Rachel - "Are you going to write about how you missed your flight?"
Me - "I don't know.  It's a sore subject."
Rachel - "Yeah, you might lose your credibility.  I mean, you're the vacation girl... they're going to be like, 'I'm not listening to her.  She can't even make her flight.'"


It's still a sore subject.  But I'm going to tell you anyway.  Something I realized a few years ago is that it's people's imperfections that make them interesting... relatable... imperfections make people likable.  So I'm going to admit my mistake to you in hopes that maybe you'll like me for it... or at least maybe you can find some joy by laughing at me.

So, we took a taxi to the airport. Then we tried to curbside check our luggage, but had to go inside for some reason. We checked our luggage, went upstairs and were headed towards security when Dad stops. "I don't have my bag."

It turns out he was carrying a fanny pack like a dork (instead of wearing one like a dork), and he had left it somewhere. This lady walking by thinks there's something wrong with our carry-ons and tells us that she's a flight attendant and that as long as we can make one of our two bags look like a purse, we're okay. In the meantime, Dad runs off to backtrack. We wait there for about ten minutes and he comes back emptihanded.

Now, Dad was having trouble remembering what was in his man purse - an apple, Rachel's memory card (she was so upset), his iPod (I remembered this had his full name engraved on it which could help us identify it), and some earbuds. The only thing that couldn't be replaced was Rachel's memory card.

We ended up hurrying through security, again and racing to get food before boarding. We got some pizza from California Pizza Kitchen, I believe.

As soon as we boarded, Dad remembered what else was in his bag - our car keys.

The flight home was frustrating. No one seemed to be in a good mood. Some big lady behind Dad fussed at him for moving around alot. The people in front of us were snapping at eachother.

When we arrived in Atlanta, we went to Hertz to rent a car. Rachel and I played golf at the indoor putting/chipping area while we were waiting. Fun way to pass the time.

I forget the model we ended up with... some mid-size SUV (they tried to convince Dad to rent a van, but he refused).

On the way home, we stopped at Chili's to eat. It was either that or Waffle House. But we had a fun time laughing at ourselves over dinner.

We arrived in Las Vegas at 1:30pm local time.


Dad snapped some candid photos... he actually accidentally took a video, but I won't post that.



We were pleased to find that all of our bags had arrived. We took a taxi from the airport to Bellagio. We had our bags carted to the rooms because we were too lazy to drag all nine of them there ourselves.

Check-in took a few minutes. We were "upgraded" to a room in the new Spa Tower. Dad was skeptical of this upgrade, since it took us out of the main building. However, the Spa Tower is newer and our room was probably bigger and nicer than it would have been in the main building... just a guess.





















Our view:

The flight over wasn't that bad. I always have the aisle, Rachel takes the middle, Mom gets the window, and dad sits on the aisle with strangers. I worked on AP Chemistry most of the way there. I did break for an hour and a half to watch "What Happens in Vegas" with Rachel. It seemed appropriate.

AirTran was okay. We typically fly Delta and American. I missed the in-flight movies (this is how I catch up on Fliks I missed at the theater.... I've watched some good movies this way - Cinderella Man, Finding Neverland, The Last Holiday). However, I needed to do chemistry, and my iPod kept me entertained.

They went by three times for drinks. The aircraft was small, and it seemed as if as soon as they filled my cup, they came back for refills. I hadn't had much of it, yet. The pretzels were cute. The wrapper included directions on how to eat the pretzels ("remember the low fares"). Rather humorous.

The only real negative about the flight was the rotund flight attendendant who kept sticking her butt in my face. That's the price you pay for an aisle seat!

I'll go ahead and say that we booked Vegas for the inexpensive rates. We stayed at Bellagio, the priciest and most deluxe resort on the Las Vegas strip for a mere $200 a night! (Keep in mind that a fountain view cost an extra $80 a night... and suites are on up there.)

I suppose I should also announce the "cast members":
Dad
Mom
(Me) Victoria - 17
Rachel - 15

Now, on with the trip report...

We were flying out of Atlanta (12:00 pm flight), which is about an hour and forty minutes from our home in Anderson, South Carolina. So, we had to leave our house by 8:00 (which meant we had to aim for 7:30) in order to get to the airport by 10:00 so that we could go through security and eat lunch before our flight.

We packed the night before, and all was going as planned. We left the house at eight on the dot. We were making good time. Then we hit Atlanta. And everything stopped.

Road construction. After about half an hour of inching along, Dad got frustrated and went off the beaten path. And we ended up on Martin Luther King Drive, which isn't the most happening place to be. But we made it to the airport. Flew into the parking lot and threw our bags onto the shuttle only to be slowed down by some young man by himself on his cell phone. He slowly pulled his duffle out of the trunk, talked a little, pulled out another bag, talked some more.... made no effort to hurry. Finally, Mum asked rather loudly if anyone else was cutting it close, and the driver took the hint and took off.

We barely made the cut for curbside check-in. We then raced through the airport. Luckily, we had no problems with security. We knew where we were going and made it to our gate. But we needed food before our four hour flight. Dad headed to Popeye's, the closest restaurant (though Rachel wanted Moe's). I ran in behind to help carry things, and he sent me to get drinks. But drinks were purchased at the counter and received at the drink station. So Dad bought drinks and gave me the receipt to redeem the drinks. But he gave me the chicken receipt, so we had to swap, and by then these ladies got in front of me, taking their sweet time. And dad was over at the food station, practically jumping over the counter telling them to stop making the dang sandwiches and start wrapping them. He left with only three sandwiches.... but we made it on our flight!