In progress Las Vegas
 

I dislike Las Vegas. This city and I have never gotten along. Back in my chicken days I would always get lost in the city (!) and think north was south and east was west. Bah humbug.

However, I am speaking at a conference tomorrow, so duty calls.

ATL-SLC-LAS Delta 5/14 820a
Book the connection b/c I want to get one last trip in on a L1011. Get a K fare so try at 820a on the 13th for an upgrade, I get it on both legs. Yeah!

Drive to the airport (only time I'll do THAT is on a weekend) and get a parking place in row 4 of North economy (I watch the guy pull out as I'm getting my ticket, so swing right around and nab the space. The gods are looking out for me)

About 6 people ahead of me at f/c-medallion, takes all of 5 minutes for me to get my boarding passes.

Off to the gate in the A concourse. Doesn't look too crowded. They start boarding about 745, after mentioning overhead that the other 825a flight was cancelled. Get on board at the 1st call(2d door) and hear overhead "I have 99 meals in back".

People trickle on and we get to about 825a when the captain comes on and says "...you may be wondering..." and tells about that catering didn't transfer the meals from the cancelled flt over. (The pilot and copilot sat just ahead of me and were commenting that they use the 727 as the fill-flight, and if the L1011 can accommodate both they'll cancel the 727). About 20 mins (!) later they announce that "those of you in coach, we apologize in advance but b'fast will be a little uneven. We've got some hot b'fasts, some cereal/milks, some SkyDelis (with turkey sandwiches) and if we run out, may not have enough for everyone. If that occurs, you'll get a coupon for when we get into SLC."

That said, we get off about 45 mins late.

For F/C, choices were eggs/potatoes/sausage, pancakes/sausage, cereal/milk. Printed menu. I had requested a vegetarian meal out of curiosity. Ended up with a warm pile of dry porridge (oats, dried cranberries and banana chips--somehow I ended up with the vegan option) on a plate, a Tetrapak of soy milk and fresh fruit (including a beautiful strawberry). I actually remember this bfast from 10 yrs ago (except it was the coach vegetarian bfast then--my how times have changed! Also had never tasted soy milk--I'm glad I'm not lactose intolerant, though it wasn't bad.

They showed the movie, and we arrived 15 mins late to a bright sunny Salt Lake City.

1 1/2 hrs to the flight to LAS, connected to a 767-300. No meal on that, just a passed basket of snacks.

Arrived on time. Short wait for luggage.

I hadn't been to LAS "in depth" for 10 years, although had been for a meeting at the Alexis Pk. about 5 years ago (don't recall even setting foot on the strip then).

My how things have changed. My friends Greg and Jen (ex-chicken folks) told me, but I didn't believe them.

I customarily stayed at the LaQuinta at the south end of the Strip. There wasn't much further south, and there was about 1/2 mile further north before there was much civilization (the Imperial Palace). My, my, my--now my friendly old LaQ is shoehorned (!) between NY NY and Monte Carlo. What a spectacle. Actually, reminds me of Int'l Drive in Orlando. The casinos remind me of Epcot.

What a place. I still don't care much for it, but it is certainly a spectacle.

Late lunch at the Border Grille at Mandalay Bay (good tortilla soup, good margarita, OK quesadilla, excellent guacamole, overpriced at $30 for the whole).

Dinner at Bellagio--the noodle place--excellent noodles, much better price/value ($25 for a Tsingtao and Thai Noodles with 4 huge shrimp). Excellent gelato there also (rotten service at the gelato place).

Rental car from Hertz (Mazda 626 http://216.167.74.240/forum/smile.gif )

Today tried to drive out to St. George Utah, but gave up 1/3 of the way there (at Moapa--what desolation).

Checked into the LV Hilton (Travelscape $139/night). They accepted my HHonors number (FWIW).

Going to meet up with others fm the meeting tonite hopefully.

Now off to find Trader Joe's (sure wish it would come to areas away from the coasts)!

JL

jamie, if you have time & want a great meal in a classy place, go to The Tillerman.

Can't remember their address (either Flamingo or Tropicana), but you can check it on their website. www.tillerman.com

Enjoy the rest of your trip... http://216.167.74.240/forum/smile.gif

Part Deux
Found Trader Joe's--there are 2 in town plus a 3d opening up. Amazing growth in this city--it goes now from mountain to mountain.

