We flew to London Heathrow and connected to our United Airlines flight to Chicago okay.
The plane was 30 mins late taking off. As Chicago O'Hare was the first place we touched down in the USA, we were required to get our luggage and take it through customs (it couldn't just go through to Las Vegas and collect it there). It took 45 mins for our suitcases to arrive, which was 8pm - the same time our next flight was boarding in another terminal. Once through customs, we were to put our luggage on the transferring flights intake. We said that we didn't think we'd make our flight (nearly 8.10 now), but they said, yes you might - run!
So we headed off - had to wait for a train to connect us to the other terminal - of course it was the furtherst stop. We dashed towards the gates, but had to get through security and there was a queue and no way to speed through. Off came the shoes & belt, through the security - shoes & belt back on, carry on luggage collected - a dash down a long terminal... plane well gone by the time we got there. No one there to assist. One fellow said to just use the kiosks - no we said, as there did not appear to be any more flights to Las Vegas that night.
So off on a long wald to Concourse C to the United Airlines Customer Service Desk - another long queue. By now, we had been up for 16 1/2 hours.... 2 hour wait in line. Finally, as it was the airline's fault, they put us up in a hotel overnight and booked us through to Las Vegas the next day. First class tickets to Denver, then Economy Plus to Las Vegas. We arrived in Las Vegas around 3.30 pm, when we should have been there at 10.30pm the previous night, so nearly a whole day was wasted in airports and flying. Mind you, we had a spectacular view over the Rockies and the Grand Canyon on the flight.
We were booked to see Wayne Brady (does improvisation - very funny) at the Venetian. Now that is an amazing hotel and casino - check out this entry way! Matches anything we saw in the real Venice in 2006.
http://www.venetian.com/
Wayne Brady was very good. We had a 9pm show and discovered that dinner wasn't included. So we bought something from the food court. Horrible.......We just laughed all throughout the Wayne Brady performance - he is very talented. Prior to the show, Col filled out a form with name and home town, plus a suggestion for a song title. Col's suggestion was 'my koala just died' and it was used. Wayne made up this kid's song about having a koala... and at the end it became a backpack...
This wonderful umbrellas in the rain scene was in the shopping centre attached to the Venetian Hotel.
This wonderful umbrellas in the rain scene was in the shopping centre attached to the Venetian Hotel.
We stayed at the Luxor Hotel, in the pyramid itself. The lift (or inclinator) felt very weird, as it went up on the same angle as the side of the pyramid.
http://www.luxor.com/
This massive structure is part of the entry foyer of the Luxor.
And the Sphinx is also huge - outside the Luxor. It formed the tram terminal and the taxi drove in under the Sphinx for the hotel entry.
Even the gardens had interesting statuary. This one is next to the driveway. You can see how intense the sun was... esp after our balmy Scottish summer.
Next door was the Excalibur Hotel... again amazing. Looked like a Lego castle, except full size.
Inside the Excalibur was also very interesting. Col found the Dragon's Lair shop with everything dragon!If we go to Las Vegas again, we'd like to stay in the Excalibur or at least do the dinner show, which is a jousting tournament.
It was impossible to walk up the strip and not be amazed by the size and design of each of the hotels. Up on the next corner was New York, New York, with the Statue of Liberty in front.
There was even a Parisian hotel, with quite a large Eiffel Tower in front - not as big as the real thing, but pretty impressive, all the same.http://www.parislasvegas.com/
Tegan wanted us to get her something from M&Ms World - 4 storeys of everything M&Ms! http://www.mymms.com/merchandise/las_vegas.asp
We had some truly awful fast food in America - too fatty or too sweet, or just no taste. But we had a memorable meal athttp://www.billslasvegas.com/
Chicken taco salad with a side order of Onion Rings. Delicious! And we stayed for dessert, too.
We didn't get out to the Hoover Dam, which was a shame. But maybe there will be a next time! Las Vegas deserves a visit, as it is one of a kind - a massive theme park.
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