Surviving the Lights of Vegas - Part 4

If you've read up to this point in our trip to Sin City, you've read about some crazy adventures, drinking and casino hopping, and eating way too much food. I've also collected the least hideous photos for perusal here at this link, but I can safely say that the adventures weren't quite finished...

Tuesday, December 23rd - There wasn't a whole lot to do except get up, finish our packing, and check out of our room. I had been glued to the television trying to find any word about travel conditions and any impending storms into Portland. But the channels were focusing on issues back East and in the Midwest, so I had to glean information from the pictures as best I could. It looked like snow was coming to Portland, but later that night, so as long as we got into town, it appeared OK. Girl was packing her toiletries, while I organized my money pouch and got my bag finally packed. I had some souvenir beer glasses that I wanted to preserve, so I wanted to pack them safely. As I was making some adjustments to my bag, I heard CNN flash to something about Portland, and it was Kyle Iboshi's face from the airport. Yes, KGW was getting some love, and he mentioned the conditions. Planes were getting in and out, things had been cancelled for a few days, but they were resuming operations and trying to get everyone out of town and get planes in as best they could. It was the best news I'd heard all morning, and so I packed my bags and we finally headed downstairs to check out.

MGM Grand does a great job, and the check out process was extremely quick and efficient. While they couldn't help me with our noise issue, they were sympathetic about it. And for every person checking out, there were dozens trying to check in early. I feel bad for the housekeeping group here, especially after hearing about an incident on our floor where an employee walked into a room to clean it and someone was in there that shouldn't be. We tipped our staff pretty well, even if they had this unnatural obsession of putting this tray on our bed to remind us about room service. Just what I want, a $25 hamburger and $15 bag of chips delivered.

Our shuttle was on time, and since it was prepaid, it was a matter of walking to the bay, putting our bags in back, then riding to the airport. You can actually see McCarren Airport from MGM, but the ride takes about 20 minutes with lights and traffic. We had decided to skip breakfast at the casino, instead eating at the airport. Our flight was a 3:30 departure, so we figured there would be plenty of time to eat. We were dropped off at Alaska gates, we checked in rather quickly, breezed through security, and then took the tram to our gate. This was coming along rather smoothly. Girl and I then wandered around, trying to find our lunch of choice, and after seeing all the options available, we chose Chili's to go. It was certainly good stuff, and after being filled up, we sat at the gates waiting to board. There was also a little bit of gambling at the slot machines, and I hit a rather small jackpot of $20.00 for my trouble. Not bad, but not the big money I was hoping for. Once I sat back at the gate, I got a call from my friend Wade saying the conditions were thawing a bit, but he expected us back earlier. I said nope, we were staying until Tuesday, and just getting ready to leave. And with that, the official announcement came to board our plane.

We got on rather quickly, and everyone settled in for the flight back. Our pilot made an announcement about a possible issue in the cockpit that they needed some time to check on, so said we would sit for about 30 minutes while they checked it out. No big thing, we're on the plane, it's just a short delay. After 30 minutes, they found the problem was with a window in the cockpit getting too warm, and they think they know how to fix it, but they need another 45 minutes to fix it, so we need to deboard while we run some more tests. So much for getting out on time, but hey, we're safe and we'll get out soon. The hour came and then an announcement that changed everything, as they said, we can't fix the issue with this plane, but one is coming from Portland that will be here at 7:30 PM, so we'll board you then and we'll be heading towards Portland. Ok, so maybe it's not that bad. Except for now, it's about 5:30 or so, and things are closing at the airport already. We finally wander up front to a California Pizza Kitchen, and settle in for some food and drink. I still had confidence we were leaving that night, it was just going to be an adventure getting out of town.

As I ate my pizza and Girl and her mom ate their pasta, I recall the moment when I got the text message from Alaska. I had set this up before I left to alert us to any issues or delays with our flight, and I was hoping it would never be used. When I got the text, saw it was from Alaska, and read the word "Cancelled", I uttered an obscenity, and then watched as at least 10 other people in the restaurant were looking at their phones getting the same news. Misery loves company, but in this case, I was really wondering what happened between we are leaving late and we aren't leaving today.

We paid for our meal, and wandered back to our gate to see a long line of folks waiting to talk to 2 people. The guy announced that you could also go downstairs to talk with someone, but in us following that plan, we ended up all the way back at the main terminal. Once we got in line for Alaska, I was trying not to go ballistic. I just wanted to get home, but no one would tell us anything. When I finally got to the front and was talking with the woman behind the counter, I said "We're on the flight to Portland that has been mysteriously cancelled.." It was at that point that she explained that the plane expected to arrive that night wasn't coming but they had a special flight planned for us in the morning at 9 AM. She booked all three of us on that flight, and then asked how many rooms we needed. I said, "Huh?" She indicated that because the delay was mechanical, Alaska was paying for us to stay that night at the Hampton Inn on Tropicana. We could catch a shuttle to the hotel, stay the night, and then come back in the morning. Realizing that it was probably best to leave, get some sleep and shower, and come back was the best plan, we left to collect our bags.

The bag collection was hard enough to find, but then finding the place where hotel shuttles were at was even more difficult, as it was below ground a couple of floors. I had even called the hotel to ask where it was, and got some decent directions, but once we found it, we saw that there was a lot of us waiting for the same shuttle. It was now well past 8 PM, and all I wanted to do was get out of the cold and just relax. Nearing 9 PM, the shuttle finally arrived, but it was a madhouse as the courtesy of the queue got thrown out the window as people crammed on to find a spot. I decided to try and help with the luggage a bit, and once there was no spot for me to sit, I took my seat in back on some luggage with another guy. Girl had gotten a standing spot in the row, while Mom found a seat of sorts, as it was packed to the hilt inside. The ride was fast and furious, and we drove past some of the sights we saw on our shuttle earlier in the day. The Hampton was a bit off the strip, but at least there was a Jack in the Box close by.

Apparently, the staff was hoping for a quiet night, but it was anything but as there were about 30 people checking in all from our cancelled flight. And the clerks treated everyone professionally, checking everyone in, taking information as needed, and explaining how things would work in the morning getting back to the airport. The Hampton had some slot machines there and a smallish bar in back, but most folks went straight to their rooms. Some decided to head to the strip to party one more night, while girl and I found our room and decided to chill for a bit. It wasn't a bad sized room, and the cable package included HBO and Cartoon Network, so we had something to watch finally. I wandered up front to get a few snacks later on, and the front desk gave me a big pile of food for $4. I felt bad for the staff at the Hampton because it appeared they didn't know what was going on, and they were scrambling to get people to drive and take care of this issue, and they were doing what they could to help. And with it being Christmas time, everyone just wanted to get home.

We ended up watching some bad HBO TV showing sex advice from a porn star, and then watched Adult Swin until almost 2 AM. Yeah, we probably didn't get much sleep, but knowing that we wanted to catch the 6:30 AM shuttle, it was hard to really lie down and relax.

Wednesday, December 24th (Christmas Eve) - It didn't take much to wake us up, as we were ready to go early. We hadn't unpacked much, and I decided to wear the same clothes as the previous day, so getting ready was a quick process. We left our room right after 6 AM, which was the first shuttle in the morning. Mom had been there to see the chaos in the morning, where there were more people than seats, and so some taxis had been called in to help. We decided to eat again at the airport, so once we got outside, it was wait for the shuttle or catch a cab and pay for it to get us there. A SUV looking cab showed up, and so the three of us were put in a cab with another nice gentlemen I saw the previous night at dinner. He was trying to get home as well, so the camaraderie amongst us was pretty strong. We wanted to get to Portland, no matter what.

The cab pulled up, and we said we had 4 and didn't mind getting close. Our cabbie was laughing and said I'll try but can't promise anything. We got all the bags and people in barely, and soon we were off to the airport again. But our cabbie decided to turn the ride into a one man comedy show, talking about what SLUT meant and telling Scottish jokes. It was crazy fun, although our fourth person seemed a bit uncomfortable about all the sex talk. It was a good time, and we even got some Life Savers for our trouble, which was a nice touch. We gave him a big tip, and Mom even got a big hug from the cabbie. We made his day apparently, but honestly, he gave us a laugh and hope that we were getting back home.

