Well, this was to be it. I just decided to hang up my Exotics Racing driving boots, once and for all. I did also decided that if I’m going out, I’m going out with a bang. I decided that for my last drive, I would step into the car that has haunted me all these years: The Lamborghini. The problem with the Lamborghini, is that several years back, I drove the Gallardo for the first time, and it was the one car that seemed too untamed and too wild for me to properly enjoy. Every time I would step on the gas, the back end would want to step out, and I would get shivers from the image of me spinning the car on the track. Yes, I’m more worried about the image of me not being the high-performance Formula One racer that I imagine myself to be, and less about the actual car damage itself.

And now, on the dawn of my retirement, I say to myself, “What’s the car that I want to drive as my farewell.? What’s the white for me to conquer as I say ‘So long’? It would have to be that damn Lamborghini! Vengeance would be mine! As I was browsing the Exotics Racing website to select the car, I see that they now have the new Lamborghini Huracán Performante! Wait, the Performante!?! The Nürburgring record smashing Performante!?! The Lamborghini that lives up to the true Italian heritage of Lamborghini not just some over-the-top, undrivable exotic supercar? Yes indeedy! They’ve got the Lamborghini of Lamborghinis. I see this on the website and have to drive it. Then I looked at the price and thought maybe not. Then I thought if not now. when? If not me, who? So I clicked yes to the Performante.

Approaching the Performante, this Lamborghini is similar enough to the standard Huracán, (is there such a thing as a STANDARD Lamborghini?) with one impressive 6 foot wingspan exception. Whattawing! Actually, the wing is that it’s not as massive as the racing version. By Lamborghini standards, it’s actually quite sublime. Up close, this is a wing unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s obviously not just some plain fiberglass, but you also don’t see the carbon fiber weaving you’d expect. The wing has a polished mosaic finish to it that looks more fiberglass than Carbon Fiber. This material is newly created and patented by Lamborghini, a Carbon Fiber composite that is as strong, and yet, even lighter than Carbon Fiber. Wow! Somebody else can do the research to find out how it’s actually made.

I look at the interior, and it’s classic Lamborghini. Hi-tech switches start button located under the red safety cover, and a healthy dose of Alcantara lining throughout. Finish this off with Performante wording stitched into the seats and a little design pattern along the doors. At start up, the car sounds classic Lamborghini. The v10 roars to life, spitting out Grappa and Vino. We close the door, which is a normal lateral swing, not a swoop up like the Aventador and we head out to the track. I punch it coming to the first turn, and everything feels nice and solid. I think to myself I must be going slower than I thought. Maybe the car does not have the pickup I anticipated, but no this was more an indication of how smooth the car is. I start dropping the hammer closer and closer to the floor, the car starts picking up speed and I’m expecting the understeer to kick in as I exit turn 1. Nope! I turn the wheel slightly to the right to keep me on track and the car obliges. Well that was nice. Now we shoot down the front straight. I short shift as an anticipated reaction to the instructor telling me to do so, but not JD, he lets me know next time, take it all the way to the 8500 rpm limit. Oh boy, I will remember that next time for sure! We hit the first braking zone cone and the car comes to a stop, and yet again,  I’m some 50 feet are so short of the turn-in point, so I have to release and coast through the turn. Good stopping power. The car turns in hits the peak and I’m back on the gas accelerating down the second straight. The car is handling great. The all-wheel drive feels perfectly balanced. We approach the Carousel, off-camber turns five and six, and the Performante just gobbles it up. Oh my! Houston, this is awesome! The car stays planted and I let the car do its thing.

Truth be told, and as JD was told, I just wanted one lap that I can just drive myself with no instruction and nail that 120 mph at the end of the front straight. On lap 7 or 8, at this point they tend to blur into one another, JD obliges and I take the car around the track with minimal input from the instructor, and now I feel comfortable. I brake late break into turn one and get the perfect setup for the front straight, and at last I’ve reached Nirvana. 122mph! The rest of the lap falls into place, and there you have it: 56.34 seconds! My new lap record. Yes!

