Vegas & Phoenix 2013 Day 1

[daytonababe]

I woke around 6am, i hadn't had the best of nights sleep, DS took a while to drop off and then managed to bang his hard resulting in tears in the night ... The other two seemed to have slept ok though.

I paid for the buffet breakfast in the hotel cost £17 for the 4 of us and was really nice, a good selection of fruit, cereal and hot items and so much cheaper than eating in the airport.

Back to room to pick up the hand luggage and then took the car to Copthorne car park, and got the shuttle over to the airport. Straight through security and had a wander around the shops,just bought the usual drinks and magazine's for the flight (i never find duty free to be that cheap!).

Had a wander down to the boarding gate to find it pretty busy which was a shock as we had been told the flight was pretty empty (it wasn't, over 300 passengers onboard).

We boarded almost last as we were sat in row 33 , 4 seats across the middle of the plane.
Flight was ok , the 4 people infront of us reclined as soon as they could and stayed that way the entire flight even when meals were served,which was somewhat annoying.
Several stag parties onboard, most were fine ,but one group of Asians were stood near the toilets,drinking,laughing and using some pretty colourful language and were very loud. It was a total pain tbh but the crew did nothing until about 2 hrs from landing.

Food was ok , i had the chicken in leek sauce, later on we were served a cheese pasty type thing ,or you could have a sausage roll, then not long before landing sandwiches and a little cupcake.

We did like the refurbed planes,seats are much nicer and the IFE so much better. Chloe and i amused ourselves for hours using the IFE to send messages to each other .

Flight landed at 2.25pm,immigration was a total nightmare just not enough desks open resulting in huge queue's ,not what you need after such a long flight. However our immigration was pleasant and laughing and joking with the kids.
Collected our luggage which was probably dizzy due to the amount of times it had gone round the belt , and exited the airport and went over to wait for the shuttle bus to the car hire depot.

Shuttle arrived and we were there within minutes. Went over to the Dollar desk (we are Dollar Express members but the last twice we've used it we've still ended up going back to the desk to sort issues out) ,a few people infront of us but again hardly any desks open.

Eventually our turn , no hard sell at all , paid $78 for the tank of fuel in cash and wasn't even asked to leave a credit/debit card imprint. Went over to the car garage and told to pick any SUV in a certain row.

There were a few older shaped Ford Escapes which i hate ,2 new shaped Escapes but horrible colours (mint green) and 2 Chevy Capitiva's ,one basic model in Marroon (yuck) and a brand new white one with all leather interior etc..So we choose that.

On the strip within about 5 mins , and drove to Planet Hollywood,because we had all the luggage we decided use valet parking.
Went over to checkin and only had to queue for a few minutes , allocated room 2024 i did enquire about a strip view room but we would have had to pay and i knew we wouldn't be in the room much.. as it were we loved our room and still had a decent view.

We were all pretty hungry by now,so a quick change and headed out onto the strip.. Kids wanted to go to Denny's so off we went, as always a decent meal that only cost $45 .
They also wanted to visit Ross Dress for Less ,so off we went, 30 mins later and we left with a pair of DC trainers for Connor $19.99 and Roxy Flip flops for Chloe $8 , walked back to Planet Hollywood and in bed for 9pm , kids and DH went off straight away but it took me awhile so i played on my ipad.

[daytonababe]

[Pussycat Doll]

Great day, love the view from the window, I have the same photo but backwards (IYSWIM), from Tower 2 of the Signature looking at Planet Hollywood! Pussycat

[daytonababe]

Yeah i know what you mean.. like the mirror image :-)

[happytraveller]

Lovely room! Is a Captiva a similar size to a traverse? Also this car choosing-does it all run smoothly, I've got images of duels at noon,if two people run to the same car ,lol

[daytonababe]

Originally Posted by happytraveller

Lovely room! Is a Captiva a similar size to a traverse? Also this car choosing-does it all run smoothly, I've got images of duels at noon,if two people run to the same car ,lol

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Its smaller than the Traverse but nicer looking.. i don't like these crossover vehicles like the Traverse (i'm a total nightmare when it comes to choosing cars though) . It was lovely to drive and good on petrol.

Every other year there's been no-one else chooses cars at the same time, the car hire depots are much quieter than the Orlando ones,most people don't hire cars in Vegas.

But this year one man was looking at the same time as us.. he was actually in the white one.. got out and walked away to the marroon one.. He asked if we were looking for a car (dur why else would i be there lol) and i said yes , he then wandered off so we grabbed the white one.. he then came back walked up and down the line and then went over to the kiosk so i assume he couldn't find anything he liked.

[happytraveller]

Thanks-for some reason I got a traverse last year-I booked int Suv. I'd like something smaller this year Lol about asking if your looking for a car-in the garage

[abiknox]

Great start! Shame about the annoyances on the plane, that would drive me crazy!

Looking forward to reading the rest!

[KarenG]

Great start

Room looks really nice - I like the theme a lot.

[daytonababe]

Originally Posted by abiknox

Great start! Shame about the annoyances on the plane, that would drive me crazy!

Looking forward to reading the rest!

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It did me... going to the loo was a nightmare having to ask them to move.. or rather wait for them to hear you ask them to move. Definitely drink played a part in their behaviour.

Originally Posted by KarenG

Great start

Room looks really nice - I like the theme a lot.

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Lovely room,i hope a similiar deal comes up for next year :-)