Just got back this evening, had an absolute WONDERFUL vacay with just JohN and I, and thought I'd do a short report of sorts. Of course, my camera was still 'in the shop' so I only had a real crappy point-and-shoot (Kelsey's starter camera) to take photos with, so PLEASE don't mind the photos!
We left for Seattle on Monday morning around 7am. Said goodbye to the kids, a neighbour would be driving them to school and Uncle Rob would pick them up and stay the week with them. We were driving to Seatac because we get much cheaper flights out of there. This flight only cost us $230 per person, all taxes and fees included, so we got a good deal. We were flying with Alaskan, and our flight was actually not leaving until 1pm, but since we always run into hassles crossing the border, we left with lots of time to spare. Of course, we were waved right through the border with no problems.
We got to Seatac quite early, of course, so I decided to pull an Amazing Race and see if we could change flights to an earlier one. They put us on a standby list for a 10:00 flight, and we raced to the gate, with a quick diversion at the Starbucks. They told us to wait while they boarded everyone first. So we waited, and John passed the time in his own way:
At the last minute they called us, and on the plane we went. Now, if'n you've read the thread about fears of flying, you'll know that I don't like this game. I am not good at flying...I hate it. Every aspect. So we boarded the plane and I tried not to think about it. We got a row of three seats, and I happily noted that we were in an exit row, which meant leg room, leg room, leg room. See all that room between our knees and the seat in front??
and luckily there was no one going to sit with us, so we could have an empty seat between us and stretch out.
I don't usually allow bad photos of me to remain on memory cards, but here is one John took of me as we prepared for take-off. I am not a happy camper at this point of any flight...take offs and landings are the worst.
Okay, so at this time I found out via the announcements that people in these exit rows had certain...obligations. I guess we were supposed to be ready and willing to help others exit the plane in case of any....unforeseen circumstances.
Wellll, I really wasn't about to admit my fear and face giving up my cushy seat, so I agreed when the stewardess asked if we were comfortable with our seats (and the responsibilities therein, I take it..
). Then John was laughing, explaining to me exactly what that meant....I told him bloody hell, if something happened I'd just be following these instructions on the door:
See? it just says basically to open the door and get the hell out.
So after take off I relaxed a bit. After I read the safety pamphlet thoroughly and acquainted myself with the location of all my safety equipment, I decided I should do like Heather said and order a ginger-ale, just in case. Then, thinking of heather, I started to look around the plane at all my fellow passengers, taking a karma-inventory...everyone looked pretty good, so I settled in a bit.
I took some photos over Washington, I recognize one of these mountains as Mount St. Helens as you can see the big crater in the top, the other might be Mount Rainier??
I also took a photo of the wing, I was worried with how it was shaking and thought of alerting the stewardess.
After about 2 hours we finally saw Vegas below us:
This is where it got really hairy!
It was freaking gale-force winds in Vegas that day...so you can imagine how the plane was. THEN, they have to sort of fly past the airport and spin around and come back, hanging this horrible quick turn where the plane turns almost sideways while shaking up and down from the high winds. I almost peed my pants!! If you have ever felt the verge of panic then you know how I felt...it felt like I had one, thin thread of sane-ness hanging on, and I could feel that I could blow into full-fledged bawling and screaming at any moment. Not a good feeling! Over reacting for sure...but not good the same. Well, we landed on what felt like ONE WHEEL, then thumped down hard. Yikes. Definately the WORST landing I have ever experienced.
We got off the plane and it took awhile before I could really settle down and relax.
We grabbed our luggage and headed out and grabbed a shuttle to our hotel. We were the second stop, which was great.
The Monte Carlo was a very nice hotel. It was very big. Check in was a breeze, and we were happy to get a room that didn't face all the construction next door.
We got changed and decided to head down, have a bite to eat, and go for a walk up the strip and pick up our Cirque tickets we had already paid for. It was about 5pm at this time. We ate at the Japanese rest. in our hotel, and the food was excellent. Then we headed up the strip, taking various photos on the way.
The fountain outside Ceasar's palace:
The Paris:
The Venetian (I didn't like this place, more on that later)
We stopped for a couple of drinks at the outside bar at Ceasar's palace, and we finally relaxed and enjoyed a few minutes of time to ourselves, without kids!! See how happy John is not to hear any pre-teen complaining?
John took a photo of me outside the Bellagio. Those are my nice new sunglasses that would be pick-pocketed from me during the T.I. show in a few hours...
We went into Treasure Island to get our Cirque tickets, but John left his credit card in the room and we needed it to confirm our order. So we went to have a drink at Kahunaville instead. We ordered two rum and cokes, and agreed to the waitress suggestion of souvenier glasses. The glasses were nice, but the bill wasn't! $32.00 for two rum and cokes...John almost had a heart attack when he saw the bill
Our waitress was really nice, and insisted in taking our photo which didn't turn out well at all as I was squinting...
then she took a self-portrait of herself:
We decided not to order two more (hah!
) and went out to catch the pirate show....as we waited in the crowd for it to start, I felt a tug at my pocket and reached down to find my sunglasses gone! I looked around, didn't see who could have done it. Buggers! Oh well, they weren't too expensive, but I DID really like them.
The show was canceled because of the wind, so we just walked back to the hotel, stopping along the way here and there for a drink. Back at the hotel we called it a night pretty early (11pm) as it was a long travel day.