Now, a sense of calm flows over me. I feel that, yes, this is the retirement I deserve. The Lamborghini has been tamed and I’ve been validated. Thank you Lamborghini for the proper send off. That is it. No more Exotics Racing. No more super car driving. Goodbye. Arrivederci. I walk away. I stop. I look back. Oh who am I kidding! That Ferrari 458 needs me, and I need it. See you in October 🙂

You know the saying, “…and this time… it’s personal.” That’s how I felt about heading out to Exotics Racing in Las Vegas. This time, it was going to be personal, as this may have been the last time I would race here. The last couple cars I’ve taken out have been a little disappointing, de-tuned just a little too much, and not living up to their marketing potential. Why am I paying all this money to go out in cars that don’t even perform as well as my BMW? However, with Formula 1 season ready to start in just a few more weeks, I wanted to treat myself to one last drive, with one last iconic car: the McLaren 570 S. Understand that by the time I’m driving the 570 S, the car is already two years old and two generations behind the current model, the Mclaren 720 S, but what the heck, the overall package of the car is pretty much the same so let’s go give it a shot.

Interestingly enough, after all the times I’ve been to Exotics Racing, I had never actually seen the McLaren on site at Exotics Racing. I thought maybe the car was the thing of myths and legends, an automotive Unicorn eluding me all this time. Well it turns out some myths are based in fact, and walking out to the stable of cars, not only was I able to see the 570 S that I was scheduled to drive, but there were actually two of them there! Wow, sitting there in front of me, viewing both cars there, it suddenly occurred to me, this is same McLaren Orange for their Formula One color scheme. The orange color scheme here reflects back on the original days of Bruce McLaren’s Formula One entries, a rich, bright, orange color scheme with black accent. To be honest, looking at the images of the car on the web and on TV, it looks kind of corny. But as I approach the McLaren here, this Fast Orange as I call it, it occurred to me this McLaren Orange is pretty damn cool!

So we head out to start our drive, I’m join by Hayden, the instructor from Exotics Racing. We head to the car and I notice the drops of rain. Oh boy, not only am I gonna take out this super car, a car known for its lightness, and this is the first time I’m driving it, but it’s raining? Yikes, a little intimidating. Hayden reassures me that the car can handle the rain, so pony up and let’s get going!

The interior of the 570s is sparse. As in sparse. As in nothing much other than a button to start the car, a steering wheel to point it in the right direction and a gas pedal give make it go. It’s cramped but cozy. This feels like a sports car, I could just imagine what this space would be like as a daily driver.  We exit the pit area and pull up to the limit line to check the course and make sure I’m cleared for entry. Hayden gives me the go and I punch it right off the bat. None of this easing into it I figure if I’m driving a McLaren, I want to see what this thing can do, and fortunately, I found out.

Coming off that first turn, I nail it and as I shift into fourth, I can feel the G’s push me back into the seat. Thank God! Finally, this car is living up to my dreams of a supercar.  The car is nimble, but almost to light. As I come to the end of the front straight, I can feel the front end bouncing around. It actually gives me a little chill as I wonder, “Is a wheel out of balance? Or is this the lightness of the front end at high-speed?”  Fortunately, just as the front end starts bouncing, it’s time to slam on the brakes, and slam they do. I apply a couple hundred pounds of pressure and the car jams down to a crawl a good hundred feet short of the turn. Wow! That was fast, and it totally throws off my timing as the tone of the track is set up primarily for softer drivers. The next couple of turns I have to override Hayden‘s commands to brake. He’s probably getting a little upset with me, but I don’t care. The car still takes a little getting used to but I’m actually enjoying it.

I pass a couple of Lamborghini’s, a Ferrari. Then I’m told to slow down and let the ride-along car pass us, a pro driver in a Ferrari taking a passenger out for a run. Racing in mind, I stick to the bumper and I’m determined to get my money’s worth and not let him get too far away. But then he pulls into pit lane so now I’m jamming on my own, feeling like a racer. And just then, as my Nirvana approaches, the back end kicks out and the fish-tail wakes me up! Oh snap! I don’t know what catches me off guard more; the minor little slide out of the rear-end, or the fact that Hayden reaches across to grab the steering wheel so fast? Easy cowboy, I got this. I ease off the gas and the car settles back into the rhythm of the turn. But as quickly as it steps out, I step back on the gas and we punch it down the straight. That shift from 3rd to 4th is as good as it gets. The engine really comes to life, although there is still a slight turbo lag to deal with, the McLaren really gets moving. Oh man, this is fun!

After the run, 10 laps in all, I realize, there’s no way I’m giving this up. So June is my birthday visit, and next up: the Nurburgring record smashing Lamborghini Performante. Oh, and this time, it’s really personal!

