Archive for February, 2005

HustlaBall Las Vegas 2005

Monday, February 28th, 2005

While I was in LA from January 2, 2005 to January 6, 2005, I met up with a friend I have not seen since 1988. The guy looks the same, cute as ever comparing to me who has gained a whopping 40 pounds. I was lucky that I actually missed the heavy rain that came the week before, and on the 6th the rain came down again as we headed back to Vegas for the Consumer Electronic Show and the Porn Convention which I ended up going to neither. My friend, Andrew, hitched a ride with me and Gary to spend more time with us. We stayed at the Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. This hotel is boring as hell, but Gary and I gamble exclusively at Harrah’s, so our room was comp by the casino.

That Thursday evening, Andrew convinced me and Gary to go with him to a “new bar”on the Strip, Krave. Here is the shocker, I rarely ever go to the bars anymore, and I really did not want to go since gambling and watching bad cable TV is much more appealing to me. Andrew insisted that we go with him to this HustlaBall that was being held at Krave and that he knows one of the organizer and his friends. We walked on the Strip to the Aladdin Hotel Casino and discovered that Krave is literally attached to the Aladdin on the far right side looking at the Casino from the Strip. As we approached Krave around 11:00 PM, there were about five hundred people standing in two lines outside of the club. Tall, short, slim, fat, hunk, male, female, you name it, we were all there. I wanted to turn around and head back to my hotel room but Andrew insisted that we hang out in the VIP line. This unorganized mess of people including me was just standing there; really did not know what to do, how we were going to get in, how much the ticket cost etc… Miraculously, after standing around for only 10 minutes, one of the doormen recognized Andrew and we were whisked in to the club and paid only $20 per person at the door, leaving a throng of people behind. THE celebrity life – light, camera, action! AND we did not even have to buy bottle service to get in fast.

I want my fellow readers to know ahead that this review piece will be biased because I am not a fan of crowded clubs and bad “gay club techno music”. Mr. Andrew immediately hooked up with some of the people he recognized from LA and Gary and I meandered through the crowd for a rest room stop. After our bathroom duty, we headed to the bars and ordered two cranberry soda waters and stood in the section looking straight ahead at the stage.

HustlaBall was started by Tom Weise and Jeffrey Davids and they promote various events throughout the US and the world. You can read more about them through the net. There was going to be a show with all kind of porn stars and personalities including the porn director, Chi Chi La Rue. Unfortunately for me and Gary, we just don’t have the strength, stamina and patience to wait until the wee hours for the show to start. We spent about 1 ½ hour listening to really bad techno music (the same thumping beat) on a bad sound system and watching some skinny dancers, including one that was so slim that I swear his legs can fit through my shirt sleeves, trying to prance around on stage. My Cinderella syndrome kicked in and Gary and I said our goodbyes and headed back to the comfort of our penny slots at Harrah’s. I have declared both of us as two old boring queens. I feel bad that there were many people who had to stand in line for an hour to get in; therefore, I felt obligated to stay longer and enjoy it more. The reality of it is that I did not enjoy it more despite my friend Andrew’s description of what was going on in the VIP area where you can have you favorite dancer perform a lap dance. He also reminded me that had I was willing to stand there for an extra hour, I would have witnessed a really wild show with Chi Chi La Rue as MC, and the talents included the Las Vegas show dancers, Men Magazine’s Men of the Year, Zeb Atlas. Act two had the incredible, Queen of the Strip, Frank Marino (his show, La Cage at the Rio is very good) and a list of porn stars longer then Paris Hilton’s Sidekick II phone list.

In the end, even though it is not my cup of tea, I am glad I experienced a sample of it. That what life is about and just because I don’t enjoy something, it does not mean that I will never experience it. I just hope that slim dancer had something good to eat after the ball.

Posted in General Travel, Parties | No Comments »

How To Use Priceline For Hotels

Thursday, February 24th, 2005

A step by step guide to hotel room bidding on Priceline.com.

