A Not So Frugal Trip To Vegas

Ever since I have returned from Vegas I have been forcing myself to return back to reality, as much as my mind is telling me otherwise.  I have been struggling with my return to the mundane routines called my life, exemplified by dearth of posts over the past week.  I have been trying to catch up with work, my disaster of a cell phone plan, and my finances.  And by finances, I mean that I am trying to figure out what the heck I did with my money.

I possessed a minimal amount of financial discipline on this trip, but boy was it a good time.  I tried keeping as many receipts as possible, but I think I ended up throwing most of them out along with the parlay cards that did not hit any winners at Mandalay Bay.  Now I present to you my spending spree during the Vegas adventure, thanks to Mint.com for letting me download all my transactions into a nice *.csv file! 

Food
1st Day - Dunkin Donuts on way to Airport $3.94
1st Night - I didn't eat that night
2nd Night - Group Dinner at Lugo $75 (pre-priced)
3rd Day - Sports Book lunch $14
4th Day - Bag of chips and Juice $4
5th Day - The best damn meal from Popeye's ever experienced $12
Grand total food - $108.94

Alcohol
1st Day - Airport Pub pre-flight drinks $22
1st Day - In-Air Flight beers $28 (some European neighbors bought rounds as well!)
1st Night - Club Mixx $51
2nd Day - Poolside drinks $36
3rd Day - Sports Book drinks $10
3rd Night - Chasers/6 pack $21
Grand Total Alcohol - $168

Gambling
1st Day - Lost $100 playing 1-2 NL
2nd Day - Won $300 playing 1-2 NL
2nd Night - Lost $120 playing 1-2 NL
3rd Day - Won $125 on college football
3rd Night - Lost $40 on roulette
4th Day - Lost $90 on professional football
Grand total gambling - Up $75

After adding up food + alcohol we get a grand total of $280.  Throw in some party accommodations for $200, my unreal hotel stay for $360, $40 for sunglasses and sun block, and my $320 roundtrip flight (nonstop both ways) and we have preliminary spending total of $1,200!  Damn, I definitely did not see this one coming when I clicked "Yes" on the Evite 3 months ago.  But it is all good because I had an amazing time with a group of guys people and it was my first trip in a very long time. 

Now for a few conclusions on each of the spending categories:

First, I really did not each much food on this trip.  Maybe it's the fact that the casinos pump in oxygen and that threw off my appetite or maybe I was just always stocked up on booze that I just did not feel a need to eat food?  Either way, my stomach was in shambles ever since I returned and I am consuming every fruit and vegetable in site to try and get myself back to normal. 

Secondly, I spent above normal amount on alcohol but in my defense, many of the purchases were for a group of us and some of the other guys picked up on other rounds.  It was a good group of guys where you did not have to worry about issues related to that. 

Finally, I finished on top with my gambling spree.  Regardless if I finished up $1 or $1,000, I won and I was happy.  I could have done even better if I prevented myself from going to the poker room while intoxicated the first and second nights. 

Overall, I did okay with my spending in Vegas, on one hand I really felt every cent was worth it.  However, when I look back at many of things I did there are ways that I could have done better.  I can not emphasize enough of how bad of an idea it is to gamble when you are drunk, there could be some dollars that I am missing just because I do not remember playing in the middle of the night!  Vegas is the type of city that can eat everything you have up and spit you out broke in a matter of minutes.  I am happy I made it out in one piece, although I did take a drunken spill on my back one night off our table at the club (searching for the picture!). 

With my bachelor party(s) coming up in the next year, I have some ideas of what I want to do.  Hopefully, I will make it back to Vegas soon and learn from my mistakes.  Ahh who am I kidding; I had a banging time and wouldn't change damn thing that happened!  Sometimes I will never learn!