Day 14
Friday July 10, 2009
Well I hate to write about this but today it’s time to go home. When we got up this morning we packed the rest of our stuff up and headed out. I hate packing to begin with but packing to go home really sucks!
We had breakfast this morning at the Cal and both had the buffet. This is a mini buffet in the coffee shop and has all the basics. The foods on here move fast and are good and fresh. We used our coupon books to cover the bill and then we were on our way.
We left Main Street Station at about 10:30am. Our first stop was to Anne’s house to drop off our left over supplies like bottled water and snacks.
Back in December what we did was park in short term parking and check in for our flight early. This way we didn’t have to drag luggage all over the rental car shuttle and could get to the airport a little bit later to go through security. We decided that worked out well and did that today. Check in went very quick since it was a dead time for Continental and we were all set and heading back to the car in just a few minutes.
Once we were checked in we headed off to Green Valley Ranch. Dee had never been inside of this place before so I gave her a quick tour and then we headed out. From here I took her to Casino Monte Lago at Lake Las Vegas. This is another place she’d never been. Personally I don’t know how this place stays open. There were literally 5 people in this casino in the middle of the afternoon.
We still had some time before we had to get the rental car back so we went over to the Eastside Cannery. Dee signed up for a card here and won $10 in free play. We also did their swipe and win promo and I won a T-shirt. Dee won drawing entries. We played some penny slots for about a half an hour. I lost about $12 and Dee lost her free play. I went to collect my free t-shirt at the booth and asked for a medium. I didn’t realize it but the lady at the booth gave me a small. I wasn’t happy about this when I noticed it.
When we left Eastside Cannery we had to gas up the car before returning it to the rental car facility. Returning the car was quick. The wait for the shuttle to the airport was just a minute.
We got to the airport early enough to rest for a bit. I was starving so I grabbed a sandwich at the Chili’s Express. I got a chicken sandwich and fries for $10. While it isn’t the greatest price for a meal like this, I thought it wasn’t bad for an airport.
When it was time to board it seemed everyone except the people that should be lined up were. There was a guy and a lady lined up even before the pre-board. I assumed they were going to be boarding in the first group in the back of the plane like we were. Yet when the agent called the first group they still didn’t board. Finally the gate agent made them move. I don’t understand why someone would stand in the front of a line; long before their group is called when they have boarding passes. It’s not like we’re flying Southwest Airlines.
This is flight 1069. We were scheduled to depart at 4:10pm and arrive in Newark at 12:19am. For the meal we were given a BBQ Turkey Pouch. It was like a hot pocket with BBQ turkey in it. This also came with a small salad and a Kit Kat bar. There was no movie on this flight because the plane was not equipped with an entertainment system. The flight was smooth for the most part except for when the captain said we were going to hit some turbulence and told us it was going to be pretty bumpy. So bumpy that they collected all liquids and informed everyone to get back to their seats and buckle up. We never hit anything that caused any alarm but I have to comment on the assholes that decide it’s a good idea to get out of their seat to go into the overheads or talk to their friends. We actually landed almost an hour early.
Baggage claim went well until the conveyor jammed. This added a good 20 minutes to baggage claim but once it came back up our bags came right out.
After we got our bags we jumped on the monorail to Avis to pick up the ride home. This was a bit of a hassle as they were doing work on the escalator going up to the monorail and everyone had to pile into the small elevator. Then half of the monorail system was down and we had to switch trains half way to the rental car area. Between the baggage and the monorail we lost about an hour.
When we got to Avis my name was up on the scoreboard in spot 77. No matter how often I tried I just couldn’t seem to get a good rate for this rental. I had to settle for a full sized car for a base rate of $82. I ended up with a Chevy Malibu with 17,000 miles on it. The ride home was as bad as a ride home could be. We hit road construction in the Hasbrouck Heights area. I didn’t expect this to be a major delay but it turned into one. After over an hour of creeping forward we finally hit open road again. Luckily we stopped before this jam up at Dunkin’ Donuts and loaded up on coffee and donuts during the wait! The rest of the drive was smooth sailing. We rolled into the drive way at about 3am, 2 hours later than it should have been as another Vegas vacation came to an end.
Total win/loss for the day $0
Total comps for the day $13
Final Thoughts