As I detailed in Part 1, I had completed my travel and arrived in Las Vegas. Now it was time for the fun to begin.
The interesting thing about Vegas is that really, the fun never ends. Gambling and partying and strip-clubs and shopping and fine dining all go on 24/7, and there are temptations calling you as soon as you walk out of your hotel room. The famous saying is, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” and that is particularly true of certain types of activities. With that in mind, there are certain parts of the trip that I won’t be talking about here, namely partying, strip clubs, and similar activities. Not that anything really “bad” happened out there, but you just have to respect that people go to Vegas to cut loose, and don’t want someone blogging about it afterwards. Instead, I’m going to focus on the central premise of Las Vegas — money.
Las Vegas is a massively growing city with new multi-million dollar mega-hotels being built every year. These hotels keep popping up for the simple reason that there is a lot of money to be made. Every activity in Vegas is designed to part you from your money, from obvious activities such as gambling and fine dining to less obvious things such as using the gym in your hotel. Back when I was a lawyer, this wasn’t really a problem for me. I had lots of money, and if I blew a grand or three in the course of a wild weekend it was ok because as soon as my next pay check arrived I would barely remember the money that was lost. Now, however, I am a scuba instructor, and unfortunately it is an underpaid profession. If I spend two thousand dollars on a Vegas weekend, that is one-tenth of my annual income. A big night out in Vegas consisting of a nice dinner followed by going out to a night club (and transportation to and from each) can easily cost more than what I earn in a week. And while my income has dropped as I switched from lawyer to scuba instructor, my friends’ incomes have all increased as they have continued to rise in the corporate world. Although many of them now have families and increased expenses, they still have way more income than I do, and can still afford to spend more freely.
My first encounter with budgeting came before I even left for Vegas, as my group of friends discussed our hotel situation. In the past we’ve stayed at the Mandalay Bay hotel, and my friends were happy to stay there this time around. In fact, the plan was to stay in “The Hotel”, which is the fancier branch of the Mandalay Bay. Even though the plan was to put three people in a room to ease the cost per person, it was still a bit out of my price-range. After exploring my options, I found a room at the Wild Wild West hotel, a small dive located off the strip that targeted truckers. I knew that it would not be in the same league as the Mandalay, but it would help me have money to spend on some other fun activities.
As it turns out, the rooms at the Wild Wild West were adequate (it was similar to a Motel 6, although probably not as nice — there was not even an alarm clock in the room). But there were two surprise benefits to staying at the Wild Wild West. First, it had its own casino, and because it was a dump hotel, the minimum stakes at the table were relatively low. I was able to play $5 blackjack and craps at Wild West, whereas at most of the big resort hotels (including Mandalay) it is very difficult to even find a $10 table. Because of my monetary concerns, my gambling budget for the trip was quite small, and the low stakes tables allowed me to get some gambling in without breaking my bank. The second advantage of the Wild West is that it is located directly across the street from In-and-Out Burger, perhaps the greatest fast-food chain there is. In-and-Out Burger is a west-coast chain, and we didn’t have them in New York (and they are certainly not in Cayman). One of the special treats of a Vegas trip is making a stop at In-and-Out Burger and enjoying their Double-Double burger (get it “animal style” — very good). Because of its proximity to the Wild Wild West, I was able to enjoy In-and-Out Burger more than once (to the benefit of my wallet but the detriment of my diet).
Even with $5 tables at the Wild West, gambling can put a hit on your budget very quickly. I still wanted to limit my exposure to gambling, and to do this it is important to find activities to keep you occupied, especially during the day (at night we were often partaking in the party oriented activities that I am not going to write about). My friend Adam had done some advance research, and on Saturday afternoon, Adam, my friend Craig and I partook in a fun and affordable activity, as we drove away from the strip and made a visit to the Pinball Hall of Fame. Located in a run-down strip mall, the Pinball Hall of Fame houses hundreds of pinball games and old-school arcade games. There is no charge to enter, and most of the games cost only a quarter to play (the more expensive ones cost from fifty cents to a dollar). This turned out to be a lot of fun. Adam and Craig took part in an epic battle in the classic video game Track and Field. Adam and I played air hockey, and Craig and I played the classic USA/Russia hockey game with the players that slide and spin. And of course, we all played lots of pinball. It was a fun way to spend two hours, and it cost less than five dollars.
The timing of our trip provided a great cost-free form of entertainment: Sports. We were there during the baseball playoffs, so there were times when a group of us would just hang out in one of the rooms at the Mandalay, drinking some beers and watching the Red Sox play the Rays in baseball during the American League Championship Series. And football provided a great deal of entertainment, both on Saturday with college football and Sunday with the pro games. Some of the guys in our crew were so into football that after staying up all night partying on Saturday, they went directly to the sports-book on Sunday (the games start at 10am Vegas time), skipping sleep entirely just to watch football. I was not that hardcore; I did get a few hours on sleep on Saturday night, and I was happy to have an enjoyable and expense-free way to spend the day on Sunday.
It was a bit disappointing for me to have to concern myself with money and a budget on this Vegas trip. There are only a few of these big guys weekends left for my group of friends (as most of us are married, and many have kids), and it was a bit of a shame to not be able to go all-out because of financial concerns. But that is one of the trade-offs of my career change. I’m much happier on a day to day basis, but I can no longer spend money without care the way I used to, and I now have to weigh the value of what I buy or do against a day’s wages (or in many cases out Las Vegas, a week’s wages). I did my best to enjoy myself on the money I could afford to spend, and in the end I was able to have a great time and stay on my budget. With that said, though, I hope that by the time the next Las Vegas weekend rolls around, I’ll be living on a better salary and will be able to once again live the life of a high roller!
