It's Alan's blog day today. If Sarah stays awake long enough to add some comments, they'll be in red.
After a great night's sleep, aparting from listening to the strong wind outside, we woke up this morning only to look out our hotel window and see snow flying in every direction and the wind blowing a gale. I didn't have that good a night. The pillow was very soft and with my cough, I felt like the pillow was smothering me ... or maybe that was just Alan trying to shut me up. The temperature was around zero, but the wind chill was minus 8. Our checkout time wasn't until midday, with our flight scheduled for 3.35pm, so there was no rush to leave the hotel early. Most of the morning was spent packing and constantly checking the Calgary airport website to see if our flight would be going ahead. More and more flights were being cancelled as the morning went on but luckily they all seemed to be for Canadian destinations, not for American ones.
We checked out of our hotel and started driving toward the airport, which we had carefully written down directions for. It was midday and the snow was still coming down and as we drove further, the wind was getting stronger and the snow was falling heavier. As we approached the airport we were desperate to find a petrol station as we had to return the car with the tank full and the light was on indicating that we were almost empty. Finally we came across one so I got out to fill the tank. Of course Alan was inappropriately dressed and I had to lend him my waterproof jacket. The wind was so unbelievably strong that it was almost blowing me off my feet and the snow almost froze my hand off while holding the petrol nozzle.
I asked the guy working there where we had to go to return our rental car and he gave me directions. After a few wrong turns, we found our way to the Hertz section but we couldn't get in as this was not the return part, but instead it was where the cars are cleaned. Fortunately a Hertz employee was about to drive to where we needed to go, so we were able to follow him.
So we made it to the airport safely and were thankful to get inside out of the freezing weather. We checked in quickly enough and then went to the Travelex office to change the last of our Canadian money into US dollars. The useless woman behind the counter was about to give us $340 instead of the $112 that it should have been, when another lady working there corrected her. Her excuse was that she couldn't count the money. You've got to wonder how she gets a job there in the first place.
Next up was passing through US customs. Alan forgot to mention but at this stage, we still had our luggage. They tagged them but we needed to take them with us to customs and after we cleared that, we put them on the conveyor belt to go to the plane and they have to be there 60 minutes before the flight. After a brief wait in the queue, we were processed by the customs officer. Sarah was photographed and finger printed as usual with no problem, but when it came my turn, the dude hesitated while my finger print scan was being taken. I was then lead into a secondary screening room and told to wait. There were 10 other people waiting in the room and the customs officers in there didn't seem to be in any sort of hurry. Around 40 minutes later and still only 1 person had been cleared to go from that room. At least another customs officer comes in and starts calling for Mr Gordon. He called a couple more times and after nobody answered, he rechecked the passport and said "Oh sorry, Mr Munro". I was taken back outside to have my finger prints scanned again. This time they gave me some hand lotion first, because my fingertips had become quite dry due to playing in the snow and therefore the computer system couldn't match them up to my original print 2 weeks earlier. Anyway, after using the lotion they seemed moderately satisfied that I was in fact who I said I was and I was allowed to pass through customs. It was thanks to me that he got out of secondary screening. I had been standing outside against a wall for ages with customs employees walking past me and ignoring me. Then this one guy looked at me and smiled and I smiled back and then asked him how long secondary screening takes. He said it depends on how many people but he'd go in and check on Alan. He came back out and said it was just a problem with the fingerprints and would see if he could get them scanned again.
As we were on the tarmac preparing for take off, our plane had to have the wings and tail de-iced. We've seen the consequences of icing on the wings on Air Crash Investigations previously. We managed to take off despite the heavy snow and driving winds, so we were on our way to Vegas. We both managed to get some sleep on the plane and before long we had landed in the 32 degree warmth.
We picked up our rental car; this time we have an almost brand new Ford Focus, and then drove to our hotel. Apparently the Planet Hollywood hotel is notorious for having the lowest check in of any of the big hotels in Vegas. Well, the rumours are true. The staff behind the counter wander about as if they're lost and when you actually get there, they don't seem to be in any sort of hurry at all. One plus is that we've been upgraded to a suite. Except we were supposed to have a higher room with a Belliago Fountain View and we are on a lower floor with a not so clear view of the fountains. Oh well. However when we came up to our room, the housekeeping was in there still servicing the room and she said she would be another 25 minutes which did not impress us at all especially as it was almost 7.30pm. We dumped our bags in the room and just went for a walk through the casino before returning to our made up room. We have been given the CHiPs suite. CHiPs was a tv show back in the 80s about a couple of motorcycle cops in Los Angeles. I used to watch it back then, and by chance, I happened to watch an episode of it on the plane today probably for the first time in well over 20 years. What a massive coincidence. Anyway, there is pictures and memorabilia from the show in this room which is kind of cool.
We decided to go to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner, which is in Caesars Palace, just a little way up the strip. About 40 minutes of walking later and we made it there only to find the queue well out the door. Darn! So we turned around and slowly trudged back through Caesars until we came across a food hall. Sarah wasn't too hungry, but I had a decent Chinese meal.
Back in our room now and Sarah is trying to get photos of the Bellagio fountains from our window. I haven't decided whether I'll go downstairs and try to win some money this evening.
Our main job tomorrow is to find 2 new suitcases as our current 2 are falling apart and may not survive the trip home. There is no 'may' about it.
Alan forgot to mention that we did 1,894 kms in our hire car in Canada.
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