A Night in Reno

The Reno, NV area seems to be a good tourist draw as well as a good location for business. My trip to the area was for business only so I only got to do a fraction of the things there but I think I can definitely give you some helpful info. If you are like me you want to travel on a budget but still have a good time.

I started by booking my flight on Orbitz.com. I like to use American Airlines whenever possible because I am part of the AAadvantage program so I like to get those miles built up. There are times when you can't get as good of a deal booking through a travel site and when that happens I call the airline directly and tell them what I need and my budget and they can usually find something acceptible to me. Often it'll involve more than one connecting flight but that is going to go down to personal preference and scheduling so you will have to decide if that is a good option for you. I mainly use Orbitz for my hotel bookings. I was looking for something between $50 & $60. I was going there for business and not necessarily pleasure and I was only going to be sleeping there for 1 night and sleeping is all I intended to do.

I found a good deal at the Ramada Inn there in town. They would pick me up from the airport for free and take me back for free as well. This was good for me because I could wait until the next day to get my car rental and it would save me some dollars. I gave them a call when the plane landed and the lady came to pick me up in the van. She asked if I had ever been to Reno before and I told her no I'd never been there. She told me to be careful in the casinos there that if I met any women in them that they were more than likely prostitutes and not to go anywhere with them. I had a bad headache when the plane landed so I wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway so it didn't matter. I was going to head to Carson City the next morning. She then asked if I was going to the Zombie Crawl. If I was she'd give me a ride downtown but I had to call her to be picked back up by midnight. I decided not to go due to the aforementioned headache but I was still curious about what a zombie crawl was so I asked.

So yeah apparently every year on the Saturday before Halloween they have a zombie parade which is pretty self explanatory. After the parade is when the real fun starts. This is when they have what is known as the zombie crawl and it lasts all night. As part of the zombie crawl you get a cup like the one pictured above for $10 and you also get a map. The map shows you the locations of the participating bars. Once you purchase this cup for the one time fee then any bar you go to on that map they have to keep it full of beer for you all night and you never have to pay another dime. So it's basically all you can drink beer for $10. I'm guessing the name comes from you'll walk downtown but you'll crawl out I suppose.

Had I still been in my 20's I would have been all over this and jumped at the chance. I also reserve the right for the future to say fuck it and do it anyway the next time I am in town. She also told me there was a big arch there similar to the one in St. Louis and there was a dance group that would dress as zombies and reenact all the choreography from Michael Jackson's Thriller video. However, I didn't feel up to it and decided to stay in the hotel for the night and head to Carson City the next morning.

The Ramada Inn had a restaurant and small casino attached as well as a small bar. There were plenty of zombies coming and going either headed downtown or returning from it. I checked in and took my bags up to my room and the process went fine and the room was OK. My head started to feel a little bit better after I laid down on the bed a moment. I knew the restaurant was closed but the bar was still open. I decided to walk downstairs to the bar and grab a couple beers. It was a small bar outside the restaurant that was just at the edge of the lobby but the bartender was nice enough. She told me the kitchen was still open for awhile longer though the restaurant itself was closed. I was a little hungry. I'd had a connecting flight in Denver, CO before getting there but there wasn't enough time to eat between flights so I hadn't had anything, so I ordered some wings. I just stayed down there long enough to eat and have a couple drinks then went up to my room and went to bed for the night.

I slept pretty well and the next morning I got up and looked out the window. It was dark when I got there and I couldn't really see anything.

There were some nice mountains in the background I felt that the view would've been much better without that huge parking lot. This was a Sunday and was still a free day for me so I didn't have a specific time to get to Carson City or pick up the car rental. I truth I don't think the check-in was until after 2 pm so my actual incentive was to not get there early. So I grabbed an omelet for breakfast then decided to play some blackjack at the small casino that was attached. I didn't have much luck so I didn't play very long it was maybe an hour. I noticed the van lady in the lobby so I flagged her down to get a ride back to the airport to get my car rental. I was told later that the Ramada Inn wasn't necessarily in the bad part of town but it was on the edge of it. Frankly I didn't have any issues there it was fine for me and my purposes. The lobby wasn't the cleanest lobby in the world but it wasn't the dirtiest either. For the price I thought it was a pretty good place considering it had a bar, restaurant, and casino on the premises.

So I got back to the airport there in Reno and made it up to the rental desk. I chose Payless Car Rentals over the others. The others seemed way to pricey and a car is a car I just needed to get my work done. I got a car with Payless for between $15 and $20 a day which I thought was a great deal. As far as insurance I turned that down because my personal insurance(GEICO) covers all car rentals as long as the rental is for less than 30 days. So I thought it was a great deal. If you ever go to Reno you should go with Payless. Prices can vary in other cities.

Well thank you all for stopping by I hope I was able to give you some helpful info about Reno. In my next blog I will be talking about Carson City, NV and the good hotel and restaurants there. Have a great day!