Although many may remember the 60’s as the ‘Me’ decade, and some may not remember much at all, I remember the 60’s as the most awesome time to visit the airport. Airports had become the future of travel and the jet age was ushered in just as the Jetson’s had predicted. Conveyor belts shuttled passengers down long corridors of mega sized buildings such as LAX and JFK. It was all so futuristic, it would only be a matter of time before we would start flying cars and teleporting as Gene Roddenberry predicted. My most favorite memory was seeing my mother off to Jamaica from the PanAm terminal. How cool was it to be able to walk all the way up to the gate (Why do we call them gates anyway? They are doors, or gangway at least.) and see someone off, or to wait for them when they get off the plane. Ross and Rachel were pretty much the last to do that.

Then 1973, the world had enough of the hijackings, and decided to install metal detectors at all US airports. OK, you could still enter, but it was a little more strict. Slowly but surely, the metal detectors gave way to walking up to the gate to see your mom off or pick her up, banning drinks being brought onboard, and forcing people to stand in long lines to get through those detectors. In 2000 with 9/11, things got real bad. September 11th, 2000 and the hijackers struck again and sent the world into a martial law lockdown of airports. But slowly, we are coming out of this fog with a myriad of airport traveler programs that allow you to get past the security lines. unfortunately, each program stands on its own, depending on the security agency being used, and they don’t really connect with each other. The point is that you could wind up double paying based on travel plans or what you’re willing to pay at the time.

Before I list these programs, you should think long and hard about the cost you willing to pay. Not paying for a security program simply means an extra 30 mins or so standing in a security line, which may not be much. But with frequent traveling, comes a disdain for the entire process, and suddenly, $100 is well worth the cost to pass up on standing there with dozens if not hundreds of travelers trying to get home.

Per the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website,Global Entry, NEXUS and SENTRI are all geared towards international travelers. NEXUS is primarily for Canadian travel to and from the US via air, land and sea. SENTRI covers travel between Canada, Mexico and the US, and also covers vehicles for travel by land to enter. NEXUS has a cost of $50 per person. SENTRI costs $122.50. Global Entry has an application fee of $100, but also covers complete international travel from airports all over the world connecting with the U.S. Hence, the term Global. And global it is. On a recent return from Italy, the line of over 100 people being processed by 2 customs agents would have taken over 1 hour of waiting time. We had just enrolled in Global Entry, and fortunately, we were 2 of only 4 people waiting in our dedicated line, and we breezed through. Well worth the cost!

But what if you only travel domestic? Well then, you can participate in TSA PreCheck. TSA PreCheck, trademarked and identified as  , allows you to bypass standing in long security lines and in some airports, allows you to keep your shoes on and laptops in your briefcase or suitcase. TSA PreCheck is administered by the Transportation Security Administration. , yes, this is how they reference their product on websites, costs $85 for a 5-year enrollment. This is great, but be careful! If you sign up for , and then at a later date, realize you want Global Entry, you will have to pay both fees separately. If you get Global Entry first, you can associate your account with  and the fee is waived. That saves you $85! Think about that next you ponder paying the $8 for a mini-bottle of wine of the flight.

Lately, everyone has been jumping on the  bandwagon, and the lines have gotten long enough that getting to the airport 20 mins before a domestic flight presents a challenge. (Don’t judge me!) Welcome to CLEAR. For $179, allows you to even bypass the  line and scoot up to, and get this, right PAST the TSA agent directly to the metal detectors. Yes, no more TSA agents! CLEAR is available at 19 major airports currently. I expect this will continue to grow, so check their site for the list. But you may think, $179 for a year is steep, but if you’re traveling on a weekly or even monthly basis, it’s SO worth it. Plus, a cool feature CLEAR has, you can cancel the membership. So if you’re really doubting the costs, pay for it prior to your flight, use it, and cancel when you return home. And if you cancel, you’ll have to pay the full $179 again, with no cancellation or refund of fees. But wait…there’s more! As a reader of PFTN, you get this readers tip: Go to the airport and register. You place your fingers on the scanner, and then get the retinal scan. But don’t pay for it there. When you get back home or to the office, go to the website and continue the signup process, after receiving the welcome email. Then complete the enrollment, but when asked to pay, click cancel. You will then receive a screen asking why are you cancelling. Click the “Costs too much” option. If all goes well, you’ll receive a second offer of $99 for the program. Now pay, and save yourself $80! Yes!

