Ya, I definitely have that problem. I always go real hard on the first day/ night of any trip or vacation. I guess too much anticipation and excitement leading up to it.
Usually end up letting loose once the wait Is over then end up paying for it the rest of the trip.
It's been noted......but there isn't any promises. We get in at 11am, and it's highly likely i won't be able to find my room once were able to check in
What's the history behind the shoe pic anyway? Never quite understood why pictures of shoes are taken before a trip. Would love to be enlightened on this.
Edit: no $50's. Glad I found out about that early. Don't want to start off on the wrong foot.
Well....this could have starter better. Basically just got taken by a 1-outer on the river here. Out of 100+ flights ours is one of 2 that is delayed. Have to wait 12 hours now.
This isn't going to be a full on TR, or at least I hope, but a bunch of photos with maybe some commentary on each.
Day 1.
Wake up Monday morning (my actual bday) at 4:30 am and go to airport for 9:10 flight. Wake up sick as a dog. Sickest I've been in over a year. Just great. Why me, why today.
Arrive at airport to learn that 9:10am flight has been delayed to 8:45 pm flight. Fantastic.
Have breakfast, drive around. Go back home and catch a couple zzz's. Arrive back at airport in evening. Flight is delayed another 2 hours longer again. Unbelievable.
Many $10 airport beers were had while waiting. Finally board airplane and arrive at 11:50pm Vegas time. (10 minute left of bday) oh well at least we're here.
View of Toronto skyline. Never flew before at night so lots of sights to take in.
It's now 1:30 when we arrive at the mirage (4:30am still my time) no check in line. Try $20 trick. No dice even though pretty sure guy in front of me got a complementary upgrade.
Walk in a couple circles inside and out but decide were both way to tired and go to bed. Also of note, freezing cold outside. Huge cold front came in for the entire week. Oh well.
Day 2.
Have mirage buffet breakfast. Bit pricey but awesome selection and unlimited beer and wine!!! Needless to say we were both quite buzzed by the end.
We walk the property to see it in daylight for the first time. Absolutely gorgeous. Very tropical feel. Massive complex and hotel, beyond bigger then I've ever seen. Pic from hotel room. Floor 20. Far from an amazing view. Mostly building tops but still very nice. Beautiful mountains. Didn't even know there were any there.
We check out the pool. Main pool closed for season but a secondary small heated pool still open. Unfortunately we never got a chance to utilize it.
We then do the mirage's sigfield(sp?) and Roy's Dolphin and tiger exibit. Had a couple discount coupons. Great dolphin shows and a cool zoo like feel with all the Tigers.
....nice kitty.....
We then proceed to walk the strip for the first time. Our goal is to get to the 'welcome to Vegas' sign for a photo op then proceed back.
First impression is these buildings / casinos / complex's are astonishingly massive. It was really hard to take in how big and how many of these buildings there were. Soooo cool.
Finally get to Vegas sign and get a couple photos in. Wave to the live stream camera off to the right which some family is watching from online in real time. Then head back north on foot.
Get to tropicania and get in a cab to go to Ellis island. Guy asks, "going for dinner"? I guess everyone knows it's a hot spot for their dinners.
Get there, sign up for players card, gambol on it a bit to unlock new levels, print off voucher and go into the bbq for dinner. Opted for only the half rack platter. WOW! What an amazing dinner.
Beer is fantastic also, and cheap! Very friendly place, and cheap gambolling. I have a feeling we're coming back here again b4 we leave.
Gf goes to bed rather early at about 10:15 local time and says "go play pok......".....I'm already downstairs b4 she could finish the sentence.
I said I had no interest in playing any casinos $40-80 daily / nightly trny's. Spoiler alert, that's all I ended up playing.
Late reg'd the mirage's 10:00 pm $65 nightly. 10k start. Only 1 table with a total of about 13 entries including reentries. Get heads up.
Lots of back and forth. He has about 60% I have about 40%. He opens JQo on btn, I jam A3o. He calls and I lose. Cash for $180. Play a bit of cash after. Lose about 100 back. Go to bed.
Today is Hoover dam in morning following by a off strip casino tour after.
Picked up mustang convertible evening b4 at mccarian car rental facility.
Thx moose for the Costco tip! $63 for 3 full days!!
Do the full dam tour at $30/each. Great tour. Very informative.......did you know that the dam hasn't fully cured yet?!?? It just hit its 80th bday. And being 635 ft thick at the base it is scheduled to be fully cured in another 40 something years!! Nuts.
Great views. Amazing to see in person.
Depart dam and start the tour. First stop...
Next....
Got a $1 chip at every casino that had table games. Went to many more then what is pictured here. And some more in no real particular order.
....Emerald Island
....stayed and had dinner here. This place is pretty unassuming from the outside but holy shit is this place ever nice. Very clean and bright inside, big casino, big hotel, beautiful inside/outside section with restaurants and bars. I would seriously consider staying here in the future.
TGI Fridays had happy hour on steak and crab and apps. Loaded up on a sweet dinner for about $50.
Finished the tour off at barleys casino and brewing co. Also of note, stopped into longhorn casino, not pictured. What a shit hole, surprised I made it out alive. Played about 5 hands of BJ, grabbed my chip and left.
Gf again turned in early and I went downstairs again for their nightly trny. This time I was an alternate. Finally seated. Got down to 3k from 10k start. This time it had 16 total entries paying top 3. Manage to get down to ITM (yay, 2 for 2!) I proceed to open shove or shove over opens and limps constantly. This goes on for what seems like ever.
Were being pressured the whole time to just chop it up by the staff. They just want it over with. No one busts. Blinds go up. Avg stack is 7bb 3 handed. We finally decide on an even chop 3 ways me being the shortest. This time cash for $220. That's about it for Wednesday.
Go back to mirage for buffet breakfast. Only have 1 beer this time because I'm suppose to be driving.....hard to be responsible while on vacation in Vegas!
Today's plan, some touristy stuff, stop by Vegas sign again for better pics.
Not this one, but for reference...
Drive the entire strip and stop in at pawn stars. Pretty neat place. Small in person which I've heard from other ppl too.
Then go to the Rio because it's such an iconic casino. Do a walk through, get a chip. Was hoping to see more wsop branded stuff inside, or maybe even a wall dedicated to champions but didn't see any. Probably not looking in the right places anyway.
From there we drive downtown and park at the el Cortez parking garage. Only $5 all day parking and only 5 min walk to freemont. Get a super large beer inside and wander around.
Me and the gf were part of one of the street performers magic act doing some card and disappearing acts. Really cool stuff. Really nice guy, from Saskatchewan. Tipped him a red bird and proceed along.
Stopped in at most of the places there. Couple pictures of downtown...
Also got one at Binions $1,000,000 cash pile. Played some dbl ball roulette and won a couple bucks. Took a photo of the poker hall of fame photo wall with the newest editions of Jen Harman and John juanda up.
Then headed back to the strip to the Venetian for the first time to place my first sports bet ever. Toronto maple leafs to win over New Jersey.
I have no idea how it, or any of the betting systems work. It's all Chinese to me. I bet $50 for them to just win straight up in regulation or on extra time. Only pays $83 total on a win though. Are they really that much of a favourite??
They were down twice in the game and somehow managed to tie with a minute and a half left in regulation. OT proves nothing. WIN WIN WIN in a shoutout. What a sweat. Ppl must have thought we were crazy. Only ppl in the room it seemed like to bet on hockey, nvm the leafs.
Side note, bet at the Venetian but left at intermission to watch it out at the mirage sorts book. Much much nicer imo. Couches and lounges and tables at the mirage. ....Venetian sports book.
The Mirage
That's about it for Thursday. Tried to get a comedy show in at the trop, only to find out they pulled the good ol bait and switch on us. Some other performer is going on instead and at twice the price. No thanks.
If you are going to stalk the girl in the stripy dress, a least post a pic from the front.
Is it still $1 craps at RR Pass? Did the craps table at Jokers Wild still have .25 chips? Did you shoot any craps at those casinos?
Lol. I kept a couple of the front photos of us out. She probably wouldn't want to unknowingly be posted. I could care less about me.
I think RR did have $1 craps but doesn't open until a certain time so nothing was running. They did have cheap roulette though. I actually really liked RR. It was very high up on my list. Everything was cheap cheap cheap, and the ppl and staff were super friendly.
I'm gonna be honest, the entire time I didn't shut up about playing craps. Prob drove the gf crazy. Didn't place a single bet. Kept putting it off . Kind of upset about that. It is really intimidating to someone who has no idea....leave a few things for the next trip I guess.
