Liroquai
Intern
- Joined
- May 17, 2011
- Posts
- 65
For the past four years I've been heading to Vegas annually for a work convention. The first three trips were mainly spent either on the trade show floor or in my room at night while the others headed out. There are plenty of things to do in Vegas for under 21's, but come 10pm onward, you're on your own. This year's February work trip was great - I was finally 21 and could join the others - but I had to do Vegas right. No work. No waking up at stupid o'clock. No half marathon walks down to the convention centre (MGM).
Fast forward to June. Fares ex-SYD were continually hovering at around $2500. Suddenly Virgin announce a USA sale beginning 18th July for around $1390. Perfect. VA1/VA2 too, no flying on int. Delta. Perfect-er. All 5 of us book immediately, with a friend's Dad (let's call him Bob) booking shortly after in J. Bob gets in contact with a host at Wynncore and we're booked into a suite, connecting tower suite room and two other rooms all on the same floor for 19-31st July at Encore. No specific details were given on what kind of suite we had - but with Wynncore being at the top end of properties on the strip, I had a feeling it would be quite special. I was a little worried that 13 days in Vegas would be a little too much. Oh was I wrong.
July 19th. We're all buzzing. I haven't been this excited for a trip in a long, long time. The line for check in was full. Thankfully priority was near empty and all 5 of us, despite me being the only PS in the group, are issued boarding passes in minutes. We were advised that Y is completely full - optimistic me is hoping the next line out of her mouth is "so you've been upgraded" - but no such luck. Apparently VA1 the day before had an extremely light load, something like 80 pax in total. Bob hadn't arrived yet but by the time he did the priority queue was considerably longer.
A little over an hour later we're on VA1. We say our goodbyes to Bob as he turns left and off to 1-something. Y is chockers as expected, not a spare seat. Walking through the plane I notice we're not on the refurbed 777. Skinny/bony me isn't a fan of the padding, especially for 13 hours. We boarded about 10 minutes prior to doors closing so before we know it we're in the air and being served lunch. Choices are butter chicken with rice, beef with mashed potato or some vegetarian option (could've been pasta). I chose the butter chicken.
Was actually very decent. The pasta in the top left I was a huge fan of. Lemon cheesecake I loved too - my friends didn't though so I happily scoffed down another 2.
Entertainment choice on this flight wasn't great. In such a confined space I can't settle in properly and watch a movie, so I'll usually watch TV. There wasn't much variety though. Would love to see them include full seasons of shows, not just a select few.
Around 8 hours into the flight - just when the "whY am I doing this I hate life" thoughts kick in - I see a foot, 36K's foot, work it's way through the gap between my seat and the window and rest it's smelly self on my armrest. I gave it an "accidental" hard hit with my elbow, 36K grunted and I think he got the message. But no, around 20 minutes later it reappears. This continued for another couple hours before I blocked the gap with a pillow. Y is hard for everyone. You're not special. Don't make it hellish for me.
Breakfast was a tomato/cheese/onion frittata with onions and chicken sausage (yuck) with vanilla yogurt (yum) and croissant (dry).
So we finally land. Bob says he only got a couple hours sleep - he prefers QF's skybed and J food. The walk from the gate to customs is long but was appreciated by everyone... seemed to wake us all up. Customs was a breeze, we collect our luggage. I look at my bag tag. LAX? Not LAS? Turns out my bag - only mine - wasn't checked through to LAS. Fixed this up at the Delta service desk, jumped in a taxi and made our way to...
The boys hadn't even heard of this place. Turned out to be a daily staple of the trip. Remember to ask for "animal style" on the burger and fries!
In n Out next to LAX is actually a fantastic place for plane spotting. Not sure which runway it's adjacent to but it's ridiculously active. There was a plane landing every 1-2 minutes.
So we wrapped up our meals and made our way back to T5 for the flight to Vegas. We were a little early so made our way to Delta's Skyclub. Bob's AMEX Centurion and DJ WP card was enough to get all 6 of us into the lounge. It's not the best - food and drink selection very limited - but it was nice to relax for a little and have a chat. DL4642 was called and we made our way down to the gate, but of course the scheduled 3:24PM departure turned to an approximately 4PM departure, the inbound was late (this has happened on all 5 of my trips to Vegas). The way that Delta handles their seat assignments still confuses the hell out of me. Bob, Bob's son and myself were all issued seat numbers, but the others were advised to wait until the "first three letters of their surname and first name initial" appears on the screen. Even as we were boarding we had no idea if the others would make it on this flight. After a little while we were all seated bar one. It appeared everyone had boarded until finally the missing appears, walks a couple of meters and takes the empty F seat next to Bob. Lucky b*****d
Quick 40ish minute flight to LAS, during which I made the obligatory 30,000ft Facebook check-in (Go-go inflight have added a $1.95 option for 15 minutes). I always find the approach into LAS a little unnerving, fierce winds make for some scary sways and dips. The boys loved the poker machines in the airport, such a perfect welcome for Vegas virgins. Headed down to baggage claim, Bob, Bob's son & I collected our luggage. The others waited. And waited. Delta left their luggage in LAX. They gave them all a little kit with pyjamas, Delta shirt and toiletries. They were also told that they will be reimbursed up to $50 for any clothes/items they wanted to buy between now and the time that their luggage arrives in LAS (which was delivered to Encore at around midnight).
We meet up with the limo driver from Wynn and we were soon on our way to Encore. Sinatra playing in the limo, probably not the best for 21-22 year olds but after being up for 30 hours we're not in the mood for Champagne Showers just yet. Nice little details in the limo... Wynn's logo:
Around 15 minutes later we're at Encore. Bob's host greets us at the limo and we head straight into the elevator. Keys have already been cut. Let's check out the main suite first. We all smile as we approach the big black HEAVY double doors. They open...
