Hipfest VI: Back for more comps! - Day One

The view from our room at Flamingo.

I was just getting ready to head to Las Vegas for an impromtu trip over November/December when Kip was talking about our annual winter trip.  Originally it was in January, but we had moved it to Feb/Mar a few times to cover our birthday months.  She said March would work for her, and I said I really should be in Las Vegas during my birthday month, since I had some extra birthday perks.  So the day before I left, she booked a decent airfare for a Jan/Feb trip.  She has a companion pass on Southwest, so I was going to fly for free, but the better airfares were in my area (Washington, DC) and not her's (Philadelphia).

She worked out the travel details and was going to stay in a hotel near my offer, where I was going to park, since I could park at my office for free, and the Metro station was about a 1/4 mile away.  Unfortunately, she had to deal with a few family emergencies (with the trip being in jeopardy of not happening), but things worked out, except she arrived in town around 12:30 AM.  We didn't get to the hotel until about an hour later, good thing we didn't have a super early flight!

We had also spent a month or so planning the trip with a few other people.  Then two weeks before, an opportunity came up where I made some drastic changes to the schedule.  Fortunately, it worked out pretty well, except that there were some other issues during the trip that caused additional changes.

Our original bookings were four nights at Flamingo and four nights at Plaza.  I did a status match at Ocean casino in Atlantic City which one of the benefits were two nights comped at Wynn.  I had to wait until Jan 15 to book, and the brochure said it needed to be booked 30 days in advance, but what's the harm in calling?  When I first called, they said the status match wasn't in the system.  I called back a few days later and they said they would be able to book the room.  The clerk also offered me a room at Encore, which I readily accepted.  I booked the room for the last Thu/Fri for our stay, since we also had a Masterclass booked for Friday, plus I was going to use my Wynn Platinum status $150 birthday credit.

Now I had to contact my host at Plaza to see if I could move my reservation back two nights.  I saw online that rooms were pretty limited.  I was already booked in a suite, but told her having a room was more important than the suite.  She said a suite wasn't available for the change, but she put me in a luxe room.  I had stayed in a luxe room on my previous stay, so I knew it would be okay.  So now that I moved my Plaza reservation back, I called Flamingo and shortened my stay there two nights.  Although there would be two hotel changes instead of one, it cut down on two play days (one at Flamingo and one at Plaza), plus it freed up the last two days of our trip.

We had a 12:35 PM departure from IAD, so we got up and had the free breakfast at the Embassy Suites where we were staying.  I drove across the street to park my car at my office and then we walked to the Metro station.  Metro had recently expanded service past Dulles airport last November, so this was my first time taking the Metro to that airport (I had previously taken connector busses there).

Although the stations is across the parking lot from the terminal, I think it was only like a 5-10 minute walk to get there, probably about the same from walking from the Metro to the Southwest gates at Washington Reagan National airport.

There was no line at the Southwest desk for check-in.  I was worried my bag might be too heavy, and breathed a sigh of relief when the scale stopped at 48 pounds!

We had a connection in MDW, and our flight wasn't full, so we had an empty middle seat.  We ordered mimosas and we going to pay, but the flight attendant tried to put the champagne bottle on a napkin that was covering the divot on the tray where drinks go, and the champagne bottle spilled.  Fortunately in the unoccupied middle seat, well, unoccupied by a person, there was "someone" in that seat.

Jacques D. Monquee was soaking in champagne, but we did get our drinks for free!

We had a slight delay leaving MDW, plus it was a full flight, so that was sub optimal.  Because it was a full flight, we were sitting aisle/aisle.  There were a couple of women next to me, and when drink service came, Kip and I were going to pay for a drink, when the woman next to me pulls out drink coupons and tells me that she doesn't usually drink, so asked if I wanted to use one.  I said I was getting one for my friend as well, so she gave me two tickets.  How nice!  They were asking what to drink (since they didn't drink often).  I was going to get a mimosa, but changed to a tequila and orange juice, so they got the same.  They found the tequila a bit strong for them, but they seemed to enjoy it for the rest of the flight.  We were supposed to arrive at 4:20, but didn't land until around 4:45.  We arrived at the rental car facility around 5:30 with my car waiting for me (thanks, Avis).

We made some stops at Total Wine and Target and arrived at our first hotel, Flamingo, around 7:00.  I had hoped to use the Diamond check-in, but it was already closed.  I had already booked a nice Flamingo Executive room, which was very nice.

A view into the room!

We were supposed to meet my friend, Jill, at Fat Choy at Eureka at 6:30 for dinner, but with the flight delay, we were pushed back.  I thought I sent her a message when we were at the rental car facility, but I failed to send it.  We sent her a message as we were leaving Flamingo, so we didn't get there until 7:45.  Normally that isn't an issue, but Jill keeps East Coast hours for her job, and it wasn't good for her to be eating so late.  We were very apologetic.  I've always had a good meal at Fat Choy.  Since it was Friday, the special was fish, so I opted to have the short rib grilled cheese that was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives (also using the LVA 2-1 entree coupon).

Short rib grilled cheese, and a side of chili.

We played a bit at Eureka, using the LVA FP coupon (earning $10 FP for 500 points, we didn't win).  We took a small loss overall.  We then headed to The D to pick up the $50 in match plays for showing our Southwest boarding passes.  We went up to Vue Bar (of course).  I don't recollect if we played or not, but I somewhat recall us ending up with a small profit for the first night.

I believe we got back to Flamingo around midnight. . .