I guess i should stop mentioning it’s gonna be long, you already know it’s gonna be long

Thanks for reading, and if you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded with not one, but TWO fart stories! Enjoy!

Vegas XXXIV – Imperial Palace and THEhotel @ Mandalay Bay – July 29th – Aug 1st – BACHELOR PARTY!

FRIDAY

The long awaited bachelor party. My friend Andy and I flew out of Phoenix around 12:30 PM on Friday. Luckily our plane was delayed 20 minutes, because Andy was also delayed getting to my house, and we barely made it in time. We were shocked to find both parking lots full at the airport, but luckily we still made it.

My friend Doug flew in from Buffalo to Vegas, and he landed about half an hour before we arrived. We had planned on the three of us taking a cab or shuttle to Imperial Palace, but on the night before Chris, my best man, called me and told me he would be waiting to pick us up at the airport. Fine with me.

We Andy and I walked to baggage claim where we were to meet the other guys, I noticed Chris and Doug talking to an old guy between them. So I’m thinking that they are just talking to some random stranger. Chris walks up to great me, so I say “who the hell is the old guy? A friend of yours?”

Chris laughed and said “Yeah! He’s the limo driver.”

“Get the F out!” I said. I couldn’t believe it, but yes, we had a limo. So right away, the trip was off to a great start. We hopped into the back of this nice limo and passed around a flask of whiskey. The others taking big gulps, me taking my tiny sips.

We got to Imperial Palace and my brother Jeff was waiting out front with his luggage and a cooler of beer. He also had a bottle of Jaegermeister and 24 cans of red bull. Now I HATE jagermeister, but I had some of that with red bull and I loved it! We went to check in at IP, but typical IP, the room was not ready, so we put our luggage with the bell desk, and went back outside.

Now, for the past year or so, I’ve debated, “Should I make the $100 bet?” It became obvious that the enjoyment of winning, would be less than the anger of losing, so it made sense not to make that bet, simply because it’s too much money for little old me. But since each trip I go on I debate over and over again what to do, I finally said that I am just gonna do it and get it over with. One hand. $100. Win or lose, walk away. Then I can get that foolishness past me.

My brother and I had some extra money saved up, so we agreed we were gonna do this together. Do it right away while we have money, and just try not to think of it after that. We went over to Caesar’s with Doug and Andy, but we waited till we lost them so we could make the bet alone. We didn’t want an audience.

We found an empty table, and it seemed like an eternity for the dealer to shuffle. We tried not to think of what we were about to do because it would have made us too nervous. The cards were dealt, my first card was a ten, I started to feel better. Then I got another ten, with the dealer showing a 9. I had 20, my brother had 18. I thought great! This was easy! (more…)

This covers 3 trips: Venetian in March with the family, solo trip in June, and family trip in July.

Hotel

Venetian—Venezia tower (March). Don’t stay at the Venezia tower!!! It sucks!!! Stay at the regular Venetian tower instead!! All I wanted was some packages to be delivered and some room service, and I had to wait an hour for each. Maybe they didn’t hire any additional staff when the new tower went up. Or maybe it just takes the staff too long to take the elevator to the Venezia lobby, walk all the way down a long hallway, then take another elevator to the room. I chose the Venezia because you get access to an additional pool area, but then read here later that all guests have access to it? The room is very spacious and well appointed, but I think it’s basically the same as a regular Venetian room. Strangely, I had free high speed internet throughout my stay. I can’t believe they charge more for the Venezia tower.

Bellagio spa tower (June). I like what they’ve done with the place. The walkway to the tower is filled with light and has chairs and tables that look out onto the pool area. Great place to enjoy some ice cream from the new candy shop. I did not notice a difference in the quality of the new areas, but then again I don’t usually notice such details. The rooms themselves seem the same as the original tower, except perhaps a little smaller, even though they are advertised as having the same sq footage. Perhaps they used more space for the bathroom. Service was great. No problems getting packages delivered, towels delivered, or odd requests for the time to clean the room.

Mandalay Bay (July). I think this will be my last stay here. I chose it because the family I was traveling with needed something close to the pool and not too pricey. But I found the beds very hard, just like last year. Also, even though the room is supposed to be large, it feels a little cramped, I think because of the strange location of the bathroom doors. This location requires extra space between the bathrooms and the bed, and that space seems wasted to me. While Mandalay may have started out as an upscale place, I think they are now more focused on the conventioneers and events, and just want to pack people in and out. Although maybe the real reason I don’t like them is that they are a Pepsi-only establishment. (more…)