Oh my. To be continued.
Fast forward to June. Fares ex-SYD were continually hovering at around $2500. Suddenly Virgin announce a USA sale beginning 18th July for around $1390. Perfect. VA1/VA2 too, no flying on int. Delta. Perfect-er. All 5 of us book immediately, with a friend's Dad (let's call him Bob) booking shortly after in J. Bob gets in contact with a host at Wynncore and we're booked into a suite, connecting tower suite room and two other rooms all on the same floor for 19-31st July at Encore. No specific details were given on what kind of suite we had - but with Wynncore being at the top end of properties on the strip, I had a feeling it would be quite special. I was a little worried that 13 days in Vegas would be a little too much. Oh was I wrong.
July 19th. We're all buzzing. I haven't been this excited for a trip in a long, long time. The line for check in was full. Thankfully priority was near empty and all 5 of us, despite me being the only PS in the group, are issued boarding passes in minutes. We were advised that Y is completely full - optimistic me is hoping the next line out of her mouth is "so you've been upgraded" - but no such luck. Apparently VA1 the day before had an extremely light load, something like 80 pax in total. Bob hadn't arrived yet but by the time he did the priority queue was considerably longer.
A little over an hour later we're on VA1. We say our goodbyes to Bob as he turns left and off to 1-something. Y is chockers as expected, not a spare seat. Walking through the plane I notice we're not on the refurbed 777. Skinny/bony me isn't a fan of the padding, especially for 13 hours. We boarded about 10 minutes prior to doors closing so before we know it we're in the air and being served lunch. Choices are butter chicken with rice, beef with mashed potato or some vegetarian option (could've been pasta). I chose the butter chicken.
Was actually very decent. The pasta in the top left I was a huge fan of. Lemon cheesecake I loved too - my friends didn't though so I happily scoffed down another 2.
Entertainment choice on this flight wasn't great. In such a confined space I can't settle in properly and watch a movie, so I'll usually watch TV. There wasn't much variety though. Would love to see them include full seasons of shows, not just a select few.
Around 8 hours into the flight - just when the "whY am I doing this I hate life" thoughts kick in - I see a foot, 36K's foot, work it's way through the gap between my seat and the window and rest it's smelly self on my armrest. I gave it an "accidental" hard hit with my elbow, 36K grunted and I think he got the message. But no, around 20 minutes later it reappears. This continued for another couple hours before I blocked the gap with a pillow. Y is hard for everyone. You're not special. Don't make it hellish for me.
Breakfast was a tomato/cheese/onion frittata with onions and chicken sausage (yuck) with vanilla yogurt (yum) and croissant (dry).
So we finally land. Bob says he only got a couple hours sleep - he prefers QF's skybed and J food. The walk from the gate to customs is long but was appreciated by everyone... seemed to wake us all up. Customs was a breeze, we collect our luggage. I look at my bag tag. LAX? Not LAS? Turns out my bag - only mine - wasn't checked through to LAS. Fixed this up at the Delta service desk, jumped in a taxi and made our way to...
The boys hadn't even heard of this place. Turned out to be a daily staple of the trip. Remember to ask for "animal style" on the burger and fries!
In n Out next to LAX is actually a fantastic place for plane spotting. Not sure which runway it's adjacent to but it's ridiculously active. There was a plane landing every 1-2 minutes.
So we wrapped up our meals and made our way back to T5 for the flight to Vegas. We were a little early so made our way to Delta's Skyclub. Bob's AMEX Centurion and DJ WP card was enough to get all 6 of us into the lounge. It's not the best - food and drink selection very limited - but it was nice to relax for a little and have a chat. DL4642 was called and we made our way down to the gate, but of course the scheduled 3:24PM departure turned to an approximately 4PM departure, the inbound was late (this has happened on all 5 of my trips to Vegas). The way that Delta handles their seat assignments still confuses the hell out of me. Bob, Bob's son and myself were all issued seat numbers, but the others were advised to wait until the "first three letters of their surname and first name initial" appears on the screen. Even as we were boarding we had no idea if the others would make it on this flight. After a little while we were all seated bar one. It appeared everyone had boarded until finally the missing appears, walks a couple of meters and takes the empty F seat next to Bob. Lucky b*****d
Quick 40ish minute flight to LAS, during which I made the obligatory 30,000ft Facebook check-in (Go-go inflight have added a $1.95 option for 15 minutes). I always find the approach into LAS a little unnerving, fierce winds make for some scary sways and dips. The boys loved the poker machines in the airport, such a perfect welcome for Vegas virgins. Headed down to baggage claim, Bob, Bob's son & I collected our luggage. The others waited. And waited. Delta left their luggage in LAX. They gave them all a little kit with pyjamas, Delta shirt and toiletries. They were also told that they will be reimbursed up to $50 for any clothes/items they wanted to buy between now and the time that their luggage arrives in LAS (which was delivered to Encore at around midnight).
We meet up with the limo driver from Wynn and we were soon on our way to Encore. Sinatra playing in the limo, probably not the best for 21-22 year olds but after being up for 30 hours we're not in the mood for Champagne Showers just yet. Nice little details in the limo... Wynn's logo:
Around 15 minutes later we're at Encore. Bob's host greets us at the limo and we head straight into the elevator. Keys have already been cut. Let's check out the main suite first. We all smile as we approach the big black HEAVY double doors. They open...
Oh my. To be continued.