I love CLEAR. The ambassadors help you with you sign in at the airport, the finger scanners are very sensitive, so if its raining or cold you may have issues getting the fingerprints, so just use the retinal scanner. Look at the green dot and done. Then scan the bar-code for your flight, either mobile or print, and next thing you know, you’re getting the VIP escort to screening area. It’s like rolling with 50-Cent to the VIP table for bottle service. Worth every penny. CLEAR, not bottle service.

So check the sites above that correspond to your travel needs. Remember, consider future travel plans. If you’re thinking of getting domestic now, what about the Spain trip in December? Maybe GE is the way to go now. Also, Global Entry is notorious for long wait times to have your on-site appointment, and only key airports have the appointments. There can be a 3-month wait for a GE appointment. But also check other airports far and close. Do you have plans to travel somewhere else, maybe a weekend in New York? Maybe that Friday there’s an open appointment. Also, check the site of your selected airport for appointment cancellations. It happens all the time.

So a little planning can save you all kinds of wait time and put a couple of bucks back into your pocket. As always, bon voyage!

This room is as big as my house! And with the balcony, even bigger!

Panorama of Vegas Strip

So if you read my previous story about our invitation to stay at the Encore, that stay was the just the first half of our trip. The second half of our trip was an invitation to stay at The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. I love the Cosmopolitan, and again, if you read my posts from July, you’ll see that we stayed at The Cosmo this summer, including dinner at Momofuku. This hotel is geared towards the millennials and jetset crowd with a penchant for the naughtier side of luxury. The overall color theme of the hotel is purple and gray with wood and steel trim and accents. I really dig the hotel, it does have a cool hip vibe that screams La Dolce Vegas. The visual aesthetics of the hotel make it an eyeful to just walk around and take it all in. Think a grown up version of Hard Rock Hotel exuding the Vegas high-roller life.

The hotel also has some great restaurants, like I said before Momofuku, Egg Slut, and Holsteins are some of my favorites. (when there’s not a line to get in) A large casino, an awesome party pool, and an ice skating rink!. Yes, In the winter time, they freeze the Boulevard Pool, situated above three stories above the Las Vegas strip facing planet Hollywood, and turn it into a skating rink. I need to do that next time, especially after watching I, Tonya, and start working on my triple axel. The Chandelier Bar is just an amazing installation. It’s one of those objects you look at … and you look at, and the more you look, the more you see. 30 feet of crystals is awesome enough from ceiling to bar, but the expanse of the chandelier, it covers around 600 sq ft or so, stretching from one side of the bar to the other. Can you imagine the clean process to keep this thing sparkling? Whoa!

So back to the story of this current visit, we had upstairs  to the room and upon opening the door, we are met with gray walls, outlines of a couple of doors, artwork on the walls and a long hallway. I thought to myself this is really weird what is going on here as I thought walked down the hall, where’s the room? When the room is revealed to me, I’m faced with a massive living room area, a huge bedroom, a wrap around balcony on east and south sides of the corner room. This was huge! I will be honest with you, I’ve stayed at some nice hotels, but nothing ever on this scale. Two 60 inch TVs hanging on the walls, one in the living room, and one in the bedroom, a huge kitchen area, although devoid of oven, fridge or microwave. But it did have a wine fridge for our planned mimosas. I just wish I had more friends that I could’ve invited over and we could’ve had an awesome party here!

The bath…area, for lack of a better word is a huge open-floorplan-esque layout. Japanese soaking tub, a separate shower sits in the middle of two good sized vanities. A water closet, towel heater and large closet make up around 200 sq ft. of space. A glass wall separates the bath from the sleeping area. Large comfy king bed with night light and table stands. The full glass wall also includes sliding glass doors to step out to the balcony. As a matter of fact, there are 3 doors for balcony entrance: one from bedroom and two from the living room. And what a balcony it is. Huge! Another 400 sq ft of balcony space, and on a perfect day like this, just sitting out here and over looking the strip is just incredible to experience. For the fact that this was December, the weather was absolutely perfect for sitting out and looking down a t the strip, over to the City Center, and out over eastern Vegas to the mountains. Look north, and you go from Planet Hollywood, Paris, Ballys, Flamingo, a part of the High Roller, Venetian, Palazzo and the Encore. Look south over Vdara, Aria, Veer, Mandarin Oriental and MGM. What views!

