Hijinks at The Cosmopolitan with Jonny, Mark, Skyler, Boots and Jason!

For my readers who have been asking me on youtube and Facebook when I'm going to write up another trip report, here you go! Sorry for the delay, but life just keeps getting in the way,  not to mention it's more fun to go on the trips then to write them up!

A few years ago I became friends online with Jonny on youtube and Facebook and ever since we've been hoping to meet up in Las Vegas.  Jonny and his fiancee Mark live in Ireland so while they try to visit Vegas a couple times a year it hadn't yet worked out for our dates to coincide but this year I was determined to be in Vegas for part of their  nine day trip in late June, so I scheduled my trip  toward the end of their trip.  It worked out great because my friends Boots, Skyler and Jason also ended up  having a trip to Vegas at the same time. Skyler stayed at Ballys. Boots and myself at Cosmopolitan, along with Jonny and Mark, with Jason arriving and staying at Cosmo too the last night of our trip.

The trip started out with a easy flight out of San Jose airport on Southwest and arrived on time at McCarran. My driver Admar who had relocated his family from Hawaii to Las Vegas was so nice! Yes, it's not that long a ride from the airport to Cosmo but we had time to chat about his family and my blog and youtube channel while waiting for my luggage. :)

Rebecca, my host at Cosmopolitan had arranged for the limo and VIP check in for me but during this trip I went from Gold to Platinum with Identity the Cosmo loyalty club, so on future trips I will automatically get the limo and VIP check as one of the perks of being Platinum.  VIP registration quickly checked me in and my room on in the west tower was ready for me so I took my baggage up, unpacked and was down on the casino floor ready to win!

Best laid plans and all that but while I did have some modest wins in the high limit room on my Cosmo free play, that didn't last long.

Last couple trips I can't resist playing Pharoah's Fortune which is a shame because usually my picks are pretty sad when I land the bonus. I wouldn't be surprised if I have the unofficial record for picking start games more on the first pick then anyone else in Las Vegas!

 I left the high limit room and started playing the penny games. Where are the photos of all my wins? I didn't have any to take photos of, LOL! However, I did earn enough Identity points to participant in the new Cosmo daily tournament.

The Cosmopolitan has a daily tournament this summer and you can qualify for five complimentary sessions on it depending on your points you accumulate each day. There are some details on the sign below just click on it to enlarge the photo.

Boots and I did the max number of entries in this tournament each day and I think Jonny and Mark did too, but none of us won anything on the tournament during our stay.

Boots had arrived a day earlier then me and I quickly met up with her and then we both met up with Jonny, and Mark. For reasons of her career you will not see any photos of Boots, instead she is always our designated photographer!

Boots and I had plans tonight to eat dinner at the new Beauty and Essex restaurant at The Cosmopolitan and we were having so much fun with Jonny and Mark that we asked them to join us.

I had already eaten here in May with friends and the menu had already changed a bit! Plates are meant to be shared at this restaurant. Of course if you don't want to share they won't make you. ;)  We started with the Caesar Toast which is a delightful take on the famous salad.

The Lobster rolls were great!

This was the thick cut Filet, we had two orders and it was tender and flavorful!

One of my favorite dishes everytime I have eaten here is their cauliflower with ginger salsa verde! Unless you despise cauliflower please order this delicious side dish.

Jonny ordered and enjoyed their grilled double-cut lamb chops.

Short Rib Mac and Cheese really good!

I really loved the scallops with charred corn salad. I think I shared one with Boots, LOL!

My favorite dessert, and I've tried them all the first time I ate here, is the KYGO Cloud Nine S'mores!

The les, nyc doughnuts with fudge, berry and caramel sauces is also very good.

We all had one of the petite cupcakes and while good they are typical gourmet cupcakes.

Jonny and Mark!

After dinner we gambled, drank and had a blast together.

Above is some play I did on Mega Bucks and likely lucky to get the $75.00 hit I had.

After Mega Bucks, I hit a couple nice bonuses on Wild Lepre'coins. If you want to see what that game is like here's the video of it.

