Northeast Casinos: Atlantic City

My job is going to have me traveling a bit more coming up this next year with a comedy show I am producing, which bodes well for logging my travel mileage! I won't necessarily be staying in any one place long enough to see all the sights, but hopefully I'll be able to sneak a few touristy activities in from time to time, especially in the cities I have never been to. First up, Atlantic City, NJ.


I've been to Atlantic City several times for work now, and I find it less and less appealing every time. Something about smoky casinos and degenerate gamblers...in New Jersey...just doesn't really do it for me. I decided to invite my friend Marggee to partake in my all-expenses paid holiday weekend. Normally on trips like this, my boss would just drive me to wherever we were going, but because Marggee and I were trying to make a long weekend out of this rather than just arrive in time for the show, we investigated the many different modes of transportation that would get us there. The most attractive option was the relatively new ACES Train, which is essentially a speed shuttle between New York and Atlantic City. The problem we ran into is that it has a very limited schedule and runs only on the weekend - not accounting for a holiday Monday. The ACES Train was unfortunately out.

So we decided to rough it and check out the bus options. After checking rates between several different bus companies, we found the cheapest and quickest round trip service to be on Megabus. The bus left out of a totally disgusting Port Authority terminal at 8:30pm, which meant we had plenty of time to get there after work. The ride took only a little over 2 hours and cost only $36 (although my travel could be expensed, Marggee's couldn't, so the price was a consideration). We had a winner. Because neither of us had ever taken public transportation to a casino mecca, there was no way we could have known the unbelievably low caliber of clientele this bus would attract. We were two of the only people on the bus who actually had overnight bags packed; these were people going to gamble all night without having to pay for a hotel room. Fortunately, we did not have to interact with these heathens at any point, so we took the very front seats on the bus, connected to the complimentary Megabus WiFi and entertained ourselves by watching Julie and Julia on Netflix.

The drop-off location for the bus was Caesar's Palace, which is right in the middle of the main section of casinos, but nowhere near our relatively remote destination, The Borgata, which is separated from the general hubbub and mayhem of "downtown" Atlantic City (and for that reason seems to attract a slightly higher caliber of riff-raff). We were greeted when we stepped off the bus with a $20 voucher good for the slot machines inside Caesar's. Now if that doesn't make enduring the Port Authority bus terminal worth it, I don't know what would! This effectively made our transportation feel as though it cost next to nothing, plus we would get to do a little gambling for free - since neither of us would have actually spent our own money to gamble! We put a trip back to the Caesar's slots on the top of our to-do list for Sunday when we would have an entire day to kill.


We got checked in (VIP concierge, thank you) at the Borgata and immediately went in search of the employee cafeteria, for which we had all access passes and planned to eat as many meals as possible in. Calling it an "employee cafeteria" really doesn't conjure up the right image, I don't think, because this was more akin to a delicious buffet of home-cooked food. Everything was amazing, and we gorged for an hour next to cocktail waitresses and pit bosses who probably thought we had somehow snuck in to their hidden food wonderland. My favorite thing I ate in the cafeteria was the baked tilapia, and I would hit the tilapia section up several more times over the course of the weekend! The entire menu was rotating though, so there were always new things to try. My boss thought we were crazy and teased us about eating the cafeteria food when I could be expensing meals in the nice restaurants in the casino, but I don't think I could have eaten anything I would have enjoyed more, quite frankly. Sausage and hashbrowns and pancakes for breakfast and lots of fresh fish and meat and veggies for lunch and dinner...every time Marggee and I sat down with our overflowing plates of food, we would just laugh at each other and say things like "I am so happy right now." HA! Poor, malnourished New Yorkers.

Saturday I pretty much had to work all day setting up the show, so although I told Marggee to go to the spa or do something fun (or sleep), she ended up staying by my side most of the day helping out with the minutiae of producing a major comedy show. This was very helpful, since in the past when I've done this, I had always had a helper, but she no longer works for the company, so now it is just me flying solo. We had two sold out shows on Saturday night and a final sold out show on Sunday night in the Event Center which all ran smoothly.