I started writing my travel journal because I enjoy traveling and enjoy helping friends and family to travel well without paying a fortune for it. Unlike the Hilton sisters, I am not an heir and I have to work hard for my money. In order for me to travel as much as I do, I must plan and budget most of my trips at least three months ahead (there are always exception to this rule). You don’t have to be wealthy to travel well, just well informed. Always determine how much you can afford and then draw a budget which you must stick with. Travel sites such as Priceline.com and Expedia.com help me keep my spending low. Since I have been using Priceline.com, I rarely ever pay more than $75 per night for a four stars hotel.

Many people, including my close friends, are afraid to use Priceline.com because of the “unknown factor”. Not being able to pick the exact hotel at the exact location is unnerving for some, but I never had a bad experience using Priceline.com . When I used Priceline.com for my trip to South Beach, Florida in 2003, I ended up with a three star level hotel, Holiday Inn South Beach. This hotel was not on the hot and trendy Ocean Drive, but it was only a ten minute walk away, and when you walk on the beautiful sandy beach, ten minutes is nothing. The fact that I got this hotel with its own beach front for only $40 a night was a bargain of high magnitude. The same room was going for $80 a night had I booked it directly with the hotel. The bottom line is that when I pay almost half of what the room is worth; I can deal with the “unknown”.

  1. Register with Priceline.com
  2. Determine your travel date. Give yourself at least two weeks before travel date to start your bidding with Priceline.com (if your bid is rejected and you chose not to alter your trip date or hotel classes or location of hotel then you have to wait 72 hours before you can submit the exact trip)
  3. Determine how much you are willing to spend your hotel. Keep in mind that most hotels in major city will charge you parking fee and this is not included in your Priceline.com cost. (The average parking rate in New Orleans is $15 to $30 per day. San Francisco’s hotel parking rate can go up to $40 per day. I have a rule of never paying more than $90 per day (TOTAL cost including parking) for a 4 star and $75 for a three star hotel
  4. Go to Expedia.com, Hotwire.com and Orbitz.com and check out their hotel rates. I normally use Expedia.com to see how much the average 4 stars and three stars hotels go for and then go to two or three hotel’s web site to compare their prices to these internet services. Sometime the hotel will have special that will be less then the internet travel sites. There are times when I will actually use Expedia.com.com to book my room if it is substantially less than the hotel direct site and Priceline.com does not have a three stars or higher hotel.
  5. MAKE YOUR BID – IMPORTANT – Once you make your bid and Priceline.com accepts your bid, you will be charge immediately and there will be no refund if something catastrophic happened which cause you not to go on your trip unless you buy travel insurance made available to you by Priceline.com , before you submit your request.
  6. DESTINATION – City and area of the city you wish to stay in I Start out with the area of the city you mostly like to stay at
  7. QUALITY LEVEL – HOTEL CLASS – PICK your star level. I always start with 4 stars
  8. PRICING – Price your room according to your hotel class and research. START LOW and keep in mind that appropriate city tax and Priceline.com’s service fee will be added on top of your bid.  EXAMPLE – When I did my recent road trip I knew that 4 Star hotels in Los Angeles in the Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Los Angeles areas were very expensive. All above the total cost of $75/day I was willing to spend. However, I gave it a shot and was rejected by Priceline.com after starting out low at $40 bid to a high of $65 bid. I then lower my hotel class to a three star hotel. My research shows that some three stars hotels were going for around $75 and up. With this in mind, I decided that I was not going to bid any higher than $60 for a three stars hotel.  So I resubmit my bid at $40 for a three stars hotel room in Los Angeles in Beverly Hills area. My bid was rejected since Priceline.com could not find any offer from any hotel in the area. I then up my bid to $45 and extend my hotel area to include Hollywood area. This bid was also rejected. I then increased my bid to $50 and extended my hotel area to include downtown Los Angeles. FINALLY in five minutes Priceline.com notified me that my bid was accepted by a three stars hotel. This three stars hotel turns out to be the Hyatt Regency Downtown Los Angeles on Hope Street. This hotel was going for about $120 per day or more through the other travel services and through its own reservation site. Add on the local taxes and Priceline.com fee (about 15 to 20 %) and my cost for my four nights stay was only around $250.00. The additional parking fee was about $20 (I don’t remember exactly) a day so I stay under my budget. The cheap motels around the areas were going for $60 per day, so this was a real bargain.
  9. Once your bid is accepted, print out your confirmation for safe keeping. In my experience, all I have to do is to give my name when I check in, along with a proper ID and a credit card for incidental if required (some hotels does not require this)
  10. IF your bid is rejected, then you either have to change your travel date, area of hotel and or quality level (star level). If you have time and or not willing to extend your hotel area or change your price or star level, then you must wait a full 72 hours before you can submit the same trip. (I have done this before and it work out to my advantage – The Westin St. Francis in San Francisco for $59 a night in February of 2002)