Don't remember anything in particular about jokers wild, a lot of them started to blend together after a bit. I do remember one have $0.10 roulette! $1 min. I put $10 or $20 down and it looked like I was a high roller or something. Just a mountain of chips. A few places were $0.25 also with either a $1 or $2 min. Roulette was my game of choice on this trip.
Check out is 11:00 am and it was a buzzer beater. They took off 1 day of resort fees because of our late check in at the beginning. Actually tried extending the trip one more night but it wasn't jiving with the airlines so that got kiboshed.
Friday we didn't have anything at all planned. Wander around, maybe do a couple things we didn't get a chance to yet. We still had the car for the day as it had to be back at 9:00pm and flight was at 11:30pm.
Went next door to TI for their lunch buffet. Pretty pricey. Not the greatest. Then went to the Venetian to cash in our sports bet ticket.
Fun thing from the day before, minutes after placing sports bet at the Venetian, we sit down at the bar right behind the book and I toss in a $100 into the machine so we can get drink service. It's on some weird slot game, gf tries to switch to BJ, but accidentally hits max bet. It looks like it's in demo mode. Going spinning up and up. Switches over to BJ to find account balance at $204!! Holy shit. Cash out see Ya. Bartender says "it's rough over here at the Venetian" tip and leave.
Friday...enjoy a beer at the patio at the Venetian of B&B burger I think it is overlooking the water. Much Hotter out today.
Do some more wandering. Make our way to the south end and check out the Luxor.
Then we went to the silverton hotel and casino. Another really nice property. Very clean and bright.
They also have a massive aquarium.
And for some reason, a bass pro shops?? There's hardly any bodies of water around. Seems like a weird area to have one in.
I had 1 foot in to shoot dice there, then chickened out again. Went to the bar and ordered a couple coffees. The trip is really wearing on me now. Getting pretty tired. Haven't slept much.
Then drive to.......back to Ellis Island for one last dinner. Suppose to be a 10 min drive. Takes an hour. Insane amount of traffic. Probably should have taken some back road.
Get there and print off a voucher from the machine for a $10.99 steak dinner. The place is 'packed' this time around. Definitely the place to be. 1 hour wait at the cafe so go to the bar section and order and eat there. Amazing dinner. Super cheap. Man I really love this place. (Thanks moose!)
Go get my roulette on real quick before leaving for the airport. Put $25 down.
First spin it's split. Up about 15 or so. Second spin I drop one more on my already 1 on 27 at the last second and BAM. 27 it is. Colour up. Up almost $100 here.
Drive to rental centre. Drop car off and get transported to airport. Get chatted up by a nice hippy on the way there. She flew in to get a dog and is bringing it back in her carry on. I'm petting the dog and she asks me if I smoke pot as she has to get rid of the rest of her joint b4 her flight. I respectfully decline and we part ways.
Gambol gambol waiting to board
Bye Vegas. It's been a blast.
Can't wait to go back.
I'm not huge on gambling (poker aside) and booked a few wins poker, and roulette and came back with $50 less then I left with in the gambling budget (not inc food etc), so maybe it's in the cards to go back again soon!
Here's a couple other photos that didn't get posted.
at the flamingo
at the bellagio
mirage volcano...what a show!
Considering what I wanted to check out while there, I think we did pretty good. Missed a few things including the fountains. Was a very hectic trip. Very busy. Hopefully next time will be a bit more laid back and can take our time to appreciate each stop to its fullest.
Thanks for all the advice provided here, really helped a lot, and thanks for reading.
Honestly I feel like you must have been sprinting from one thing to the next. Wow you covered a lot of ground. I can't believe you walked to the LV Sign from the Mirage.
Did you know the pit $1 is different from the $1 poker room chip at the Mirage? The pit $1 is blue and the blue chip dust was getting into the automatic shufflers and turning the cards blue.
Did you not notice the GIANT lake created by Hoover Dam ?
It did feel like we were constantly running. There's was just so much I wanted to experience and take in, in the few days we were there. I think we did pretty good.
The thing with walking there is that, you see a sign which looks close, turns out its a half hour walk to it. It was a long walk to the sign.
I did not know about the blue mirage chips. Reason to go back! Why are so many blue in the first place? I thought white Was the standard $1.