I felt bad not being able to go play with Marggee all day on Saturday and basically having her stuck with me working, so on Sunday, we decided to take the shuttle to The Walk, Atlantic City's vast outlet center. The shuttle picked us up right in front of the Borgata and took us on a 15-minute ride that cost less than $2 to the outlets. There were hundreds of stores (we probably made it to 10 of them) and some great deals. Even though I'm not much of a shopper, even I couldn't resist some of the cute clothes I found at some seriously discounted prices!

From the outlet center, we made the short walk over to Caesar's Palace to redeem our $20 slot vouchers. Of course, to redeem them we had to provide all sorts of information, so I'm pretty sure I will be getting junk mail for free rooms and buffets at Caesar's from now until eternity. We blew through the $20 relatively quickly (although Marggee had a stroke of luck that only prolonged the inevitable). Because Marggee had never been to AC, I took her out the back entrance of the casino so we could walk down the boardwalk a little ways, which is personally my favorite part of this abysmal town. After wandering around aimlessly for about 20 minutes, we finally figured out where the shuttle would pick us back up and headed back to the Borgata to scarf down another cafeteria meal and get ready for the final show.

The Atlantic City Boardwalk:


After the show on Sunday, we went with the promoter and all the other people involved with the show to the little swanky bar in the middle of the casino. It was so incredibly smoky (and I was wearing some new outlet clothes!) so I couldn't wait to get out of there and get to sleep. Not to mention, the smoke was starting to bring on either some kind of allergic reaction, or was just making me physically sick. So with that, we hit the sack. The next morning, one of the comic's publicists was taking a limo back into New York that the casino had provided for her (long story), so although our bus tickets were round trip, we quickly ditched them and hopped in the limo bright and early. We all slept the entire way back, and I'm pretty sure we all crawled into bed and slept the rest of the day and night.

I enjoyed this trip to Atlantic City a lot...although I didn't get to go out on the beach as I have in the past, it was fun to have a friend around, and going shopping and gambling away free money was a nice reprieve from the usual monotony of work trips to this otherwise dreadful place. Next up: Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut!

"Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City..." - Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen

Miles Traveled Today: 254
Total Miles Traveled: 13,975

Phoenix: Wrap up

As much as I was dreading my early flight this morning, it turns out it was for the best, as the winter weather was coming down very hard on New York - and all the flights scheduled after mine were canceled and postponed for 2-3 days. I was on the flight back with some friends, so we ended up splitting a cab to get home more quickly and beat the weather. Mission accomplished - as I sit here writing this, the blizzard is just now beginning.

Overall, I got a wonderful impression of Phoenix, and although I can't imagine a situation that would take me back there, I thought it was a beautiful, clean city full of outdoor/nature activities to enjoy the gorgeous weather in - even in the dead of winter. If I ever do go back, I will definitely not miss the Grand Canyon, though!

My trip:


Our theme song for the weekend after chasing a non-carnivorous jack rabbit down the street in front of the hotel and several relatively peaceful cacti encounters: "Better watch out for those man-eating jack rabbits ... and that killer cacti..." - Hey Dude, TV Theme Song

Miles Traveled Today: 2,414
Total Miles Traveled: 13,721

Phoenix: Day 3

GAME DAY!!!!! We woke up bright and early this morning so we could belly up to the breakfast trough in the lobby before making the drive to Glendale for the game. We now had wheels with my brother's rented car, so were taking ourselves out to Glendale, which was approximately a 30 minute drive. We hit absolutely no traffic - but then again, we had timed our arrival for approximately seven hours prior to game time. So here we were at 11am circling the University of Phoenix Stadium, trying to figure out where our parking lot was, only to discover lots didn't open until noon!


So much for our brilliant plan of beating the traffic. We decided to make our way to Westgate City Center, an area of restaurants and bars in walking distance from the stadium, but more importantly with a parking lot where we could park and kill some time before our lot opened. We found Yardhouse, a sports bar that was relatively empty when we arrived but quickly began to fill up once we had been seated. The service at this restaurant provided perhaps the most frustrating part of the entire weekend. I don't know what kind of management would allow there to be one waiter at a sports bar next to the stadium where the national championship game is taking place, but that was what happened here, and we definitely drew the short stick. Tables that were seated 30-40 minutes after us had ordered and were eating before we ever even placed our order - it was insane! I've honestly never seen anything like it; usually when a waiter realizes there is a problem with a table, they will step it up and make sure they are taken care of. Not this one - my order even came out wrong and I was so exasperated with it after waiting over an hour for it to arrive that I didn't even bother to send it back for fear I'd never see it again. Needless to say, our waiter received no tip and we could not wait to get out of there!