We made it to the Alaska counter to check in for our flight, now labeled the "mystery flight" by us as girl and I said "We're here to check into your mystery flight." It didn't have a flight number, it wasn't on the boards, but we were told a plane was here to take us to Portland. We were assured that yes, there was a plane, and we would be able to get out of here. Portland's weather was holding steady, so planes were coming and going, but they expected a big storm on Christmas Eve, so it had become a race to get there before things got worse.

Security the second time was actually even easier than the first run through, but with girl and I flying so much, you get used to the questions you'll be asked and the drills you need to do. I'm used to pulling my shoes off, even if I don't need to, and packing things so that TSA can see what's in my bag. We got through security in time to catch our tram to the gate, ironically the same gate as yesterday, and by 7:15 AM, we were back where it all started.

One of our adventures last night was watching a gal sell a credit card to get air miles, and she was quite chatty and loud yesterday. Another gentleman had taken over the kiosk, who took a more stealth approach to getting applications. Girl and I both agreed that this job of getting applications could possibly be the worst job ever, but at least this guy was having fun, and chatting with various folks trying to catch planes. Many of the people we saw last night were arriving in waves, probably from either waiting for the shuttle or catching cabs, but the faces were familiar. We decided on some Starbucks for breakfast, getting us caffeinated and ready to deal with the day. Our flight was scheduled for 9 AM, although we now saw that there was a flight up to Seattle due out around 9:30 AM, so it was going to be a quick boarding.

As we settled near the gate, we heard an announcement that our flight had a number finally, but that the paperwork was still being completed so things might be delayed. Hey, at least there's a plane here for us to use, so a short delay isn't terrible. However, our flight and the flight to Seattle were using the same gate, so then they announced a change to the Seattle flight to the gate next to us. This still didn't prevent many people from getting in the wrong line to catch a flight. I was also impressed with how many people decided to wedge up front as close as they could to ensure that they could see what was going on while restricting the flow of people. But, their flight finally started boarding when another announcement came on that said TSA was doing extra security checks for our flight, so some people may be picked from the line to go through additional screening. Of course, pick a cancelled flight with people already on edge to then keep in town just a bit longer. Nice work.

But soon, we were boarding, and it was the same crew from yesterday, and apparently it was the same plane as they were able to fix the problem during the night. We got on board only an hour behind, but the collective cheer when we started to taxi from the terminal was great to cheer. This was only met in loudness by the cheer as we got off the ground, and as we landed in Portland about 12:30 pm that day. I've never been so happy to be back in Portland, but we were finally able to see the true effects of the cold and snow, as the entire town was covered. Roads were pure white, and you didn't see much traffic around at all. It took our plane almost a half an hour to taxi to the terminal, which was met with some amusement by some passengers who tried to use the bathroom while the plane was moving. Apparently, the crew didn't find it nearly as funny. We also had a medical emergency on board, as paramedics met our plane to escort someone off. I overheard that she was one of the party girls from the previous night, and apparently the hungover feeling didn't merge well with flying. But she was whisked off the plane, and soon, we were all moving to get off the plane as well.

The snow on the roof of the airport appeared to be about 10 inches, and the coldness in the air was felt all over the lobby, but I was still happy to be home. We saw many people trying to start their journey to somewhere or wanting to pick up their loved ones, everyone sitting with nervous anticipation of either leaving or somebody arriving. We finally picked up our bags from the claim area, and wandered off to wait for our shuttle home. The driver wasn't too terribly late, although it did take us a moment to find the right bay to pick up our transportation. Our driver took us and another gal that lived near here, and we packed up ready to go. The snow on the ground was melting a bit, but we saw another shuttle driver showing the evidence of falling early by his dirty shirt, and our own driver showing us the two previous pairs of boots that were soaked by being out driving around.

The ride home took forever, as the road was plowed up until Airport Way meets 205, and then it was packed snow all the way to our house. I was worried a bit about the hills near us, but our shuttle driver got us through no problem, even though she chatted non stop the whole drive, and missed our turn at least a couple of times. Apparently, she felt the need to share with us her entire life story, whether we cared to hear it or not. I felt like I was listening to a Lifetime movie, but I couldn't turn the channel.

We finally got home, about 18 hours and an unexpected hotel stay later. The cats were happy to see us, even if initially they shied away from those strangers. Soon, we couldn't move without them being near us. Our car was also buried under a foot of snow, so even if I wanted to leave the house, it wasn't happening anytime soon. But we were home, and while I enjoyed the lights of Vegas, I was glad to be back in the Rose City.

I've traveled enough during the holidays to know that things happen, and you have to just go with the flow. I would have liked to been more prepared here for the weather, have all my gifts purchased ahead of time, and be able to have the Christmas we all expect to have with our family. But each experience is what you make it, and what I found by this trip is that I love to travel and I've found a companion that loves to see new things as much as I do. And I'm lucky to have someone so complimentary in personality. I just need to remember to talk every now and again...

So that's my holiday story. Things have mellowed out a bit here, as we finally celebrated with girl's dad on New Years Day, spend new years eve here with a small gathering, and I celebrated my birthday last Friday. I'm looking forward to the antics of 2009, and you can read more about them here. Just keep the safety belt fastened, as it could be a bumpy ride...

Surviving the Lights of Vegas - Part 3

When we last left you, girl and I were starting a drinking adventure in Las Vegas. On a Sunday night at 8 pm. I remember the time well because we saw the Simpsons start up on the telly and it was this year's Treehouse of Horror episode, where Homer tries to vote for Obama.

Sunday, December 21st continued - We left our room with our yard drinking glasses in tow, and immediately headed to Fat Tuesday in the lower level of MGM Grand. It's a bar, but really, there's only a couple of seats there and it's a place where they have pre-made frozen alcohol drinks. Girl got one flavor with an extra shot, while I got the mojito. And so the drinking began.

We set our goal to hit as many casinos as we could that night, staying up at late as we could. So, it was first off to New York, New York, which again is a great looking casino from the outside, with large buildings resembling New York. Inside, however, it's kind of bland. We hit the casino floor and headed over to Nine Fine Irishmen, a pub that was recommended to us by some friends. However, the pub was closed for renovations, so we just wandered about and really didn't stay very long. The walkway connected from New York, New York to Excalibur, so we wandered there.

And it was crazy loud, with a band playing there, and people everywhere. We ended up finding a couple of slot machines called England, which displayed all sorts of English symbols, and I did Ok for a bit. Well, enough that we had money to refill our yard of drink at Dick's Last Resort there. We gambled for a bit, but then wandered down to the kid's area, where they have skee ball, other arcade games, and it was crazy fun there. Too bad most of the quarter machines were busted, because I wanted to get change and play some games, but overall, it had an energy and it wasn't too obnoxious with kids. Ok, by the time we left there, it was after 11pm and kids were still up, so perhaps that was the only thing wrong.

We then wandered to the Luxor, and gambled a bit more on the Cops and Donuts machines for a couple of hours, drinking our yard of drink and generally having fun. I was doing Ok, but girl kept hitting the bonuses, so she was racking up cash like crazy. We kept drinking, and wandered around the Luxor, which seemed to have a good size crowd about, and so about 1 AM, we decided to wander to Mandalay Bay. It's a nice casino from the outside, but on this night, it was freaking dead. There was a tram running from Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay, and after a few minutes in Mandalay Bay, we left because it was boring. We took the tram back to Excalibur, and had our yard drinks filled for the third time. Thankfully, the bartender remembered us so it was an easy transaction, and besides, once you buy the glass from anywhere, it's only between $9 to $11 to refill each time, so it's a great way to get drunk. The band was also playing the song "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by the Madness, and so we all had to sing along. At the top of our lungs. I can say that Dick's Last Resort sounds like a blast to visit, but they advertise that they have good food but surly service, and it's part of the appeal. At least on the drinking side, there was a lot to be happy with.

