1st Solo Trip June 1-4th The Linq

This was just copied and pasted out of my every day blog. I forgot to post the trip here live. This is just the recap for my friends, but I thought I'd share it here. What the heck. I hope you enjoy.

I’ve been wanting to take a solo trip to Vegas for a while now. In fact we just got back from Vegas in April, and that started out as a solo trip for me and suddenly turned into a partial solo trip for Rob
with me joining him for the last three days of it. Not sure how that happened, but alas, he gets much more time off of work than I do.
Well, this month my work decided to shut down on a random Friday to get our new cubicles up and running. As I was bragging about this to my husband that I actually had a day off and he didn’t, he mentioned that it would be perfect timing for a flight to Vegas. You see, Allegiant flies out of our hometown in a straight shot to Vegas and back, but only twice a week. Once on Thursdays and once on Sundays.
It was too perfect! Rob had a gig that Saturday so he wouldn’t be able to go. I should note that it’s not that I don’t enjoy traveling with my husband, because I very much do. In fact, he keeps me sane
most of the times when something goes awry during a trip. But I have been reading solo trip reports online, and the fact that he enjoyed his own solo portion of the last trip, made me want to try it. It would be an opportunity to go do and see the things that he isn’t really interested in. I know he would go with me, but he’d bored out of his mind and I’d feel the need to rush through the experience instead of enjoy it.
Anyhoo, long story short, I booked my tickets and started planning what was sure to be a fun filled weekend of me time.
Thursday night I would arrive and be checked into the hotel by 10 at night. I would have drinks and go play gamble until I was sleepy and get some food and sleep. For Friday I decided to try a delivery grocery service I had heard good things about. They were set to deliver to my hotel between the hours of 11:00AM and noon. Based on that, I made plans afterward to go to the Cosmopolitan for the Chandelier bar and Eggslut, followed by the Bellagio for the Fountains, The Conservatory and High Tea at Petrossian Bar, followed by Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum at The Venetian and stopping for a Fried Green Tomato sandwich at Yardbird. Saturday I was going to go see Menopause The Musical at Harrah’s. I had seen it once with my mom eons ago, but given that I had just turned 43, I thought I would see more humor in it. Also, I had free tickets. After that I wanted to get a cocktail and a bowl of lobster bisque at Oyster’s Bar and Grill before coming back to the hotel to pack and gamble.
The reason I am going into such details on these plans is because they didn’t work out the way I wanted them to.
On my morning break at work on Thursday, I got a text from Allegiant saying my flight was going to be delayed by four hours. No explanation, just that it would hopefully be “on time” for its delayed time.
Well that was a bummer since my husband was originally going to drive me over to the airport after work so that we could have a nice dinner and then I would just board and not really have to wait.
I went through work that day debating on if I should just let him drop me off and have me have to wait six hours at the airport or if I should go home and at least get some rest before driving myself up there at the now delayed time. I had read that sometimes they lift the delays and if they do that, they don’t hold the plane for anyone who might not be at the airport.
In the end I split the difference. We drove home and then I drove back to the airport in enough time to board at the tail end of the boarding time in case the delay was lifted.
It wasn’t.
I had something to eat at the airport bar/eatery and three cocktails.
The flight didn’t end up leaving until after ten thirty that night, the time I was already supposed to be tucked into my hotel room in Vegas.
The flight was blessedly short, shaving 20 minutes off of its original flying time that was listed.
I arrived at the Vegas airport around midnight and headed for my uber.
“At least there won’t be any traffic at this time of night.” I told my uber driver, thus sealing my fate.
Two minutes later we ran into construction in a tunnel that eventually petered all four or five lanes into one. Nice one Kel!
I got to my hotel (The Linq) a little before one in the morning and of course there was a line at check in. Finally got up to my room around 1:30 and I was Exhausted!
Here is a little video of my room, in case you are interested:





The first thing I did was unpack and get out of my sweaty clothes. Vegas is HOT AF in June. I had a couple of drinks in the room and then got redressed and ventured downstairs in search of dinner. I already knew what I wanted and where I wanted it.
I got to Hash House A Go Go and ordered a BBBLT and sweet potato fries to go.