By this point, we were able to get into our parking lot and headed for the stadium to scope out the area. We took a quick lap around and then headed back toward the Westgate area closest to the stadium on foot, where the Auburn band was playing and Auburn fans once again were out in full force. And once again, the Oregon fans were severely outnumbered, which was making this entire experience even more fun! We bounced around to several different bars to meet up with friends, all of which were completely packed, before heading back across the walkway to the stadium.

We were hustling to get back to the far end of the stadium through the throngs of people to participate in Tiger Walk, a favorite Auburn tradition that we were excited to participate in on the other side of the country! We got to where it was supposed to be and ended up standing around for a long time waiting for the buses to arrive. This was not a normal Tiger Walk in that we could only see the players through the tint of the bus windows rather than having them walk through a crowd of fans high-fiving everyone, but it was exciting once the buses finally showed up and we were all cheering for our undefeated Tigers on getting us all out to the middle of the desert in the middle of January!

Once Tiger Walk was over, it was time to start making our way into the stadium! It was a long walk to the opposite end of the stadium, but we went straight in and got settled in our seats ... and what amazing seats they were! We were basically in a private bleacher box that only had two rows of 8 in it. We were also in the seats closest to the ESPN College Gameday setup and had to stare at Nick Saban's ugly mug throughout the pre-game and halftime.


During the pre-game warm ups, the media swarmed around our star quarterback and Heisman Trophy Winner, Cam Newton.


The University of Phoenix Stadium was a very nice indoor stadium, and our seats were directly in front of a concession stand and the restrooms, so we were never far from the action! When trying to figure out if the game was being played indoors or outdoors while packing for the trip, I learned about the interesting way the stadium is able to keep live grass growing on an indoor field.

The field full of live, green grass and the stands full of spirited, orange Auburn fans:


An exciting weekend in Phoenix was capped off with the most exciting thing of all - Auburn wins 22-19 and is presented with the crystal National Championship trophy!


After the game we were tired and hungry. We had passed an In-n-Out Burger on the way to the stadium so made an executive decision that we must go there. We were not alone - the place was packed with Auburn and Oregon fans. It was my first time eating at this uber-poplar West Coast fast food spot, and I have to say, I was not overly-impressed. Not sure what the big deal is. I will take a Milo's cheeseburger back home in Birmingham over the In-N-Out double double burger any day of the week!

We are passing out hard tonight - a 10:00am flight back to New York awaits me. But it certainly feels good to be going to bed as a national champion!

Phoenix: Day 2

We woke up early early early this morning to fit in our hike, which I was very excited about - I don't feel like I get enough fresh air in New York! We had a filling breakfast of french toast, sausage, waffles and eggs in the hotel, and after receiving some quick directions from one of the employees at the front desk, took the pedestrian-friendly walk east on East Northern Avenue (approximately 0.7 mile) to Dreamy Draw Recreation Area, part of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. We knew we didn't have much time (less than two hours) to explore a massive expanse of mountain trails, so decided to stick to the main paths and do our best to not get too turned around. I wish we could have had all day out here - this was a perfect day and a perfect location to pack lunch in a backpack and get totally lost deep in the mountain!

The trails were well-marked and with the lack of trees replaced by cacti and rocks, I felt I had a better sense of direction, as we could always turn around and see exactly where we had come from. There were some pretty steep trails where serious hikers with poles were headed up with bags packed for the day. The entire area was scattered with wanderers like us, neighbors out for a walk and runners with their dogs. There was something very refreshing about being up early, getting a little exercise and enjoying the fresh air and landscape around us.

We were literally sweating by the time we started heading back to the hotel - this was definitely a more exerting hike than we had realized! We got showered, and soon after, my brother and his friend arrived after making the early morning drive from Las Vegas. I had reserved a cab online via DiscountCab to pick us up at 1pm to head to the Scottsdale Waterfront, where the big Auburn pep rally was happening at 2pm. I had reserved the cab a week prior just to make sure we wouldn't run into any availability problems so decided to make a quick call just to confirm. They must have some operating board over at Discount Cab, because without even saying my name, they knew who I was and where I was calling from. Needless to say, the cab was already on the way to the hotel!

