Return To Pechanga

Gold Coast Tours shuttle bus

          Armed with my selfie stick I went for another casino adventure with a free bus ride to Pechanga, which was about 15 minutes closer than Pala, where I was a few weeks ago. The first and last time I was in Pechanga was almost 2 years ago when I was still unemployed and having so much free time, my relatives brought me there. It was also my first ever visit to a casino. A bit of sacrifice needed to be done this time, which was waking up at 4 a.m. so I could get my workout out of the way, take a shower and make it in time for the 7 a.m. pickup at Tambuli Market in Long Beach. I had scouted the location the day prior to check if there were any parking restrictions. The parking lot had a 2 hour limit which didn't help because it would be at least 8 hours before I would get back. There was no time limit for street parking. Just in case, I talked to the produce guy in the market to ask if I can park in the parking lot without getting towed away. He said it would be okay if I parked at farthest lane away from the market. As I typed this draft on my phone on the bus heading back from Pechanga in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic, I was praying that my car was still safe at Tambuli Market, because it's not exactly in a good neighborhood.

          I arrived at the bus pick up area about 20 minutes early and noticed two women waiting. I asked them if they were there for the casino bus and they said they were waiting for the one that went to San Manuel. Since they were first timers also, they couldn’t tell me if I was at the right location for the Pechanga bus. Shortly however, a huge bus which had Gold Coast Tours markings on it and a tiny sign saying Pechanga on the windshield drove by and parked on the street. I went towards it and asked the driver that it was my first time riding the bus and what he needed from me. He said he needed to see my Pechanga membership card. I didn’t have one yet having signed up online, but I showed him the membership number the website provided me. He let me on the bus as we waited for more customers.

          We were soon underway to another pick up location in the city of Carson but was actually at the Harbor Gateway Transit Center. We waited for more customers there until about 8:15 a.m. when the bus was almost full. Most of the customers were senior citizens in what I venture to guess were in their 80’s, some with canes and one with a walker. Folks, gambling has no upper age limit as long as you are over 21.

          That was the last pick up stop and we soon hit the freeway towards Temecula. I tried to take short naps and catch up with the news on my cellphone. Mostly I was vehicle watching where I noticed a lot of drivers still texting or social networking while driving. I observed this on the way to and from the casino.

          We arrived at Pechanga about an hour and a half after leaving Carson and as we got off the bus, a couple of hostesses met us at the steps to check our membership cards. Having none, I presented my ID and membership number which I got when I registered through their website, but the system didn’t recognize my number. The cute hostess provided me with a new one and sent me to the lobby to pick up my new card from the desk. The lady told me that since I came with the casino sponsored bus, I was going to be given a $10 free play credit and since I was a new member, a free spin on any of the slot machines for a chance to win an additional $5 to 1,000 prize. I also asked the lady what their wifi password for guests was. Having gotten that, what else would I do but post it on my Facebook status, then went to find a slot machine for my free spin.

The welcome committee.

          Oh well, the free spin only yielded $5 but that’s better than nothing. I roamed around for a bit and took a few selfies before sitting down at a slot machine in the non-smoking area. I inserted my new membership card and the machine asked me for my password, which I tried to punch in on the touch screen. Well, either my aim is poor or the touch screen is inaccurate because when I punch in a number, it jumps to another number. I tried another machine with the same results. I went from one machine to the next until I found one which took my password and I figured out the next thing I had to do was load the $5 and the $10 to my card so I would be able to use it to gamble. It took me awhile to figure that out. Can you tell by now that I’m really not a gambler even though I’ve been to two casinos in the past month? For some reason I also found out that the penny slots had a minimum 20 cents bet or maybe on just the machines that allowed me to log in. Who knows? Since I was given free money by the casino I played more boldly than when I was in Pala Casino a few week prior. After trying a few single bets, I put in maximum bets. Bada bing bada boom, in about 10 short minutes all the free money was gone!

