Are We There Yet?

Friday had finally arrived, my bags were packed, and I was counting down the minutes until I got on a plane bound for Vegas. All that was left was picking up Maura and checking in at the airport. If only air travel were so easy!

We arrived at the airport with about an hour before our flight was to leave and went to the self-check desk to hand over our bags. As our boarding passes were printing out I did a double-take. "Boarding time, 12:45pm".
WTF! We were supposed to be leaving at noon so why the hell were we boarding 45 minutes late? We didn't get an answer until we boarded the plane. San Jose airport is building a new runway and evidently they have been delaying flights on a regular basis to piss off tourists flying to Vegas. We didn't get in the air until the moment we were supposed to be arriving in Vegas. I really hoped this wasn't an omen of things to come.

We finally arrive in Vegas and head toward the baggage claim. My suitcase was one of the first off so I went ahead to find Enterprise rent-a-car while Maura continued to wait for her bag. Finding Enterprise was not an easy task as they were hidden behind a stairway or something but I eventually found them. There was no line so I walked up to the clerk and gave him my copy of the reservation along with our big money saving coupon. It was at this point that the sales pitch for an upgrade began. I let him ramble until Maura arrived and we agreed to upgrade for the promise of better air conditioning (it was only $2 more a day). We took the shuttle to the car lot, got our car, and were on the road to downtown before we had a chance to think. This was when we learned the first of many lessons of the weekend. NEVER follow the directions of the guy at Enterprise car rental. He sent us down Tropicana which had a ton of construction and took forever.

Things were looking up once we found the freeway. There was some traffic but not like we're used to in San Jose. We did take a different exit then recommended and drove through a rather scary at night part of the downtown area but soon found our hotel. Lesson number two, when Pauly says slip a twenty to the person at check-in DO IT. I still wonder if we would have gotten a non-smoking room, like I had requested, on the first night instead of the third. Basically the room sucked but we weren't planning to spend that much time there anyway.

It was at this time that I pulled out my cell phone and called up my twin. When she answered I greeted her with this line: "I'd like to speak with the president of the Wil Wheaton/Phil Gordon fan club, please." She laughed and said "I think I know who this is". We made arrangements to meet up at the Rio and Maura and I were off once again.

Coming up:
Meeting my first bloggers.
Storming the castle.
The worst night of my life followed by the WPBT tournament and after party.
Recovery Sunday.
What happens when you don't respect the hammer.
One last poker session followed by the flight home.