The cab ride to the Scottsdale Waterfront, which we confirmed with our driver actually fronts no discernible water, took around 30 minutes and cost $40 split between the four of us. The Waterfront is basically a big shopping/restaurant/nightlife area and definitely the trendy area of Phoenix. The sun was out bright this afternoon, so leaving the jacket at home turned out to be a great idea - more hands to hold my hot dogs and beers with! The pep rally was held out in a large open field dubbed the "Bud Light Fiesta" where a big stage was set up and was packed shoulder to shoulder with orange and blue!

After a bunch of cheers and Auburn celebrities taking the stage to fire us up, we moved like a pack of cattle toward a strip of bars a few blocks away. This seemed like a fun area, but with the swarm of Auburn fans, moving around was painstakingly slow. Auburn fans were heading to Upperdeck, where there was a big outdoor patio completely jammed and a line that looked a few hours long to get in, so we decided to go across the street to Dos Gringos, which had been labeled as an "Oregon bar." Dos Gringos had a sprawling upstairs covered patio where we settled in for a couple drinks and enjoyed the breeze. It was around this point that I realized Oregon fans were just NOT in Phoenix. Auburn fans were dominating as far as the eye could see. Even at the Oregon bar, while Oregon fans were in the majority, there was no shortage of orange and blue! The view of the "Auburn bar" Upperdeck across the street:

At this point I was trying to meet up with another group of friends despite a complete lack of cell service (Thanks AT&T - I'm only in the middle of a major city), and finally tracked them down a short cab ride away at The Lodge. We sat outside for a little bit on the patio out front, but as it started to get chilly we headed inside to a big booth where we had buckets and buckets of beer and bar food somewhat resembling a meal. Drinking all afternoon and evening, we ultimately hit a point where it was just time to leave. We tricked a cab driver into thinking we'd come all the way to Scottsdale for $25, so he agreed to give us that same rate going back. Had the meter been running, I feel sure it would have been closer to $40, so I definitely get a point for negotiation skills on this one. Tomorrow's game day!

Phoenix: Day 1

Today I launched out on an adventure across the country that literally all came together in the last week and a half! The day after I got back from New Orleans, I received a phone call letting me know that the most unexpected of miracles had happened - I had two confirmed tickets to the BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona, where my Auburn Tigers will be playing the Oregon Ducks for the crystal ball!


I should add that I had already made up my mind to go to Phoenix with or without tickets to the game, so had booked my flights and hotel accommodations weeks ago. This was a risky move, but with lots of activities going on all weekend, I knew there would be plenty of fun to be had outside of the game.

My flight this morning left out of JFK, which is an airport I have never booked a flight out of because of its distance from my apartment and expense to take a cab such a long way. However, by flying on the weekend I had a little more flexibility, and the flights to Phoenix out of JFK had much better time options as well as being direct flights. Besides taking a cab, the other option for getting to JFK is the AirTrain - which is usually not an option because it takes longer and I'm usually flying right after work or very early in the morning, neither of which allows me much time flexibility. But because my flight wasn't until 10:00am this morning, I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to try out the AirTrain, as I would not be in a rush. The AirTrain costs approximately $70 less than taking a cab, and the subway train that connects to the AirTrain is actually very convenient to my apartment. I left my apartment at approximately 6:45am, leaving more than enough time to get to the airport an hour early for my 10am flight. I took the L train toward Brooklyn, then met up with the A train, which goes straight to the Howard Beach AirTrain connection. My one-way trip, which I was able to pay for with my MetroCard, costs only $7. The other way to connect to the AirTrain is via the LIRR, but this costs more money. The AirTrain terminal was just an elevator ride up from where the A train dropped me off. The AirTrains seemed to be running pretty frequently, and a train arrived within 3 or 4 minutes. It took an additional 15 minutes (approximately) to get to the Delta terminal, which was one of the last stops on the train).


