Planning Vegas

It's time for me to start planning my yearly October trip to Las Vegas.  It has became a tradition for my friend from Ohio and me to meet up in Sin City once a year. 

His favorite hotel and casino is the Riviera, so that is where we usually stay.  This year will be the most expensive stay for us out there.  Part of it is because we will be staying through the weekend.  We are usually out there through the week when the rooms are less expensive.  We will also be getting seperate rooms this time, as his nephew is coming out too. 

I'm all about getting more bang for my buck.  The less I spend on the flight and hotel gives me more money for gambling and food.  I decided to get a little creative now that we have Southwest at our airport. 

I signed up for a Southwest card to start getting reward points to use towards some free flights.  The initial offer for signing up is enough points for 2 free roundtrip flights after you spend 2000.00 on the card in 3 months.  That won't be hard for me to do.  I can pay for everything we normally get with the card then pay it off after each purchase.  It is also through my bank so it will be easier for me to pay it off each time.

Usually I am willing to sacrifice a couple of things to get a lower price.  This time however I am going to pay the price.  I could leave a day earlier and save 125.00.  I could fly a different airline and have a layover and save 75.00.  I want a direct flight and want to spend my time there rather than in another airport or on a plane.  With a non stop flight it will take me 2 1/2 hours to get there and I leave and get there at the perfect time of day for me.  The layover flight is 7 1/2 hours.  I'll pay for convenience this time.  I must be getting older. 

I will also opt out of taking a bus to the hotel this time and take a cab.  We'll see once I get there.  I'm still a little cheap.