Kevin's Vegas Trip August 2026

  Weather in Vegas as I leave Check out this morning was 11 am, so left I bag with the bell-desk and headed off to the Venetian for a last session before departure. They formed a new table just after I arrived and it was mainly sober, and not very good, tourists. I won a few nice pots with big pairs and a nice bomb pot where I manged to scoop both pots from a nice lady who considerably overvalued her hand - a made straight on one board with no-draws. I finished the session up $364, which was a nice way to close before heading to the airport. I had another win there as I was asked to check in my hand-luggage for free as the flight is full. €150 saved over the holiday by avoiding checked baggage - even though I was prepared to pay the cost on this trip, as with various bits and bobs purchased the case was full and I was at the cabin weight limit (having established the case is also, marginally, oversized on the outward journey. Boarding starts in just over 1 hour, and I'll be home in...

Well, that was a long journey. Left the house at 10:30 am this morning, and it is 3:30am Irish time as I write this. It turned out that my carry-on was oversized, at least for the first leg. Nobody said anything while boarding, but the overhead bin wouldn't close 😉. The stewardess was very nice about it, and simply put it in a storage area at the front. The Dublin leg was a little taking off, and I wasn't best pleased that when we landed, we had to board buses and cross to the other side of Schipol. Nonetheless, I made the gate just after boarding had started, and on the advice of the previous crew made my way to the top of the queue to declare mea culpa on the leviathan travel case. It turned out I had been flagged for some extra checks, but fortunately no latex or back-rooms were involved and a few swaps later I was given the all clear. Good to have that relief - no-one wants to start a holiday with a positive smear test. The baggage bins on the 777 were a good bit big, and ...

And we're off! Arrived at the airport with tons of time to spare, which was just as well - KLM had moved my flight from T2 to T1. So a few extra steps banked! Getting my tickets took longer than expected as the KLM guy had to check my esta, which involved digging through emails and logging into the US site. Security had long queues, and I got some queries about my case, which it appears may be too big for carry on. We'll see when I reach the gate, but hopefully everything is ok! Had time for a quick pint to get into holiday mood, and this update. Flight to Amsterdam takes off in just over 1 hour, and I have less than 1 hour in Schipol, so I hope for no hassle their either! Due to land in Las Vegas at 6:30pm local time (2:30 am Irish). If I get some sleep on the flight, which I expect to, then I'll probably try and stay up till 11pm or so local time to get myself into the run of things. I believe Caesar's Palace has moved their poker room back to its rightful/traditional...