view from my room at the Sahara
WEDNESDAY April 16th
Here’s the low down on my latest trip
to Las Vegas. Not entirely comprehensive,
but since no one was paying me to keep
detailed notes, i did the best i could.
Thought I’d be making this one by myself,
but my traveling companion Gina “g-didi” Reed
was able to get some time off work.
She generously offered to be my chaufeur
for the trip.
Left London about 7am and made the
2 hr drive to Detroit Metro Airport.
Only a 5 minute wait in line to cross the
border got us there with time to spare.
Flew SouthWest Airlines this trip
($245 round trip taxes incl.)
I definitely miss flying WestJet.
Despite both using Boeing 737,
the WestJet has individual expressvu
satellite television on the back of the seat
which makes the flight pass by way quicker.
We made a quick hop from DTW to Chicago,
an hour layover and then on to Las Vegas.
Arrived at McCarron Airport around 3:30pm
and picked up our rental car. Used discount
code "TARR" at Dollar.com and got the car
from Wednesday aft to Monday morn for
$116 all included. I recommend not getting
a P/T Cruiser if at all possible. Piece of crap,
and not that good on gas for a 4 cyl.
They didn’t have any mid-sized or larger cars
left, and didn’t feel like waiting around for one
to be returned, so we took the P/T Cruiser.
Renting a car is definitely the way to go.
Gives you the freedom to go to any casino,
restaurant or attraction you want, not just
what’s close to your hotel. Consider that a
cab ride anywhere is $10 and a cab any distance
is gonna run you $20. You can take the "Deuce"
bus for $5 a day, but you can wait a while for one
during prime times and you still end up walking
a fair bit. For the cost of one cab ride a day, you
can rent a car and do things on your own schedule.
We were hungry after a day of traveling
so we stopped by TERRIBLES Casino
(4100 Paradise Rd.) It was International & BBQ
night at the buffet. Decent food selection:
Carved roast beef, shrimp, jerk chicken,
Thai peanut chicken skewers, along with
the usually buffet staples. Used 2 for 1 coupon:
$10.74 Tax Inc for both of us. Food: B Service: C
(didn’t like that the server picked our cutlery
from bulk tubs and brought it with us to the table)
Walked through the casino and was compelled
to play The Price is Right DICE GAME slot machine.
My dog Titus has a favourite toy, his dice and the
TPIR machines were giving good action on the
last trip. Up a few bucks then…Cha-Ching ! + $160.
Cashed out. Seemed to be an older crowd here,
smoky, and very busy every where we went
on the floor, especially on the cheap slots.
Headed over to the SAHARA hotel and
checked into my room. Fast check in, no line up.
Put our valuables in lock box (no in-room safe).
Dumped our bags, had a quick shower then
went down to the casino floor to check it out.
A little smokey, but not unbearable.
Found the poker room. Its generally pretty
slow if there aren’t any tournaments going on.
Tournies get 4-7 tables for their $40 + $20 events.
Dealers are adequate, but their pitch accuracy
and speed could use a bit of work. (doesn’t help
that the cards were beyond their useful life).
Drink service in the poker room was
very slow and the waitresses were old
and/or homely looking.
Sahara poker room spreads $1/3 NoLimit
($300max), but didn’t have one going.
We got them to start a list and within 10 minutes
we were playing. We started with 4 players
and they didnt start taking a rake until we had
7 players (fair I thought). The game was
reasonably soft, passive.
Was dealt: 67 of clubs. Flop: Ad,4c,5c.
Bet out, only g-didi called.
Turn was 8c. Check-check.
I bet $3 on the river. G-didi said she had nothing,
but I think she smelled a rat and folded.
Won $ 150 jackpot for my 4 thru 8 straight flush.
+ the $24 in the pot.
Not long after, Gina had pocket QQ against
3 players (including me). She flopped a set,
played it fairly strong & made Quad Queens
on the river. Unfortunately,Gina's Jackpot
for quads was only $50. I think she won more
than that from the pot.
Played for about 5 hours til 1am and
called it a night, was feeling the effects of
not much sleep the previous few nights
& a long day of travel.
Headed back to the hotel room on the
8th floor of the Alexandria tower. The room
was somewhat dated looking but adequate,
clean, quiet, no smells. It had in room
wi-fi (+$12/day), a small tv and a comfortable
king size bed. Windows opened completely,
not really a balcony, more like a cement perch
you could stand on, although I’m not sure
you were really supposed to.
Room didn’t have independent temperature
control. You could turn the fan on/off, but the
temp is set based on outside temperature.
Wasn’t a problem this trip (avg. temp was 65-70F
at night, 75-80F during day), but I can’t imagine
not having control of the room temperature during
the summer when it’s 40C/115F.
The only other downside to the Sahara was
these annoying Tahiti Village agents, standing
in the lobby by the casino floor entrance, trying to
get you to go on a time share presentation in
exchange for free show tickets. Fuck off.
(You’ve probably seen the commercials on tv
late at night with Allan Thicke offering you
a free 3 night vegas holiday).
Hotel location was pretty convenient,
easy access to the strip and downtown along
the less busy streets like Paradise Rd.
Can catch the monorail from the Sahara
to the rest of the strip as well.
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