So I went to Atlantic City for the second time in my life this weekend, and stayed with Ed's brother Ryan and Joe Yang at two different hotels. It was a last-minute trip, but it had been quite some time since I got away without work being involved. I took an after-work train to Philly, and Ryan drove Joe and I the rest of the way.
Friday night we went to mur.mur, a new club in Atlantic City's newest hot casino/hotel, Borgata. The reason:
dancinchic is a reporter, and was writing a story on a dancer working there. So she invited some of her friends for the full VIP treatment. We got the guided entrance, the roped-off area adjacent to the main dance floor, a free bottle of Level, the requisite mixers (including about 8 cans of Red Bull), and all the best service from the staff. The group ended up being me, Ryan,
Joe (who I invited from NYC), Jen, Cat, dancinchic and Sue.
I've always thought that VIP was an absurdly pretentious waste of money. After all, it seems ridiculous to pay $150-$400 for a $23 bottle of booze. But after Friday, I gotta say that I'm starting to see the appeal. No waiting in line. Your own sectioned-off area. Best of all, you get the BEST service - I mean, it helped that Reg was writing the article, but they totally kiss your ass and make sure you are taken care of. No fighting for drinks at a crowded bar, no spilling on yourself as you fight your way back through the crowd. And when you want to dance, you always have room to move around, and you are surrounded by the people you know.
Joe suggested that splitting VIP would probably be economical, since a large group would probably spend about as much on individual drinks as they would on VIP bottle service. Regardless of the economics, we didn't pay and it was definitely a fantastic time.
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