The BBBLT is basically a BLT, with a crap-ton of bacon on it. It was gooooood!
I tried to play some gamble, but I was just too tired.


I headed up to my room and watched some crappy TV until I fell alseep.
My grocery delivery from Von's was set for the hour block between 11:00 AM and Noon. I set my alarm for 10:30 and snoozed it a few times. It was not enough sleep. I managed to peel myself out of bed five before eleven, brush my teeth and hair and throw on last nights clothes in preparation for my impending delivery.
Around 11:45 I'm beginning to get a little worried. By 12:30 I am on the phone with the help line from the Von's delivery website. After about ten minutes on hold I get a nice customer service woman that informs me that they had IT issues early in the day and the delivery guy will be leaving the store in about fifteen minutes. I am fifth in line for delivery. I asked for an ETA and she said at least two hours.
Okay fine. I'm not happy about it and I wish they would have called the customers to let them know there was a delay, but there isn't much I can do at that point and now I know I can at least shower.
Which I do, and then I headed downstairs to the gift store to get some crackers and a ginger ale. I didn't want to buy too much because I have a lot of snacks and soda and water coming from the delivery, but I needed something because I had drunk all the water in the room and needed to take my meds.
Back up in the room, I had what was leftover of my sandwich from the night before and some crackers. I updated my social media and had some drinks. I was really entertained by my pool view in the room.




I wasn't that upset at the wait at that point, because part of this trip was to have some downtime...I just didn't like the fact that I wasn't in control of when that time would be.
Around three in the afternoon, I get a call from the delivery driver that he was about ten minutes out.
About 25 minutes later I get a call from the bell desk saying that my items had been delivered and would I like them to bring them up? Relieved that I might be able to salvage part of the day, I say yes.
The bell desk brings up a bunch of stuff in bags as well as my 12 pack of soda and 2 six packs of water. I chat with the gentleman as he unloads about how this is a great service and he is surprised more ppl don't take advantage of it. I tip him and he leaves.
I go straight to the water and soda and put some of them into the mini fridge. I approach the rest of the bags and right away I know something is wrong. I had ordered one large bottle of cheap vodka, a box of pop tarts, a bag of doritos, cheetos and a box of mini chocolate chip cookies in addition to the soda and water and these bags were decidedly smaller bottle shaped.
I opened everything to discover 8 bottles of champagne, 1 large bottle of merlot, a bunch of bananas, 2 limes and a half dozen roma tomatoes.
I almost cried.
I had two options. I could pretend that nothing happened, go downstairs and get my snacks and booze and get on with my day, or I could call and report it. What would you do?
Knowing what I know now, I would have ignored it. However, the nature of the goods told me it was someone having a small party. And what if it was a wedding party? Their day has been ruined when they get my order of cheap booze and junk food! I couldn't stand the thought of it, so I hopped on the phone to customer service assuming that they would come right back and pick up the wrong items so they could get them to the appropriate party.
After another fifteen minutes on hold I finally got another lovely woman on the line that was very sympathetic and I went through the whole story. We went over what I was supposed to get and what I got instead and a half an hour later she said she would have someone come pick up the wrong items but she couldn't get a delivery out to me with my correct items until the next day between 11 AM and 1 PM.
At this point I should have said forget it, but there was nothing urgent in my order. I had some booze with me that I had brought in my suitcase and there were plenty of food options around. I said that was fine. I asked if I could just leave the wrong items with the bell desk and have the driver pick them up. She said she didn't see why not and she would put a note in the account.
Fine.
I hang up and text my husband all that is going on and then call down to the bell desk. I explain the situation and they inform me that they cannot just keep the items there. They are not allowed to have food or beverage sitting around there. They said once I hear from the driver, I am allowed to bring them down and they will deliver them to the driver.
Now I am crying. Did I mention I was PMSing? Yeah. I hang up. I am defeated. I want to say fuck the whole thing, but now I am in it because they know I have these wrong items that are WAY more expensive than what I purchased and they have my credit card on file.
I call back the customer service line and see if I can get an ETA on the driver. After a half an hour on hold I get a nice gentleman that tells me there is nothing on my account about someone picking them up. We go round and round and finally he tells me that they will just pick up the items when they drop off my correct items. I tell him to note the account and take his name and hang up. Exhausted.
At this point it's well into the evening and the thought of trying to "catch up" on the things I wanted to do that day was just too much for my over tired brain. So I headed down to the casino to play some slots.



