Good morning! I have a 7am flight. I was trying to get here the recommended two hours early but I didn’t make it to my terminal until 5:15. I am flying to LAX today with a five hour layover in Las Vegas. Once I arrive at LAX, I’ll be taking an Uber or Lyft to Long Beach and check in to the Queen Mary for the night.

These lines are horrible. I decide to use a kiosk to print out my bag tag and boarding pass.

I got in the wrong kiosk line. This was the shortest line. There is just one couple in front of me. The problem is they’re taking forever. I think they’re printing out boarding passes for the entire McCallister family (Home Alone reference). People who arrived in the other kiosk lines after me are already done.

I finally get my tag and boarding passes. The kiosk tells me to head to the bag drop. I ask the Spirit employee where bag the drop is located. She points to the long line I was trying to avoid. The line has now grown by about 50 people in the time I was at the kiosk. 

So let me get this straight. Printing my own boarding pass and bag tags didn’t save me any time? It actually cost me time? She asks for my bag tag and starts putting it on my suitcase. While she’s doing that another Spirit employee walks by and says “anyone going to Las Vegas?” I say I am. She takes me to a shorter line. There are only five people are in front of me. I am so relieved. I don’t think I would’ve made my flight otherwise.

Now I am waiting in line at security. The time is 5:48 am.

Who just has their toothbrush hanging out of a bag like that? That one is way overdue for replacement. I have mine under lock and key. I don’t leave my toothbrush out at hotels or on cruises. 

I get up to security and notice they’re body scanning people. I swear they didn’t scan me when I flew out of this airport in December. I did get scanned when I left Fort Lauderdale.

I get to the front of the line and he tells me and the three people behind me to skip the scanner and go through a metal detector. I guess I don’t look dangerous. Or they don’t want to see what’s under my clothes. 

I make a bathroom stop, pick up a $3 water, and head to my gate. They start pre-boarding just as I sit down. After a few minutes they begin boarding zones 1 and 2. I am in zone 2.

Due to the coronavirus issue I am taking extra precautions this trip. I have three ziplock bags in my pocket. One has the healthcare wipes. One is empty. One has a bottle of hand sanitizer. Before I sit down I take two wipes out and wipe down everything. I put them in the empty bag and close it. I pull out the sanitizer and sanitize my hands.

I paid a little extra for an aisle seat on an exit row seat with extra leg room. The spirit upgrades are inexpensive. I paid around $35 total for my two flights today and $25 for my direct flight home which is about $10 per leg more than I would’ve paid just to pick one of the other aisle seats without the additional leg room.

I don’t want to jinx it but we’re less than 5 minutes before the door closes and this is my neighbor.

Boarding complete!

Being on the exit row comes with a lot of responsibilities.

Due to the coronavirus issue I am taking extra precautions this trip. I have three ziplock bags in my pocket. One has the healthcare wipes. One is empty. One has a bottle of hand sanitizer. Before I sat down I took two wipes out and wipe down everything. I put them in the empty bag and close it. I pull out the sanitizer and sanitize my hands.

Twenty minutes into the flight I noticed the other guy on my row sneezes into his hand. I make a mental note not to touch anything he touches with his right hand.

10 mins later he starts wiping his nose with his other hand and arm. I make a mental note not to touch ANYTHING he touches.

The tainted guy in my row orders a double jack and coke. That set him back $18.50. That’s more than at a Saints game. I pay $15.50 for a premium double there.

A lady in the aisle seat one row in front of me but across the aisle is watching a movie on her phone. I guess she gets scared and screams–loud.

A guy wearing a retired army hat a row in front of her keeps looking back at her. I don’t think he realizes she’s watching a movie.

A guy up near the front of the plane screams even louder..like he’s mad. It sounded like he said “LEAVE IT” or “BEAT IT.” That attracted the attention of the entire plane.

The tainted guy in my row speculates the passenger who screamed may have Tourette’s Syndrome.

This gets me and the tainted guy in my row talking. We talk about sports until it’s almost time for our descent.

I hope I didn’t get too close. I don’t want him thinking he should shake my hand after we land. Both of his hands are tainted. I’m planning on making sure I have both hands full so I can avoid it.

By the time we stop talking I notice there’s a guy in the aisle seat across the aisle on my row. He’s sitting there working on his laptop. That seat was empty at takeoff. I wonder if this guy got permission from the two people who paid for seats in that row or if he just moved on his own. I know I’m enjoying the extra space and wouldn’t want someone squeezing into our empty seat.

We made it to Vegas. It’s crazy that we left Dallas at 7 and got here at 8. It sure seemed like it took longer than that.

As soon as I get off the plane, slot machines are right there.

I think I see a moving walkway!

But the moving walkway isn’t moving.

I found a working one on the way to the Uber lot!

They have a special garage for Uber/Lyft pickups. Taxi cabs are downstairs. I’m just following the Uber/Lyft signs.

The way it works here is all of the parking spots are numbered, once your Uber/Lyft arrives, they’ll text you the spot number to meet them at.