          So it was time to roam around again and since I was getting hungry I checked out the restaurants in-house. The prices were still not within my comfort zone so I left the building to see if there were any fast food restaurants outside. Since Pechanga Casino was not as isolated as Pala, I thought I would find one within walking distance. I was mistaken because despite seeing many housing tracts around the area, there was no shopping center in sight. About a block away from the casino, I saw a mini mart similar to the one in Pala and bought a huge processed burrito with some soda and that filled me up. Wait, I just noticed that there was no free soda in Pechanga unlike Pala. Darn, I had to buy my own drink!

          After having lunch, I walked around the perimeter of the casino and saw the clubhouse where their golf course is. A couple of women and a man asked me if I knew where a particular restaurant was, and having seen a sign about that restaurant earlier, I pointed them to that direction. I apologized ahead of time if I sent them the wrong way. I kept on walking and reached the edge of the parking structure before turning right and back towards the casino. I kept walking until I found the front of the hotel and entered the casino from there. Thus, I was able to walk off some of the calories of the somewhat heavy lunch I had. I tried playing quarter (25 cent) slots with my own money and immediately lost a dollar in just 4 spins. I’m beginning to realize that I have no luck in gambling and more reason not to do it. I went up the second floor the first time I roamed around and went back up there again, I found a place to sit which overlooked the gaming floor. The second floor consisted of the bingo room and the high stakes poker room, where the high rollers go to lose their money and subsidize the casino. I didn’t even have enough cash in my wallet just for the buy in.

The Second Floor

          It was during this rest period that I found out about the goings on in Paris so I tried reading more about it. None of the TVs in the casino had the news on and the gamblers were blissfully unaware of what was happening.

          I walked around some more and at 1:45 p.m. I went back to the bus pick up area, but not before I cashed out the 15 cents credit left out of the $15 the casino gave me. The bus left for Long Beach at 3 p.m. and we hit Friday afternoon rush hour traffic on the way back. It lengthened our travel time by another half hour. It was dark when we arrived back at Tambuli Market. On our way to our cars, a lady whom I talked to earlier asked me if I could give her some money to buy pizza for her kids because she said she lost money at the casino trying to win back her initial losses. I apologized for being not able to subsidize her family’s dinner since I too lost money at the casino albeit not mine.

          It was a huge relief to see that my car was still in the parking lot. I did a walkaround to check if anything was missing (in case someone from a chop shop stopped by). The car appeared to be safe and intact and with that, I drove back home from another casino adventure. Next time, it might be San Manuel Casino where the bus pick up is at the same location.

The bus arrival and departure area.

LAS VEGAS Random Notes

          This is a delayed follow up to my post about my first time in Las Vegas. The past week has been quite busy due to a couple of résumé writing workshops, researching dialysis companies about education and job opportunities, and the sad internment of a relative. The first part of this entry can be found here: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-happens-in-vegas.html

          Just about everybody and anybody I know has gone to Vegas but not me until a couple of weeks ago, so immense gratitude is in order for Uncle Oscar and Auntie Ditas De Las Penas, along with Eduardo Tay and Elizabeth Tay, who after all these years of inviting me, I finally relented.

          There were 8 of us sharing the accommodations and I'm not used to being in that situation anymore, having lived by myself for most of my life. The trick for me was to get things started early (like using the toilet), get out of the way and let them do their thing, then follow the leader afterwards, doing what they wanted to do and following where they wanted to go. It felt nice not having to make any decisions on what to do next.

          Regarding the accommodations? I'm not used to staying in such luxurious surroundings since I live a pretty Spartan lifestyle.

          The dry air of Las Vegas made my skin dry and made me itch for a few days. Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. 

 One thing that Pechanga does better than the casinos of Las Vegas is that their air scrubbers seem to decrease the smell of cigarette smoke better.

I was finally able to make use of my 3 year old AREC bag. I first tried a suitcase(too big), then backpack (too small) and found the gym bag to be in the Goldilocks zone (just right). 

          I might be one of those rare people who goes to a casino, doesn't really win, and still goes back home with a net gain, because I only gamble a little bit, walk around to explore the place, play a little bit more, then it's time to go home. The net gain is usually a result of "balato" or cash gifts shared by relatives from their winnings (thank you all, for your generosity). Due to my meanderings, sometimes I fail to gamble the balato away.

