Day 1
Saturday June 22, 2013
We left the house this afternoon to head down to Newark Liberty Airport. I kind of stopped flying out of here a few years ago because of a few reasons. The fares just weren't good, the airlines started charging for luggage and the place is just a zoo. To get there I used the old play I used to use a few years ago of renting a car from the local airport. Originally I booked back in early May for a base price of $71. A few weeks ago the rates dropped and I got a full sized car for a base rate of $44. I picked up the car yesterday after work and they assigned me a Mazda CX9 with 11,000 miles on it in like new condition.

On the way to Newark we stopped off for an early lunch at Steak and Shake in Paramus Park. We both got a burger with fries and then we were on our way.

Traffic on 17 was slow until the 17 – 4 interchange like it always is. I gassed up the car just before the Meadowlands and headed for the NJ Turnpike. This was a mess due to some construction. They had miles of road closed for 100 feet of work and as always people waited until the last second to merge over.

We rolled into Newark and dropped the car off at Avis. Things were ok here but the return guy said his computer was broken so I had to go wait in line inside to get my return completed? Really? A billion dollar operation and they've only got 1 hand held? WTF? I went inside to finish the return and then we hopped on the monorail to the terminal. As expected, it was a zoo over here. This makes me wish we were in Albany flying Southwest. We finally got checked in and dropped off the one suitcase we had for the bargain rate of $25. I despise that the airlines started charging for luggage and despise even more that the public didn't revolt when they started doing it. Fortunately for us, we packed light and the tickets were booked using frequent flier miles so the luggage fee and the security tax was all we had to pay for. I've been sitting on these miles for years from when I actually used to fly Continental. A few years ago I also signed up for the Continental Airlines credit card and it came with 50,000 miles. Those are what we are using today. Since then Continental merged with United and that's who today’s' flight is with. These tickets were booked back in January and a few weeks ago the flight I booked was canceled and we were moved to an earlier flight. The only issue was we lost the seats I reserved. I went online and tried to pick seats but there were none together except in the back row next to 2 bathrooms. That was not going to happen. I called and got that straightened out.

Once we were checked in it was off to the zoo known as security. Things here were effed up. I tried to go to the wheelchair line but it was closed. I asked the agent were she wanted me to go and I had no problem going into the general line as it was very short. Instead she had another agent take us in circles who was lost and then a 3rd agent. Finally a 4th guy sent us through after we twirled around in circles for 10 minutes. I could have been through security already if I just got into the regular line. Security was easy and after they searched Dee we headed to the gate.

While we were at the gate they announced they needed 2 seats and offered $400 each for compensation plus meals and a flight on the 7:20pm flight. We decided to take it and just as the agent was about to complete the deal, they realized they didn't need the seats. This was good and bad. We were out $800 in vouchers but we didn't have to hang out in the terminal for the next 4 hours. They did let us keep the food coupons though so we ran to Famous Famiglia and got some pizza. This place like most airport food is a rip. 4 slices, 2 Gatorades and 5 garlic knots was $30. Yes, that says thirty dollars.

This is flight 1293, non stop to Las Vegas. We were scheduled to depart at 3:20pm and arrive at 5:58pm. The captain came on and told us we'd be flying for 4 hours and 40 minutes. The flight was pretty smooth except for a few pockets along the way. One thing that really disgusts me about United is everything has a price. You don't even get a pack of peanuts or pretzels from these clowns anymore. All we got was a cup of soda. I was glad to have had that pizza now!

I really hate this flight but we were finally on our initial descent. We touched down 20 minutes early and taxied to the terminal. From here we headed to baggage claim. I didn't realize that we were supposed to go to terminal 3 to get our bags and took my normal route to terminal 1 only to find out that we were in the wrong place. A nice airport employee helped get us to the shuttle to terminal 3 where the suitcase was waiting for us.

Next up was the rental car shuttle. For this trip the car rates were very high. I originally got base rates in the area of $900. It was actually going to be cheaper to take a cab to the hotel the first night and pick up the car at one of the hotels. I checked the rates daily and finally got lucky scoring a premium for a base of $389 after a 10% discount from What's On Magazine. The premium car was actually cheaper than the smaller cars. When we arrived they had our car and paperwork all set. We are assigned a Nissan Maxima with only 2,700 miles on it. I gave it a quick look over and loaded up. We were on our way!

First stop was over at the 99¢ Only Store and then CVS for some survival items. Then it was over to the Gold Coast. This room was booked on a mail offer good for 2 nights, $50 free play per day and $50 food per day. We really only needed one night to start the trip but I booked both nights in order to get the perks.

When we arrived checking in was fast and we were off to handicap room 633. This room has 2 queen beds, nightstands, dresser, flat screen TV, and work desk. There is a view of Palms and the South Strip. The bathroom is handicap equipped with a roll in shower.

Once we dropped our bags in the room we headed downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat at Noodle Exchange. I got Cashew Chicken and Dee got a Noodle Bowl and some Firecracker Shrimp Rolls. The service was slow tonight and the food was great.

While we waited for the food I stopped at the slot club to activate the free play. They added both days on at once so it would all be available tonight. After we ate we hit the triple plays. I loaded my free play and Dee used cash. Neither of us hit much of anything and we hit no quads. We played for about 30 minutes and I lost my free play and Dee lost her $100 so we're already down for the trip.

We finally got to bed around midnight Las Vegas time so it was 3am our time. It's been a long night, so goodnight everybody.

Total win/loss for the day -$100
Total Comps for the day $339