Looking back now, I realize that I have been spoiled for life. Not life as in time, but as in La Vita. I want to live more, take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. No more passing up on opportunities. No more being intimidated into failure. I want this life! A life that beautiful and thrilling and breathtaking. These two hotel stays have my head swirling with ideas and dreams of what the future could hold. Next time I see someone in a Ferrari, I’m going to ask him, what do you do to afford this. And then I’m going to start doing that. I love Ferraris! And double terraced balcony rooms. And traveling the world. And sharing my stories in hopes that maybe I’ll inspire someone else to reach for the stars.

As the rumors fly around the F1 world of Bernd Maylander’s retirement as the F1 Safety Car driver, I decided to through my hat into the ring of possible successors.

So I decided get behind the wheel of a Mercedes AMG GT S to get some feel for my new job. I did so by heading over to Exotics Racing in Las Vegas, and signed up for 7 laps in a MAMGGTS. Unfortunately, I had two points of failure: Turns out Maylander is not retiring, and this detuned MAMGSGTS was a bit of a disappointment.

Maybe disappointment is an overstatement, more like, I expected more and it just didn’t quite deliver. And you can tell by the fact that I really didn’t have much to say during the video. The whole time I was thinking, “Where is the real MAMG?” The GT S version is listed at 503hp. Honestly, it felt more like high 3’s or maybe just cracking 400. My GT550 plants me in the seat more than this.

Coming onto the main straight, you roll onto the throttle, and the car limps up to speed. So next lap, you punch the throttle, and it’s the same thing. The turbo lag was huge! The disappointment immense. But I’m not sure if this was a detuned safety feature, or if the real MAMG suffers through this as well. Guess I’ll have to go buy one and find out. I actually found one here in L.A. for $94k. Only 25k miles and gray. Great, cause I did not want a black! A black AMG is so L.A.

The car is, as expected, well balanced, but I probably was not going fast enough to really get a proper feel of under/over steer. But at the same time, that back-end did step out ever so slightly on the off-camber turn 5.  Way too soft for a racer. Also, at the end of the straight, you slam on the brakes, and unlike anything I’ve felt in the $150k+ supercar range, I feel the ABS kicking back and squirming under the pressure. With those huge slotted AND cross-drilled rotors, I figured this thing would stop on a dime. But closer inspection reveals a lack of Brembos or even the home grown Mercedes 6-piston calipers. So again, maybe part of the detuning is to not allow the car to stop on a dime, and thereby keeping novice drivers from overstepping their limits.

The interior of the car was quite nice though. All sorts of chrome knobs to turn and switches to flick. Starting the engine, that rumble is beautiful! The sound is something that, now that I think about it, sounds weird. The car is a front engine, but when you start it, the rumble comes through as if its coming from the rear. Maybe some audio piping? Maybe just the acoustics of the cabin. And why not, since it’s a 2-seater. This gives it a racers edge as if its a mid engine. The V8 sound is low and rumbly, contrary to a Ferrari purr or a Nissan scream. It sounds more NASCAR oval racer than F1 road car.

The steering wheel is a plump handful of suede to grip. I was intrigued as to how full uniformed it was, all the way around the hand grips. No thumb bulge to provide that extra leverage. Guess they never had an issue getting this thing around Monaco. The paddle shifters have interesting inscriptions: Up and Down. Well, if you’re paying $200k for a new MAMGGTS and you need inscriptions telling you which way to shift… then inscriptions you shall have. I just thought this the one of the more weird things I saw on the car. But again, maybe this was for the novices at the track. Something Exotics had inscribed for them. Who knows? Let’s head down tomorrow to confirm if this is on the public cars 🙂

Recently we were invited by the Wynn Group for us stay at their follow up hotel to the Wynn, The Encore. Both buildings stand as icons anchoring the north end of the Las Vegas strip. When the Wynn was built, it stood out as a beacon of new design for Las Vegas properties. On the spots where the mid-century art deco properties of the old Flamingo, Stardust, and the Sands, they were being replaced by replicas. Treasure Island came along with it’s Caribbean island theme, the Mirage came along with this desert island theme, Harrah’s celebrated a Mardi Gras theme. Then the Wynn came along and stood on it’s own look. Not following the old trend of Las Vegas mimicry, it’s large reflective, metallic brown monolithic design stood in stark contrast to the other Las Vegas hotels. And still does. It even faced a different direction, facing south-north, whereas most hotels faced east-west or west-east, depending on which side of the strip they were on. It was beautiful and it was completely different. Even the roof line was interesting, the way the building had a swoop to replicate the swooshing wind of the desert sands blowing your money out of your pockets.

