The Long Road to Vegas

Our Spain adventure has begun!   We are flying out of Las Vegas, a short 2 hour drive via I-15 from our home in Saint George, UT.  

However, if you've had an eye on the news, you might have seen that the flooding that hit the Phoenix area next visited us in southern Utah, resulting in Interstate 15 being closed due to flooding, washing out entire sections of the freeway, cars floating down the road, and other assorted mayhem.

We immediately got online to see about other (much longer) alternative routes  Also flooded.  

It's sort of the old adage "you can't get there from here".   We're in trouble!

It's 10:00 pm or so.  No flights from Saint George to Vegas that would allow us to catch our flight to Barcelona the next morning.

Oh boy.  Well, if we can't go south, then we have to go north to go south.  We book a ticket out of Salt Lake City to Vegas for the next morning, and decide that it's really silly to go to bed for just a couple of hours, we might as well just jump in the car and drive till we get tired.   'Cause it's still raining, so who knows what else we'll encounter along the way?

We go into high gear, finishing up the details of packing.  Good thing my bag was already zipped.  By midnight we are on the road, and we literally drove all night.  I say "we" very generously.  My Mr. C drove all night, I took a pillow and blank-y and slept a little.  I figure it doesn't do us any good if we're both crabby tomorrow.

We get to Salt Lake about 5:00 am, and the good news is that we can catch an earlier flight (6:00 am) to Vegas.  The bad news is that put us here in time to take the tram to gather our checked baggage, then take the shuttle bus to the other terminal, only to find that the good folk at Air Canada can't check us in until 8:30.  It is now 7:00 am, but the with the time change it's really 6:00 am here in Vegas.  Two and a half hours to kill.  Can't even go through security without checking in our bags.  So no breakfast yet, all the restaurants are on the other side of security.

Oh wow.  Then it just got better.  We finally get to check in, only to learn that the Air Canada flight that we drove all night to get here for is now delayed by three hours, which means we miss our Barcelona connection in Toronto.

Our 22 hour travel day turned into a 30 hour travel day ~ and now, who knows??

So here's the deal.  My first rule of travel, the very first thing you should pack is your sense of adventure.  And the next most important thing you need to pack is your sense of humor, just in case your sense of adventure fails you.  And then be sure to throw in a hefty dose of flexibility, 'cause there are days (like today) when you're gonna' need it.

So as I sit here in yesterday's make-up and underwear, waiting for breakfast and Air Canada Customer Assistance to answer (it's a50 minute wait-time), I'm really grateful I learned to pack those essential items. And I'm really glad I learned to throw my make-up bag, my toothbrush, a travel-size deodorant, and yes, even a pair of clean underwear into my carry-on.  Today I'm going to need it all.

Because in the long run, while all this is frustrating and exhausting and mind-numbing, none of it is earth-shattering or fatal.  It's all just part of the travel experience.

Stay tuned ~ I'll let you know how it all turns out!