I just want to get to the closest spot on the strip so I can get out and walk around. I’m told that’s the MGM Grand. It was a $10 ride from the airport.

New York, New York

Excalibur

Bellagio

Caesar’s Palace

Paris

Flamingo

Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen

The high roller observation wheel at The Linq.

The wildlife habitat at the Flamingo.

The Mirage

Treasure Island

I’ve never eaten at a White Castle before. They do have a couple of Krystal’s in New Orleans. I’m expecting a similar experience.

They have a lot of these to get you over intersections. They are good for keeping traffic moving but it really slows you down having to do this on every block.

Another annoying thing is Uber pickup zones. You can’t just order an Uber anywhere. You have to go to an Uber pickup zone. Every time I went for an Uber, the pickup zone was out of my way and a place I didn’t want to walk to.

Finally I just hopped in a cab a couple blocks before the MGM pickup zone. It turns out taxis cost double the price of Uber here. That’s a $20 ride back to the airport.

I had the most annoying cab driver. He wouldn’t stop talking. He just kept asking questions. And with each question it became more and more clear he wasn’t paying attention to my answers.

so uh you here on business or pleasure?

just a layover on my way to LA

oh so uh you from here?

no just a layover 

oh uh so is this your first time here?

 no I was here once before

oh uh so you come here often?

I arrived back at the airport the recommended two hours before my flight. It definitely could be time consuming If they were crowded. I would say they were going through almost 50% or the bags at security.

The lady in front of me they took suntan lotion because it was too big. They took something else in a small bottle I thought he said hydrogen peroxide.

For me he checked my hand sanitizer to make sure it wasn’t water. Then he checked my wallet ninja to make sure it didn’t have a razor blade.

The lady behind me had crab legs they thought might be weapons.

I was through security with an hour and a half to spare so I wanted a place to plug in. I saw the Irish pub was in my terminal so I headed that way. Sometimes things look closer than they really are on maps. This was one of those cases.

$11.80 for a pint.

I made it to the plane. It looks like I may have an empty seat next to me again.

 

According to my iPhone app it was 1/2 mile walk from the gate to the baggage pickup.

I got my bag.

At LAX they have a fairly new system called LAX IT. Instead of having Taxis/Uber/Lyft pick you up at the terminal, they pick you up in a centralized lot you are shuttled to.

When I step out of the baggage claim I am right at the LAX IT stop.

I’m told these shuttles are supposed to run every five minutes. I just missed a shuttle when I stepped out and it was just under five minutes before I was on the next shuttle. Here is the ride.

When you get to the LAX IT lot, they have Uber on one side, Lyft on the other side, and Taxis in the middle.

When you order your Uber/Lyft you are given a zone and a PIN number.

The cars are lined up. You just go to the first driver and give him your PIN number.

It’s actually a pretty easy process. I like it. It’s a $49 ride down to Long Beach right now.

And we made it to the Queen Mary.

Inspiration is in port today.

I had a not so good time checking in. I booked this room on Hotwire as usual. Sometimes I’m able to pick my room type. Other times I’m not. When I’m not I’m usually prepared for the worst room type they have. In this case an inside room with twin beds and no window.

When I checked in they informed me their inside rooms don’t have air conditioning. I didn’t even know you could legally sell a hotel room that doesn’t have air conditioning. There’s nothing about it that on their website. I have since asked them to change their website. They ignored my request.

Here is a look at the room they gave me. They told me if I was lucky I might be able to get a fan.

You can imagine how warm it is in here with no air circulating. There’s no way I can sleep here. I’ll keep my stuff locked up in here and sleep outside on a bench before I’ll sleep in here.

I spent an hour on the phone with Hotwire. Finally they get the manager to move me to a room with A/C at no additional charge. Hotwire also issued me 40 hot dollars which can be used on any future booking with them made in the next year.

I feel comfortable saying I’ve made hundreds of bookings with Hotwire. I’ve only had three problems and they have always taken care of me.

Thank you Hotwire. But I can’t recommend anyone book this particular hotwire deal. If I return to Long Beach I will likely look for a different hotel.

Here is a look at the new room.

Long beach has free bus called the passport which will take you from the Queen Mary into downtown. I took it downtown and walked a couple blocks to a Mexican restaurant I had heard about.

I went with a Dos Equis Amber.

They have some big chips here.

Shredded beef burrito

After dinner I didn’t want to walk to the passport stop and wait on a bus so I just took an Uber back to the Queen Mary. That was a a $6 ride. My Uber driver told me it’s her dream to spend one night in the Queen Mary. I think she should dream bigger..Like La Quinta.

I headed to the observation bar on the Queen Mary where I had a local beer called Hanger 24.

Beer was quite a bit cheaper at the Mexican restaurant. I paid $6 for the beer at Super Mex. This one is $11. These are airport prices. A Guinness here is $11 before tax. At the Vegas airport a Guinness was $11.80 after tax.

I’m off to bed. Tomorrow is embarkation day.