What could go wrong, went wrong.
Even down to the timeshare where we staying not having wireless Internet access — or a business center that allows the use of thumb drives. (I mean, really?)
Our Vegas adventure started innocently enough.
A group of us decided to take a weekend jaunt to Sin City to use a timeshare one of my girlfriends owns. We found an available weekend — a tiny miracle among five professional women — and booked our flights.
Then it went downhill from there.
First, the Continental Airlines flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles was at capacity, so overhead bin space was at a premium. One of my girlfriends had to rearrange her roller board to pass inspection at the gate.
Then I had to change seats twice to accommodate passengers who wanted to sit together but didn’t book early enough. (Another girlfriend had to move, too, once she was on the plane.)
All that was manageable enough.
It was the plane turning around mid-flight to Los Angeles — then flying in circles for hours to burn fuel before landing — that really sent our vacation spiraling downhill.
Due to some mechanical problem involving the word, “auxiliary,” our plane had to return to Honolulu and its passengers — us — had to re-board another.
We left Honolulu at 8 p.m., returned just after midnight, and boarded a second plane after 1 a.m. It had been five hours since we took off the first time — and we were still in Hawaii!
It just didn’t end. The flight crew on Continental was anything but friendly and sympathetic. (We didn’t get free food much less a smile from these flight attendants.) Then, once we landed in LAX, we were told we were rebooked on separate flights, including one leaving the next day. And my laptop bag broke.
In the meantime, our other girlfriend, who booked a different flight altogether, was waiting in Vegas for us.
It just didn’t end!
But by some stroke of luck — hey, we were heading to Vegas, after all — we all managed to get on the 4:10 p.m. flight — three of us actually sitting together — and made it to our final destination, albeit 20 hours later.
We lost an entire day, much-needed sleep and faith that this trip wasn’t going to continue to be a disaster.
So we avoided slot machines and went straight to the things in Vegas we knew weren’t going to fail us: food and shopping.
Here’s what our first night in Vegas looked like:
Adult drinks
Don't eat here without ordering one of the restaurant's specialty adult shakes and drinks. These are in addition to the 120 beers available. We ordered a few, including this strawberry-lime float. (Next time I'm trying the Brown Cow, a root beer float with Pop Rocks and Tahitian vanilla rum.)
29 Comments
Hello Cat!
I’m glad that you made it safely! Have a Great time!
Have a nice time. Glad you finally made it.
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LOL, sure! Too bad I didn’t win anything!
I’m in Nashville for the first time. A bit easier time getting here, but Las Vegas looks better. Part of it may be the photographer’s eye and skill. That and you’re a very cute bunch…and…well…I and my work colleagues are old and paunchy.
Hey, always wanted to check out Nashville. Heard there’s a sizable Hawaii population there!
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Yaaaaaay!!!
Freely confess I am not a bug Vegas fan… do love that big ditch to the south though.
The big ditch to the south…? Grand Canyon…?
Yes, the Grand Canyon 🙂 As much as you like to hike you should get a group to go down Kaibob across the river and then back out Bright Angel. You can camp by the lodge on the other side of the river. It is about an 18.5 RT with a 2 mile elevation change. It is an awesome hike, beautiful scenery, 30 degree temperature change, lot of wildlife (mostly harmless), and the people you meet along the way are pretty interesting. Thinking about doing it again next year. Started training already.
just wanted to say “*like*”!
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!
Glad you all arrived safely and I wish you all the best for a wonderful visit.
I see you checked out the Cosmopolitan. Great start to fun filled weekend!
Enjoy and take good care!!
Cat,
At least you were not on that Delta flight with that threatening nut case!
I heard about that! At least that would’ve been more entertaining!
Hey Cat … I am soooooo fricken jealous!!! … seeing those pics brings back great memories … and a sore wallet too, haha!!! …
… so I guess we won’t be hearing much back from you … now that you’re firmly engrossed in … “whatever happens in Vegas” …
… Have a Good One Everyone!!! …
i like the post and the fact that you’re enjoying vegas… not the air travel experience.
I’ll be posting the WHOLE airplane experience tomorrow. Separate post. Figured you guys would rather see what I ate than hear me whine. 🙂
I didn’t realize the full scope of your travel experience. Hopefully the remainder of your trip makes up for the effort of getting there.
How many attempts did it take to get picture 7?
Alan
glad you guys got in safe. at what point, while waiting around in LAX, did you start thinking: we should have rented a car and drove”?
matt: It’s too bad there isn’t a way to drive from Hawai’i to Vegas. Given what these folks went through, I think it would’ve been faster. 😀
Oh, we thought about driving, for sure. Just three hours and $40 car rental fee. But we got on the 4:10 and by the time we would’ve rented the car and drove, our plan would’ve been landing. So we waited.
Sorry Cat, but looking at picture #2, I can’t help but laugh. We start with picture #1, where everyone is smiling, ready for fun and adventure. We get to picture #2, and there’s a drastic change. I can just imagine the thoughts going through everyone’s minds at that point.
It was pretty crazy… :/
Actually, you (and your GF) didn’t really _have_ to change seats; you had the choice to not change.
This could be the subject of another blog post–when would you ask the airlines to get someone else to move just for your own benefit?
I think that’s kind of selfish, and wouldn’t do it unless it was something like trying to not be separated from an infant or very young child. Your situation, with a couple wanting to sit together, doesn’t warrant splitting up friends traveling together, IMO.
If I were in that situation, I might have suggested they look for someone traveling alone. Why is that couple sitting together more important than you and your GF sitting together?
That’s coming tomorrow! 🙂
oh my….the lovely Vegas Girls doing the Vegas Vertical Leap have some hang time! or was that a “no-intrusive-pat-down” jump for joy!?
No pat downs, but I did get the body scan. LOL
Glad you finally made it! What a good looking group of girls! If you were 3 hours into your flight why couldn’t you just go on to the west coast? It was half a dozen of one and 6 of the other no? That happened to us one time. So frustrating!
You’ve brought back some memories, bad ones. Ex hubby and I once sat in the HNL airport for 8 hours. Instead of rescheduling a charter flight due to mechanical problems, they just kept telling everyone, soon, soon. We finally got on the plane and sat there for another few hours. Finally got to Vegas, lost a day of a tour package, tour operator wouldn’t do anything for anyone.
I’m glad you finally made it! Enjoy, eat plenty ono food, chill by a pool somewhere, dance like there’s no tommorow and shop at The Forum.
Hey, we did all of those things! 🙂