PRO AND CONS

PROS

  • I have never failed to get a nice hotel for much less than I would have pay for if I had book directly through the hotel or through other services (I have use Expedia.com for rooms that was offered at a very low rate – 2002 Reno – The Coronado Hotel and Casino at $25 per night)
  • I have stay at some of the nicest hotel my little money could buy. This included the Westin St. Francis San Francisco at Union Square – $59/night in 2002.; The Marriott on Canal in New Orleans – $50/night in 2000; Park Hyatt on Avenue of the Stars next to Beverly Hills – $59/night in summer of 2002; The Holiday Inn South Beach – $40/night in 2003; The Sheraton Safari Orlando – $50/night in 2004; Hilton Phoenix Airport – $35/night 2005..
  • The participating hotel treats Priceline.com customers as well as anybody else. They do not discriminate. I have experienced a few small incidents (Example: bad showerhead) but they were not related to me being a Priceline.com customer.
  • The price discount is so vast that even if the hotel may not be as I want it to be, I still would have pay the same or more for a much lower quality hotel or motel room.

CONS

  • It is scary at first not to know which hotel you will end up with. Keep in mind that you get to chose your location and star level.
  • The location may be far from a particular point of interest if you end up in one corner of your location of choice which can be several square miles.
  • Sometime, a participating hotel will give you a room with only one bed for two people; if you plan to sneak in 3 or more people, you may be in trouble. This has happened to me twice. However, I always book only two people per room. At the Westin St. Francis, I was given a one bed room with an option of upgrading to a two beds room for $20 more. My friend and I chose not to upgrade, but if we did, it would still be a bargain considering that the Westin St. Francis usually goes for $160 per night and we only paid $59 per night for it.
  • Forget about the room with a view. Sometime I have rooms that have wonderful view sometime I don’t.
  • If you are a demanding Diva, then you need to book your own $1000.00 per night room.

Posted in How To's | No Comments »

Gay Travel by Car

Sunday, February 20th, 2005

The essentials for a cross country road trip.

Besides a good camera, personal hygiene products, unlimited amounts of clean panties and socks, bottles of Kristal Champagne and cognac, there are other items essential to a long road trip.

  • Ice Chest: This is the most important item of all. Filled with all the food and drink I can store so that I don’t have to rely on burgers and fried chicken on the road.
  • Good Fluffy Pillow: One that your head or ass can rest on, depending which is more sore and tired.
  • Personal DVD/CD player: While my traveling companions are enthralled with Air America Radio or NPR, I can pop in the DVD of my choice. With a good set of headphones, I experience the Edwards Theater in the comfort of my car.
  • Magazines: For me, National Geographic, Details, Maxim (don’t ask, don’t tell) are best. I like to read NG out loud to educate my fellow travelers and myself. We all need to know about the wild life in remote locations throughout the world.
  • Portable Air Pump and Fix a Flat: Priscilla and her concubines of the desert are not good at changing a flat tire on our 4500-pound car. I used to have “run-flat tires” that could keep going even with nail punctures until “Tiger Paws” were discontinued.
  • Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener: The best way to feel like a local is to take those week-old clothes to a local washateria. While I wait for my clothes to dry, I make a point of eating lunch or dinner at the nearest neighborhood restaurant.
  • Ear Plugs: I snore like a volcano. So my friends pop in these cute little plugs and sleep like logs.

To be honest, all these items are not that important. I could get these items at any Wal-Mart store. Driving on I-10, Wal-Mart stores are as abundant as tumbleweeds.

But the most important “things” I will be taking with me are my friends, Gary and Ian. Friends and family are always the most important things to me when I am traveling. I’m puzzled by people who vacation alone because for me, experience (like money) is nothing if you can’t share it with the ones you love.

Posted in General Travel | No Comments »