So nothing amazing or fancy pants but wanted to post this to warm me up for a 5.5 week S.E. Asia TR.
The past 3 years I've been going to Vegas for the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding expo/competition and the benefit this year being in Monterey was that Allegiant (G4) has a Thursday and Sunday flight on their MD-80.
Monterey is quite convenient and normally I've only gone through for the EMB or CRJ flights where there is never a line. Showing up for the Allegiant flight there's basically just 2 ticket agents who are doing the whole show.
Most of the slow down is the 40# limit on bags and people re-arranging things.
You also have to pay for an overhead carry-on. A personal item under the seat is free.
I believe it's $25 checked and $15 carry-on anytime online...at the airport both jump to $50.
My Mom booked our tickets and paid for priority check in and boarding. The check in at MRY was such a mess I didn't figure I wanted to try and push my way through some a throng of people...also had 2 friends traveling with us who didn't purchase it so no sense ditching them to just go sit in the gate area.
Boarding with priority for the most part was pretty smooth. Also on both segments the entire bin for our 3 seats only had my bag in it. So there's not a real issue like on UA or other carriers.
The seating set-up is a 2-3 config which is nice for couples of 2 flying. An elderly woman berated her husband as to why they weren't in a 2 section.
A rare photo of myself in transit as I'm normally alone.
The flight was pretty uneventful and a quick 59 min. They do come by with drinks and snacks for purchase. Saw people mostly getting booze but the FAs were up and down the aisle in just a few minutes.
I booked online a r/t SUV limo transfer from Presidential Limo for $120 which included champagne (cheap, sweet stuff) on arrival. We had a really great lady drive us who was a blast. 2 years ago we stayed at the Nobu Hotel w/in CP which has Range Rovers for guests which was nice. This worked out fine for 4 of us with our bags as 3 of us are either tall or wide or a mix.
My parents are Seven Stars status in Total Rewards (Caesars Palace, Bally's, Harrah's, Harvey's, The Cromwell, Linq, Flamingo) which I think is the top level. So it's nice traveling with either of them as we usually get free rooms/upgrades in addition to the check in lounge, cutting the taxi line, cutting the buffet line and being able to get pretty much any dinner resv we need even day of in Caesars.
We had 2 rooms in the Octavius Tower, which along with the Augustus, I believe they are now called the "Laurel Collection" having been recently updated or something to that degree. We had a low floor (but overlooked the pools) because we wanted to be on the same floor near each other but couldn't get adjoining so we we had a room between us.
Gordon Ramsay near the entrance to The Forum is usually a good place for lunch we'll go to once during the stay. Funny enough the past 3 years we've had the same Thai/Viet waitress because I fondly remember how she addresses woman as "my lady".
I noticed looking at the pool that they had opened a Mr. Chow now in the hotel. On the way to lunch we stopped by the 7*/Diamond desk to have them get us a reservation for dinner. You enter by a private elevator to a classically Mr. Chow space. This one has a big dome roof with a custom designed moving sculpture that 2x during dinner activated.
1 of the 2 friends traveling with us had been 2 years ago and we saw Absinthe. I was willing to go for a 3rd time so the other could experience it. If you've not been it's one of the best things I've seen...it actually is dirty and raunchy in humor mixed with small performances...not some cerebral CdS fantasy.
I have a funny relationship with Mr. Olympia...mostly because the background in sport that I like (Triathlon and then leading into Crossfit and Olympic/Powerlifting) is based on going faster, further, heavier than someone else. Mr. Olympia is a physique bodybuilding competition where a few judges subjectively vote on who looks the best. I don't actually go to see that I mostly just spend a day checking out the fitness expo and different products. I also enjoy laughing at the fan boys and can't pass up the eye candy. I'll also gladly take their money for a photoshoot...none of which I booked while staying in LV this time because I wanted to spend the time enjoying with friends and my Mom.
Even with the heat and being in the crowded convention center we decided to walk by to The Strip to stop by the Palazzo shops and then make our way back to CP. We should have gone to Fremont street since I don't think I've been near that area since I was a kid in the 90s and Circus Circus was the hot spot for families.
Mom wants what she wants so that meant dinner at Ruth's Chris so she could get the BBQ shrimp and the chopped salad. While I'm not a fan of Harrah's (for Vegas it's slightly dumpy...Tahoe it's only one of our few choices) the interior of Ruth's Chris was top notch.
Lost my ... on roulette...but luckily I was able to drown my sorrows in the very active Grindr scene.
The Bacchanal Buffet has enormous lines for breakfast and dinner. It's well worth the price $50, I'm not sure if I would wait in the line if we couldn't have skipped it to go into the 7*/Diamond bypass lane.
Pool time, some shopping and relaxing the rest of the time. Loved Mesa Grill in NY so it's great to eat there as well every Vegas trip. The goat cheese queso fundido is a must along with the rough cut tuna nachos. I wasn't that impressed with my veal.
Now it's great to be able fly directly into MRY. However the schedule going LAS-MRY sucks as you leave at 8:20 so you don't have that day in Vegas at all. Getting up at 5:30 to leave by 6am.
The normal check in line extended out the curb. This is where the $6 priority boarding is WELL worth it. Combined with pre-check my Mom and I were in the gate area in about 25 minutes with plenty of time to spare as we then got a 30 min delay text for the flight.
The man behind us in line for security went nuts when he realized he was in the A gates line and that D for AA was across the way. F-bombs were dropped at the TSA agent and shaking his head in disbelief that it was some how anyone else's fault he didn't go into the area for the CLEARLY marked D gates.
Terminal 1 is a dump. It's Allegiant and Omni Air (which seems to be a package Hawaii vacation deal)...I didn't notice what was in the B gates area of T1. My friend was flying Allegiant to Cedar Rapids to see her family and the other went to T3 for JetBlue to SFO. I audibly scoffed and rolled my eyes at a husband and wife in Trump shirts as well as saying "Get real, you _____" to a woman who had a t-shirt on said "STRAIGHT" with a black/white rainbow. The salt of the Earth I tell ya!
Our 30min delay was "weather". Inbound plane was on time, it was a bit foggy in the morning at MRY but I didn't see any alerts online...there was also a ton of smoke and haze around from the fire as well.
I thought we were going to be delayed further from a near melt down. Boarding was almost done and I hear a thud thud thud as this girl comes running up the aisle and starts to get out the plane door. The FA stops her and says that if she gets off the plane she can't get back on. I guess her and her BF forgot her laptop, bag and jacket at TSA...they were pleading to get off and then things got heated. The GA came on saying they can't hold the plane and wait for someone to go check and she can't escort them to it. They could get off and go themselves to try and get it or deal with lost and found after.
They got off. I'm curious how they're getting home. They can't fly Allegiant to another city and into MRY on Allegiant. I imagine they would have to buy a flight on AA for LAS-PHX-MRY or UA LAS-SFO/LAX-MRY at the airport...on the same day...to get home.
Seats don't recline and there's not a net/pouch on the front seat, it's only a hard side thing up top. With that said, the leg room isn't bad, the 2-3 is nice and it's convenient to not have to drive to SJC/SFO or fly into LAX to get to LAS. I don't think I'd be taking any other Allegiant flight...I couldn't imagine what their flights to Hawaii are like.
Later this week I'll be embarking upon Tokyo, Bangkok, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, Krabi, Siem Reap, Saigon, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.