For my 30th Birthday my wife and I decided to spend it in Las Vegas (much like she spent her 30th birthday at Disney World). It was basically a no-brainer choice for us. We wanted to go someplace warm and we wanted to go someplace fun. It turns out the Cubs were playing pre-season ball in Vegas the weekend before my birthday, so that sealed the deal for us.

Margaret and I have traveled a lot, both for business and for pleasure. And I can’t think of a trip that started off worse than this ill-fated vacation. In consideration of everyone’s stress level, I wish to inform you dear reader that everything works out in the end. Hopefully the knowledge of this fact will keep you from fretting throughout your reading of my little tale.

It all started out so innocently. Being concerned (as a good DC resident is) about traffic, we left in plenty of time for the airport. And amazingly enough, the trip from Margaret’s office to IAD was mainly light traffic (it helps to have dedicated Airport Traffic Lanes). That should have been my first warning that something was up.

This is the point where things just start to slide. We were on a US Airways flight operated by America West. So to which location do you go to check in? The answer is: it depends. We chose US Airways, but our flight needed to check in at America West, clear at the other end of the terminal. So we hoof it down there to check in. That’s when we found out that we will not be sitting together. And if that isn’t bad enough, we both have middle seats.

OK. So far, not all that bad. We spend a lot of time together as it is, so 5 hours with 2 people in-between us is tolerable. Even riding in the middle seat isn’t that bad since we both have plenty of things to keep us occupied. And here’s some good news! We arrived 17 minutes early! Woo Hoo! Here’s the bad news. There is another plane at our gate and we need to wait for it to leave before we can de-plane. 60 minutes later we pull up to the gate. I wonder if they get an “on-time-arrival” for that or not?

Ok. Enough airplane fun, let’s get on to the rest of the fun. I’m a Hertz Gold Member, so my name should be in lights when we get there to pick up the car (I signed up for this after wasting too much time waiting to pick up my rental when traveling…). The thing is, there is something wrong with my account, so I still have to wait in line. Bonus: It is Hertz, so they take care of me with no hassle. We got a 2006 Monte Carlo while only paying for an economy car, so who can complain all that much?

The Hotel. No problems getting there. We were staying at the Luxor (the giant pyramid) and were able to see the hotel from the airport, and almost the entire way to the hotel (there is a big light on top of it that we could navigate by). So let’s see if we can figure out where we can park the car. Valet is full (honestly, Valet seemed to always be full at the Luxor), need to find self park. 15 minutes later find it, WAY behind the hotel (after only 2 wrong turns and a couple of good guesses). After figuring out the non-obvious way of actually getting to the second level where there were actually spots, we do finally get the car parked. I run on ahead to get us registered so we can get to bed (it is midnight PST, 3AM EST).

After finding my way through the casino to registration, I am greeted with a line at least 30 people deep. So, being the good person I am, I stand in it. 45 minutes later, I’m at the registration desk and actually talking with someone. The room is pre-paid, so all I need to do is provide some ID and an Credit Card for incidentals. And my wallet is not in my pockets (I left it in the car, though I didn’t know that then). So I had to get Margaret to do all the stuff for me. And it turns out that the Pyramid room we had reserved they are all out of, so we get a tower room. After explaining to the uncaring lady that I paid more for a Pyramid room, she explains that they are actually giving me a better room than I paid for. So at that point I shut my mouth and take my room.

Thus ends the drama of Day 1. There are at least 12 more hours of drama before things starting going our way again, but I’ll talk about them tomorrow.

PS - I did find my wallet in-between the seat and the door in the car before I went to bed.