Maybe I didn't see the entire lake, is it really that big?
Just as Moose said, how did you fit all that in. More like a months worth of activities... Wore me out reading it all. Certainly well worth the effort, great job... Moar!!!!
Comments
Usually end up letting loose once the wait Is over then end up paying for it the rest of the trip.
It's been noted......but there isn't any promises. We get in at 11am, and it's highly likely i won't be able to find my room once were able to check in
Next up bankroll and shoes....
Next up bankroll and shoes....
Edit: no $50's. Glad I found out about that early. Don't want to start off on the wrong foot.
Hmm. Maybe not as popular as I thought. It seems like every 2+2 TR is started off with a pic of shoes and roll.
Wynn chips due to be released Feb. 13.
Quick update.
We're here. Taking a million photo. Taking it all in. Haven't slept hardly at all. Post trip I will upload a ton of photos.
So far Ellis island was best dinner, really enjoyed the atmosphere. Close second was railroad pass casino. $0.25 roulette!
Have fun!
Post Vegas recap.
This isn't going to be a full on TR, or at least I hope, but a bunch of photos with maybe some commentary on each.
Day 1.
Wake up Monday morning (my actual bday) at 4:30 am and go to airport for 9:10 flight. Wake up sick as a dog. Sickest I've been in over a year. Just great. Why me, why today.
Arrive at airport to learn that 9:10am flight has been delayed to 8:45 pm flight. Fantastic.
Have breakfast, drive around. Go back home and catch a couple zzz's. Arrive back at airport in evening. Flight is delayed another 2 hours longer again. Unbelievable.
Many $10 airport beers were had while waiting. Finally board airplane and arrive at 11:50pm Vegas time. (10 minute left of bday) oh well at least we're here.
View of Toronto skyline. Never flew before at night so lots of sights to take in.
It's now 1:30 when we arrive at the mirage (4:30am still my time) no check in line. Try $20 trick. No dice even though pretty sure guy in front of me got a complementary upgrade.
Walk in a couple circles inside and out but decide were both way to tired and go to bed. Also of note, freezing cold outside. Huge cold front came in for the entire week. Oh well.
Day 2.
Have mirage buffet breakfast. Bit pricey but awesome selection and unlimited beer and wine!!! Needless to say we were both quite buzzed by the end.
We walk the property to see it in daylight for the first time. Absolutely gorgeous. Very tropical feel. Massive complex and hotel, beyond bigger then I've ever seen. Pic from hotel room. Floor 20. Far from an amazing view. Mostly building tops but still very nice. Beautiful mountains. Didn't even know there were any there.
We check out the pool. Main pool closed for season but a secondary small heated pool still open. Unfortunately we never got a chance to utilize it.
We then do the mirage's sigfield(sp?) and Roy's Dolphin and tiger exibit. Had a couple discount coupons. Great dolphin shows and a cool zoo like feel with all the Tigers.
We then proceed to walk the strip for the first time. Our goal is to get to the 'welcome to Vegas' sign for a photo op then proceed back.
First impression is these buildings / casinos / complex's are astonishingly massive. It was really hard to take in how big and how many of these buildings there were. Soooo cool.
Finally get to Vegas sign and get a couple photos in. Wave to the live stream camera off to the right which some family is watching from online in real time. Then head back north on foot.
Get to tropicania and get in a cab to go to Ellis island. Guy asks, "going for dinner"? I guess everyone knows it's a hot spot for their dinners.
Get there, sign up for players card, gambol on it a bit to unlock new levels, print off voucher and go into the bbq for dinner. Opted for only the half rack platter. WOW! What an amazing dinner.
Beer is fantastic also, and cheap! Very friendly place, and cheap gambolling. I have a feeling we're coming back here again b4 we leave.
Gf goes to bed rather early at about 10:15 local time and says "go play pok......".....I'm already downstairs b4 she could finish the sentence.
I said I had no interest in playing any casinos $40-80 daily / nightly trny's. Spoiler alert, that's all I ended up playing.
Late reg'd the mirage's 10:00 pm $65 nightly. 10k start. Only 1 table with a total of about 13 entries including reentries. Get heads up.
Lots of back and forth. He has about 60% I have about 40%. He opens JQo on btn, I jam A3o. He calls and I lose. Cash for $180. Play a bit of cash after. Lose about 100 back. Go to bed.