The Wynn quickly became the standard for luxury on the strip. It was given a 4-diamond rating by Forbes and 4-Diamond by AAA. (although the Tower Suites are 5-star and Diamond, so step it up!) Not even the Bellagio gets that! The Wynn opened so well, and made so much money, that they decided to build a sister property to follow it up 2 years later. And appropriately, they called it the Encore. Although the Encore follows the Wynn theme, it did so in a slightly different manner. The Wynn has a slightly less overt statement of luxury which adds to its luxurious statement, a perfect case of less is more. But the Encore, was designed to capture the younger wealthy crowd. Where as the Wynn stood out to the old school high rollers, the Encore dealt to the new nouveau riche. The younger crowd with the same amount of money to burn for a bottle of Veuve Clicqout or Dom Perignon in the night club. The thirtysomethings with a couple grand to drop on a weekend in the high rise suite, a cabana by the pool, and black chips at the table. This is going to be a little livelier, a little more rambunctious. And it does so ever so slightly. That’s what I like about the Wynn: its understated luxury appeal. It’s not over-the-top trying to wow you with design. It’s calm cool design simply lulls you into a clean sense of comfort and the notion that it takes a fine eye to recognize luxury.

So we took the Encore up on its offer to come stay for a couple of days. Upon arrival, we leave the bags to the Bellman, and we hop inline to check in. I still wish somebody would come up with a better check in process than standing in this bank teller line waiting to be called next!  Standing there, I noticed an awful lot of children here. It seems there are an awful lot of families checking in at this time, but then again, it was the day after Christmas, so why not. The kids are out of school, the parents are out of work, make that away from work, and why not bring the family down. That is one of the more appealing aspects of the Wynn and the Encore properties is that they are mature enough to make it safe for families and children. You don’t have to worry about walking through the crowd with a couple of under-dressed, under-aged girls walking through or the local bros chugging beer in the walkways blurting out obscenities.

We check in, which was rather effortlessly for our reservation. I was surprised in fact, that they didn’t offer us an upgrade, but it’s OK I would’ve said no anyway. The tower suite is fine for us and I’ll talk about that more in a second. Walking in, the room has a nice sleeping area with a swivel TV wall to separate it from the seating parlor. The Encore theme is cream, tan and brown accented with high gloss lacquer and gold trim. And again it’s very inviting, very comfortable, and feels quite elegant. I love the room electronic lighting controls. This allows you to simply press one button and all the lights in the room come on, the curtains open and luxury welcomes you. There are controls on the walls and bedside tablets to control the lights, temperature, order food, check bank account balances (just kidding on the account balances).

The bathroom is large, with a spacious shower, a rather long tub, dual vanity, bottom of champagne and separate water closet. Oh wait, that was our bottle, didn’t see Nancy put that there. I can’t wait to stay in one of the one bedroom suites with the Jacuzzi tub next time. The dual vanity has plenty of space, and Nancy’s favorite, in-wall TV to watch while doing make-up. Two plush bathrobes and slippers round out the bath luxury.

One of my favorite things about the Wynn room is one TV that swivels between the bed and seating areas. Just a cool feature, one of the things where you don’t really need two TVs that close to one another.  The room has some nice artwork to it, nothing that stands out so bold as as dogs playing poker on velvet, and the lighting fixtures are high end art pieces themselves. The high ceilings give the 745 sq-ft room an even larger feel and undermount lighting on the cabinets provide a nice warmth to the room.