We left Excalibur and decided to head north towards other casinos. We walked for a bit, and stopped by the Planet Hollywood Casino, which is now where the Alladin used to be. It's a fancy, upscale casino, and the music made it sound like a dance club. We gambled for a bit there, sipping on our drinks. I found it interesting we didnt' get offered any free drinks all night because we had the big cups. Apparently, they didn't want to get us completely drunk, but not to be offered was interesting. Anyway, we decided to continue north and stopped inside Paris to see it. Paris is one of my favorite casinos, with the Eiffel Tower Experience there, but for the night, we used the loo and wandered around to see what was up. Not seeing a whole lot, we continued on to the Bellagio, which was actually a bit busy for a Sunday night. The card tables were all filled, and people were partying like crazy. However, after our experience with trying to find someone to cash out a machine, we didn't stay very long, instead wandering up to Ceasar's Palace. By this time, it was just after 2 AM, and so we wandered to see the shops, see if there were any machines to play, and the like. We did stop and rest for a bit at the sports book area, which was completely closed at this point, and we walked by some college kids who had a huge drinking glass full of alcohol. He commented that we should have gotten the bigger glass, but I don't think he had been through his three times in a night like we had.

The clock had finally hit 3:30 AM and so we decided to wander back towards MGM because we were getting hungry from all the walking and drinking. It was rather chilly outside, but we walked briskly to get back to our hotel. And since it was late, there were no vendors our pushing their services or wares, so the walk didn't take very long at all. We got in about 4 AM, and went to the Studio Cafe and asked for a table for 2. We got a pager and an explanation we should be seated within 10 minutes. By the time we had wandered away, the pager went off and our wait person sheepishly said, we had something immediately available so sorry we sent you walking.

Girl and I both ordered huge burgers, and we split some chicken tenders. The tenders weren't oily at all, and very well cooked, while the burgers were simply tasty. We didn't even eat many of our fries, we were so full from the food and drink. By the time our meal was done, it was 4:45 AM and we had made it through most of the night. And by the tally, I had only lost about $40 in the machines, had three yards of drink, and a big meal at the end. Not bad at all, and we knew that we still had a day in Vegas, and then were heading home on Tuesday. As we nodded off to sleep with the sounds of casino machines dinging in our heads, I can't help but think this is the Vegas experience we had really wanted, but had to build up to. Ok, we weren't getting up anytime early on Monday, but we partied hard and for a long time, and that's what counted.

Monday, December 22nd - Well, we did make it up around noon, a bit hung over, but happy for making it as long as we did partying. Ok, the kids did wake us up again at 8 Am, waiting to go to breakfast, but we soon turned over and slept more. We had warned girl's mom we were partying like crazy people, so she didn't expect us for food in the Am at all. We got up and about around 1 pm, showered, and left the room at about 3 pm. Not a terrible departure time after being up all night, but it was the last full day there, and we still had some things to do and see. I had forgotten to secure playing cards for my friend Wade while at the Bellagio, so I needed to go there after getting some food.

We discussed food options, and decided to eat at the Rainforest Cafe there at the hotel. The food there is usually really good, and the whole eco theme is a good touch. We did get asked about joining their club to save money on meals, but since the closest location to us here is at that place up north that we don't speak of, there was no way we were buying the membership. Our waiter was very nice and chatty, and we had a really, really good meal. Complete with a birthday song for another diner, a few thunderstorms, a little rain, and then girl and I with our picture with a large monkey. Not bad, indeed. We paid for our meal, and then I left to go find the playing cards while the girls shopped a bit at the cafe.

Monday night was seriously cold, as I walked along the Strip, freezing my butt off. The wind was absolutely biting, but I was determined to walk and get my errand run. Bellagio is a nice casino, but it took me forever to find the gift shop and when I finally did, they didn't have cards from their casino. Interesting, but at least I found a few, purchased them, and then decided to take a cab back to MGM. It was only $6, and didn't take long at all. Once I got back to the room, girl and I fussed with our luggage a bit to get everything all back into bags, knowing that the shuttle was arriving for us at 11:30 AM tomorrow. I was planning on doing the desk checkout, mostly to review our bill and mention the loud kid issue. Once we got our bags dealt with, we headed down for some more gambling and a late night snack.

I'd never had Nathan's hot dogs before, but for $4.95, I'd expect a cheese hot dog to have a bit more than just a small weiner and cheese. I will recommend Nathan's cheesesteak, because it was a great value and very tasty. After eating, it was off to play Lucky Lemmings, which went on until about midnight when I finally cashed out $25 ahead, and it was up to get some sleep before heading home. We'd spoken with girl's brother about the conditions in Portland, but we still hadn't really seen any pictures or had any descriptions about what was going on. Needless to say, we were in for another adventure in getting home, but it's probably not exactly what you might expect to happen.

Next Time - Final Day in Vegas, well, Ok, final two days in Vegas, Huh? And, wow, there is a lot of snow around here.

Surviving the Lights of Vegas - Part 2

In our last thrilling episode, we continued our obsession with snow in Portland, which led us to venture down south toward Las Vegas, the land of cheap buffets and slot machines everywhere. We had come up with the idea back in August, which seemed like a great thought, but after knowing what weather was here, well, we got on the plane anyway. We now continue with our regularly scheduled blog entry.

Friday, December 19th - The plane ride was rather uneventful during the first three quarters, as it was filling up with snacks, reading airline magazines full of products and services that I would imagine nobody needs, but somehow they can advertise for them. Sky Mall is one huge magazine of crap that nobody needs, but somebody thought would be a good idea to create. Alaska had also changed their beverage service to Jones brand, as they indicated they wanted a more "natural" soda. It's not bad, actually, and now I'm seeing it everywhere as they just became the soda vendor at the Rose Garden here.

As we start to descend to Las Vegas, we had heard that Vegas had issues with snow and ice there, but the airport was open so we weren't concerned. Until we turned around over the city, and saw the entire town covered in a white glimmer of snow. Normally, the glitz comes from the neon, but in this case, Sin City was officially Snow City, and it didn't look quite right. I suppose our packing plan of having some winter and some warmer clothes was a good idea.

After picking up our bags, we found the MGM Grand check in desk, which was right at the airport. Yes, we were able to check into our room about 10 feet from baggage claim. Ok, you can play slots while picking up your bag at points, so I'm not surprised here except that why don't more hotels do this? We got our rooms, caught our shuttle to the hotel, and within a half an hour, we were looking at the chilly Strip. Only 37 degrees at 5 Pm. Maybe we didn't get far enough from the cold.

Girl and I found our room, and just chilled for a bit inside the room, getting to know the room specifics. The rooms all have an electronic safe, so I got to figure out a combination to look up our valuables, and any monies we might win while there. Well, it's the thought anyway, but soon after this, we are in search of food. We find the MGM Grand Buffet, and so decide to give it a try. And let's just say that when they call it a Grand Buffet, they aren't kidding. It was amazingly huge, and it had so many different food options. After powering through food from two different trips, we settle down to gamble a bit with some margaritas. It doesn't take too many losses and the effect of the booze to put us up to our room, although it certainly seemed like we were there for a while. But since there's no clocks on the casino floor, you can lose track of space and time. I'd also spent some time in the sports book area, placing bets on my beloved Trail Blazers and West Ham to do well in their respective leagues, although the odds certainly weren't what I expected. The Trail Blazers to win the NBA at 8 to 1 odds?

Well, if we get to bed around midnight, we'll be ready to go the next morning.

Saturday, December 20th - We had thought this time of year, things would be mellow around Vegas, or as mellow as this place gets. We couldn't have been more wrong, as the annual Las Vegas bowl game was happening here later that night. Arizona, who hadn't been to a bowl since Clinton was in office, was facing BYU. It seemed odd that BYU would want to be here, but the fact that Donny and Marie were playing at the Flamingo meant there was something for them to do here. Plus, they'd been here the 3 previous years, so apparently there must be something here for them. We'd encountered some of their fans the previous night, but we were serenaded early Saturday morning to some of them running about, banging doors about in the hotel. I love people...

