Planning the $1000 Las Vegas Vacation - part 6 Scroungy McScroungeface

It's been a great couple of days here in Cheapbastardland aka Flusherville. I've worked out a few things and got some nice discounts.

And there is exciting news! Where to start?

Exciting News!

First of all, the Las Vegas Advisor coupons have arrived! So I'm good to go there. I can probably use more of the buffet coupons than I thought I would be able to - many of the BOGOs (Buy One Get One free) either state on the front or in the fine print on the back that they can be used for 50% off for Single Lonely Diners.

And that's me.

Sometimes I wonder if I would have the cubes to find someone in line that is going to pay that would let me apply the coupon so I could eat free.

I don't wonder it for long. That would be a pretty outrageous ask. We'll see...

Next up, the car.

The Car!

I did two approaches. AeroPlan has offers where you rent a car, you get a discount, and (useless) AeroFailPlan points. And, Royal Canadian Veeblefetzer (where the grommet shavings are often swept up and mistaken for wild rice in the cafeteria) happens to have corporate discount and upgrade codes.

Fortunately, the Quad Queen works in the officy part of the plant, in the Estimatin' Department. And she was able to get those codes.

Jimmy Poon and I sat down and he opened two 'browser' (whatever that is) windows - and in one we ran the numbers for the AeroFUPlan codes, and in the other, the exact same parameters for the Veeblefetzer codes.

I arrive in Vegas late in the evening, and the next day I probably just want to stay put, rather than picking up a car and tooling around everywhere. So I looked at a 10 day rental.

Yikes.

It was crazy town expensive. Over $400 US. Halfway to $500 US. OK, OK, $451 US. And that was with deselecting every collision damage, personal umbrage, fashion disaster, and alien insurrection waiver I could find. (We are otherwise covered. Except for aliens.)

And, as you will recall with incredible perception and detail, I have a $200 credit to use for travel expenses on a Visa card - expenses such as a car rental. Well that wasn't going to cut it at all.

We cut back to a week on both 'browser' windows and by Godfrey it was still pretty darn expensive. (I think it was my late Uncle Jack that used to say by Godfrey, but I'm pretty sure he said a few worse things than that out in the machine shed when parts brought from Winnipeg didn't fit (which seemed to be a daily occurrence on the farm when I visited) or knuckles got skinned (which was an hourly occurrence on the farm). But that's a whole 'nother story.)

Jimmy Poon left to go home to work on the glycol-cooled supercomputer he was building in his basement from three milk crates of old parts (don't worry, not the album sized milk crates, the useless newer milk crates) and an old Heathkit shortwave scalp massager with 12AX7 tube pre-amp he'd bought on eBay for about three bucks and eleven bucks shipping.

Jimmy Poon's Massager

He might be able not get the computer running but once he got the 1200 watt power supply wired up, he would sure as shootin' he have the sweetest sounding marital aid.

I kept poking around and then I think I discovered something important about car rental rates. When I changed my pickup day to a Sunday, the rates dropped. Big time.

I also thought that hitting a week dead on might be important, but when I extended the rental period by one day (to 8 days), the total amount went up by one day's worth on the 7 day price.

Grand total for 8 days... and I got an additional discount for prepaying... $252 US. With my Visa card credit, the car comes to $92 for 8 days of top down cruising Las Vegas, playing bumper cars on the I-15, and singing Groove Me in the parking lots, all completely free of Lyftber driver's and their preachy Dr. Shamusan Wail CDs that told me that debt just gives power to The Man.

I'm awfully tired of preachy CD men. They preach. Yeah, and they sell. Here's what I was subjected to in a Lyftber ride, last trip, in bullet point form:

• Debt - remember that the money you have in your possession is nothing but energy—so refuse to plug in to an energy system that’s not even there (Huh???)
• "I try not to think about money too frequently because it’s been my observation that people who do so tend to think about almost nothing else."  — Dr. Shamusan Wail
• Living An Inspired Life VIEW ALL PRODUCTS  — Dr. Shamusan Wail

Beware the wise fake doctor man with an online store.

The dates I got completely make sense too. I get that Saturday off. I have the car for a Big Move from the strip to downtown, another Big Move from downtown to the Strip, and a Drop Off at the McCarran Rental Car Ranch just before my sad, sad non-red-eye flight home, because all things must pass (with full odds).

Next up, a Savvy Deal on telecommunications bandwidth!!!

Roam Mobility, who I use every trip to Vegas, has a promotion. When you buy a top-up plan now-ish, you get a code for 25% off a top-up plan this summer.

I feel a bit bad about this because what I did is savvy-sneaky.

I bought a plan for 1 day (my first day) for $5 or whatever. And they sent me, by email, a promo code that I can user for 25% off top-ups bought this summer. As in after June 1. So, on June 1, I am going to buy a top-up for the rest of my trip starting from the 2nd day, to run to the end. And I get 25% off the normal rate.

What a fucking financial angel I am.

But hey, 25% of approximately $60 is... money. Saved.

The Saving Of My Arse

Next in the Exciting News department, is the saving of my arse. At some expense.

OK, so when I booked my AeroFailPlan points ticket, the flight out was showing as being on an Airbus with 3 and 3 seat configuration, and the return on the usual 767 Slaveship. I was able to book a Rouge Rough Plus seat on the return for an extra $42 CAD. Believe me, it's worth it to have extra legroom on a Slaveship flight.

But for the flight out, the Airbus 320, having fewer seats, did not have any available Rough Plus seats. I would have to suck it up on the way to Vegas.

I got notified that there was a flight change for my outbound. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was. I looked and looked. Finally, all those years of training I did on the 'Spot the Difference' cartoons in Highlights magazine as a lonely child paid off.

The Airbus had been changed out for a Boner 767 Slaveship. Damn....

But wait!!! That mean a different seat configuration. I hauled ass into the AC site and sure enough, Rough Plus seats were now available. So I bought for the outbound. $42 CAD.

Air Canada Rouge Seating Map

Worth. Every. Penny. Even on a Cheapass (TM) trip such as the Scrounge trip.