After we call the Bellman up and gather our  bags, another totally polite fellow, we head down to further decompress. The Lobby Bar and Cafe is at the base of the elevators. This is great as it allows you to simply go down take a few steps and sit down at the bar. You don’t have to go trotting through the lobby, cross through the casino to get a drink. Again I like my luxury nice and easy. We grab a late night bite to eat to rejuvenate ourselves with a couple of cocktails to build up our courage to hit the tables. Short rib fries with caramelized red onions, some sort of exotic tasting sauce (sorry… I forget the details) and feta cheese (who could forget that!). Very tasty, was tempted to order a second round but decided to eat light at that point. I did decide to follow the lead of the Infomercial for Encore and try the Sinatra Smash. It’s a bourbon-based drink with extra grenadine and some juice. Sorry, but this was just a little too sweet for me. I couldn’t imagine Ol’ Blue Eyes taking something like this down. Maybe his date, I could definitely see Debbie Reynolds knocking a few back though. My wife orders a delicious St-Germain based Vodka Martini. Now that was nice. We hit the floor around 11 o’clock so things were just starting to heat up. Tables were crowded so I shied away and join my wife on some slots. We had a good time for a couple of hours and decided to call it a night. At the end of the evening I managed to keep my losses to a paltry $23. My wife refused to tell me how much she lost. I guess that’s why we got the room invite 🙂

The next morning we wake well rested. These beds are comfy, supportive, and super luxurious, making it very difficult to get out of. I wonder where do you actually find beds like this in the real world? Next time I’ve got a pull off the sheet to get the tag and model number because this was a wonderful night sleep. Tonight we dine at the Country Club restaurant. The SW, the steakhouse at the Wynn, is one of my favorite spots in the world to eat. The food is great, service is fantastic, and who can beat the lakeside show. Giant flowers, as in 30 feet in diameter popup out of the man made lake, dancing around to music. Bodies breach and submerge, colorful marionettes dance about, its an amazing dinner show.

So I wanted to try something new. The Country Club is  is what you would expect it to be a restaurant Located on a golf course. Wynn has the only golf course technically “on the strip”, but believe or not, there are 5 golf courses within a mile radius of the strip. That’s wild! Who knew!?! White linen tables, dark wood sculpted trim and attentive waiters make the interior. And great waiters they are. Very attentive, and get this, when I asked how many Scallops were in the order, he responded 4. Then my wife mentioned that she would give me a bite or two of her steak, and the waiter immediately offers to split the orders and make us both a mini surf-n-turf! Awesome! The NY Strip had the perfect char to it, the Scallops were plump and juicy, it was a perfect meal. It’s a medium size restaurant I would estimate it seats about 50, compared to Cheesecake Factory, I guess that’s actually small. But what it does is it creates a very cozy and intimate environment and provides the perfect background for a nice relaxing dinner. This is a nice breath of fresh air that let you sit back and relax for a bit and enjoy our wine. Dinner was delightful, dessert was wonderful, but now it’s time to head back to the tables!

Driving around Milan is unlike anything or anywhere I’ve driven before. Feeling the mighty thrust of the 51hp from our Citroen rental, we hit the town and are met with the world’s bumpiest, lumpiest streets. Yes, the cobblestone streets like great in pictures, but driving across their washboard surface is another matter. Maybe that’s why so many people take the trains or just walk.

True to European standards, the streets are narrow, everyone parks everywhere there’s 3 meters to fit a 3 meter car into, and amazingly enough, the drivers are courteous and polite. Our 30 minute drive through the neighborhoods was interesting, and definitely showed us sights we would have otherwise missed, but boy was I happy to get out of that car!

The one bright spot I can for sure recommend, Google map guided us all the way. Make sure you download the local area, and you’re good to go. No need to pay for the rental GPS, unless you plan on multiple, spontaneous destinations. From our hotel, the Park Hyatt in Centro Milano, we downloaded an area that covered a 1 hour drive out of the city, and Google Map provided satellite support all the way. Awesome!

Here they come, the first lap of an F1 race is always super exciting. Mainly, due to the unknown circumstances that may bode a competitor. And there lies the conundrum of modern F1 racing: Take the most technologically advanced cars in the world…and hope they crash into one another. If yes, exciting and thrilling…and expensive for the teams. If not, well, just another parade of cars going by.

So the Italian Grand Prix is known as the fastest race in F1. The Monza circuit is a throw back to the original F1 series, officially started in 1950, but the cars had been running the basic track since 1922. Monza was the third race-purpose track built in the world. Yes, the world. Meaning as purposely designed and paved for racing. Unlike the circuits of Spa, Belgium and Nurburg, Germany, whose tracks where loops through the country side running between towns at lengths of 10 and 20 kilometers respectively, Monza was the Italian contribution to the desire for speed within a purpose built raceway. The original Monza track, still visible today, had corners banked at some 30 degrees, was an inspiration to NASCAR high speed banked tracks such as Daytona, Darlington and Talladega. Today, those once mighty banks are crumbling to history and neglect.

