What started as an innocent little jaunt to Phoenix to celebrate my birthday turned into a wild (for our standards) trip full of last-minute decisions and unplanned debauchery. Just hours before we were supposed to board our flight back home to Minneapolis, we called an audible and flew to Las Vegas instead. Those who know us wouldn’t find this as much of a surprise…for some reason we end up there at least once a year. In fact, we had already been earlier in 2021.
For an accountant intent on saving and retiring early, that seems totally out of character. But since we’re nearing double-digit visits to Sin City, we’ve got this thing pretty much down to a science. What was the total cost this time around, and how much did we save? Check out my Travel Hack Recap of Las Vegas, NV – Round 2 below!
Where We Went
After 3 days in Phoenix, we prolonged our return to frigid Minnesota in favor of more mild weather in our favorite vacation fallback: Las Vegas. Since we still had to return to work at some point, this trip would be one of our shorter ones at less than 48 hours.
Flights
It probably goes without saying, but we would not have extended our trip if we didn’t get a sweet deal on flights and accommodations. Since we still have a boatload of Southwest Rapid Rewards points and the Southwest Companion Pass (allowing me to tag along for nearly free), this one was an easy sell. Just 8,500 Southwest points and $11.20 later, we were on our way, leaving late on a Tuesday morning from PHX and arriving at LAS a short time later.
The flight home was even cheaper, costing just over 2,500 Southwest points and $11.20 in fees for a Thursday afternoon flight from PHX to MSP. Keep in mind, this was pre-Spring Break and pre-pandemic re-opening, so prices have risen slightly since then.
Transportation
Having already parked our vehicle back home at the MSP parking garage, we had no choice but to hitch a ride from the airport to our first hotel just off the Strip. We typically choose Lyft, as they are usually cheaper than Uber and local taxis, and we get some bonus Chase points for linking our accounts. The Strip is about a 10 minute drive from McCarran International Airport, so a Lyft costs $12-15 each way – far cheaper than renting a car and paying to park at a hotel.
Accommodations
Due to some cancellations of previous vacation plans, we still had 1 free night certificate to use up at a Marriott property before it expired. There aren’t a ton of Marriott properties near the Las Vegas Strip, but we ended up getting a decent deal for one night at the Grand Chateau, just 1 block or so off of Las Vegas Blvd.
Given our seemingly bottomless pot of hotel and airline points, I try not to pay cash for those items so we have more money to spend on the things we love (like food). We made an exception this time, as we were able to stay at Caesar’s Palace for just $45 for the one night stay. The details are fuzzy, but I think this pricing was yet another perk of Mrs. FIby35’s Caesar’s Diamond status. We even got upgraded to a room with an awesome view overlooking the Bellagio fountains:
Entertainment
Given our short stay, we didn’t do anything too notable entertainment-wise. To our dismay, many of the casinos on the Strip had raised their minimum bet from $2-3 to $5 at their low-stakes tables/machines, so my ability to soak $20 for several hours of entertainment and free drinks took a slight hit. Mrs. FIby35 actually ended up netting a $20 profit, so at least it wasn’t a total loss.
Food & Drink
Perhaps our favorite reason for vising Las Vegas so frequently is the high turnover in high quality restaurants – we never fail to try some new establishment and come away impressed. Back in January, we discovered the Taiwanese magic of Din Tai Fung, so we made a point to return for dinner on this trip.
We also received a $100 meal credit to be used at a Caesar’s property, so we stuffed our gullets with the Three Course Lunch at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill in Caesar’s Palace: classic Caesar salad, petite roasted Beef Wellington with creamy mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables, and phenomenal sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Delicious.
We also had our share of walking beers from Walgreens – a favorite activity of mine while walking the Strip, especially as the sun rises over the mountains in the morning.
How Much We Spent (and Saved)
There wasn’t really a budget for this trip, since it was a spontaneous add-on to Phoenix. But a Travel Hack Recap wouldn’t be complete without the spending breakdown:
| Category | Budget | Actual | Notes |
| Flights | $- | $11.20 | $5.60 per person each way for the additional leg + just 11,042 Southwest Rapid Rewards miles. |
| Hotels | $- | $90.70 | 1 Marriott free award night; 1 snafu where we got charged twice for prematurely cancelling and rebooking the $45.35 night at Caesar’s Palace. Live and learn. |
| Food/Drink | $- | $174.83 | Not surprisingly the bulk of our spending – Din Tai Fung got us again. |
| Entertainment | $- | $0.00 | Luckily Mrs. FIby35’s gambling winnings outpaced my meager losses. |
| Transportation | $- | $65.52 | 2 extra days parking at MSP; Lyfts to/from LAS |
| TOTAL | $- | $342.25 |
Not too shabby when considering the value we got for our money on such short notice. The cash price of PHX-LAS was $132 each, and LAS-MSP was $49 each. Night #1 at the Marriott Grant Chateau was free (~$150 value), while Night #2 at Caesar’s was still well worth it at only $90. Tack on the $100 meal credit at Gordon Ramsay’s and we saved at least $612 by travel hacking our trip to Las Vegas.
Conclusion
I’d call it another successful trip to Las Vegas. Though there is still much to explore, we seem to have developed quite a level of comfort and have a great idea of what we like to do there – so much so that we can plan an entire trip basically on our way to the airport. We kept the costs (mostly) reasonable and got some great value for the price. Until next time, Vegas!
Do you have any destinations you just can’t quit? State your case in the comments below!
