Viva Las Vegas

An article by Don Quixote    4 Comments

So I ran off to Vegas.

Crazy huh?

No for real. Honest. I’m writing to you from the 20th floor of the Mirage in partly sunny Las Vegas. It’s been, oh, about never since I’ve taken a vacation to any place for any length of time so rather than let my vacation hours rot away, Michelle and I decided to get each other a big gift this year and head out into the desert.

Today has just been utter madness.

It started at 2:30 am with some last minute packing and then heading into work. Yeah, I know, I probably should have taken today off as well, but bone head didn’t think that far ahead. From there we had to rush down to Fort Wayne International Airport to catch our 7:50 flight.

It’s been since college since I’ve been on a plane so I was sort of nervous. The one thing I’ve learned that traveling by plane is that it’s all about hurrying up and waiting. You stand in line at the ticket counter to check your bags. You stand in line to get screened. You stand in line to board. You stand in line to cram oversized bags into the over head compartment.

You sit and wait for the plane to be de-iced. You sit and wait for the plane to taxi to the runway. You sit and wait to be cleared for take off. Then your plane hits the sky and you are off.

The plane out of Fort Wayne was the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. It was 3 seats wide, two on one side, a small aisle, and then a one seater. It was crazy! Now when I booked this flight two months ago I was thinking. I had two options: Fort Wayne to Chicago to Las Vegas or Fort Wayne to Dallas/Fort Worth to Las Vegas. I said to myself, “Self, do you really want to risk getting stuck in Chicago on the day after Christmas in the cold?” So I headed south. Turned out to be the right idea. The plane to Chicago was delayed by more than 2 hours.

While on the plane I enjoyed a complimentary 4 oz Dr. Pepper and a 1/2 oz bag of cheddar snacks. A meal fit for kings.

Now we were supposed to have an hour layover in Dallas before we headed out to Vegas. However between using the bathroom and riding the train from the remote terminal to the right terminal we got there just minutes before the plane boarded. (Again, more waiting in lines).

This plane was twice the size, but the flight was 10 times worse. Our seats were right on the wing. When I looked out the window all I could see is metal. The windows were set so low in all the other seats that you could not see out anywhere else. Talk about being nauseous! I didn’t think I was going to make it. Thankfully we have different seats for the way home.

Two and a half hours later, we were in Vegas. Again more waiting. Find your luggage. Find your tram to the hotel. Wait in line for the next tram.

Just a side note, the Express Shuttle is not really express. And wholly freakin’ cow too; people drive like mad men in Vegas (even worse than Fort Wayne). I’ve been in two shuttle buses and 5 taxi’s and it’s insane. They’d run over their own mother if they had to. We actually saw a two taxi accident on the way out of the airport, I just hoped they stopped the meter for their passengers.

Any how, we are safe and having fun. I’ll keep you posted as time permits.

Hope your holidays were happy!

(Oh and being 3 hours behind totally blows)