What we thought would be awesome seats at the first chicane, turned out to be only partially true. Although Turn One is always action packed, check out Palmer into the Barrier at Monaco, since it’s the first braking point after hitting maximum speeds down the main straight, it’s main straight view was unfortunately blocked by trees. What!?! Why??? Oh, so this is how they separate the desirable main grandstand views and offer these seats at a much more discounted price. So everyone thinks, great, I’ll see them coming down the straight, I’ll get to see brake dust flying out as they slam the calipers, but no! You hear them, and then…wait for it…wait for it, they come poking out from behind the trees and into the Turn 1. So when Daniel Ricciardo dives down the inside of Kimi Raikkonen for the pass, you basically see just the tail end of the move. A little anit-climatic in my opinion. But one thing you do get to see, are the cars accelerating out of the turn as they head towards Curva Grande. Seeing an F1 car accelerate in race mode is pretty awesome. Like watching paint dry really, really, really fast. It may not look like much to the untrained eye, but if you’ve been watching racing as long as I have, you see it, and it’s awesome!

This was shot on the over pass of the pedestrian tunnel leading from Bruxelles to Rivage. The cars are coming out of Malmedy corner down the straight towards Rivage. I would have loved to just stay here all day, just a few feet away from the cars. But security would come by every 10-15 minutes to clear the area.

Imagine driving your dream car. Nice! The sound, the drive, the looks from the pedestrians. Now imagine that drive happening in the streets of Paris! OMG! Could it get any better!?! Answer: No.

But it could get worse. Imagine your dream drive of your dream car in your dream city…in a light mist 🙁 I mean, had it been raining, I never would have even thunk it. But a little sprinkle is doable.

So you strap in, fire her up, and head down tiny narrow little cobblestone streets in a slippery mist, and the attendant tells you to nail it! So what do you do? PANIC!!!

Now, you want me to floor it in a $200k Ferrari, in a light mist.The kind of light mist where Felipe Masa spun his Ferrari 5 times in a single race. Yeah, that kind of mist. Oh brother. But I did it. Fortunately for me, the Ferrari was de-tuned, (I mean come on! Did you see the motorcycle giving me a run?) and the streets were packed with traffic, so that encouraged me to take it easy.

We started at the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs d’ Elysee. I see these guys with “drive a supercar” signs and inquire. “100 euros,” he responds. “Wait…I think” OK, I’ve been down this path before, 100 euros will probably get me some parking lot and 3 laps. “No man. You can do a Ferrari and we take you through Paris for about 15 mins. And we take you down some streets and you can floor it!” Oh hellz yeah, I’m in!

I grab Nancy from the store and we run back out to go for a drive. But since now there are 3 of us, and yes, there was a slight moment when I thought, “Just make it 2 of us”, we pass on the 458, and instead, hop in the California. We put the top down and drive up a back street, hit a main street, possibly Avenue George V, and I punch it! I couldn’t believe it. It’s one thing to hit a Ferrari for top speed at Exotics Racing in the Vegas desert, but this was Paris. Downtown Paris…downtown rush hour Paris…in the rain! And then the most chilling part of the ride, there are several section of the road that go under ground. This keeps us away from police cameras and allows us to nail it! As as we enter the tunnel, and if my heart wasn’t pounding enough, my wife points out, this is the under pass where Princess Diana crashed! Oh crap! Are you serious!?! The panic sets in and I lift. And from that moment on, all I could think is rain…slide…crash! But I keep my composure, and try to drive as fast as I feel comfortable. It was actually a relief to just sit there in traffic and see the lights change and not move.

So we get through the traffic and make it to the Eiffel Tower, take a couple of pics, have some people take pictures of us (us, really!) and then we head back. Seeing the Eiffel Tower like that reminded me of the double win of this drive. Not only did I get to drive the Ferrari, but I get to see another side of Paris I would have otherwise missed. We head, but no more under passes, just moderate driving…wait here’s a spot, punch it! Ok, now we’re back on Champs and headed to the pits. But still, an exhilarating drive, taking for granted that this was a Ferrari…in Paris…in the rain. Eat your heart out Fred Astaire!