A couple nice wins on The Walking Dead game.

The new Wizard of Oz game,  "Not in Kansas Anymore" gave me one good hit during this trip for $150.00 and after that I couldn't do anything with it the various times I played it andI was disappointed with this new game. There's hope however, because spoiler alert I had fun and a great win on it later this summer.

I think this will be the last time I try Magic Mike, those boys only want you to throw money at them, they do not give any of it back!!

Boots and I had a blast playing the new Plants vs Zombies game. If you haven't seen it yet, here's a video of my bonus on it:

With the exception of the high limit group pulls we had this trip,  my best win was on Pink Diamonds for $800.00.

During our slot play tonight Boots was nearby playing games and Jonny and Mark were with me either cheering me on or playing beside me. While I'm showing you winning photos here,  the losses were more then the wins but the lovely company made them almost painless. :)  After a fun but losing evening for all of us we headed back to our rooms for some sleep.


Next morning, okay it was typically still morning,  I woke up to a beautiful Vegas day and even though it was toasty outside I took a few minutes to enjoy my lovely balcony with the view of the Bellagio fountains!

Lunch was with Boots today at Milos. Milos has a great three course lunch special for $25.16!

Boots and I both had the tomato salad for our appetizer, with feta cheese and cucumbers.

Boots ordered the chicken breast skewer with grilled mushrooms, served over pita bread.

I always order the shrimp saganaki with cous cous, tomato and feta.

Fresh fruit was Boot's dessert.

Like usual I went with the real Greek yogurt!

Service was good, food was great and the price was a bargain.

After lunch we were playing slots and I ran into Courtland (sorry I may have spelled name wrong) and Rena from Huston who knew me from when I was active on the Slot Fanatics message board! In addition during the trip I ran into some fans of my youtube channel. It was great to meet Keith, Liz and James. James hit a handpay on the Austin Powers game at The Cosmopolitan, congrats James!

This afternoon I had one good hit in the Cosmo HL room but quickly left for the pennies, but that didn't help I lost on all the penny games too and with little play to show for it. Boots, Jonny and Mark, unfortunately were also losing. Jonny and I kept trying the Lightning Link games that I had big wins on the last couple trips but they were cold as ice.

Our losses did amount to enough points to do the tournament again for five entries but that also was a fail.

If you are curious about what amount you need to score to usually win some free play in the tournament you need to get about a million in your session or close to it. I think my highest for the trip was only in the 700,000 range.

After the tournament, I went back to my room to sulk about my losses and change for dinner. I enjoyed a Bellagio fountain show from my balcony which reminded me why I like staying at Cosmopolitan despite the losses.

It was time to return to the casino as Skyler who was staying and winning at Ballys had arrived. Skyler was joining us for dinner tonight and was going to cheer on the high limit group pull we were having before heading out to Palazzo for dinner at Delmonico's.

This HL pull was organized on the Vegas Fanatics message board and it was fun! If you love talking about or need information about Las Vegas check out this new message board at:
www.vegasfanatics.com

Our High Limit pull group with Boots taking our photos. Jonny, Mark, me, Sasha, Jesse, Jeanette (ellabellita) and Rycelover!

What a great group we had for this HL pull! We also had a bit of luck with a bonus and handpay on Kitty Glitter! It was Sasha who triggered the bonus on Kitty Glitter for the group! At the end of the slot pull we had lost on some other games so our profit per person was only $31.00 but the fun was priceless!

If you are interested check out my video on this fun HL pull at The Cosmopolitan here:

It was time for Skyler, Jonny, Mark, Boot and me to Uber it to Palazzo for dinner at Delmonico Steakhouse. For those who haven't read one of my recent trip reports where I talk about Uber I'm still using it and preferring it to taking a taxi. Not only is it less expensive, the wait is usually not longer then waiting in line for a taxi, sometimes less time if the taxi line is long when a show gets out, and the car is nicer. If you haven't used Uber before and want a free ride worth up to $20 the first time you use it, here's my code.  DIANAE549UE  Full disclosure, if you use my code I also get a free ride credit. If you haven't used the app before and want to know how to get an estimate before ordering a car just ask me in comments and I'll tell you how.