          My relatives also found ways to save. Due to their experience travelling, they already knew ways to cut on expenses like bringing home cooked food (kulma, tinola, adobo, daing na bangus, etc.)and not ordering anything from the hotel room. And of course the free accommodations helped a lot.

          Canadian cousin Harold pretty much recouped all the money he spent shopping for pasalubongs (presents to take home) by winning a few hundred bucks at the baccarat table. What a lucky guy, eh? :-) 

Lest one thinks I'm gallivanting on the government's dime while collecting unemployment benefits, lets me assure you that this trip was courtesy of Uncle Oscar and Auntie Ditas who won the free hotel accommodations through a raffle. I have to admit that I'm not used to that kind of luxury because I live an almost Spartan lifestyle (like I mentioned earlier). Remember the American Express ad where the spokesperson said "membership has its privileges"? Well, unemployment has its advantages as well in the form of free time. I did have to reschedule my résumé writing workshops though. I haven't minimized my job searching, but I had to jump at what may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. The irony of the situation is that I finally made it to Las Vegas at a time when my earnings have stopped due to being jobless.

          To travel light, I brought casual multi-purpose clothes that can be worn in public during the day and evening,  then worn again in the early morning for working out, before being considered dirty laundry. Another way of travelling lightly but in a different way, was to limit my fluid intake before the road trip so don't have to pee on the road. Otherwise, woe is me with the small bladder!

          About the way I gamble - I limited myself to pennies, ventured to quarters sometimes, and even tried a dollar once hoping for a "big" one time jackpot. Perhaps next time I get the opportunity, I'll head directly to the video poker machine where I can at least make some choices rather than making the slot machine make all the choices. 

On our last night in Las Vegas, I woke up at 2 a.m. Tuesday and couldn't go back to sleep, and remembering our GPS/Hooters misadventure from the day before,  I downloaded NavFree USA, a free GPS app to see if it worked on my tablet PC without an internet or data connection. Surprisingly, other than being a battery hog, the app worked very well when I tested it on the road while on the way home. 

After the Pechanga and Las Vegas trips, I still don't consider myself a gambler, although at LV at least I knew what to expect in the casino already because I've downloaded a few casino game apps and have been practicing at home without losing any money.

Although I can say that I may never go to Pechanga again, I may want to return to Las Vegas because there are more things to see and experience.

          Having said all that, it took me a few days to recover and get my balance again after our alleged or imagined debauchery in Las Vegas. 

Good memories :-)

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My First Ever Casino Experience

          Would you believe that in the 33 years I've lived in the U.S., I've never been to a casino until last week (January 2nd, 2014), when my Uncle and Aunt invited me to go to Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California? I've had numerous invitations before of course, but I've always declined because they usually interfered with my work schedule. This last invitation, I finally ran out of excuses not to go since there is no job schedule to be interfered with. Oh, didn't you know that I've been unemployed since October 2013?

          We agreed to meet at my Uncle Oscar and Auntie Ditas' house at 10 a.m. with Uncle Ed and were soon on the road to Pechanga. However, we were invited to stop by for lunch at another Aunt's (Beth) and cousin's (Melot) home in Winchester only a few miles away from Pechanga, so that's where we headed for first. This was another first for me because again, despite invitations in the past, I've never visited their home before. My goodness, their house was spacious and beautiful! Lunch consisted of tinolang manok and inihaw na isda. Thank you Auntie Beth, that was delicious and filling.

          After lunch, we were back on the road to Pechanga. We arrived at the destination in about 15 minutes, parked in the casino parking structure making note of the floor and parking spot (3rd/3J), and upon reaching the entrance, took some obligatory pictures just to prove that I finally made it to a casino. It was disappointing that there was no sign in that area indicating that it was Pechanga Resort and Casino though. I tried to geolocate myself on Facebook but the guest wi-fi needed a password and I didn't have a data plan on my phone.

