mauld
Feb 1, 00, 2:25 pm
My trip started out well enough with a surprise upgrade on my last leg (las-ewr), the other portions had been Y fares, so no problem there. Arrive at my office 6:30 Wed am to cram some work in before my 10:40 flight, call our car service and find they 'disconnected' the phone, that coupled with the sudden snow storm in the east, left me monentarily perplexed. I suddenly remembered the bus service to EWR, called and found them running and only $10 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif! Caught the bus and was out at the airport in record time ....checked in the PC lounge--long line due to all flights previous day being cancelled--but pretty unexciting. About 10:10 head over to my gate, which is still posting on time, planes there....but no crew. They were coming in from Cleveland and wouldn't arrive for another one and half hours! Finally took off about 1:30, had my 1A seat, but found the 'warm nuts' theory in use. After our initial round of beverages, the FA's disappeared, came back out with our appetizers and one more round, then that was it! NO drinks during the meal, desert, movie etc. I had the lamb chops with smashed potatoes--pretty good. I think CO is skimping on ice cream sundaes though, it sure didn't taste like Hagen Daz! The FA's served and again hid behind the drape and sat reading! The movie was horrible, Inspector Gadget, even without the sound it was painful to look up. They showed the Muse after, and it was so-so.
Arrival in SFO about 2 hours late, rushed to my dinner (at Palomino), back to hotel in order to get up at 3am to go into the office (Don't Ask!). Meetings all day, dinner (Balboa Cafe) , hotel etc.....
The big positive was the weather in SF, after leaving the East Coast Blizzard it was a welcome relief to have sunny skys and warm temps (for SF that is!)
Friday my meetings were over about 10:30, caught a very full HP flight, being glad I was in FC (abit with barely leg room between seats!) and landed in beautiful Lost Wages about 3pm. Picked up my car and started my trip out to the new Hyatt Lake Las Vegas. (Please note, the drive takes forever due to massive road construction until you get to Henderson)---in actuality it took 40 min, where it should be closer to 15-20.
The Hotel is new (just opened l2/17) and there are many wrinkles to be ironed out. I was given an Executive Suite (thank you Hyatt Diamond), but the rooms themselves are very small. Many amenities are not yet in the rooms, the hallways are very confusing with no signs or diagrams. The hotel itself was empty (and this being SuperBowl weekend!) due to no sportsbook in the miniscule casino.
Be aware they add on a $10 Resort Fee without explanation. When I called they claimed all the "eastern" hotels are doing it and it is for local calls, coffee, valet parking etc.
Checked out early on Sat to head down to the strip to meet up with the famous Catman and CanadianFlyer! A little confusion ensued, given that CanadianFlyer was expecting me to be a man. The fact that when I described myself to him I was pretty explicit in what I would be wearing--3 days in advance as well as short brown hair etc..,well, we all can make mistakes--I guess I should have taken a lesson from those newspaper ads in making up my description! In any event,we had a great brunch at the LV Hilton compliments of CanadianFlyer and caught up with FlyerTalk/ the Freddies/ ways to get miles etc, etc... Drove them out to the airport to meet up with more FlyerTalkers, then came back to the Strip to place a few dollars on Sunday's game.
Back to the airport for my 1:50 flight, which was just slightly delayed... This time the meal consisted of the ruben sandwich and soup or spinich pasta. I passed on both, and read thru the movie (The Muse---again). The FA's were slightly more attentive this time, but I wouldn't go so far as to say the "nuts were warm". Landed right on time, but sat just outside the gate for 15 minutes waiting for someone to open the doors!
All in all it was a great trip, if only for the chance to meet up with some fellow flyers!
[This message has been edited by mauld (edited 02-01-2000).]
Arrival in SFO about 2 hours late, rushed to my dinner (at Palomino), back to hotel in order to get up at 3am to go into the office (Don't Ask!). Meetings all day, dinner (Balboa Cafe) , hotel etc.....
The big positive was the weather in SF, after leaving the East Coast Blizzard it was a welcome relief to have sunny skys and warm temps (for SF that is!)
Friday my meetings were over about 10:30, caught a very full HP flight, being glad I was in FC (abit with barely leg room between seats!) and landed in beautiful Lost Wages about 3pm. Picked up my car and started my trip out to the new Hyatt Lake Las Vegas. (Please note, the drive takes forever due to massive road construction until you get to Henderson)---in actuality it took 40 min, where it should be closer to 15-20.
The Hotel is new (just opened l2/17) and there are many wrinkles to be ironed out. I was given an Executive Suite (thank you Hyatt Diamond), but the rooms themselves are very small. Many amenities are not yet in the rooms, the hallways are very confusing with no signs or diagrams. The hotel itself was empty (and this being SuperBowl weekend!) due to no sportsbook in the miniscule casino.
Be aware they add on a $10 Resort Fee without explanation. When I called they claimed all the "eastern" hotels are doing it and it is for local calls, coffee, valet parking etc.
Checked out early on Sat to head down to the strip to meet up with the famous Catman and CanadianFlyer! A little confusion ensued, given that CanadianFlyer was expecting me to be a man. The fact that when I described myself to him I was pretty explicit in what I would be wearing--3 days in advance as well as short brown hair etc..,well, we all can make mistakes--I guess I should have taken a lesson from those newspaper ads in making up my description! In any event,we had a great brunch at the LV Hilton compliments of CanadianFlyer and caught up with FlyerTalk/ the Freddies/ ways to get miles etc, etc... Drove them out to the airport to meet up with more FlyerTalkers, then came back to the Strip to place a few dollars on Sunday's game.
Back to the airport for my 1:50 flight, which was just slightly delayed... This time the meal consisted of the ruben sandwich and soup or spinich pasta. I passed on both, and read thru the movie (The Muse---again). The FA's were slightly more attentive this time, but I wouldn't go so far as to say the "nuts were warm". Landed right on time, but sat just outside the gate for 15 minutes waiting for someone to open the doors!
All in all it was a great trip, if only for the chance to meet up with some fellow flyers!
[This message has been edited by mauld (edited 02-01-2000).]