Vegas - Wednesday

er, well, I guess I should start with the fact that it was after midnight when I went to bed. You know how it is...all the stuff you want to get done before you go away. Emptying the garbage, washing up the last few dishes, cleaning the litter box, clearing up any last minute laundry, packing as much as you can. With the super early morning, I also showered and flattened my hair because there was no way that would be happening at 4am. Ya well, I thought I'd planned it out to be done by about 10pm, but it didn't work out. Such is life.

Then my alarm went off at 3:45am. Oh yippee.

I was a good girl though. Only the one snooze I'd planned and then I was up. Put on the clothes I'd laid out, and minimal make-up. Packed up the final things into my suitcase, did one final check through the house, pet the cat, and I was out the door by about 4:20. Blech.

Thankfully the drive to the airport at that time of the morning is a breeze, so I was there in just about 20 minutes and the Park N Fly wasn't busy at all. I got a parking spot right away and the van was actually right there waiting for people. I was in the terminal handing off my luggage by about 4:55, which was 5 minutes earlier than I was aiming for.

Of course, security was also ridiculously quick due to the lack of people at that time of day, so I was through and to my gate much earlier than needed. (So annoying that you have to be there so far in advance of your flight even at that time of day!) I read my book for a while and ate my Kashi bar, but I inevitably gave in to Starbucks because hell, if I have to be awake and waiting I might as well be caffeinated! (I had planned to wait until I got to my layover in Montreal, but such is life.)

My flight was at 6:20 and thank God it left right on time.

Upon arrival in Montreal, I had to clear customs. It was a breeze time-wise (connecting flights get to budge the line!), although for the first time ever the guy really grilled me about what business I was in. And of course I didn't have business cards or anything to prove it because we had new ones made and they were with my bosses in California. In the end I guess he decided that if I was going to make something up, it wouldn't be that I work for an internet advertising company as a sales assistant, and that I would be going to Vegas for an attorney conference. LOL.

After that I just had a bit of time to kill, so I found food and then just wandered and then vegged at the gate. I had planned to try to do some work, but they wanted my first born for internet access and it was wicked slow so I scrapped the idea.

I tried to sleep on the flight, but let me tell you....the plane seats were the worst thing to happen to my screwed up neck/arm yet. OMG. Not comfortable. Pain-freaking-full. Argh. Mostly watched TV, wiggled in my seat, and chewed my Mentos. I tried Robaxacet but it didn't do anything for me.

Arrival in Vegas was easy-peasy. It's a cool place to fly into. It was only about 11am there so it was interesting to see everything in daylight from above. It's sooo cool how level and spread out the city is, and how it just abruptly stops at the foot of those desert mountains. The Strip obviously isn't as glamorous to see during the day, but it's still a wild view because of the hugeness of those buildings compared to the rest of the city. Luckily, luggage was fast, and I got a cab right away (usually I've flown into the other terminal and the cab line takes forever).

The hotel wasn't quite so simple. Our bosses got us to use Travelocity to stay at Circus Freaking Circus. Obviously not my choice, but I'm not arguing with the people that are paying. (FYI: this is the fourth time I've gone to this conference and prior to this we stayed in the hotel that was hosting the event....The Wynn or The Bellagio...so this was a total let-down.) It's not even the fact that it's not a fancy hotel....it's the fact that it's way hell and gone at the far end of the Strip (past the Stratosphere) and it's a family hotel so it was crazy kids and tour bus central. Annoying. Oh well.

My issue was that they didn't have my reservation. Ya, the hotel said they never got it from Travelocity and asked me to call them. Nice right? So I spent 20 minutes on the phone...where of course they blamed the hotel...and then had to wait for the hotel to confirm everything and finally get me settled. At least they were super friendly and got me an early check-in.

I had planned on showering before meeting the new bosses, but because of the wasted time checking in I'd only been in my room about 10 minutes when they arrived and called to go for lunch. So a little freshening up was all I got. Thankfully the new guys are really nice and we are informal so casual was all good. We met up and just went to one of the hotel restaurants.

After that they went about some business so I went to have a nap and a shower. My nap was mildly successful but I got interrupted twice....once when Kristoff (coworker and friend) showed up and called my room to let me know and again when DBF's folks called to set up a time to meet for coffee (ya, they were on vacation in Vegas the same time I was there...how odd!). So I gave up on the nap and decided I might as well just start getting ready, which worked out because we decided to go to our work event a bit early and the timing wound up being perfect.

Kristoff and I headed over to the Bellagio where our bosses had already gone and set up our booth and started looking around. Nice. We've set that booth up more than our fair share of times, so it was great to see the guys take the initiative and just get it done. Besides, I was in a party dress and strappy heels! :)

As usual, the cocktail party was quite nice and super fun. Open bar! And a whole table of fresh crab, shrimp and salads. Yummmmm! We met up with a couple of our clients who are always good fun and good business, as well as some other exhibitors from previous years who are also fun and helpful with networking. We were there for a few hours, then when they closed that up, we headed into the hotel for some shared sushi and a couple of cocktails. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one that was tired after that....so we headed back to the Circus and I was tucked into my bed by midnight.

Hmmmm....so with the time difference I was basically awake for 24 hours. Sweet.