When I tell friends who don't gamble that I lost $695 in Vegas, it seems like a lot to them. Some are a bit shocked.
When I have sat down however and compared one or their vacations with my Vegas vacation, I usually always come out far ahead.
Although the comps and bling are not at all what they used to be, there are still some freebies.
For example, this trip I ate 8 meals for free, some at the Longhorn and some at the Golden Nugget.
In addition, the Longhorn has the Chuckwagon restaurant to attract gamblers.
Their meals are very cheap and pretty good to great. I especially enjoyed their 16 oz porterhouse meal. I had it three times. The price was $8.99 and the grilled steak was cooked to perfection and served with mashed potato and various vegetable sides.
And I loved the ambiance of the place. I could hear the casino music, but it was not blasted as it is in most restaurants. And there was no line of sports television. It was just as diners used to be years ago.
By the end of my visit, I knew to try to sit in the far back corner, and then I'd have a view of all the other folks eating. That was entertaining.
There was usually a wait time of half hour to an hour, but their PA is very clear and it was easy, in this small place, to play and not miss the call to supper.
At Ellis Island I had a steak and egg breakfast special for $6.99 and that sirloin was really incredible. Breakfast steaks tend usually to be a little tough. This was tender and again cooked as I asked. The eggs were perfectly over easy.
When I planned this trip from lockdown, I looked at upscale steak houses because I had not been to a restaurant for months. However, they were unnecessary, and in the end I did not eat in one.
I wake up often at 2 or 3 in the morning and when I travel with my wife to usual places, it is always a challenge to know what to do. If I wake up hungry, I have to just grab a few mixed nuts or grapes.
At the Longhorn I just got dressed and went down to the casino where I could play a little, and then get one of the Graveyard specials. These were very good and at prices I have never seen anywhere. $1.49 bought a large plate of biscuits and gravy. $2.49 bought eggs, bacon, potato, toast. And the place at that time of the day was not crowded.
There is value to all of this.
Longhorn rooms were $50 a night total. That includes resort fee and tax. They were clean, had great TV, and served me well. There was no coffee pot, but I don't like hotel coffee anyway. I take my own equipment, a hot water heater, a ceramic cup, and a stainless steel funnel to drip a cup of my own coffee, or half a cut if I want.
Coffee is always getting cold for me, so sometimes a half cup at a time makes sense.
The hot pot is also good for making tea, and again I get to carry my own brand of tea bag.
I bought a Gourmia a few years ago, but there are many on the market. They fold, so they do not take up much room in the suitcase.
I steep tea bags in a ceramic soup cup and make iced tea with hotel ice.
This week, along with some noise reduction earphones, I've ordered a little electric cup warmer with three temperature settings to take with me on my next trip, as well as a small folding ice chest, so I don't have to make so many ice runs. Ice melts very quickly in those l plastic ice buckets.
So next visit I will really go in style.
When you add all that up, as well as a bus for a dollar, my trip comes out much more frugal even if I lose my bets.
And while I am clearly going a frugal route, I'm comfortable.
TIPPING
I don't really think of tipping as part of a trip expense. It just seems a good way to redistribute the wealth between the Vegas traveler and the working poor who care for them. This is particularly hard time to be waiting tables.
And I'm certainly not going to tip 20% on a meal that cost $1.49. So, I just got in the habit of leaving a $5 bill for everything. It seems the waitress had worked just as hard at the $1.49 as at the $8.99 porterhouse. And then I was freed from having to do the math. They seemed pleased with that.
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