Ran into the group leader at the Desert Inn--she had walked her feet off (!) and so wasn't up for dinner. Ended up at the Venetian at one of the Italian Grill restaurants. Really good food, some service issues.

LV Hilton very quiet, plain room on 25th floor. Interesting to have desktop and vanity top in granite.

Speech went well on Tues. Dinner at China Grill at Mandalay Bay. Good food (lots of it) with wild decor.

Everyone staying at Desert Inn really likes it--I wish I could have gotten in but I wasn't going to pay $240 (price after the block was booked). $160 was bad enough.

More later

Wednesday eve dinner at Napa at the Rio Casino--a fabulous meal. Met a former co-worker with the other two folks I was with, so had a long gossipy dinner. I had caesar salad, tuna (well cooked) and coconut blancmange.

Thursday, conference was over in the late PM--those who paid to attend got their money's worth. I was all by myself as my colleagues had left. Had to fill up the car ($1.59/gallon!) and then re-explored the Venetian Hotel--it really is quite a place, with gondoliers, shopping mall and almost anticlimatically, a casino. Dinner at Wolfgang Puck's (food terrific--artichoke and stilton appetizer pizza, cioppino and berry crisp).

Set the alarm for 4:59 for my 6:00 flight...
woke up at about 445 so got up and got going. Hit the airport at about 620, where got great service from the checkin person at Hertz. About a 10 min wait for the bus (the clock SAID they'd come every 5 minutes) but not really bad.

Snaky line at all airlines. I was on DL. Noticed that the 540 flight n/s to Atlanta was already closed when I got on the f/c line. Had called on Thursday for an upgrade--the LASLAX portion cleared but LAXATL didn't--waitlisted.

5th person in the f/c line, but it moved quickly. Noticed that UA had several xld flights (weather? overtime problems?) but my LASLAX flight was listed...as DELAYED. UA, HP and WN flights all were showing on time, but the agent said that I'd still make the connection (this being 545, they posted a time of 700). I mildly complain that I would be frustrated if I wasted an upgrade LASLAX, and then if LAXATL cleared, I'd lose 2 upgrades (one collected LASLAX, two due LASATL, LAXATL requires two or three). He pounds on the keyboard and looks puzzled, but then out popped my upgraded seat LAXATL (don't know if he forced it or if it really cleared upon checkin).

Out to the gate bypassing the museum at the upstairs area before security http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif to see them still posting a 700 dept time. They start boarding at 630, and I go to 3A.

7:00 comes and goes, and they make an announcement that was interesting: "The plane is being inspected. The inspection is required in the next 5 flying hours, so we want to complete it here. The mechanic is on the phone with Atlanta to get the information"

Essentially, this was an economic decision--DL put off this inspection too long and tried to get it done overnight at LAS. Since LAS couldn't complete it, if they left for LAX, they couldn't go anywhere else (even LAX-Portland-LAX is more than 4 hours) until they could get the inspection done the next night. They were good at announcing that a group of 45 people going on to Hawaii was being waited for.

By 735, it became clear that I wasn't going to make my flight. As the door was opened, I called my travel agt to find out that later LASATL flights were full but later LAXATL flights were available. I consoled myself with the idea that I might make an adventure out of it--ask to be rerouted LAX-JFK-ATL (get to try out domestic BizElite that way), when the lead f/a comes on board and finds me and tells me that they've rebooked me (in First!) on the 840 nonstop (that my agent said was full) and I could take it if I wanted to. I decided that to do otherwise was to chance irritating the frequent traveler gods, so I got off.

Painless flight on a full 757, b'fast choices were a (delicious) scrambled egg, cheese, ham on a english muffin, apple pancakes or cereal/milk/yogurt. Good crew on this flt, one wearing a lei that she mentioned she'd gotten from a psgr that morning on the LAXLAS flight. It smelled terrific, and she was intelligent about taking it off when she was handling food.

My luggage didn't make the change, but upon arriving there was a message at the luggage counter that it was coming in on the next LAXATL flight, so they're delivering.

Pretty good DL service, all in all! We'll see if I get my extra segment (I had checked in, after all).

Thanks! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif