t all bad, and monorailed back to mirage. I hit the 5 team parlay that I made in the morning and won $400. Quick nightcap and back to the room, OK maybe a quick stop at a craps table, they%26#39;re conviently located on the way to the elevators:)

Coming up.. The return of Calgary girl

P.S Please tell me if this is too long or boring, I%26#39;ve never written a TR before, but, most of the one%26#39;s I like have a lot of details?

good stuff so far

Not too long or boring at all! I%26#39;m enjoying it very much!

Hi NY GUY I am interested in your free play at the Venetian. You said you could only use it on certain slots. Where they roped off or how did you know which ones? I have free play at the Palazzo/Venitian and in the past I could use it on any slot except a progressive slot. If they are now restricting which machines you have to play I will be so disappointed.

So I%26#39;m not only Canadian I am also BLONDE. You could have a heyday with that. LOL :)

Not long and not boring!

I%26#39;m enjoying it very much and look forward to hearing more...:)

dmartoakville_Canada -

The free play at the Venetian is not in a roped off area - you can use it a variety of machines - any of the ones that have a Blue Man group sticker on them. The stickers are NOT on the more popular video slots - like Monopoly, Wizard of Oz - stuff like that. It is good to use on a lot of the quarter and dollar reel slots. There is still a decent variety you can use the free play on. I%26#39;ve never had a problem. :)