At 1.30am on Wednesday 9th September I had walked to most parts of Terminal 3 at Heathrow airport, during the Air Traffic Control outage. At 3am I decided to see what was happening at the check-in desks – nothing. There were just so many people sleeping on floors and I even saw a man wrapped in a foil blanket!
At 5.30am they opened the bag drop and Louisa was able to get rid of her suitcase and then it was a bit like groundhog day.
We were in Slim Chickens by 5.50am and this time we both ate. We decided to share 7 chicken tenders (Louisa insisted I have the spare one!) and 2 hash browns, an orange juice for Louisa and a tea for me. After not much sleep for Louisa and none for me, I was so happy to see they had Yorkshire tea! I was less impressed with having to fork out £23 for a fried chicken breakfast but they do have very good tables with booths and it was impressively clean.
Unfortunately, my stomach swelled up and I started to feel ill, that’s when I realised that the chicken is cooked with milk and my 2 lactase tablets had not been enough to stop me having a reaction.
I did some work on my laptop, knowing that we were scheduled to depart at 9.55am so I would not be available for the rest of today. Louisa had a lay down under her Virgin blanket and tried to have a nap.
Our seats on the plane this time were not as good but we were just glad to be going even if it was almost a day later. We were sat in a bulk head row, me in the middle, Louisa on my left in an aisle seat and a big bloke on my right. He also had one of those eye masks which velcros to the seat, the same as Louisa. Because of the time difference between UK and USA we were due to land at 1.10pm but the flight was about 11 hours. We then had exactly 2 hours until our flight departed to Las Vegas and would need to go through immigration, collect Louisa’s suitcase and recheck in, then go through security. We were due to arrive in Las Vegas at 4.30pm.
After 2 hours of being on our way, we got a meal and I quite enjoyed my veggie pasta and cheese and crackers. I didn’t finish the chocolate mousse as it was a bit sickly sweet but Louisa gave me her cheese and I ordered a red wine. It was served in a cold can which was a bit weird but it tasted ok, and didn’t stop me having more. I managed to watch 3 films, including one about Michael Jackson and one with Jason Statham in. I kept nodding off but I didn’t really get much sleep. I was a bit jealous of the eye masks my neighbours had as they barely moved.
When we arrived in Los Angeles it was a bit of a rush and Louisa was concerned if she’d have enough time to collect the suitcase and do what she needed to do. Once at the immigration desks, we agreed for her not to wait for me and to go get her case. I got asked about my return journey, as is normal, but as I’d not booked the flight I didn’t have a return ticket to show on my phone. Eventually the officer let me through and I caught Louisa up who had got her case and was stood waiting for me. We rushed to the check-in desks and dropped the bag, then through security where I had to take my laptop out of my bag.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Louisa walk so fast! We made it to our connection but we were knackered. Due to lack of sleep I had started to get a feeling like sea sickness. Our next flight with Delta was only 1 hour and 15 minutes so there was no refreshments on board and we finally landed in Vegas at 4.30pm. In the UK it was already 12.30am on Thursday and we had set off at 2.30am on Tuesday – I definitely needed a shower and a bed now!
We got a taxi from Harry Reid airport to the Excalibur Hotel & Casino, Louisa paid around $21 and it was a short journey. The hotel room had cost £489 (£163 each) and then there would be resort fees on top of that at $408.16 (about £100 each). Louisa had already paid for the room and I said I’d pay for the resort fees. Briony was bringing dollars to pay her share to both of us. I’d already set up a Facebook group chat and put the amounts in there so we could sort it out once we were able to.
When we arrived at room 243, Briony had already settled in and she was patiently waiting for us to arrive. The room had a fridge, air con and there were 2 Queen beds. Louisa and I had already agreed she could have one bed to herself and I would share with Briony. Louisa and Briony do know each other but it made sense as I’d been good friends with her since the Aviva days.
Briony was hungry as she had been waiting for us to arrive all day. Our friend Jamie, who lives in Vegas, was also on standby to come over once she had the kids in bed. That sleep both Louisa and I were so desperately wanting didn’t happen immediately, despite us having now been on the go for 48 hours.
We had showers and went out in search of food, I cancelled on Jamie until tomorrow morning. Luckily, Briony, who moved form the UK to America about 10 years ago, is a frequent visitor to Vegas so she knew her way about a bit. I was barely functioning at this point and just remember being at an Irish pub which I think was called Nine Fine Irish Men and is located at New York New York. We sat outside and waited to be served but no one came for ages. Eventually we got served and Briony ordered a Clam Chowder, Louisa had a Chicken Burger with fries and I had some chicken wings. The service was slow and the food was ok, Briony enjoyed hers but my chicken wings, although a big portion, had far too much BBQ sauce on and I paid £20 for a starter. Briony walked us to Target so I could buy a bottle of water and a bottle of wine for the room, it was surprisingly good value at £8 but I didn’t have any ID with me so I had to get Briony over to provide her’s at the till. At the ripe old age of 53 it felt very strange to be asked for ID for a bottle of wine. I was so tired that we just went back to the room after and I’m sure Briony was disappointed that we weren’t out out. I was begging for mercy so much and only realised when we got back to the room that the internet didn’t really work. I was meant to have added a USA package to my GiffGaff but had not got round to it and now it was too late as I didn’t have the app.
I finally got in bed and I don’t even think I said goodnight. I didn’t set an alarm for tomorrow as I didn’t even know what time it was.
Gratitude List
1. Having a new flight so we could still get to Vegas
2. Making it to Las Vegas at last and seeing Briony
3. Pillows and a duvet.
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