ok, so some of the more drunk and less sane of the bf creatures (myself, some LA vikingpirateninjaturtles, poss. other pirates?) will be haunting the strip from march 17- some till the 19th, me till the 22nd.

you should come, really.

i promise i will embarass myself greatly and then deny it all.

very very tempting

rumor has it there are cheap flight deals on jet blue, southwest...

We're looking at $120-150 for airfare from LA, which is a lot. Unless we're willing to travel on like, a wednesday, we're basically screwed for flights.

I say drive! Volvos get about 22-25 to the gallon, and with an 16 gallon tank we can do it without refeuling (it's 270 miles to vegas), which means $20 each way.

It'll be a shorter drive than to SF, and there aint no cow poop fields neither!

just 270? why not ride it?

Anybody know about bringing a bike on an airplane? I'd be coming from Chicago. How do you pack, ship a rig?

there's a long thread about this if you look for "flying the bike." IMHO the best way to go is a hard case (borrow from your LBS) and check it on the plane. things to know, though:
- airlines can charge you for it, as much as $60 one way. if you lie about the contents, you can usually squeak by without paying, but you might be charged for oversize anyway. (I've been charged just 1 of 8 times I've checked a bike)
- you can check it in a box or hard case. you'll need to remove stem/bars, seatpost, both wheels, pedals.
- shipping it costs ~$40 each way, but can take significantly longer.

me, i've made the switch to S&S couplers. highly recommended.

lots of info on this if you search, but my solution (and others) (well, before I got the friday) is to take it completely down and box it small. You have to keep the container under 62 linear inches. For frames my size, that means wheels and fork off. Leave out some parts so that if they as you what it is you can say, "bike parts" and not "it's a bike" Put those parts in your carry-on or another checked bag. I've managed to travel with bikes up to 63cm c-t this way w/o charge, but it involves carrying tools and grease, too, since you have to put the fork and headset back on.

biking weekend or non?

You can't bike on the strip, and well, if you can't do that, what's the point? Sadly I doubt I'll be able to join you guys on this outing. I risked quite a bit going to SF, I just got chewed out hardcore at work for taking time off. So...yeah.

i know you can't on the strip, but well, is there much more besides the strip?

From what I understand, this trip will include drinking, drinking and gambling.

All of this can be done on the strip, so why leave? Plus, you're payin' all that extra dough to stay on the strip, might as well make use of it.

STRIP! STRIP! STRIP!

i checked, and flamingo seems to be the cheapest on-strip accomodation, followed closely by the 1/2 block south Bally's. though Bally's means you can use the pool at paris, which has a bar, naturally...

and i'm bringing the bike. why? because i can. and because that way i can bike to the airport. **** yeah.

flight and room booked.
i arrive at 2pm on 3/17.
we stay at bally's 3/17-3/19.
then my work puts me (and whoever else) up at MGM Grand 3/19-22.