Fastest Vegas Trip EVER!

This will be the fastest (shortest) Vegas trip I've ever made, and I hope I never have to make one like it again.

I will be headed to Vegas in the morning to get my mom and bring her home when she is released from the hospital.  On the last day of her trip with her sister last week (Monday night), she tripped and fell outside the elevators at Harrah's. (For the record, this was completely an accident - Harrah's was not at fault at all, and she is completely ready to go back and stay at Harrah's again on a future trip.)

 After a trip to the emergency room with Las Vegas' finest EMT's, she was admitted and found to have a broken right hip and a broken right arm.  She had surgery to put pins in her hip last Wednesday, and she has been in the hospital for 9 days.  She has recovered enough to finally come home.  Luckily my aunt was able to extend her stay by a couple of days to make sure everything was okay, and also VERY lucky that we have wonderful relatives in Las Vegas who have been looking out for her welfare, keeping the doctors in line, and advocating to get mom released to her family as soon as possible.

My job is to go out and escort her back, so I will be headed out first thing in the morning and we will be home before dark.  I am SO looking forward to seeing her and getting her back home again!  

Our October trip plans have changed, and I will be headed to Vegas for my birthday alone, but I will be adding her on to my January solo trip to make up for the missed trip next month.  I want her to be completely comfortable on her next trip - and I will be watching her like a hawk!

You can't say my mom is not a true gambler: she has stated that "Hell, yes!" we will be gambling in McCarran Airport tomorrow afternoon while we wait to take our trip home!

Here's to a safe and worry-free trip!  Cheers and Viva Las Vegas!

Link to Video: "The ARIA Welcome"

I mentioned "The ARIA Welcome" once before after I had stayed there, and I said I wished I'd known the room was going to be so welcoming (in such a different way!) because I would have recorded it.

No need to worry about that anymore.  Here's a link to what your ARIA room does the very first time you open your door: 
Oooh and Aaah!

It will only do it once, so BE PREPARED and PAY ATTENTION!  I don't think any other hotel room says "Hello, there!" quite like this.

So cool!

Making a frugal plan for my January solo trip - even though I haven't left for my October trip!

I'm a planner.  It's my thing.

I'm already thinking ahead to January 2014, when I have my next solo trip planned.  That's not to say that I'm not excited about my October trip with my mom because I AM, but my mind is thinking ahead to a challenge: "What can I get for free?"

I'm seriously considering using my Total Rewards (www.caesars.com), my M Life rewards (www.mlife.com), and the myVegas comps I'm planning on redeeming in the next few weeks to get free meals and shows and cover all of my expenses outside of my gambling.

It's not that far of a stretch, really.  My room at Harrah's is already comped, so no problem there.  Outside of airfare (which my family helps with by giving me much-loved SWA gift cards as gifts!), I have meals and entertainment to cover when not gambling.  Is it possible I could become a frugal Vegas visitor like my friend Dewey?  (He's on my favorite blog list, but here's a quick link to his Vegas blog if you haven't seen it yet: Vegas Adventures)  It is possible that I could cover the cost of everything outside of gambling easily.

I'm a low-rolling gambler, but I have enough comps built up that I could eat easily at Total Rewards and/or M Life properties for my entire solo trip without any problem.  Add in the myVegas rewards that I'm earning through playing the game on Facebook and I can also throw in another meal, a show (will it be LOVE again? probably), and another visit to the Mirage habitat, depending on what I choose to redeem.  And I just remembered the Wynn buffet that I could redeem with my points that continue to wait...wait...wait...for me.

So...will I eat breakfast at Harrah's, redeem a myVegas reward for lunch at the Bellagio buffet, see the dolphins and tigers at The Mirage before seeing the Beatles in LOVE once again?  Redeem some Total Rewards comps for dollars and have a nice meal at Mon Ami Gabi on the patio while watching the Bellagio fountains across the Strip?  Try the Aria buffet?  Go for cheeseburgers at Mix when I visit Mandalay Bay?  Another round of Zen mojitos at Fin in The Mirage?  Wynn buffet while I'm taking a break from taking more photos?

So many options, and plenty of time to decide what I REALLY want to do!

Only 33 days until my October trip, and I'm already looking to the future beyond that one!