Up at 6:30 am, my sister Karen drove me to the Seattle Airport by 8:30 am, for my morning flight to Long Beach, then Las Vegas.
Every time I pack up again for a new place, that feeling of "did I forget something" will run through my brain. Today, there was a little something... Entering security, take off jacket, check, shoes off, check, laptop out, check, toiletries out, check. Then they stop my purse while it's in the machine. Oh no, I didn't pour the water out of my water bottle.... D'oh! Carry empty water bottle, and fill it up at a drinking fountain after security. But don't carry water through security.
She asked if I wanted to go back before security and drink it, but leaving my belongings there while I go back through to drink the water didn't seem like a good idea. So she found someone to empty the plastic bottle, sent it back through the machine, and all was well. It only cost me a few minutes, but it's the little things that can hold you up.
We left Seattle, where it was slightly overcast but dry, and arrived in Long Beach, California, where it as raining. That seemed backwards, but oh well. Everything appeared to be on schedule, so I called my friend Kathy in Las Vegas to coordinate our evening. She got us tickets to a show tonight in Vegas at 7 pm. My flight was scheduled to arrive at 4 pm, so it seemed like that wouldn't be a problem.
Until of course, we boarded the plane for the 50 minute flight... and sat on the runway for an hour. The pilot said it was a delay in Las Vegas, but still not sure why we sat there. I panicked a bit about timing, and Kathy and I developed a few Plan B's, in case I didn't get to Vegas in time.
photos: rainy in Long Beach, sunny arriving in Las Vegas
We left an hour late, arriving in Las Vegas by 5 pm. Caught the shuttle to the terminal, found baggage claim, and caught car rental shuttle to rental place. This process always seems to take a bit more time than you plan on. By the time I got my car and was heading out to Las Vegas Blvd, I was a little stressed about the time, and managed to make one wrong turn as I left the airport. Quickly turning around, while at a stoplight my phone rang. Kathy was at the box office, and managed to swap our 7 pm show tickets for 9 pm show tickets. Oh good, no more rushing around, I can breathe, we had time to spare! Whew!
Arriving at the Orleans Hotel, which is off the strip on Tropicana Ave., I drove around, trying to figure out where to check in, found it, got my room key, drove around to the parking garage and parked. Then I had to figure out how to get from the garage to the Hotel Room elevators (you have to walk through the Casino, of course!) But that all takes time as well, so I was very happy that we had a 9 pm showtime instead of 7 pm, because I'm not sure I would have made that!
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