Uncle Oscar, Auntie Ditas, & I

          Upon entering the building we agreed to meet in that area at a designated time in case we became separated. Oh, I almost forgot, Uncle Ed handed me $20 to gamble with, LOL! Being unemployed has certain advantages, doesn't it? Then we proceed through a long hallway full of slot machines and card tables towards the non-smoking area. Uncle Oscar proceeded to show me how the slot machines worked: insert loyalty card if you had one, insert money, then start pressing the button and hope you win. He further explained how you can increase and/or decrease your bets if you wanted to. Then he left me to play on his dime and I tried to analyze how one won or lost which up to now I'm still unclear. All I know is that I didn't win on that orientation machine. I returned Uncle's loyalty card and thanked him and we were shortly joined by Auntie Beth who drove from Winchester. She and Uncle Ed proceeded to play some slots while I explored the interior perimeter of the building. Surprisingly, the larger smoking sections didn't smell too much of smoke. Maybe the building had a very good air scrubbing system. I also went upstairs and looked inside the Bingo room and the non-smoking Poker room where I looked for my cousin-in-law, Mike who we knew was in the building with cousin Mary Ann and their friends.

 I went back downstairs and saw Ed and Beth again. Ed had won about $20 in slots but subsequently lost all of it. Darn! I walked around some more then went outside where a woman asked me if she could use my phone to call a friend who was supposed to pick her up. I was very wary but reluctantly lent her my phone. Her friend told her he would be picking her up shortly. She asked me if I was Vietnamese and I said I could be whatever or whomever she wanted me to be, baby. Just kidding, I told her I was not. With that, I separated ways with the young lady.

View From
2nd Floor

2nd Floor Selfie

Next, I explored the outer perimeter of the casino and hotel. Well, nothing to see there really, except parking lots, hahaha! In about 25 minutes, I was back where I started from and the Vietnamese lady was still waiting. She texted and called her friend again and somehow they just missed each other, or so he said. I told the lady I was surprised that she didn't have a cell phone. She said she did but her battery ran out and showed me her phone. She also told me that she was from Orange County and was in the area to sell her daughter's car and decided to visit the casino for a couple of hours. I wished her luck and hoped that her ride would arrive soon, then went back inside the casino.

I met up with Ed and Beth again and were joined by Uncle Oscar and Auntie Ditas. In a few minutes, cousin Mary Ann saw us and said she won $225 when she hit a Royal Flush in the poker machine. She handed over $100 for us to have dinner on her. Beth went to a change machine instead and divided the money among ourselves for more gambling funds. Mary Ann took me around to look for a Poker machine to show me how it works and upon finally finding a free one, my second casino orientation began. She showed me how to bet and what winning hands would look like. After a few examples, she had me make a go of it. At least this game involved more thinking than a slot machine and I spent more time there. However, still no beginner's luck and pretty soon it was 4:30 p.m. which we decided beforehand was the time to head home. But first, Uncle Ed and Oscar had a hankering for coffee and hotdog so it was off to the snack area. I was still full from Auntie Beth's cooking at lunch so I declined the snacks. Then it was a pre-drive bathroom break for some, while the others played some last second slots in the lobby area. Too bad, no late winnings there. Mary Ann went to look for Mike and friends while we headed back to the parking structure. Soon we were on the freeway and headed back to Cerritos. The drive took about 1 hour and 15 minutes just like Google Maps said. Before we parted, Auntie Ditas treated us from her approximately $80 winnings, banh mi sandwiches and a taste of durian smoothie. Then Ed and I went to our respective cars and headed home.

Impressions: well, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Pechanga exploring, observing, being oriented to, and playing the machines a little bit. I can now say that gambling is not my cup of tea maybe because I have become a very risk averse person in this time of my life. Other than Uncle Oscar's money in the slot machine and Mary Ann's in the poker machine, I didn't use the $40 I was given. So you might say, I won $40 dollars from my relatives :-).  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but nothing lost either.

Gratitude: I want to say my utmost thanks to Uncle Oscar and Auntie Ditas for inviting me which enabled me to have my first ever visit and experience in a casino, to Uncle Ed and cousin Mary Ann for the funds, and to Auntie Beth for the Filipino food lunch.

After having such fun spending most of the day at Pechanga with my beloved relatives, the next day alone at home was a bit sad, but I got over it. Well, next time, Auntie Beth said it may be Las Vegas (another place I've never been to).

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