Holiday in America in 2007 (Las Vegas)

I had to take the plane going to Las Vegas from L.A. My original plan was to take Greyhound but I searched in the Internet that it will take 8 hours to arrive Vegas via bus. I made a reservation on April 1 with Delta Airlines. I had a problem booking with the said airlines because I learned that they don’t honor credit cards issued in the Philippines when purchasing tickets online. I called up their 1-800 and spoke to the operator who I could sense as a Filipina working in a contact center in Manila because of her obvious accent. I was advised to go to the Delta Airlines ticketing in LAX instead and pay cash. I asked her if I can pay using my credit card (just testing if she really knew information about Delta). She politely said “No” and I must pay in cash in the counter when I get there. I got confused because I know in America, they prefer payment using credit card.

On April 2, Delta Airlines representative called up. This time I knew she’s a real American. She informed me that they are cancelling the scheduled flight because their plane got a mechanical problem. I asked her if she could accommodate me with an earlier flight scheduled. She transferred me to US Airways booking instead and with an earlier flight. Ahmere Figueroa brought me to the airport since Noel is not home yet.

I arrived the Delta Airlines ticketing counter and had my card swiped. That easy! Therefore, the operator or the contact center agent for Delta Airlines maybe not fully aware that companies in America prefer credit card.

It’s my second trip to Las Vegas. The first was when I celebrated my birthday in 2002 with my friend Noel. My first complain is I couldn’t find my luggage. It took me 30 minutes before I found it since it landed on the wrong conveyor.

My friend from Hawaii Bengie Baruela picked me up then with his friends. After having dinner in an Italian restaurant (yet Italiannis is still better), we went straight to Golden Nugget Hotel. Afterwards, we checked-in Freemont Hotel where later on I found out has no Internet access. That’s the main reason why this blog is late for 3 days.

It is so hot in Las Vegas! I got a little sunburn. I had sleepless nights because I was with the vampire. 🙂 We would go to the hotel at 3AM and would wake up at 7AM. There’s no internet access in the hotel where we were staying so I had to go to Main Street hotel to sit on the hotspot.

On the last day, a couple of hours before Bengie left to the airport with his co-tour mates, he asked me if I wanted cash. I said, if the cash would come from his wallet, I will not accept it. If it comes from the machine, I will surely not embarass him. In other words, I took the money. Bengie won more than USD1,000.00. I got a 20 pct of the whole pie…:)

I didn’t sleep the whole day during my last day. I was feeling so dizzy and hungry. So I had to leave downtown and took the taxi going to the airport early. I requested for an earlier flight schedule. The rest of the hours I spent in the airport eating, Internet, and sitting on the carpet.