Delmonico's currently has a special summer trio menu, three courses for only $65.00 per person and it's quite the deal as the food and service was good! I believe this menu is only available until August 31st!

Popovers, very light and yummy, bet you can't eat just one!

I forget what the amuse was below. I believe it had some shrimp in it as Jonny had been telling us he doesn't like seafood but he was brave enough to try the amuse with us. Latest update is Jonny still doesn't enjoy seafood. ;)

My favorite drink at Delmonico's is the Aura. This is tequila, lime juice, sweet bell pepper shrub and firewater bitters. I usually ask them to make it extra spicy!

Beef Carpaccio, parmesan reggiano, wild arugula, capers and garlic. Mark said it was delicious!

Petite iceberg lettuce wedge, buttermilk blue cheese dressing, apple smoked bacon and red onion.

Traditional New Orleans Gumbo with shrimp and andoville sausage.

Dry aged petite ribeye that really didn't seem all that petite!

Mushroom crusted petite filet medallions.

I had the prime NY strip and it was cooked perfectly!

Twice baked potato.

Banana creme pie parfait was delicious!

Butter caramel cake!

Best dessert, in my opinion, was the pecan pie that Skyler ordered.

 

Skyler and Jonny, like at first sight!

After dinner we hung out at Venetian for 30 minutes, long enough for Jonny to get a bonus on Buffalo Grand, myself on Top Gun and Skyler to have some fun on Sphinx 3d!

After taking Uber back to the Cosmopolitan we had some fun with the video columns when walking past the registration area, or I should say Mark did!

We played a lot of penny games upon our return and lots of laughter and hijinks went down but not much in the way of wins for any of us.

I hit a bonus on $5 Wheel of Fortune outside the high limit room but the wheel only landed on $150.00.

Photo of Jonny and me earlier in the evening when the Kitty Glitter bonus hit the handpay with our fun group pull with the Vegasfanatics group!

Before going back to my room to sleep that evening I went to check out Jonny and Mark's one bedroom terrace suite. While there they gifted me with the delicious Caramel Cadbury chocolates that are no longer for sale in the states and cute London coffee mugs for my husband and me. Thanks guys we love both the chocolate and mugs. My son liked the chocolate a bit too much and ate most of it before I could!

Earlier in the evening Skyler had gifted Boots and me with T-shirts and beauty products from a hair stylist trade show she had atteneded.  Thanks Skyler, I love them, especially the cute headband!

Next morning Skyler came over to Cosmo to meet the rest of us for brunch at The Wicked Spoon buffet. This past year it can be hit or miss with this buffet but it was fine today.

We're well fed and ready to hit the slots!

Skyler cheered us on as Boots, me, Jonny and Mark did a little high limit pull.

We had a blast as a team and even won a little money on Davinci Diamonds and Pharaoh's Fortune. We each had put in $100.00 and at the end had more then doubled our money! If interested you can watch this video of it.

After our group high limit play we returned to the penny games. Yesterday Jonny had some wins and a bonus on 88 Fortunes and I could only lose money on it. Today, finally a bonus and decent win on 88 Fortunes.

I had some brief fun on the Walking Dead 2 game but while I've seen videos of others getting handpays on this volatile game, my bonuses were very average and it wasn't easy getting a bonus! I'm going to keep playing this new game because my friend sdguy is one of the zombies in the jackpot bonus.

Boots and I played Lord of the Rings together and I did have one nice bonus on it for $173.00 but for the most part we just lost until it was time for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at Scarpetta Italian restaurant with Jonny, Mark, Boots, Skyler and me. Jason was suppose to join us but after texting me earlier in the day that his plane was going to take off on time for a change instead a storm came in and delayed his flight by several hours so the poor guy missed dinner.

Always love the bread at Scarpetta. Cisbatta bread, slices of stromboli bread, one with mozzarella and broccoli rabe, the other was mozzarella and salami.