Day 3.
Today is Hoover dam in morning following by a off strip casino tour after.
Picked up mustang convertible evening b4 at mccarian car rental facility.
Thx moose for the Costco tip! $63 for 3 full days!!
Do the full dam tour at $30/each. Great tour. Very informative.......did you know that the dam hasn't fully cured yet?!?? It just hit its 80th bday. And being 635 ft thick at the base it is scheduled to be fully cured in another 40 something years!! Nuts.
Great views. Amazing to see in person.
Depart dam and start the tour. First stop...
Next....
Got a $1 chip at every casino that had table games. Went to many more then what is pictured here. And some more in no real particular order.
TGI Fridays had happy hour on steak and crab and apps. Loaded up on a sweet dinner for about $50.
Finished the tour off at barleys casino and brewing co. Also of note, stopped into longhorn casino, not pictured. What a shit hole, surprised I made it out alive. Played about 5 hands of BJ, grabbed my chip and left.
Gf again turned in early and I went downstairs again for their nightly trny. This time I was an alternate. Finally seated. Got down to 3k from 10k start. This time it had 16 total entries paying top 3. Manage to get down to ITM (yay, 2 for 2!) I proceed to open shove or shove over opens and limps constantly. This goes on for what seems like ever.
Were being pressured the whole time to just chop it up by the staff. They just want it over with. No one busts. Blinds go up. Avg stack is 7bb 3 handed. We finally decide on an even chop 3 ways me being the shortest. This time cash for $220. That's about it for Wednesday.
Day 4 coming.....
Is it still $1 craps at RR Pass? Did the craps table at Jokers Wild still have .25 chips? Did you shoot any craps at those casinos?
Go back to mirage for buffet breakfast. Only have 1 beer this time because I'm suppose to be driving.....hard to be responsible while on vacation in Vegas!
Today's plan, some touristy stuff, stop by Vegas sign again for better pics.
Not this one, but for reference...
Drive the entire strip and stop in at pawn stars. Pretty neat place. Small in person which I've heard from other ppl too.
Then go to the Rio because it's such an iconic casino. Do a walk through, get a chip. Was hoping to see more wsop branded stuff inside, or maybe even a wall dedicated to champions but didn't see any. Probably not looking in the right places anyway.
From there we drive downtown and park at the el Cortez parking garage. Only $5 all day parking and only 5 min walk to freemont. Get a super large beer inside and wander around.
Me and the gf were part of one of the street performers magic act doing some card and disappearing acts. Really cool stuff. Really nice guy, from Saskatchewan. Tipped him a red bird and proceed along.
Stopped in at most of the places there. Couple pictures of downtown...
Also got one at Binions $1,000,000 cash pile. Played some dbl ball roulette and won a couple bucks. Took a photo of the poker hall of fame photo wall with the newest editions of Jen Harman and John juanda up.
Then headed back to the strip to the Venetian for the first time to place my first sports bet ever. Toronto maple leafs to win over New Jersey.
I have no idea how it, or any of the betting systems work. It's all Chinese to me. I bet $50 for them to just win straight up in regulation or on extra time. Only pays $83 total on a win though. Are they really that much of a favourite??
They were down twice in the game and somehow managed to tie with a minute and a half left in regulation. OT proves nothing. WIN WIN WIN in a shoutout. What a sweat. Ppl must have thought we were crazy. Only ppl in the room it seemed like to bet on hockey, nvm the leafs.
Side note, bet at the Venetian but left at intermission to watch it out at the mirage sorts book. Much much nicer imo. Couches and lounges and tables at the mirage.
The Mirage
That's about it for Thursday. Tried to get a comedy show in at the trop, only to find out they pulled the good ol bait and switch on us. Some other performer is going on instead and at twice the price. No thanks.
Final day coming...
Lol. I kept a couple of the front photos of us out. She probably wouldn't want to unknowingly be posted. I could care less about me.
I think RR did have $1 craps but doesn't open until a certain time so nothing was running. They did have cheap roulette though. I actually really liked RR. It was very high up on my list. Everything was cheap cheap cheap, and the ppl and staff were super friendly.