We end up waking up a bit late after dealing with the traveling stress and being woken up early, so we don't get out of the room until about noon. That's normal around here, but probably not the going to bed early thing from the previous night. Well, hey, it's vacation and we'll do what we want. We decided to head to the Luxor for their buffet that afternoon, and so we walk from MGM to New York, New York then Excalibur. I have to say that New York, New York is an impressive casino from the outside, but inside, it looks a lot like any other casino. Excalibur looked very old school casino inside, and it was by far the most packed during the afternoon. And the Luxor has the cool vibe to it, and yes, they advertise the cheapest and best buffet, and they weren't kidding. Since it was Saturday, they served champagne brunch, and so girl and her mom didn't disappoint in drinking a bit. I felt a bit parched, so I stuck with water until later. But again, massive eating was abound. We took our time walking back, playing a few machines here and there, and we found a bar that had frosty big drinks for sale, so we drank a bit on our way back. Ok, we drank a lot, and tried to take in a few sights. As we got back to MGM, girl's shoes were giving her trouble, so we sat and watched the action at Lion Country Safari for a bit.

The lion habitat at MGM seems rather cruel, as you have lions under glass, but apparently they stay there only 10 hours per week, and they stay with the same pride and handlers, so they build a relationship with everyone. And while they look rather large and menacing, they basically acted like big cats during dinner time, playing with their food and water, and getting praise from the helpers. It was interesting to note the similarities between our cats during feeding time and the lions, although our cats won't snap your arm in half with their bite. Well, that I know of. We ventured up to our room, and didn't intend on napping, but we soon found ourselves down for a couple of hours, waking up in time to watch the end of the bowl game and Arizona's victory. Thinking that things might get a little insane later that night, we head to the food court to get some pizza and drinks later, and then head into our room for another early night. Well, we did gamble a little bit, but again, we were in our room before midnight. Hmmmmm, maybe there is a theme here? Girl's mom did get to see David Hasslehoff, though, as he was passing through the casino. He had sung the national anthem at the bowl game that night, and was staying at the MGM, we think. Apparently, he's really tall and has a rather large entourage.

Sunday, December 21st - Morning came with us being serenaded again, but not by Arizona fans, but by some kids who were told to play in the hall before breakfast. Ok, it's 8 am and they are signing, laughing, and knocking on doors until a front desk employee comes up later to scold them and have them return to their room. Ok, another bad start to the morning, and we also had some issues with the hot water in our bathroom. It was bad enough the ventilation in the room caused the shower curtain to blow into you while in the tub, but then apparently everyone decided to take 2 hour showers to kill the hot water. Needless to say, it was a rough start, but the champagne brunch at MGM made up for it. More good food, more alcohol, great dessert. Geez, I feel like I've put on about 20 pounds.

We decided to head north towards the Bellagio today, to check out the fountains. Plus, there might be some shopping to do about here, so we stopped into the M and M World store. And it was absolutely insane. People in every direction, grabbing stuff from the shelves, talking at the top of their lungs. Apparently, consumerism turns some people into idiots, and so after 20 minutes of this, we run from the place screaming. As we walk north, we see the casino construction of the new City Center areas, plus the new Wynn casino Endeavor. The economy might be struggling, but casinos are doing Ok, and building and expanding to keep one step ahead of the competitors. It reminded me of Portland, who for a while seemed to have everything here under construction.

We soon got to the Bellagio, and saw their wonderful Christmas display, which was very popular and people filled. This led us to try and find some quiet machines to play for a bit until the fountain show later. It was fun, until girl's mom tried to cash out on her machine, and it couldn't produce a ticket. So it took us 30 minutes to track someone down to collect our pay. The fountains came on right at 5, played for one song, and then it was done. Hmm, the economy affecting water shows? Well, we wandered back to catch a cab back to MGM, and decide on what's up for later.

Girl and I soon head to Walgreen's to load up on some snack food that isn't overpriced, and while it was a nice diversion, I also had a bit of tunnel vision going on, so I wasn't the most communicative person. Sometimes, in my desire to do well and keep on top of things, I focus too much and don't always say as much as I should. Thankfully, it was a good conversation with girl, and we got things settled, because I don't want her to feel like she can't talk to me. And if she does, I should respond with more than a grunt or passing gas...

We decided on Sunday to try and stay up as late as we could, first loading up our big drink cups from last night at Fat Tuesday, and seeing how many casinos we could hit until they hit back...Well, I can safely say, we did a pretty good job of hitting them. So good, that the trip deserves it's own entry. So, tune in next time for stories of drunken wandering around the Strip, and food at 4 AM. Talk to you all next time.

Next Time - So this is what 4 AM looks like, and wait, we've been here before, but why are we still here?

Surviving the Lights of Vegas - Part 1

I'm exhausted again, but it's a good kind of tired. You'd think at some point, I'd just stop running myself into the ground, but there's the tired from being lethargic after consuming your body weight in snack food and soda and then there's the tired from actually working hard to accomplish something. My tired has a lot to do with the latter, and so stick with me as I detail my adventures from the past few weeks.

Sunday, December 14th - The snow obsession detailed in my last entry finally came true with some crazy snow and ice falling around our home. Although I wasn't around to see it much, as I ventured to NW Portland to watch a footy match and then participate in practice. When I got to the pub, there was nothing wrong, just a rather cold morning. That all changed about 9:30 AM when the heavens broke down and the snow came down. It appeared to be wet and not sticking, so I decided to practice instead of heading home. Bad move on my part, as unbeknown to me, the snow was significantly falling east side, and roads were closing while I was running about. And of course, my cell phone battery decided to die about the time practice started, so I had no way of being contacted or calling out. Yeah, needless to say, the drive home was an adventure but I took it really slowly and cautiously and made it home without issue. I will now promise never to do anything that dumb for at least the next 15 minutes or so. The snow fell for the rest of the day, meaning that the likelihood of going to work tomorrow was falling between slim and none. However, my friend dublinx did get a great shot of me playing in the snow.

Monday, December 15th - With the snow still down on the ground, I woke up Monday deciding to work from home at my primary job. I love the fact that my job is flexible enough to allow me this alternative, rather than me trying to drive on semi-dangerous roads with other people who drive like there's nothing wrong with the roads. Despite the fact that cars are leaving the road on a regular basis trying to stay upright, there is a part of the population here that thinks driving as fast as possible works and hey, if you don't hit anything, there's nothing wrong here. Thankfully, I can connect with my workstation from home, and my meeting schedule is pretty consistent so I know where I'm supposed to be most of the time. As I work away at my stuff, girl is working hard on her grant writing. With some of the mangled grammar still showing on the page, she curses the world according to Clippy and just wonders if she has anyone that can make nouns and verbs agree. The snow tapers off later in the day, but things are still chilly as the temperature hovers about 20 degrees for most of the day and night, so basically, the snow that fell isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Tuesday, December 16th - Well, I woke up at 7:30 am and seeing how things hadn't dramatically changed from overnight, I decided to venture into the office anyway by transit. I bundled up in my best eskimo wear, with snow pants, gloves, hat, and butt warmers present, and wandered off to catch the train and bus. Since the snow and ice were still about, I had visions of sitting at the stop waiting for long times and nothing coming. I've lived in Portland since 1989 and know that when things get snowy and icy here, transit still tries to operate with varying degrees of success. I've experienced 4 hour bus rides home packed to the hilt, busses stopping because of conditions, and busses smacking each other in a crazy version of Chinese Checkers, so I had expectations that I might be waiting for a while. And I couldn't have been more wrong.

