Final Installment of the Vegas Trip
Posted on January 22, 2011 by Ching under Travel.
We were having a good ol’ time until it was time to go home and fate decided that we couldn’t. I think it was bad karma because Brian was being a stuck up, snob. LOL. He was picking on all the tacky people we ran into at Fremont. There are a lot of them in downtown Vegas.
The airline was nice enough to give us a couple of food vouchers (one for lunch and one for dinner) and a hotel voucher. Although, our lunch voucher was only $20 and the dinner one was only $30. That doesn’t really get you much. “Are you sure you weren’t supposed to get two of each of these?” I had asked Brian.
The gate rep told us that the food vouchers were only good at the airport. Brian and I decided that we should get our luggage first before eating. We were just so disoriented. Brian and I aren’t really spontaneous (we pretty much plan everything) so we get frazzled when things don’t go according to schedule. We had asked for them to track down our luggage. Not that there were fresh clothes in there, but we did pack extra underwear. Thank, God. Anyway, they said that they would leave our bags at one of the baggage carousels. We didn’t want our luggage to sit there unattended so we immediately headed to baggage claim.
After retrieving our bags, our next objective was to track down food. With it being January 1, nothing was open. Well, except for Starbucks. Even then, the first Starbucks that we went to only had a Caesar salad (only one, and that was all the food they had left) and they didn’t even have any salad dressing for it. The cashier told us that there is another Starbucks at the lower level that usually has more food. So we went down there and she was right. They had a few containers of salad and some prepackaged sandwiches. Brian got a turkey sandwich, a Caesar salad and a bottle of water for $20. Blech.
We headed outside to catch the hotel shuttle. We didn’t have to wait long. It was just Brian and me and a Southwest Airlines pilot in the van. We got to talking about our predicament and found out from the friendly shuttle driver that the Double Tree (where we would be staying that night) and the Applebee’s next door would have accepted our airline food vouchers. Not that Applebee’s is that much of a step up from our prepackaged Starbucks meal, but it would have been better. LOL. Or we could have used the food voucher for room service. Anyway, that was one really helpful travel tip we learned on this trip. Airline food vouchers are usually good at other places, even if they tell you they can only be redeemed at the airport.
Our accommodations were not bad. The room wasn’t as clean as I would have liked, but I think that’s pretty much the case anywhere you go in Vegas because the housekeeping at Rush Tower wasn’t up to par either. It’s just a dirty city, in more ways then one. LOL.
I’m just grateful we didn’t have to sleep on the floor at the airport (like this couple here), which I would have done if it came down to it, but I’m glad we got to sleep in a bed at least.
The nice thing about the Double Tree by the airport is that they have free wifi. Had Brian and I brought our work laptops, we probably could have gotten some work done and I wouldn’t have been so stressed out over the whole ordeal.
Brian and I decided to drink the bottle of wine that Fredo gave us. Neither of us realized that it was sparkling wine. Brian said it worked out for the best because the wine might not have survived the trip home in the cargo area.
We got to the airport early the next day because we were both anxious to return home. Plus, we wanted to have enough time to eat at Ruby’s. We had to pay extra because our food voucher wasn’t sufficient, but it wasn’t a bad deal over all. The food was pretty good. Of course, Brian ended up breaking his “no red meat” pledge by January 2. LOL.
As luck would have it, there is a Brighton store across from Ruby’s so I ended up shopping. I bought the Las Vegas charm bracelet to commemorate our misfortune. I’m sick and twisted like that. LOL.
I bought some other stuff too, but didn’t really go too crazy. After all, I was already feeling better on Sunday. Had I shopped there on Saturday, I might have caused a lot of damage to our finances. Now I will remember how we spent January 1, 2011 every time I wear my Brighton Vegas charm bracelet.
We arrived home really late on Sunday night and managed to come in to work the next day. We are such troopers. LOL.
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