Midwest Winter is Here. Now What? Time for Vegas!

Personal Travel Stories

The Midwest winter has arrived, I have put the Rav4 and Civic in storage for the salty season. California spoiled me, it was easy to live there year-round. I could drive to the snow, desert, ocean, city, forests all within a few hours. Here comes the winter blues and seasonal depression. Or, how about I just fly to Vegas instead.

Just in time for SEMA

You’ll find me at the overlanding and performance section. So much to see!

Last month during my trip to the East Coast, I signed up for the SEMA car show and booked a flight to Vegas. Flying is not my favorite but, I will settle for this travel style for a few months. It can’t be that bad. Unless your flight gets delayed 6 hours and you decide to just stay up 24 hours and you booked your hotel last minute in a panic. Traveling to Vegas SEMA week last minute, not the brightest idea.

Happy Birthday to me, I flew out the day I turned 29. No better way to celebrate the last year in my 20s than last-minute travel.

I chose to stay at Alexis Park Resort, although it is not a typical Vegas hotel and offered nothing of value. Beggars can’t be choosers, not much to pick from last minute. The resort fee covers your parking costs, for my vehicle I don’t have. On the bright side, it’s 3 miles from the convention center and I can save money by walking vs paying a $25 Uber one way.

Mistakes were made

30 miles in 2 days is a lot of walking. The SEMA show is huge! Then add 6 miles of walking to and from the convention center, plus all the walking downtown and the strip. I am surviving off 11 hours of sleep in 2 days, ibuprofen, caffeine, whisky and eye drops. Welcome to Vegas. I spent too much money, won some of it back, got to zipline Freemont Street, check out cool cars and products, meet up with old friends and make new friends. Not even tired yet, I am having the most fun time.

How I tried to stay in budget in Vegas

It is not easy. The food here is expensive, the drinks are outrageous in the main areas, the extra activities are expensive. Being SEMA week even the hotels were quadruple what they usually are, you don’t want to know how much I paid for this dinky “resort condo” room.

Okay, it was $530 for 3 nights. Yikes!

Some Tips

  • I signed up for Uber One – They offer a one-month free trial where you can get discounted rides and free food delivery. With this, I opted to order food from the grocery store that I could eat at the hotel. The hotel was equipped with a microwave and fridge.
  • Check flights and book direct. I went with Frontier, which was not a very good decision but my flight to and from Vegas from Milwaukee was $270. My bag fees included and the fact I booked 2 weeks before flying. I used a promo when booking directly for 20% off my flight if I signed up with them under specific destinations and times. Vegas on a weekday qualified.
  • Book hotel directly – Hotels.com, Expedia.com, etc all have what appears to be deals. I saved $98 booking directly with the hotel. They offered promos for weekdays, AAA, booking direct and even a promo for booking your stay on your birthday which I qualified for.
  • Avoid getting food and drinks downtown or on the strip – $17 turkey sandwich and a $20 whisky and coke, count me out. It was hard to find any food or drinks under $15 leading to an expensive day/night out.
  • Walk, take the bus, hop on the train – These take you to many accessible things to do. I opted to walk to most of my destinations with an occasional Uber for when the sun went down and I didn’t want to walk 10 miles from Freemont Street.
  • You want to gamble? Many casinos offer free drinks if you are playing. A cocktail waitress will make their way around and offer drinks. If you win money playing, it’s a win win!
  • Use your credit card for everything – I receive 1.5% back on every purchase and 5% back on travel. I I was able to rack up $60 this trip to spend on my next trip by doing nothing but traveling. It’s almost like getting paid to spend money and have fun.
As you can see here, I used the hot water from the coffee machine to pour into my oatmeal bowl. In which, my oatmeal bowl is a washed out yogurt container. It all works the same $

Three days in Vegas was enough, time to head to California

I have decided to extend this trip beyond the SEMA show and rent a vehicle to drive to California. Of course, I can’t rent something mainstream, go big or go home. Literally. I am 5’5″ and this jeep is up to my hips. I picked the biggest most obnoxious vehicle I could find on Turo. Why? I am on vacation and I got a killer deal ($500 for 6 days). If I can’t have my Toyota for shenanigans, I will have to rent something better or equivalent.

I can’t wait to be home, California here I come!