The Three Amigo's Go West. (Preamble)

[Guest]

Well fellow Dibbers, here we go ! This is the preamble, just to set the mood but NOT the tone as here we only have text whereas when I start my trip report proper I will include plenty of pictures, I promise. (Apart from the one token "intro" picture below.)

The cast: Me, Chris, 45, planner, tour guide and driver.
DW, Lucille, (age changes daily) major financier.
DSD, Tarryn, (age 12 going on 19) Food/Dining expert.
(Not sure if DSD is an official title with the Dibb but
it's short for Step Daughter in my book.)



As we near the end of 2008 and the aforementioned fact that I have 13 days off work, I've finally decided to do a trip report BUT as mentioned previously it is not a Florida trip. Having visited the Land of the Mouse in 2006, this time we thought we'd venture further afield and as it turned out, enjoy the best, most relaxed vacation we've ever had... and that includes our epic far flung journey to the Lake District and Scotland in 2007. Don't ask !

Anyway ! This trip took over a year of detailed planning, all of which I enjoyed, all of which I organised sitting here in front of my PC.

Firstly I worked out a route based on flights in and out of Denver during July/August 08 and was pleased to see a few must see "Events" that were running during our trip, namely Cheyenne Frontier Days and the famous, or perhaps infamous, Sturgis Bike Rally. However, it soon became obvious that you needed to book a room within 200 miles of Sturgis at least 10 years in advance during Bike Week so we had to change the route to accommodate, visiting Sturgis the week before the official "show", a good decision as it turned out.

Firstly...The flights. We wanted to fly direct which initially cut our options to ermmmm one...British Airways, but fortunately during the latter half of 2007, United Airlines announced direct Heathrow to Denver flights also so for several months I kept a very close eye on the flight prices which for ages stuck at around £800.00 each..Spookily, as part of the Star Alliance Group, BMI started to advertise also, selling seats on Uniteds flights and to get seats "shifted", for a few days only, dropped the seat prices to £500 each for everything... so I jumped in and booked 3. Still more than I'd ever paid for a flight across the Atlantic but the continual high prices started to worry me somewhat. Just as well I got them when I did because shortly afterwards, they shot back up to £750 and sold out shortly thereafter...To Denver of all places..Why on earth was Denver so popular ? When booking I made the mistake of phoning through our reservation to the Midlands call centre which is actually in the Mid-lands...of India.

When the confirmation came through they spelt my wifes first name wrong and refused to alter it until they had "listened to the taped recording of my booking to see who made the mistake."

"Trust me" said I, " I know my wifes name and I know how to spell it. I got married to her, saw her name on the marriage certificate, I sleep next to her EVERY night, I know what her name is. The mistake DOES NOT lie with me"...Well despite pointing that out to several telesales guys and lasses and several calls over the space of 3 months, they never did change it on the booking and Lucille travelled to/from the USA this year under the name of LUCILLA.

Was it spotted ?... oooo yeah !

So thats it ! Episode 1 of this exciting adventure will be popping up shortly so please bare with me and keep your eyes peeled.

[JudyC]

Sounds like a trip report with a difference

[budgie6741]

Great pre trip report looking forward to the rest of your vacation

[DIBBadmin]

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