The train was totally on time, and got me to the bus stop in plenty of time to make my connection, which was also on time. I spent not more that 40 minutes getting into work, which was absolutely crazy considering the conditions outside with ice, cold and blowing snow. As I take off my layers at my desk, many of my coworkers are sharing reports of snow and ice in their area, and the many reports of what possibly is coming to hit us later that day. Apparently, the paranoia about the weather is being listened to, as many folks complete a few hours of work, then disappear home before things get worse. I decide to stick it out as I have a few things to complete before I leave, and if all else fails, I live close enough to work that I could walk home if needed. The afternoon gets quieter and quieter as more of my co-workers head home, and then girl calls me after one of my meetings. Apparently, she's grown frustrated at the staff she works with, and has asked for my help to edit some of her work.

Ok, in my past life, I've written for a college newspaper, I've written dozens of reports and project documents, hundreds of important notices, dozens of procedure updates, even more new procedure documents, and countless self training documents. While I may not have the best grasp of grammar usage around, I can write and write quickly. And most of the time, it makes sense. After careful consideration lasting about 30 seconds, I agree to provide some help to her. Within moments of this news, I find out by email that our bowling league is cancelled for the night, as the alley is closing in case conditions get bad. I tell you, the paranoia about snow here is big. It's suddenly more true as the snow starts to hit later that night, with a light dusting at first, but then getting more consistent as the night goes on. I listen to girl's instructions about what she reviews in her documents, what the particulars are to look for, and suddenly I'm off in editor land.

And I have to say that I'm glad I don't have an editor for this exercise here. I'm sure that most grammar nazis would cringe at some of the words I use, plus I break a lot of English rules by starting sentances with prepositions or ending them with one. When I blog, I tend to be extremely conversational in my style, which is great for reading but not so much if you are being completely attentive to correct style. Anyway, after a late night of editing, I'm off to sleep and wondering if I will venture to work or not.

Wednesday, December 17th - The conditions aren't terrible outside, but they haven't changed since the snow hit, and with the cold, cars aren't moving around much in the morning. You know it's bad when city officials are telling people that if possible, just stay home. I heed the warning and settle in to work at home for the second day of the week. I have some requirements to review, some testing to complete, and a few meetings on my schedule, so I have a rather busy day of work on the schedule. As I quietly work, knocking off task by task, I realize that by noon, I'm done with my tasks and there's still a good half a day left. Well, I need to do some more reading and there's a few emails that have piled up.

Work email is a necessary work communication tool, but at points, I think people just send them to make it look like they are doing some work. The note may not accomplish anything more that stirring up more questions, which may be the approach, but by sending a note, real work can be avoided. I must learn the ways of this skill, as the inbox piles up. By quitting time, I'm back caught up with my email, and now it's off to complete more editing for the night. It's not such bad work, and I'm actually getting pretty good at it. The weather guys are predicting more snow for tomorrow, which would be good if you like snow, but bad if you were thinking of getting into work. And honestly, I'm getting a bit of cabin fever so getting out of the house is starting to sound like a good idea.

Thursday, December 18th - The predicted snow hasn't started as of 7:45 AM when I wake up and the roads are clear, so I trudge down to shower and get ready for work. No sooner than I walk upstairs at 8:10 AM, the skies turn purple and it's a snow downpour. I suppose I could try to get into work, but that idea fades as the snow starts to stick and it's now slowing down at all. I settle in for another day of working in the basement. I tend to my work documents and meetings while also getting laundry ready for our big trip. Tomorrow, we head to Las Vegas, and I'm excited. There's a bit of concern that the weather might keep us here, depending on when the storm might hit, but at this time, it's a go. As I look at my work task list getting shorter, my home task list is getting bigger with packing, other editing, and house chores. Girl and I have tickets to the Trail Blazer game that night, and under normal circumstances, we never miss a game. But the snow keeps falling, the work keeps piling up, and there's not time to divert our attention from the tasks here for hoops. As much as I hate to, I end up selling my tickets to a friend for the game.

The editing is flying along, the packing is going well, and I even decide to hook up the radio to listen to the game. My tickets were picked up, and going to a good cause. And the cause got better as the game went on, as Brandon Roy had a career night in scoring 52 points in the Blazers beating the Suns for the first time in 12 tries. I had to go upstairs to watch the fourth quarter, as it was a game for the ages. But I knew that going to the game would mean that there would be numerous things here at the house that needed attention that would be ignored, and so I was where I needed to be. And besides, if you need a fallback plan, listening to Wheels call a game isn't a bad back up option. Girl and I end up working late, and then I knock off about midnight to finish packing, and curl up for sleep. Our shuttle arrives at 9:30 AM to get us to the airport for our flight, and I can't wait.

Friday, December 19th - Travel Day is here, and I'm ready and raring to go. A few last minute items to clear up, and we're ready to fly south to avoid the cold. In watching the news, though, snow had hit Vegas the night before and the airport had closed for a while because of the conditions. Wow, the snow is following us all over? Well, we are going to chance it anyway, and the shuttle arrives a bit early ready to take us to the airport. The conditions on the roads are a bit dicey, but as long as you drive slowly, it's not that terrible. Our driver takes his time getting us to the terminal, and we arrive in plenty of time before our flight at 1:30 pm. After a quick visit to the bank for some much needed gambling funds and a stop for some snacks, we settle into our gate for the flight.

Well, ok, girl had lost her stocking hat on the way back from coffee, so I went on a mission to find it and I did right in front of Good Dog, Bad Dog sausages. And our gate actually changed to another location. Plus, we ran into our friend Dick Danger, who works at the airport and was there getting his check. So, there was plenty to do while waiting for our flight, and that doesn't include the people watching opportunities that were abound. Airports are an amazing study in people, as you have the folks that dress to the nines when traveling, showing off the latest fashion styles with their designer bags, and then you have the people that just rolled out of bed and don't care what they look like. Add this with the conversations with fellow travelers, and seeing people meet up at the gate, it's truly interesting to watch. The movie Dogma had a few scenes about what happens at airports, and I believe it's the truth. When you see someone at the gate, you are truly happy to see them and it's a true show of emotion. We got to watch a few tearful reunions before we got the call to board our plane.

As we took off from Portland, it didn't matter that the conditions were cold and snowy here, or that things might be getting worse while we were gone, or did we forget anything at the house. It was the simple emotion of being able to put the trials and cares away for a few days and just be somewhere different for a few days. And I was looking forward to having a few adventures while we were gone, then return home in time for Christmas. What I didn't expect was how many crazy adventures we'd have between the time we left Portland and the time we came back to the very snowy Rose City.

Next Time - Adventures in Gambling and Buffets, and Gee, We aren't the only city under construction right now.

Flight Home and Travel Epilogue

April 30th - Flight Home

I've never been a fan of mornings, and so being up at 4 AM was no exception. We wanted to ensure that we would be sleeping on the flight, so tried to stay up as late as possible the preceding night. We ate a bit of breakfast, made some sandwiches for the flight, did a lot of last minute things about the flat, and by a little after 5 AM, we were off walking to Tower Hill.

When they talk about luggage being under your control, I have never understood that statement more as I was dragging two bags along. My green suitcase had a bum wheel, and the other bag was a little shorter than the suitcase, so my arms and back were getting tugged about. Plus, with a backpack on, I was fairly weighed down. But all we needed to do was get to the train station, and then we had a long ride out to Heathrow.

A cab watched us tinker with our bags, and was hoping for an early morning fare, but we passed it by, and I made a vow that we would get our bags to Tower Hill no matter what. After a few minutes walk and some moments of profanity, we finally got to our Tube stop and were dragging our bags below. As with our trip into town, we'd switch at Hammersmith to the Picadilly line to then get us to the airport. The train wasn't terribly crowded, and so we were able to find seats relatively easily. Once we got to Hammersmith, we switched trains and finding seats was a bit more difficult as it was part of the commute time and there were lots of travelers on the train. We found a spot and stood near our bags, and off we went. I was trying not to fall on my ass but did have a pretty good wobble after we left a station as I unlocked my legs for a second.

