1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Fastest Vegas Trip Ever

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by TheAshley, Jun 16, 2008.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. TheAshley

    TheAshley Tourist

    Joined:
    May 14, 2008
    Messages:
    52
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    4

    My Trip Report

    Ever since I heard that Spamalot was closing, I've been trying to get the boy to take a quick weekend trip with me to go see it. And boy did we ever.

    My boyfriend (TheMike) works for an airline and he gets to fly free in Stand by and I fly for basically nothing). We decided about 1 am Friday Night/ Saturday Morning to see if we could catch the 8:00 am flight to Vegas and return home that night on the red eye. I took a shower, got some stuff together, drove to work to get my camera and tried to sleep. After about an hour of sleep we drive to the airport and wait to see if there's space. YAY, there is and we actually get to sit together. Smooth sailing to Vegas (and no more sleep for me). We land in the airport almost immediately call the Wynn to get tickets for the show. We found a Travel Zoo code that gave us forty dollars off each ticket and got balcony seats for $29 each. Not to shabby.

    Took the Airport shuttle to the Tropicana for their Champagne brunch. We like it because it's cheap and the food's not too bad. We got a seat by the window over looking the pool so that was fun to watch. We stayed and drank our fair share of champagne and watched the happenings at the pool. There were some chicks in feather headdresses dancing around and it was quite entertaining. Then we went over to NYNY and played a little. I won $8 on Video Poker and Mike didn't have that much luck. We bought passes for the roller coaster and did that a few times. Then we hopped the Deuce to the Wynn (and about 15 minutes of sleep for me) to pick up our tickets from Will Call. We hit Slots-A-Fun next and lost some more money. Then to Circus Circus to watch a few circus acts before the real show started. We saw The Flying Poemas, The Juggling Clown, and the KnockAround Cowboys before we went back to the Wynn. I played some more Video poker and won a little bit more, Mike played a few slots and went to the Black Jack Tables with out much luck. We went to the Show Shop and bought some Spamalot merchandise on sale.

    Then came the show. Our seats were high, but right in the middle. People around us kept saying that John Cleese was in the show. I wanted to stand up and announce that it was just a voice over. But I digress. Anyway, the show was AMAZING and entirely worth all the trouble to get there and back (more on that later). The entire cast was wonderful. John O'Hurley was magic. I was also really impressed by how well I could see the actors and all of their facial expressions. I was a little disappointed because they'd taken out a song and a half, but they weren't that important and the show was pretty seamless without them.

    After the show we were pretty much running and weaving through the crowd to get to the taxi line and head back to the airport. The taxi driver took a pretty quick way to get there and security wasn't that bad. We made it to the plane on time (barely) BUT it was full, so we couldn't get on it. So we sat around the airport and tried to figure out the options so we could back home and no one got fired on Monday. We make an 11:45 plane. They didn't even print us tickets, just told us to find an empty seat. We arrive back in Charlotte about 6:30 EST and I got home around 7:15 where I got three hours of sleep before my parents came over for Fathers' Day.
     
  2. Souette

    Souette Tourist

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2006
    Messages:
    580
    Location:
    Rural Tennessee
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    17
    Just DO IT!

    ZIP>>>ZIP>>>ZIP!!!!
    Good for you. No time to even think about being tired.
    Glad you had a good time and enjoyed the show.
     
  3. rowEn

    rowEn Tourist

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2006
    Messages:
    360
    Location:
    Huntsville, AL
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    Totally impressed with the trip! Glad you made it home for Father's Day! I'm sad that we're going to miss Spamalot, but them's the breaks I suppose.
     
  4. DonD

    DonD VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2004
    Messages:
    9,135
    Location:
    So Cal 91748
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    300
    Very nice. :nworthy:
     
  5. ghetto71

    ghetto71 Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2007
    Messages:
    322
    Location:
    Raleigh
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    I see that you are from Charlotte, that is alot of flight time for one day in Vegas. I live in Raleigh and there is no way I would do that. :nworthy:
     
  6. LVLady

    LVLady Tourist

    Joined:
    May 26, 2003
    Messages:
    1,022
    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    24
    WOW I can't imagine Vegas for the day, sounds like you had fun!! Just too much flying in one day for me!!
     
  7. TheMike

    TheMike Tourist

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2008
    Messages:
    53
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    6
    It was only about 8 hours of flying in one day. And on the redeye home we slept.