The Karma Gods were good to me that night. The machines were keeping me above water and the cocktail service was fast. Before I knew it it was eleven o clock, I was starving and could barely keep my eyes open.
I headed to Guy Fieri's Kitchen and Bar and ordered the Mac N Cheese burger to go. A cutie pie of a bartender took my order and flirted with me, ensuring a big tip. I got my burger and headed up to my room.





Yes, that is delicious mac and cheese oozing out the top of that burger. It was as disgustingly good as it looks.

Saturday morning I woke up at 11:00 and showered. I packed up all the wrong items Von's had shipped to me in my suitcase and waited for the call. Finally at around 12:30 I get a call that the guy is ten minutes away. He had no idea he was supposed to be picking up anything, but quickly agreed to it no problem. I told him I would meet him down at the Valet and headed down to the entrance of the casino where the uber driver had dropped me at when I first arrived Friday morning.
Fifteen minutes later I get a call from the driver asking which valet I was at. I told him the front entrance. He said he was at the back valet by the High Roller. He said to give him ten minutes and he'd come around front.
Twelve minutes later I get a call saying they won't let him into the front valet because his truck is too big. I told him I would come to him and call him when I get to the back valet.
Only, I couldn't find the back valet. I managed to find the uber pick up at the bus lobby somewhere around the side of the casino and called the guy back. He said that he couldn't park there either, but for me to hold tight, he was grabbing a hand truck and coming to me. And he did.
Five minutes later a very apologetic man greeted me and we exchanged our goods.
By 1:30 I was finally done with the Von's fiasco and delivered the correct crap up to my room.

I had a few drinks in the room and watched in amusement as there was a twerking competition at the pool from my view.






I had originally planned on seeing Menopause the Musical that day but since I had already seen it and the tickets were free, I opted out in favor of doing the Cosmo and Bellagio that I was supposed to do the day before.
I grabbed a Lyft over to The Cosmopolitan and headed up to the second floor of the Chandelier Bar.











This bar is just stunning. It was also a very relaxing environment. If the drinks weren't fifteen bucks a pop I could have stayed here most of the afternoon and just chilled. However, I was on a mission. I bellied up to the bar and ordered my Verbena.
I had never had one before but had heard all about them. It is their signature drink, but it is not on the menu. It is basically a margarita. It's tequila, lemongrass syrup and lemon juice mostly, but the key ingredient is the Szechuan Button.



The button is actually a flower. It's purpose is to activate your salivary glands to make you a super taster. Thus changing the taste of the drink with each sip.
As the bartender brought over my drink he asked if I had ever had one before. I shook my head so he explained that I should take a sip of the drink first to get the original tasted, then I was to chew the "button" and get it all around in my mouth and tongue before swallowing the flower. Then as it made my mouth go off like a sparkler, I should drink more of the drink and get all the different tastes.
I did as he said, tho I did not swallow the flower. For some reason in my head I was scared of what it might do to my stomach if it was going to do funny things to my mouth. At any rate, as I spit the flower into my napkin discreetly, I began to feel the buzz in my mouth. Just little tingles at first that became a pins and needles sensation. You know how it feels when you foot goes to sleep and the feeling starts to come back. That buzzy, prickly feeling? Yeah, that was happening to my entire mouth.



My face after chewing the "button"

So it did alter the taste of the drink quite a bit and it was a really good experience that I am glad I tried...but I really can't stand the taste of tequila, so I wouldn't get it again. I wonder if you can request the flower with other drinks...hmmm.
Once I had finished the drink and my mouth returned to normal, I paid my bill and set off for EggSlut. I wasn't that hungry so I got the bacon egg and cheese sandwich to go and headed over to the Bellagio.
There was a fountain show going on just as I approached.






