The gathering of the vaccinated! Flying cheap

In two weeks or less, my friends will all be vaccinated--second shots. I recently realized that since I'm a teacher, I'm in a priority group here--so I get shot next week. In three weeks, we'll all be vaccinated!

Thus, we're planning a get-together for late March in Vegas. We're going Sunday through Thursday, to avoid high hotel room rates during March Madness. Some are driving; the rest of us will be flying.

Two ultra-cheapo airlines fly between Portland and Vegas. I booked Frontier for $17 one way and Spirit for $26 the other. Now, that's the "base" fare, and it all skyrockets if you check a bag, reserve a seat, insist on flying on the inside of the plane rather than strapped to the wing, etc. But I figure that I can stuff enough clothes for five days in my little backpack "personal item" that is allowed. Worst case scenario, I can just take a couple changes of clothes and do my laundry in my room. (Secret bonus hack: wear two of everything on the plane!)

Another possibility, which seemed kind of nuts when I first thought of it but actually makes sense, is to pack a few days' worth of old clothes in a box and then send it to my hotel. The idea is, I would just throw them away after wearing them. The cost of sending the package via UPS would be about $10, far less than what El Cheapo Airlines wants to check one bag.

We're all going to do the LVA/ACG coupon run thing. The LVA book isn't as good as it was, but it's still worth far more than the membership costs. The ACG book's coupons aren't all extended into this year, but enough of them are to make it worthwhile. For instance, we're all going to use the $20 off coupon at Cornerstone Steakhouse at the Gold Coast.

We're all looking forward to getting together after long absences. None of us wanted to visit the casino environment during the pandemic (I did so briefly and hastily retreated), but when we're all vaccinated, we figure there'll be minimal risk. Hopefully, pretty soon others will be able to visit safely as well.

Enjoy! Was able to schedule my first shot for this week, and can't wait to travel outside my own zip code!

Kevin, just a quick comment about the vaccine.  I won't know which vaccine I'm getting tomorrow until I get it, and I certainly don't know what the Oregon protocol is for this.  The Moderna vaccine requires the second shot in 28 days, while the Pfizer vaccine second shot is 21 days out.  Beyond that, you don't reach full protection until 14 days after shot #2.

Assuming your first shot happens in one week, then you're 6 or 7 weeks out for maximum protection, depending on which vaccine that you receive.

By the time I get my first shot, all three vaccines will be available in Oregon, though it's much more likely that I will get the Moderna or Pfizer versions. Given the time frame, I would probably have gotten my first shot but not my second by the time we've scheduled our Vegas visit, unless I get the new J&J single-dose. All of my friends either have gotten their second doses or will be getting them in the next few days. By the time we all assemble, at least another two weeks will have elapsed after that.

This means that I'll still be somewhat at risk, but this trip is going to be more about socializing with all my friends (most of whom I haven't seen in a year or more) than casino-hopping as such. They'll be protected to the full extent that their particular vaccines allow. I think the risk to me and to them will be slight. Both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines confer a good degree of protection even with the first dose.

If I somehow don't get my first dose by trip time, I won't be going.

Kevin wrote of possibly shipping clothes to his hotel prior to arrival.  I've always wondered, can you really do that?  Normally you don't have a room assignment or are even in the system as a guest until you arrive and check in.  Will the package be accepted?  Tossed in a "will call" bin or "addressee unknown, return to sender?"  How does that work? 

Years ago while staying in Vegas I got a call from the credit card company, a fraudulent charge had been made (I hadn't lost the card--somehow the charge was made at a Radio Shack in Montana or someplace).  The cc company cancelled the card and was ready to ship me a new one by next day air.  However, I was packing to move to another hotel.  Without a room number at the new hotel they would not ship the card.

Candy

Well, the El Cortez told me they would accept such a package, addressed "care of...," and they would hold it for thirty days and return it to the sender if not claimed.

Someplace like Caesars or Stations, hell, they might burn the package or accept it and then immediately sell its contents. Certainly anyone planning to do this should check with their hotel first, and maybe get that verified by two or more people.

I got this idea when I traveled to Europe in 2016. My third and last week was in London, and since I would be stayng at the same place for the entire week, I asked them if I could ship the package to them. They said sure; this enabled me to pack a lot lighter, and the cost was only about $25.