Delicious dipping sauces of mascarpone butter, eggplant caponata, and olive oil. 

Heirloom salad, I can never seem to pass up a salad with beets and this dish did not disappoint.

Creamy polenta with fricassee of mushrooms.

Chicken with mustard spaetzle, broccolini and parsnips.

I give up, I have no idea who ordered this dish or what it might be, guesses anyone? Also I ordered the rib cap which was great but I forgot to take a photo of it and a couple other dishes.

Spaghetti with tomato and basil.

Creamer potatoes, crispy garlic, chili and lemon.

Miss you guys!

All the desserts we ordered and shared were yummy!

Chocolate pomegranate cake, milk chocolate mousse and meringue. 

Nutella and vanilla Bomboloni with nutella ganache, banana gelato and chocolate shortbread.

Grand Marner Souffle with vanilla gelato.

After dinner it was back to the casino to meet up with Jason who had checked in while we were finishing dinner!

We were still losing at the penny slots so decided to do one last high limit pull and combine our money.

Why talk about it when I can show you, check out this video to see how we did! Warning, some of us can really scream when winning, LOL! Also, at times I'm walking from game to game and the camera is moving all over. If you are prone to motion sickness you may want to skip watching this video!!

Finally a bonus on Irving the Viking but did I complete my quest?

Didn't want to watch the video? I won't keep you in suspense, we had tons of fun, played lots of games and at the end Jason scored us the handpay below so all of us ended up wtih doubling our money on our HL group pull! We also discovered that the Cosmo high limit room serves Veuve champagne, we had lots. ;)

Unfortunately after our group pull, while we had some fun on the penny games and I enjoyed trying out the new Ironman 2 game, this was another losing night for most of us!

I played Lamp of Destiny for the first time and really liked it. If you pick correctly in the bonus you have a possibility of during that bonus having a hit that is multiplied by 100! If you are curious about this game my channel as a couple videos where I hit the bonus.

Sadly this was our last night together and we soon said goodnight and headed off to get some sleep, or at least I did. While Jonny and Mark would stay on for one more night and Jason for one or two more nights, Boots, Skyler and I were leaving in the morning.

Next morning I packed up and had a quick bite in my room. My turkey club sandwich and shrimp cocktail were tasty. After eating I checked out by phone and dragged my luggage downstairs where I met up with Jason at Vespers lounge.

Cheers! The drink I ordered was Aloha Means Goodbye and Jason had the Moscow Mule. Thanks for the drink and chat Jason! Miss you and will see you soon.

While I was chatting with Jason, Foxy one of my friends I haven't seen for a couple years though we keep in touch on Facebook,  came by and we had a quick chat and hugs before it was time for Jason and her to walk me to my ride to the airport.  Foxy and her Mother were on a well deserved Vegas vacation and having a great time! Foxy, I hope next time we get a chance to spend some time together!

Ride to airport was comfortable, flight back home was on time and my family remembered to pick me up at the airport, so all was good.

In case you haven't already guessed, I lost this trip, as did Boots, Jonny and Mark, but we'll get them next year!! Skyler had some early wins in her trip and did well at Bally's and I think went home a winner. I'm not sure about Jason, but that man has been so lucky last year and this year that even if he lost that trip he's likely ahead for the year. Despite losing money this trip, it was a winner for me because of meeting Jonny and Mark. Love these two guys and counting down the days until we can all meet up again. All of us hit it off so well we are currently working to schedule a trip together early next year, in the meantime, we keep in touch on Facebook and in emails.

While it's too soon for Jonny and Mark to schedule another trip to Las Vegas, Boots, Skyler, Jason, myself, my husband and other friends will meet up in Las Vegas the end of September for G2e, the global gaming expo. It's going to be a busy trip with lots of people I know in town. There's also plans for some of us to participate in Cosmopolitan slot tournament after G2e so that will exciting.

My next trip report that I hope to finish before the G2e trip will be about my trip with my Mom.

Thanks for reading, wishing all of you lots of fun and wins in your gambling and life!