    WOW - I don't think I'll ever do another daytrip to Vegas from Charlotte though. After brunch I just wanted to go take a nap somewhere but that wasn't an option. I think I was asleep before we were even off the ground in LAS. This was my first time flying standby when I HAD to be back home by monday morning and I wasn't within driving distance. I feel a lot better knowing I can just rent a car and drive 8-12 hours if I can't get on a plane and get home in time as a last resort. I was pissed when we didn't get on the 10:45 flight, when we landed it had 15 empty seats and 12 people bought last min tickets and bought the seats I was planning on using :grrr: Luckily there are 2 redeyes back to CLT and ashley and I were the only 2 who got on that second plane.

    but really....the trip was too rushed and next time we're gonna have to stay overnight.
     
  8. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2004
    Messages:
    3,104
    Location:
    South Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    31
    AMAZING - I'm sure I could not do a trip like that. The thought of it exhausts me. Good for you and
    TheMike for taking the risk and going for the gusto! For such a quick trip it made for a good read. Thanks for sharing it with us.

    later, GVJ
     
  9. TheAshley

    TheAshley Tourist

    Joined:
    May 14, 2008
    Messages:
    52
    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    4
    you slept. i tried to sleep
     
  10. angel81chick

    angel81chick Abuelita

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2007
    Messages:
    2,687
    Location:
    City of Angels
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    Nothing beats a last minute town to our favorite city! :evillaugh

    Great trip, but yes, next time, at least spend the night :)
     
  11. IllMarty

    IllMarty Orangutan

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2004
    Messages:
    1,630
    Location:
    Will Co., IL
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    Ok, I could see doing this from anywhere where the flight time is under 1.5 hours but from Charlotte? Thats just nuts.
     
  12. VPmiracle

    VPmiracle Tourist

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2007
    Messages:
    63
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    0
    You only live once! It makes for a good story but I think I'd stay overnight or a couple of nights but given your constraints, what the heck, it worked. Glad you had fun and made it on the flights you did.
     
  13. Texas Pam

    Texas Pam Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2004
    Messages:
    102
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    It's a trip you'll always remember! Years (and I mean many years ago), my sister, who is a flight attendant, called me on a Friday morning and told me to meet her in Chicago because she wanted to go see my mom and grandmother who where vacationing in Hawaii. That was a weekend trip I'll never forget!!

    PS You DO get used to getting bumped
     
  14. matguy

    matguy High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2008
    Messages:
    884
    Location:
    Seattle-ish
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    I went with a friend in 2000 that worked for an airline. He'd only been at the airline for 2 years and we got bumped for 26 hours straight, mostly by other employees with more seniority. We didn't get used to it.
     
  15. gmoney590

    gmoney590 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jul 8, 2006
    Messages:
    1,757
    Location:
    Tacoma, WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    24
    I'm impressed:nworthy: In and out in one day you ate,saw a show, did some gambling, rode the roller coaster, and did it cheaply.
     
  16. BlondWidow

    BlondWidow Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 29, 2008
    Messages:
    459
    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    14
    Wow, that was one packed full day. I'm impressed. I think I would try that. Once. :)
     
  17. Leeza14

    Leeza14 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Mar 4, 2007
    Messages:
    1,242
    Location:
    Iowa
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    54
    I would do it in a heartbeat.
     
  18. Coaster Kikky

    Coaster Kikky Tourist

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2003
    Messages:
    11,493
    Location:
    Here
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    32
    Like it's been said, you only live once! And you only die once too... that much travelling in that short a timeframe might be the death of me. But what a way to go! :nworthy:
     
  19. Habanaman13

    Habanaman13 Tourist

    Joined:
    May 8, 2003
    Messages:
    179
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    29
    My hero!

    WOW! I have always thought doing that would be a blast! If nothing else it a great story. I would only have to fly about half as far, so your trek makes it even more impressive. And living on the edge with standby?!

    Kudos to the two of you!
     
  20. searbyb

    searbyb Tourist

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2001
    Messages:
    411
    Location:
    East Yorkshire, UK
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    27
    [QUOTE
    PS You DO get used to getting bumped[/QUOTE]

    I'm not sure you do! I fly standby with BA and always try to keep my options open. As far as Vegas goes there are 3 BA flights to LA daily and those big 777's are never full, right.

    As a parent I get the rock bottom place in the queue and two summers ago was bumped off the first two LAX/LHR flights due to an influx of transfer passengers from a code share flight and told the third was unlikely! The prospect of a night in LA loomed, not a pleasant thought at the best of times until somebody found Virgin had room and I was ferried home by them.

    There are advantages too, notably the occasional upgrade to Club if steerage is full, although our son was not too happy when the three of us were flying SFO/LHR when Mum and Dad got Club and he was stuck on a jump seat! :poke:
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.