I was through security (which was all Auburn fans!), had eaten breakfast in the food court and was sitting in the terminal talking to some friends by 8:45am. AirTrain success! This was one of the longest direct flights I've ever taken, and made me a little nervous about my potential Australia trip later this year! I landed at the Phoenix airport early, a little after 1pm. My friend Tiffany wasn't landing until around 4:30pm, and we had decided in an effort to make this trip as inexpensive as possible, we would share a cab from the airport. So I had an afternoon to kill with dilly-dallying at the restaurant in the airport and a good book.

Once Tiffany arrived, we headed out and caught a random cab to our hotel, the Best Western InnSuites. I had done some research beforehand and found a great cab service called Discount Cab, but they unfortunately are not able to pick up at the airport, only drop off. The fare was approximately $35, split between the two of us. The hotel wasn't that far from the airport (maybe 10-15 minutes), so I thought this was a little exorbitant. The feeling I got about the cab fare was quickly replaced by complete joy at the fact I just left the frozen tundra of New York to be in this warm, no-humidity cacti paradise. The weather is gorgeous and supposed to stay that way all weekend!

I was pleasantly surprised when we checked in to the hotel - there was free wifi, a hot continental breakfast, computers and printers in the lobby, a beer and wine happy hour every afternoon and very pleasant employees at the check-in counter...all things that one might expect in a hotel, but if you found out I was only paying $30, you might decide I was getting some pretty sweet perks! In fairness to the hotel, there are 4 people splitting the room (my brother and his friend are arriving tomorrow), but this is still a pretty remarkable deal considering every hotel in a 50 mile radius had been sold out since the teams playing in the game had been revealed. We quickly dumped our bags off in the room - a small but nice suite, probably most appropriate for a business traveler needing a mini-fridge and microwave - and headed to the happy hour so as to not miss a moment of wine intake. We met lots of Auburn fans imbibing at the happy hour - it is pretty obvious we are in the majority at this hotel! After a few drinks, we headed back to the room to unpack and clean up for dinner. A co-worker of Tiffany's had recommended a Mexican restaurant in walking distance of the hotel called Aunt Chilada's. It was a little less than a mile walk, but it felt a bit longer than that...but that may have something to do with the fact that our wine buzz had us taking pictures with every cactus we passed.


Aunt Chilada's had a heated patio which was nice, as it got pretty chilly after the sun went down. We ordered a pitcher of margaritas and way too much food, which easily put us to sleep after our long travel day. Tomorrow we are planning to wake up early and go for a hike near our hotel that Tiffany's co-worker had recommended followed by the Auburn pep rally in Scottsdale, which we need some serious energizing for. Good night. :)



Miles Traveled Today: 2,433
Total Miles Traveled: 11,307

Birmingham/New Orleans: Wrap up

On Wednesday morning, we woke very early and were at the Amtrak station by 6:15am. Our train was unfortunately delayed for over two hours - which is not easy news to take in this early in the morning. Fortunately because of our "roomette" reservations, we were ushered into a private lounge where donuts, biscuits, orange juice, etc. were provided in lieu of our expected train breakfast. I promptly passed out at a table inside the lounge. We finally departed around 10:30am. As frustrating as the delayed train was, I have to say that Amtrak's attempt to smooth things over with breakfast was much appreciated. I was thoroughly impressed with Amtrak over the course of this trip and would definitely recommend it to others looking to get away without a car. For a family of four, riding the train proved to be a cost effective way to reach our destination without the hassle of parking a car in New Orleans (a city that doesn't require much driving to begin with).

I spent a couple more days in Birmingham after getting back in town just lounging around and enjoying being back home. I met up with some friends for dinner at Cantina at Patton Creek where I had some delicious tilapia tacos, followed by drinks at Black Market Bar off Highway 280, which was packed with people...definitely a popular watering hole these days.

The flight back to New York was direct (yay) and uneventful (double yay). It was so nice to be home for a little while with my family, and I'm so happy I got to have a different experience in New Orleans - I feel like leaving this time, I have a positive feeling about the city and like it much more than I have on previous trips.

Time to get back into the swing of things here for just a week, as next weekend I'm taking a quick trip out to Phoenix!

My trip:

"...Well the coffee is strong at the Cafe Du Monde, and the donuts are too hot to touch;
But just like a fool, when those sweet goodies cool, I ate 'til I ate way too much..." - Jimmy Buffett, The Wino and I Know

Miles Traveled Today: 1,303
Total Miles Traveled: 8,874