Inside I visited the Conservatory which was done up in an Asian theme.















After that I was going to Uber back over to the Linq, but I realized I would be able to catch the hot food being served at the Diamond Lounge at Harrah's so I had the driver take me there instead.
There was a small line, but for free food and drinks, I was willing to wait five minutes.





After I ate, I headed to the high limit slots. Rob had wanted me to run a hundred thru a machine on so many pulls to see what I would get. I managed to screw it up and lost the hundred pretty quickly.





I walked back to the Linq and rested in the room for a bit, before heading down to the Flamingo and gambling some more. I gambled at the Linq and Flamingo, but the machines had dried up on me. Knowing I had to get up in the morning for my flight and that I would be depressed if I lost anymore money, I hit up Haught Doggery for some mini corn dogs and headed back up to my room.

















I packed up most of my stuff, ate and went to bed.

Sunday morning I woke up, showered and packed the rest of my crap up.
I ubered to the airport (first uber driver called me twice, couldn't find my location AT THE UBER PICK UP and canceled the transaction) and waited around for my flight.
There was a slight delay, but once they fixed whatever the problem was, they herded us like a bunch of cattle onto the plane. "All zones boarding! Doors will close in five minutes!!" Like it was our fault that the delay happened.
Once we took off I experienced some of the worst turbulence I have ever had in my life. I know it's bumpy going in and out of Vegas due to the extreme heat, but this was bad. At one point I could feel the plane drop a few hundred feet all at once. It was seriously freaking me out since I hate flying in the first place.
Finally after about fifteen minutes of being tossed around it settled into a nice smooth flight.

So that was my first solo trip to Vegas. A very large comedy of errors.
Knowing what I know now, I would have just let the whole Von's thing slide and gone to the CVS down the street, leaving the champagne to the hotel maid as a tip. It would have been money lost, but in the long run my time would have been better spent on such a short trip.
But hindsight is 20/20 and at the time I thought I was doing the right thing.
I still had fun, it just wasn't the fantastic weekend I had planned for myself.
Either way, Vegas is out of my system for now and I will do whatever I didn't do this trip when we go for a week in November.

Also, here is the link to all of the photos I took on this trip.

 

Thank you for your feedback. I can't apologize for trying to do the "right thing" and get the wrong items to the correct party. That was my main concern. Had I known that Von's would be so lackadaisical about it, I wouldn't have even bothered.
I did, in fact, note that you were from Cali because of your use of the words hella and dope, which are about 10 years too old to be any sort of hip.
Also, thank you for commenting on a post that you did not finish reading. I'm sure that made your judgement of me all that much more accurate in the name calling.
I honestly thank you for your response. I feel very inferior to your manly world travels having seen it. I realize now I should just go into a corner and knit.

 

Thanks. I was married in Vegas, so I couldn't stand the thought that some wedding party was getting all my junk food and cheap booze. While I will not use Von's again, I get that everyone has a bad day. And had I been on a longer trip, this wouldn't have been such an issue. My husband still wants to try their service in November when we go for a full week. I'll leave that up to him and stay out of it. Thanks for your kind words.

Thanks, I'm hoping the same thing. I don't know when I'll get the time off to have another solo trip but I'm hoping the Karma Gods will be good to me next year and provide such a thing.

Thanks, in the end I had a lot of fun, even if it was packed into the last day and a half. I also learned a lot about how I function on my own on a solo trip and how I would do things differently. @MissL7777 you got it, I'll buy.

It's true. And the whole reason I did the Von's thing was that I was being lazy and didn't want to have to walk down to the CVS and pay more when I got there. I had a 20.00 off coupon and free shipping for Von's so it seemed ideal. Normally, when I go with my husband and are there for a full week, we drive so hitting up a cheap grocery store is the first thing we do. Oh well. If I hadn't of tried, I wouldn't know. Glad I worked out all the bugs on my first solo trip. The next one will be EPIC!