We pulled into Heathrow about two hours from leaving the flat, and we immediately grabbed our bags and headed up to check in. Seriously, while I enjoyed traveling, I was really not going to miss any airports for a bit. We found the American check in and waited in line for about 45 minutes as we queued about. Lots of people were flying today, and so we waited patiently for our turn. We finally got to a person who chatted with us a bit about the trip, confirmed our flights to Dallas then Portland, and then suddenly looked at the scale when my green bag was on it and said, "Your bag is too heavy." Eeek, this wasn't something I'd planned for, even with my bag running near the top allowable weight since I left Portland. She gave me an option to find some stuff in the green bag and move it to my backpack, so I'm feverishly grabbing stuff and putting it on the scale while girl and her chatted. We finally reached the right weight, and so I loaded the things into the other wheeled bag, and we wandered to the gate.

A bit of lunch time eating sandwiches, and getting some water and juice in the terminal, we sat about and waited for our flight and entertained ourselves with the Times. The previous night, Man United had won their way into the UEFA Cup final so there was plenty of stuff to read about. We waited about an hour until the flight gate was assigned, and off we went. After walking for a bit and making a bathroom stop, we got into our gate and checked in but weren't selected for any additional security. We had gone through security without too much issue, and here in London, many times they do extra checks at the gate and we avoided a problem. This didn't prevent other problems, though, including a lot of Americans clogging the only walkway to the gate because they didn't want to sit down in the lounge. The American personnel had to ask at least 5 times for people to find a seat, but things still piled up. It was also interesting to watch people make excuses for things in their luggage with the additional screening. I felt pretty safe after all this, and soon we were wandering into the plane getting ready for takeoff and departure.

We left on time, and were soon off across the Atlantic. There was a bit of TV on initially to keep folks entertained, but in a move that I loved, the pilots asked all the passengers to close their windows and they would turn out all the lights to allow folks to sleep in an attempt to avoid jet lag. It was a brilliant move, and I was happy to not see the same episode of Old Christine for the eight time. We slept for what seemed like ever, and then we were awoken to complete our immigration and customs forms for Dallas. Since I'd done this before and had all my receipts, I tried to be as exact as I could, trying to keep below the $800 allowable limit. I came very close to it, but just under. I filled out the form for both of the bags I was dragging, so my form was a bit fuller than girl's. We landed in Dallas about 2 PM central time, and were soon off to make the long walk to immigration.

And yes, it's a long freaking walk. It seems like forever to get to the station, but we finally got there and got to go to the shorter US citizens line. We waited about 20 minutes, talked with our guy for about 2 minutes, he stamped our stuff and off we went. Nothing like some smooth sailing, especially when we got downstairs and I was offered a free cart to haul our luggage. I politely took the cart, and we waited for our luggage which arrived very quickly. We then passed through customs, I handed my card to them and we were off to additional check in. Once we got into luggage claim, the employee knew exactly where our bags needed to go. Ok, both girl and I were in Trail Blazers gear, so he immediately said "Portland to the right." We wandered up the stairs to go through security for the last time.

And on a scale of security experiences, it wasn't the best but it was still Ok. My backpack was causing some issues with the scanners, so I had to be pulled aside to answer questions about what was in there. I was asked if I had any electronic devices, and I said Yes, that's about what is in there. The security guy had some issues finding the compartments in the pack, and when I attempted to help him, I got politely scolded to not touch my bag. I was finally cleared after a few minutes, and we wandered off to catch the train to our terminal. Dallas - Fort Worth Airport has 5 terminals and you have to catch trains between them, so we got to see Dallas off in the distance with its smog while we found our terminal.

We ate a quick bite at Wendy's after doing some exploration about the terminal for other restaurant options, and deciding that Taco Bell sounded good but exploding insides on a plane would be a bad thing. We soon wandered to our gate, and were happy to see Portlanders about. They were very casual about lines, kept quiet and followed instructions very well. I think Portlanders and Brits have a lot in common. We finally got on our last plane for this trip, and were soon off to Portland.

My mind wandered to the fun things we'd done and seen, and the lessons I'd learned, and I was just getting happier to be close to home. While I love traveling, it makes me appreciate home more when I return. And watching the landscape get more green and mountainous as we flew west, I knew we were getting home. I didn't even feel the touchdown, but we arrived on time in Portland, knowing that girl's mom would be waiting for us. We soon deplaned and wandered through the airport that started it all. It seemed a bit more relaxed that what it was 3 weeks earlier.

We went to baggage claim, and since they didn't offer free luggage carts here, we would have to haul them ourselves. However, girl's mom was on time and driving the Row N mobile. I almost didn't recognize it as she pulled up, but I was happy to see her. We chatted with her about the trip, and then got home about 6 pm. The cats didn't seem too interested in us at first until we brought luggage in, and then it was time for all sorts of smells. They finally warmed up to us after a bit, and soon we were unpacking and sharing stories. I was so happy to be home, I ran to Burgerville to get some food, and we just relaxed for the night. I was actually working from home tomorrow to get caught up on emails from work, so basically I didn't get much time to hit the ground running after the trip. But as I sat there and thought about the trip, I realized that this was one of the most impressive vacations I'd ever take and I got to share it with the woman of my dreams. While we'll make other trips over there, it won't be the same as the first time..

Epilogue

It's now 3 months later, and we just now got some of the wedding stuff sorted tonight, and still have a handful of cards for gifts to do. So if you haven't received your card yet or noticed the check you wrote us isn't cashed yet, I'm sorry but we are a bit behind. Essentially, we got back and were thrown into work, Timbers season, planning a camping trip for June, a trip to Vancouver in early June, and a bus trip to Shittle. Oh, and both of us got new jobs after we returned, as girl will be working on grant writing and I am now a business analyst for one of the bank's major databases. It's funny to think that after all of the things we'd experienced, there would be more change thrown it.

And admittedly, it was tough to adjust to some things when we got back. I was sad we missed Timber Jim's retirement, but Timber Joey has been an extremely capable mascot. Shittle bus trip was amazing, although it was very crowded and running out of beer sucked. There were a lot of new faces in the TA when we returned, and yes, that did require us to stake out our seats early now for matches. Some guys found our row rather comfortable, but at the same time, the row has great significance for girl and myself. Once girl explained our situation, we were good to go and haven't had an issue since. With the new energy there's new people who take time to learn about what happens in a match, so there's been some education but it's also been nice to meet some new folks as well.

We've also made trips to Vancouver BC and Cape Lookout since we got back, so you could say that we really have been keeping busy. But I can't think of a better person to do it with, and I can't wait for what the future holds. Hopefully, it's Timbers goals, monies for us, and good will for our family and friends.

Thanks for reading about our trip, and so now things return to normal around here. I may take a bit of time off now that I've finished the trip blog, but then again, the writing bug might strike me sooner than you think. Catch you all on the flip side.

More Adventures at the Park, and Saying Goodbye to Rome and Hello to London

April 21st - Staying Close to Hotel

With more walking from yesterday and our impending departure on Tuesday, we decided to stay close to our hotel and get things organized for the flight to London. Plus, we wanted to ensure that we got a little sun, not knowing if the weather would play nicely once we left. Plus, packing was going to be important, as this was our last stop with just one checked bag each.

We wandered to the same park again visited on Saturday, and found a different bench to sit in to relax. Our favorite person was there, laughing and yelling about but he had a friend this time to talk with. Girl theorized that he might be one of those people that could hear a lot of different voices, and he was just responding to whatever voice was loudest at the moment. He was very happy, though, as we heard plenty of laughter and random comments. I wished at this moment my Italian was a bit better.

We also visited the grocery store for some last minute items and checked out some of the other restaurants in the area to see if there was anything nearby for dinner. There were some Indian places close, and a world famous gelato place that was closed Mondays, but nothing was striking our fancy. We decided to complete the packing in the afternoon, so that everything was put away so we could get up, shower and leave right away. Our flight left Rome at about 11 AM, so we needed to be up very early to catch the train to then get us to the airport on time. At this point, I wasn't so concerned about how it looked in my luggage, but simply that it made it into the bag. I took the scarves I'd brought over and they became nice wraps for the more fragile items.

