Well the day has finally arrived. I woke up fairly early today and didn’t sleep very well last night. My flight isn’t until later tonight so I have the whole day to kill. My first point of business was to play around on the Internet! After getting all that out of the way it was time to start getting things together for the big trip. I called the airline to confirm my flight and then a phone call to the bank to arrange to pick up some money. After a few things done around the house it was time to head out and start my errands for the day. The usual things like stopping the mail, and of course that trip to the bank. The reason I called ahead was so they would have the money ready when I got there. Of course, that was a waste of time since the tellers knew nothing about it because the bank manager never let any of them know I was coming. After a 30-minute wait I was on my way. After a quick stop at Wal-Mart I headed back home. One last check to make sure I had everything I needed (I packed yesterday). I still had a few hours to kill so I sent out some e-mail telling my friends I was headed out.
Finally 4:30 arrived and I was off to the airport. I am flying out of my local airport, Stewart-Newburgh. I like flying out of here because I only live about 4 miles from there. I also work at the entrance to the airport so I can park my car there for free and have one of my co-workers run me up to the terminal.
When I arrived at the airport there was no line at check-in. In less than 3 minutes I was checked in and on my way to the security checkpoint. Usually when I fly out of Newark this process takes up to an hour. The best part is there wasn’t even some jerk trying to fit a trunk through the x-ray machine!
My flight was supposed to leave at 6:05pm on American Airlines and we left right on time. I bought this ticket on the website called Hotwire.com. On this site you punch in the dates you want, your departure city, and where you are going and they come back with a fare. What they don’t tell you is the times of the flights, or the carrier. This worked out well because in this small airport only 2 airlines deal with Hotwire.com. I was offered a fare of $243 round trip. I jumped on it and assumed the flights would be the last one out for the day and the first one departing Las Vegas. I was right. I found this fare to be a tremendous deal from this airport and after my purchase I checked American’s website for the same flight. They wanted $540 round trip for the same ticket.
They actually served a small meal on this flight. This was strange, as I never had anything more than a tiny bag of pretzels leaving from this airport before. We got the customary beverage and small basket containing a Jennie-O Smoked Turkey and Cheese Croissant sandwich, a bag of Lays potato chips, a small bag of Bunny-Luv baby carrots from Grimmway Farms, and an oatmeal raisin cookie from Janas Classics. The turkey tasted more like ham, but wasn’t bad.
Right now as I type this I think we are just about to Chicago O'Hare where I will be connecting. I can feel the plane starting to go down. We had been cruising at about 25,000 feet. This segment is on a Fokker 100. According to the captain, we will be arriving about 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. This kind of blows since I already have an hour and 15 minute layover and it just means I have to hang around the airport even longer.
I am now on my connecting flight. This flight took off a bit late because they needed to de-ice the wings, and then the captain came on the PA and said that there was now a “very minor” maintenance issue that needed to be fixed. A few minutes later we were on our way. This flight was originally supposed to take over 4 hours but it’s now going to take only 3 hours and 28 minutes. According to the captain we are up at 31,000 feet and we should be at the gate within a few minutes of our scheduled arrival time.
Now the strange part. The first flight was only about an hour and 45 minutes and we got a “meal”. This flight was supposed to be 4 hours and we just got our snack. It consists of a soda, a package of 2 Pepperidge Farm sesame crackers, a ¾ ounce chunk of medium cheddar cheese from Tillamook Country Creamery Association, and a small package of Pepperidge Farm Brussels cookies. Right now I am about 2 ½ hours away from the great Las Vegas. I’m going to eat my snack now and then hopefully take a short nap. I’m getting kind of tired.
The nap worked out well as by the time I woke up the captain was telling us we were on our final descent into Las Vegas. A few minutes later I saw the Reserve and Sunset Station off to the left of the plane. A few minutes later we were on the ground. American uses terminal D at McCarran so you need to take the monorail to the main terminal for baggage claim. By the time I got to the carousel my suitcase was already there and I was on my way to the Alamo rental car shuttle.
I reserved this car on the Internet and including taxes I’m paying $142 for a full size car for 9 days. I used a feature they call quick rent. It’s similar to Quicksilver but you use your credit card in the kiosk instead. This is the way to go. It took me longer to walk from the shuttle bus than it took to have my rental agreement. In less than 30 seconds I was on my way to spot 35A and my Buick Century. It’s brand new and has only 1400 miles on it.
From here it was on to the New Frontier Hotel where I am staying for the next 2 nights. Both nights are complimentary through the slot club. I am in 248 in the Lanai tower. This is the small 3-story tower in the back of the hotel. This room is about ¼ mile from the casino. The room is your basic hotel room. King bed, nightstands, TV cabinet, work desk, and a chair and footrest. The bathroom is a decent size and there is room to move around. This tower appears to have been recently refurbished but this room wasn’t in the greatest condition. The TV cabinet has a section busted right out of it, and the vent in the bathroom was covered with an inch of dust. Other things include a chewed up straw behind the chair and other crap behind the nightstands like crumbs and dirt. Pretty nasty but I’m only here tonight and tomorrow night so I can deal with it.
It’s now about 1am Pacific Time which is 4am my time. Other than the short nap on the plane I’ve been up since about 8am eastern. I won’t be gambling tonight because I’m too tired. There will be plenty of time for gambling the in the next 8 days!
Total win/loss for the day $0
Total comps for the day $49