Day 18
Friday December 31, 2021
I had to get up early today to get ready and to finish packing for the trip home today.
I pulled out of the Aquarius at around 9am. The ride back to Las Vegas was unusual with quite a bit of rain going up the mountain. Once on the other side it was heavy fog until Searchlight. It magically cleared once through there and it was sunny the rest of the way.
Back in Vegas I stopped off at the bank. No walk of shame here. This was a stop to make a big fat deposit. It's always fun to stop here in this case. The next stop was to gas up the car and then it was on to the rental car center to make the return.
Returning went well and I was off to the shuttle. The line for the shuttle back to terminal was really long. Probably 3-4 buses worth of waiting long. The line to terminal 3 was short.
Like on the way out I'm flying United and flying first class. This along with being silver status lets me use the preferred check in area. It didn't make much of a difference because oddly there wasn't much of a line at the counter. I booked this flight back in August with a one way fare of $532. A fare I would never pay but it was part of the 7* trip so reimbursed while I was at the Cromwell.
Next up was the zoo known as security. It wasn't that bad at all and I was surprised how few people were there. I had plenty of time to get to the gate once I was through.
I wandered around and played a few penny games. No hits or anything good but did make 10 bucks!
I decided to go to the United Lounge since I still had one more one time pass from my credit card that expires in a few weeks. They had a decent selection of food here with different salads, soups, snacks, desserts and drinks.
While I was there I saw my flight on the board kept getting pushed back. Originally scheduled at 2pm I was at 2:15 then 2:30 then 2:40.
It was time to board and I was one of the first to get on. This is flight 1958, non stop to Newark. Much like the flight here, this flight has been changed ½ dozen times as well. We are scheduled to depart at 2pm, now 2:45pm and arrive at 9:52pm in Newark for a flight time of 4 hours and 52 minutes. The arrival time is still the same even with the delays.
We took off "on time" and were on the way home. Shortly after we took off lunch was served. There was a choice of chicken and southwest rice or some vegetarian shit. I chose the chicken. This also came with the worlds smallest dinner roll, fruit and a cookie.
As has been my luck the guy sitting next to me wasn't first class, he was no class. A nice guy but, seriously. I'll be nice and just say he was a man of size (probably 500+ would be my guess). As soon as we took off his shoes came off, then all he did was clam, snort and grunt the whole flight home. WTF is with these people I'm getting stuck next to?
The flight was quite bumpy most of the way home and the seat belt sign was on most of the time. It was so bad a few times the flight attendants were told to be seated. I'm not sure why but this is always a signal to the idiots to start moving about the cabin. Note to the stupid, if the captain tells the flight attendants to be seated, you can assure yourself, it's going to be rough. Sit your asses down.
We finally landed at 9:37pm. By the time to actually got to the gate, because we needed a tow that took 20 minutes, and then waited for my luggage, then waited for the shuttle to the rental car stop it was 11pm.
I reserved a full sized car using a discount code through my job for a base rate of $50 and all in for $80. It's always more to get home thanks to the absurd taxes added to the rental in Newark like a $7.28 per day customer facility charge (and you thought the $5 per day in Vegas sucked).
As usual my name wasn't on the board and I had to go to the counter. I was given a Toyota Camry with 11,000 miles on it. I gave the car a quick once over, loaded my stuff into it and I was on my way.
The ride back home was uneventful considering it was New Year's Eve. I was in the West Point area when the clock struck 12. I pulled into the driveway right around 12:30am as this Christmas/Birthday trip came to an end.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Total Win/Loss For The Day = + $9
Total Comps For The Day = $0
Final Thoughts
Eff You
Total Win/Loss For The Trip = $11,349
Total Comps For The Trip = $9,548
Rooms = $2,949
Free Play / Cash Back = $3,312
Food = $1,897
Other = $1,390