After a bit of a nap, we awoke for some dinner, and I tried to find something different for dinner. Not that I didn't mind the place that we had been dining at, but I wanted to find something different. Plus, after finding Kric Krok on Saturday night for girl, it was time to see if we could find something interesting. Kric Krok is kind of like potato chips made in Italy, but there are a bit different than that. Sort of like kettle chips, but a bit more puffy, it was something we'd seen in stores for a while, but didn't try until I finally found some to buy. So Monday night was sort of trying to find food adventure. Girl has had falafel before, and since there was a shop nearby, we thought we'd try it. So I got her one of those, and I got some pizza and drinks.

I had been managing my way around town pretty well with my mangled Italian and broken English, but tonight they asked me if I wanted chips on the falafel and I said yes. I only said this because honestly, I wasn't sure if they had them or not and I didn't want to leave them off. When I got back to the room, girl unwrapped it and started eating with some delight. Then, she asked me "Are there chips on this falafel?" To which I replied, "Yes, they are." Apparently the taste wasn't too bad, although now understanding what falafel is, chips seems odd.

We watched a bit of TV, and then heard some commotion outside. Knowing this place, it could have been people, buildings, car accidents, we had the shudders closed to keep the room dark. We opened the window to see the most amazing thunderstorm going on. It rained about 3 inches in a 10 minute period, flooding the streets and sending poor pedestrians scrambling for cover. The thunder and lightning made many of the building glow, and the rain was puddling all over the streets. It was very intense, reminding me a lot of the thunderstorms I'd experienced growing up. But my memories didn't have glowing buildings, water splashing about on streets, people scrambling to find cover, and thunder echoing off things. Girl had said Rome gets storms like this from time to time, and she wasn't kidding. I'm glad I got to see this before we left. As we laid down to sleep, our concern was making sure that it wasn't still raining when we were ready to leave in the morning to possibly delay us leaving the hotel or our plane.

April 22nd - Departure Day to London

We awoke very early to allow us time to get final packing done, walk to the train station and catch our almost hour train ride to Rome Airport. While it was very early in the morning, we awoke without too much issue. I think both of us were happy to have come here, but ready to go to London. We did our double check in the room to ensure we had everything, grabbed our last belongings and left. I've found that traveling for me is a lot easier in more casual clothes, so I'm in a t-shirt and Timbers track pants. We walked past the park again, and headed to the train station. I enjoyed Nomi a lot, but really was looking forward to a hotel where we could sleep in a bit if desired.

We got to the train station with about 15 minutes for the next train, but the first bay of ticket machines was being difficult and wouldn't complete a purchase for girl. I found another set of ticket machines, and quickly paid for two tickets to go. We scurried to get a good place for our bags on the train, as it was waiting in one of the terminals. We found a good bank of seats, and I was able to get our bags into the upper luggage area. Man these things are heavy. We settled in for the ride, and arrived about 2 1/2 hours before our check-in. We were now preparing ourselves for our last trip through Terminal 5 and staying in London.

Our arrival in immigration was about as short as our departure through there, as we shuttled by some officers who examined our papers and let us go through. We then found a couple of snacks to go with some sandwiches we'd packed the previous day, and ate a breakfast/lunch thing. Once our gate was assigned we were off to the races. We took a short tram from the main building to our terminal, where one of our trip goals was about to be fulfilled, well we hope anyway.

Girl's previous excursion to Rome brought her to this terminal and one of the best gelato places ever. And she got to keep the special gelato dish and ate some desserts out of it here in the States, well until I accidentally crushed it putting dishes away a few months ago. Our hope was the same gelato place was open and we could get some for a snack and replace her dish. We searched and searched, and found some water and chips for snacks, but the gelato place wasn't open yet. Our hope was that it would open up in time for us before our flight.

In the terminal, we sat near some Catholic cardinals that had been traveling to Rome for business. We also go to listen to one of the most obnoxious women ever talk about all of her travel experiences to two guys flying to Chicago. Seriously, there's TMI and then there's this chick, who talked about anything and everything. I kept disappearing to check on gelato, but it was getting close to boarding time and it didn't appear the place would open in time. At least I didn't have to hear her crappy stories. We finally were called to our gate and ready to depart, when there was a final security check in Rome.

Ok, this isn't one of my brighter moments here, but I had packed my toiletries in my carry on backpack. While most of my stuff was travel size, it wasn't in the special ziplocks required by security. Oh, and my razor was in there too. I knew better, but in the quickness to get packed, I just grabbed things and put them where they fit. As the security guy looked at my backpack, he looked at my toothbrush, a few papers, and waived me through. I hurried to catch up with girl, and told her about my experience. This led to a discussion where I finally put two and two together and realized I'd violated more than a few travel rules. I was really embarrassed about it, and just figured Ok, I got through, not going to happen again. The funny thing was that I felt a lot more safe with security there, as they did a few more checks and I really liked the random gate approach. If you're going to stop people from doing bad things to planes, don't make things that obvious. Ok, makes for some anxiety filled moments in the terminal, but we'd planned for good time layovers, so it wasn't too stressful.

And as we left Rome, I thought back on the adventures of our time, and thought this place was truly special for the history and the architecture. It's very cool to see history everywhere, and for how large Rome is, it actually doesn't feel like a big city in most places. I leaned back and was ready for our last stop - London.

Next Time - Being Quiet on a Train, and Gee, This Place Looks a Lot Like Portland.

April 8th - 9th - The Journey Across The Pond

As mentioned in my previous post, my next few blog entries will be about my honeymoon trip to Seaham UK, Rome and London. All names have been changed to protect the innocent or stupid, and all events are as real as my Swiss cheese brain can remember.

Prologue - The Planning...

One of the many things I love about girl is that she plans things really well. I mean she's examined every possible choice and option, and makes sure that her choices are top notch. So when she agreed to be our travel agent for our honeymoon, I wasn't worried at all. She's traveled overseas many times, and even lived in England for 10 months back in 2002 and 2003 teaching. She's not intimidated at all about being over there, I know she thinks of England as her second home. With websites bookmarked and EPL schedules figured out, we decided to make Seaham our first stop, then Rome and finally London, leaving the States on April 9th and returning on April 30th. This allowed us maximum time in each spot for our funds, and worked well with the footy schedule as Sunderland was playing at home on April 12th and West Ham was at home the weekend of the 26th. We also avoided Easter travels, which is a big deal over there. So back in August 2007, our trip was put together. It was a marvel of planning, done before fuel prices had gone through the roof and after I had changed my legal name to my birth name. Now, all we had to do was wait...

April 8th - Last Minute Planning

Vacations are tough at my work, but knowing I was going to be gone for 3 1/2 weeks made it even worse. My work tends to pile up a bit while I'm out, so it's waiting for me when I get back, so I fully expected to be buried upon my return. However, I'd spent weeks telling co-workers and other employees that I was going to be gone in the hopes that anyone would listen. I think they were really ready for me to be gone on the 8th, and as my last meeting concluded, I was finally free. Ok, not free from responsibility but free from the work world for almost a month. It felt so liberating, but as I was driving home, my list of things to do for the trip filled my head, and whatever freedom I'd felt was replaced with a fear of how to get everything done before leaving.

I don't normally like to pack until the day before anyway, it keeps me from forgetting day to day things I use a lot, plus I tend not to overpack. I had a mental list of things to include in my luggage, and so I spent my afternoon printing important emails and balancing my checkbook before I left. I wanted to make sure I had real cash to use on the trip, and not the bank's funds which you have to pay loads back to use. We had tickets to that night's Trail Blazers - Lakers game to attend, and so I hurried to get my computer stuff done.

Part of our planning was to pack on Tuesday night and stay up as late as possible so that we'd be sleepy on our flight to London. American flight from Portland to Dallas to London then up to Newcastle, it sounded so good. And the news had been pretty quiet since American had grounded numerous flights the previous week to check for safety issues. We were also heading to Heathrow's famous Terminal 5, which spent its first few days in existence not processing any checked luggage and soon after sent people in one direction and their luggage in the opposite way. There had also been a threat of a strike by British Airways that was averted right before we left, so we felt as though that the problems were done with. We went to the game without a care in the world.

