Today started even earlier! Chris was awake at 4am and I only lasted until 5:30! Obviously not a whole lot to do at that time of the morning, so we spent some time learning some of the strategy for a new type of video poker and trying to plan the day.

We hunted through our piles of vouchers for something breakfasty and found a “second item free” for Original Chicken Tenders. Amusingly, their breakfast menu contains no chicken!

We each had a platter, except apparently Chris’ bacon didn’t fit on with the French toast and required a second plate!

After food we headed out to Terribles and then Palms to check out the promos. We were tempted by a gig at Palms tonight but figured we’d probably be asleep before it started! They did have a play 4 buffet promo on though, so we spent a little while on some 50 line Jacks or Better to earn tomorrows breakfast :)

Then it was off for a little shopping. I’d found a place called Little Shop of Magic which claimed to sell board games so we headed there :) It was a nice little place with lots of tables set out which were slowly filling up with people playing Pokemon. We spent about an hour looking over the games, working out which ones we couldn’t get from our local shop, and which ones wouldn’t be too heavy to take home, for those who know us we love gambling games (visit site now) but this time we had to go with these because of the kids.

Eventually we chose two: Food Fight and Legendary. The first is a very silly card game where you have to battle over meals with your food based troops. The second is a deck building game like Dominion but with a Marvel comic book theme, so has Spiderman and Hulk :)

We found a nearby park and a shaded picnic table and sat down to play Food Fight. Despite the breeze trying to steal our cards and the fairly long rules, we did manage to complete a game :) Chris won by using this wonderful card:

We decided not to battle the breeze any longer and headed back to our room to play Legendary. This game has many cards to sort before first play and an awful lot of rules! Plus the box isn’t as awesome as Dominion’s so it doesn’t sort so nicely into it. It also has a rather large board! Only just fit on the little table!

We found the artwork on the cards made it hard to see what anything was at a glance, and playing sideways clearly didn’t help. That said, the theming is good fun, and the way the game fights back is good too :)

After a couple of games it was time to head downstairs for some dinner. Thanks to playing MyVegas on Facebook, we had a free buffet for 2 to redeem and we made the most of it :) Oddly, downstairs in the buffet, the original Egyptian theming remains!

Whereas elsewhere you’d not really know you were inside a pyramid shaped building if you didn’t look up! The food was all tasty and a number of courses were consumed ;)

After dinner we were pretty tired, but managed another game each of Food Fight and Legendary before bed :)

Thanks to time zone confusion, day 2 started early. Since we knew we wanted breakfast at Hash House and that they didn’t open till 7am we had to waste some time reading about the various players club promos for a bit.

Then it was off to the Quad for breakfast. This place is currently undergoing major renovations
So major that we never even saw a casino and missed Hash House entirely the first time! Very bad mess in there at present :( However, HH was wonderful as ever :) Chris used his (expired) Diamond card to skip the line and we ended up in a room we’d never seen before – VIPs only maybe?

Aware that we never manage to finish the food there (portions are HUGE!) I suggested we order a little differently. Rather than a hash each, we shared a hash and a smaller item – a flapjack.

I know what you’re thinking, that’s a pancake ;)

Then again, that’s corn beef – not what a British person would expect ;)

Both very tasty and for the first time ever, we cleared our plates! :) Service was great and friendly too :) Used our first coupon – $10 off a $25+ spend :)

After breakfast we went to do some shopping. We needed some supplies from Walmart (drinks, snacks, etc) and Chris got a haircut (ridiculously long time to make hair short!) Plus a trip to T-Mobile to get SIM cards for our phones. Conveniently, they had just today started selling iPhones! So it was very quick and easy to get us each a 1 month plan with unlimited data – hooray! :)

Then it was back to the room to make the most of the bath with a view whilst we planned more of the holiday :)

Gold Coast had a 7x points promo so after a long soak we headed over there to spend an hour grabbing some points (as points turn into free foods!) and then it was time for dinner :)

Our first proper dinner choice was easy – Hooters! :) Whilst I have been making similar wings ever since our last trip, we were both craving the real thing! :)

20 medium wings and 10 spicy garlic, plus chips and celery :) Amusingly, I’ve been increasing the heat in mine over time, and always add a lot of garlic, so the latter tasted more like what I now make :) Next time we’re going to try hot ones ;)

After dinner we were exhausted! All attempts to concentrate failed so it was a very early night!

On Thursday morning we headed off to Manchester airport after a little last minute packing. Dave kindly gave us a lift and we made it there with plenty of time :) Once settled in the lounge we grabbed some breakfast (at midday this was really lunch #1) and wasted time on the Internet until our flight.

A quick, easy flight down to London and it was time for lunch number two, accompanied by some wine :) Then more Internet before a mad dash to the gate having realised we were late! Arrived to find lots of people hanging around and an announcement that we would be delayed at least an hour :(

So we found a seat nearby so we could hear the announcements. Chris did some more work and I kept myself quiet with some colouring :)

The captain gave a few candid announcements about the problem – there was a dent which hadn’t been spotted and it needed to be checked, either 1 hour or 4 hours or a new plane! Thankfully it was the former and it wasn’t too long before we were onboard and then in the air :)

At this point we were given lunch #3 according to the menu (though even if we’d been on time, it would have been late for lunch!)

A strange cream cheese pans cotta to start which didn’t really taste of anything :( The salady bits were all good though :)

Then some beef with garlic mash. This was followed by a little ice cream :)

The flight was fairly uneventful. We watched some Futurama and then dozed to some music. Woke up just before they turned lights back on and grabbed a little chocolate snack before they served us afternoon tea (tiny sandwiches and tiny cakes!)

So that was 3 lunches and an afternoon tea! It was now 8am UK time and bodies thoroughly confused!

We got out of the airport, grabbed our rental car, and then to the Luxor :) Checked into our pyramid suite :)

We headed down to the food court to grab a burger as it was already too late for a restaurant and we were exhausted, and then slept :)