Flying(Qantas) via Hawaii proved to be a good move, flight was over in no time at all, dinner after boarding then slept until breakfast time just before landing. We had a 3 hours stopover and after clearing customs we collected the bags checking them through for our next flight. Time for a coffee and bit of a walk around before we boarded for the next leg to Los Angeles, another uneventful flight apart for about half an hour of mild turbulence we landed at LAX at 9pm US time. I am starting to understand how LAX works now and we were able to locate the shuttle pickup area pretty quickly. Within an hour of landing we were in our hotel ordering a room service dinner.

Day two found us up early our flight to Las Vegas set to take off at 8.30am we calmly and without hassle made our way through checkin and security. We had breakfast before heading to our gate and boarded shortly after. We were seated next to a very nice Las Vegas preacher he was interesting and interested in Australia’s housing, economy and the cost fuel etc. He owned a modern six bedroom home in North Las Vegas worth half as much as our new unit.

Home for next 4 nights

After landing and a short cab ride we arrived at the Trump International hotel. Room 2623 was to be our home for the next few days and what a home it is!!

View from our room

We headed down to meet others arriving via limo at about 3pm. Sarah had a rough flight due to feeling miserable with a cold (made worse by everyone else sleeping so peacefully) but the others were ok (due to all the sleep, benefits of being shift-workers I guess)

Not an every day breakfast

We skipped dinner and turned in for an early night, decided in buffet breakfast at the Bellagio, I over indulged on the biscuits and gravy and the bacon. I love the bacon here and definitely no lunch needed.

We met Dan and Sarah and headed to the North Premium Outlet mall (suppose to be the best of the two $14 approx. cab ride). We made couple of purchase but Dan did very well after making do with no new clothes for ages so he could buy whole new wardrobe on this trip, he has made a good start on day one.

It reached 105F at 4.30pm with more on the way each day of our stay. Heat not worrying us even with the humidity due to evening thunderstorms threatening.

 

At 4pm Kim from Cake Designs delivered the cake I ordered before leaving Australia, it was perfect and Charlie was blown away.

The Birthday Dinner

The plan was to meet near Bellagio Buffet at 5pm, lucky for us Charlie had VIP status (This what happens when you book a penthouse apparently) which allowed us to use the express line (good thing as the other line snaked all around the casino) after being seat the eating began, just imagine every thing you like to eat and more, thats the Bellagio Buffet all for $36 per head. One word SENSATIONAL. The staff made a cake out of carrot cake slices and sang happy birthday for Charlie, he was embarrassed but every join in the fun.

Facts and Figures:
Flight 1 – Qantas QF3 good flight great meals 9 hours 45 mins
Flight 2 – American AA2592 food for sale – chicken salad very good $10.00 free drinks. No checked baggage charge
Hotel 1 – Hacienda Hotel and Conference Centre, $80 with $26 for two rib dinners, free shuttle to and from airport – other eating places nearby and suits for stopovers- Suited our needs
Flight 3 – Southwest – only airline not to charge for checked bags
Hotel 2 – Trump International five star booked through hotwire.com average $99.00 per night. Plenty of Pluses and just one Minus they do charge a resort fee of $25 per day which includes wifi, pool and day spa access. (not sure if it is optional)

89 – the number of time Charlie was carded for ID.
45 – the number times the staff member wished him happy birthday and said “aren’t you lucky you came today” as if it wouldn’t be planned