I'm gonna be honest, the entire time I didn't shut up about playing craps. Prob drove the gf crazy. Didn't place a single bet. Kept putting it off
Don't remember anything in particular about jokers wild, a lot of them started to blend together after a bit. I do remember one have $0.10 roulette! $1 min. I put $10 or $20 down and it looked like I was a high roller or something. Just a mountain of chips. A few places were $0.25 also with either a $1 or $2 min. Roulette was my game of choice on this trip.
My last time in Vegas somebody projectile vomited all over those stairs. Is the new Mirage poker room finished?
Check out is 11:00 am and it was a buzzer beater. They took off 1 day of resort fees because of our late check in at the beginning. Actually tried extending the trip one more night but it wasn't jiving with the airlines so that got kiboshed.
Friday we didn't have anything at all planned. Wander around, maybe do a couple things we didn't get a chance to yet. We still had the car for the day as it had to be back at 9:00pm and flight was at 11:30pm.
Went next door to TI for their lunch buffet. Pretty pricey. Not the greatest. Then went to the Venetian to cash in our sports bet ticket.
Fun thing from the day before, minutes after placing sports bet at the Venetian, we sit down at the bar right behind the book and I toss in a $100 into the machine so we can get drink service. It's on some weird slot game, gf tries to switch to BJ, but accidentally hits max bet. It looks like it's in demo mode. Going spinning up and up. Switches over to BJ to find account balance at $204!! Holy shit. Cash out see Ya. Bartender says "it's rough over here at the Venetian" tip and leave.
Friday...enjoy a beer at the patio at the Venetian of B&B burger I think it is overlooking the water. Much Hotter out today.
Do some more wandering. Make our way to the south end and check out the Luxor.
Then we went to the silverton hotel and casino. Another really nice property. Very clean and bright.
They also have a massive aquarium.
And for some reason, a bass pro shops?? There's hardly any bodies of water around. Seems like a weird area to have one in.
I had 1 foot in to shoot dice there, then chickened out again. Went to the bar and ordered a couple coffees. The trip is really wearing on me now. Getting pretty tired. Haven't slept much.
Then drive to.......back to Ellis Island for one last dinner. Suppose to be a 10 min drive. Takes an hour. Insane amount of traffic. Probably should have taken some back road.
Get there and print off a voucher from the machine for a $10.99 steak dinner. The place is 'packed' this time around. Definitely the place to be. 1 hour wait at the cafe so go to the bar section and order and eat there. Amazing dinner. Super cheap. Man I really love this place. (Thanks moose!)
Go get my roulette on real quick before leaving for the airport. Put $25 down.
First spin it's split. Up about 15 or so. Second spin I drop one more on my already 1 on 27 at the last second and BAM. 27 it is. Colour up. Up almost $100 here.
Drive to rental centre. Drop car off and get transported to airport. Get chatted up by a nice hippy on the way there. She flew in to get a dog and is bringing it back in her carry on. I'm petting the dog and she asks me if I smoke pot as she has to get rid of the rest of her joint b4 her flight. I respectfully decline and we part ways.
Gambol gambol waiting to board
Bye Vegas. It's been a blast.
Can't wait to go back.
I'm not huge on gambling (poker aside) and booked a few wins poker, and roulette and came back with $50 less then I left with in the gambling budget (not inc food etc), so maybe it's in the cards to go back again soon!
Here's a couple other photos that didn't get posted.
Considering what I wanted to check out while there, I think we did pretty good. Missed a few things including the fountains. Was a very hectic trip. Very busy. Hopefully next time will be a bit more laid back and can take our time to appreciate each stop to its fullest.
Thanks for all the advice provided here, really helped a lot, and thanks for reading.
Did you know the pit $1 is different from the $1 poker room chip at the Mirage? The pit $1 is blue and the blue chip dust was getting into the automatic shufflers and turning the cards blue.
Did you not notice the GIANT lake created by Hoover Dam ?
The thing with walking there is that, you see a sign which looks close, turns out its a half hour walk to it. It was a long walk to the sign.
I did not know about the blue mirage chips. Reason to go back! Why are so many blue in the first place? I thought white Was the standard $1.
Maybe I didn't see the entire lake, is it really that big?
For future TR: Less pics of degenerate casino regs and more pics of stripy dress GF.
Couple points to hit on our next trip.
Bellagio fountains
Play more poker / dabble in mixed games
DICE
Wish the dollar was better, would make it easier to justify going back soon.