The Trail Blazers played amazingly, and knocked off the Lakers in a close, well fought battle. We even bought some shirts to take with us on the trip to show some Blazer pride. Girl and I had a lot of hope and optimism about our Trail Blazers, and we basked in the glory of a win against one of our hated rivals. We hurried off to Winco to pick up some snacks and last minute snack items, and then home to finish packing. The buzz of the Trail Blazer's win filled my head, as I had dreamed of them getting a .500 record and us going on a once in a lifetime trip.

The packing took a few hours as we finished some last second laundry, and I tried to find some nice stuff to throw in with casual travel wear. Knowing there was 3 weeks between leaving and coming home, it was hard to make some clothes choices, but I knew we had a washer in London so it was a matter of picking lots of different things, and trying to make sure you could stretch it out for 2 weeks. I packed a few nice shirts, dress shoes, cameras, magazines, casual shoes, Timbers gear, and it actually all fit in my suitcase. It was now almost 2 AM on Wednesday, and it was time to de-stress for a bit before bed...

April 9th - The Day of Many Airports

We love Fark, it's a beautiful website full of news stories of the weird, cat pictures with misspellings, and other assorted news of the stupid. As I sat at my computer to decompress from the packing, girl was checking fark and reading various stories. I was getting a bit tired, but knew the longer I could hold out, the better my sleep would be on the plane. We had talked about various stories and trip questions, and the clock soon showed 3 AM. As girl clicked on the Fark headlines, she saw a story about American Airlines and more goofiness in the air. The story out of a Hawaiian newspaper said that flights were being cancelled on April 9th for more safety checks.

Whatever piece and quiet we had was replaced with mad typings of URLs trying to confirm our flight. At this point, the American web site had our flight as on time but we didn't want to chance it. So we kept checking and checking...and checking by phone, by web, then by phone again. The panic set in about 3:35 AM when magically the American site had us booked through Dallas, but no way to get there from Portland as our flight was cancelled. I felt bad for girl because she had done so much planning for the trip, and it was a masterpiece of simplicity now in rubble with someone's decision to cancel flights. We knew that our schedule was fairly tight getting to Seaham with things planned for us there, so she got on the phone and waited...and waited...and waited.....

45 minutes later, she was talking with a woman at American. The hold times were crazy there, and this was before most travelers had any idea what was going on. After much discussion and planning, there was an alternative to get us to London - go to San Francisco on Alaska then fly to JFK in New York, but we would have to get to the airport now for a 6:45 AM flight. So instead of napping for a few hours, we were waking girl's mom to drive us to the airport, grabbing luggage, saying hasty goodbyes to our cats, and hoping we didn't forget anything.

We pulled into the airport a little after 5 AM, and it was off to the American counter. We wanted to confirm the reservations, and check our bags in. The queue was full of early morning travelers, who were now learning the information we found out about only a few hours earlier. Panicked folks were typing in laptops, talking on phones, doing anything to get out of Portland, but there wasn't much success for many. While waiting in line, we talked to a guy from KPAM radio about getting out of town, telling him we were on our honeymoon trying to get to London. I'm not sure if he talked to us because of girl's Trail Blazer shirt or if we looked frazzled more than most, but it was a fun chat way too early.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the counter, and our reservations were there but we needed to go to the Alaska counter to check in. So a quick run over to the Alaska counter to wait in another queue, which only lasted about 20 minutes until we were talking to a woman. She got us checked in, our bags tagged for London, and got our minds at ease for about 30 seconds until she uttered the words..."Oh, my, you've been flagged for extra security. If you leave now, you can probably make your flight!!"

We've never moved so fast ever, getting my bag to TSA and then heading to security. We were moved to the extra special line, and we got put into large air chambers which took x-rays and puffed air to check us out. To add more to it, we had to give our backpacks to a TSA person who opened every pocket and compartment to check for substances. He did fail to tell us that we couldn't touch our stuff as we moved from station to station, which led to him rather tersely telling us to leave our stuff alone as he'd move it from station to station. I know some people are trying to do their jobs, but being yelled at and poked and prodded didn't make me feel any safer flying, but rather annoyed at being singled out especially since our change in itinerary wasn't our fault. We left security at 6:35 and ran to our gate in time to hear the Alaska person say "We are boarding our final group to San Francisco..." If we'd had been more than a couple of more minutes off, we would have been stuck in Portland.

As I sat down in the flight, whatever had happened previously didn't matter, because I felt the worst was behind us for now. Ok, I'm the eternal optimist, but I felt that we had dodged a bullet. The next thing I remember was being told to put my seat in an upright position as we were landing in San Francisco. I guess I snored a bit on the plane, but at least we were on schedule. As we landed in San Francisco, we breezed through security check there (a nice security gal there grew up in Portland, so she wished us a great trip) and got to chat with a Warriors fan who was happy we'd beat the Lakers the previous night. He was stuck in San Francisco trying to get to his destination on American, and we told him of our story, which led him to go find his phone. We checked in to our flight to New York, chowed some breakfast and then hopped aboard our next flight.

I do recall more of the flight to San Francisco, as the lunch wasn't that bad and the sun was going down as we landed in New York. We were concerned about having to change terminals in New York, but found out our London flight was only a few gates away, so we could transfer easily. However our seats were on the middle of the middle section, so we wanted to see if we could move to another area. The American employee checked us in, and we were able to get the two seats closest to the aisle in the middle section, with an open seat next to me. It wasn't perfect, but we were on the plane.

I also learned a lot about duty free goods, as I tried to buy some cigarettes for our Seaham hosts. Honestly, the goods may be cheap, but the rules behind them were so confusing that I wasn't sure what I could and couldn't buy. It could have been the fast talking guy at the duty free shop, but I wasn't able to buy anything. I know I wasn't on top of my game at all being sleep deprived and eating mostly airplane food for a day, but as we got on our plane to London, I felt a sense of relief that we were finally going to make it. I pulled the blanket over my shoulders and nodded off.

Next Installment - Adventures in Terminal 5 and Customs, and Pies in Newcastle

Back in The States and Finally Got Pictures Done

I've only been back in the country a week, and feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders as I've been able to post some pictures. This isn't everything by any stretch of the means, but it's a good selection of the shots from our various points during our honeymoon.

Girl had started planning this since August of last year, checking out flights and coordinating dates based on EPL schedules, time off from work, cost, and weather. I am truly amazed at how much detail she went through to find the best deal and dates for us. We had talked about different places to go for the honeymoon, but settled on Seaham UK, Rome and London.

London is like a second home to girl, having lived there for almost a year teaching, and she knows her way about town. I had always wanted to see Rome, and she had been there so it was an easy thrown in for a few days. But Seaham? Well, in meeting up with traveling Sunderland fans in 2005 in the States and being shown the red carpet during a trip over there in 2006, we decided that if we were going to be close, we could stop in for a few days. Well, the red carpet certainly came out from the Sunderland fans again, and girl learned quickly about how they do things up north.

This blog will spend the next few weeks documenting each station, and highlights of the trip from each site, including the flight over and back which was an adventure of itself. While I wished I had a computer and could have blogged during the trip, I don't think it would have worked out so well in some areas, especially not knowing if we could get on the Internet, much less having my computer destroyed on the trip. Mind you, not having the Internet for weeks on holiday makes you appreciate having it when you can.

Enjoy the pictures, and be prepared to enjoy the stories of our 3 week odyssey across the pond. I guarantee you there will be some laughs, tears, head scratching moments, but overall it was the most amazing trip I've ever been on. And while honeymoons are really supposed to be that, I would have called this trip utterly amazing without the honeymoon part simply because of what we saw and how many wonderful, crazy things happened while we were there. While I appreciate home a great deal, I can see how the world around us works a bit better.

I don't have a schedule for those releases, so keep checking in for more information. Later!!

Pictures will be posted today in separate blog entries.

-K