Honolulu – San Francisco – Las Vegas, review of Aria Hotel, Las Vegas

I woke up early. Way too early. I somehow managed a shower and managed to cram things into my bag. I found the elevator. I tried to speak French to the check out people. “Aloha, j’voudrais faire le chcekout.” Um, non. Coffee. Stat. Medical need.

Hawaii Coffee Company was closed. I mean, yeah, it is 4:30am, but does the Geneva Convention on torture not apply here? They are denying treatment to someone with a serious medical condition. I’m calling Obama!

Quick…and chatty…taxi to the airport. Great thing about 4am is it’s 10am in DC, and friends back home were pinging me to make sure I was still alive and functional, and about to appear in Vegas for a bachelor party. Oh that. Yes, because I hadn’t put my body through enough in the last 5-6 days. There’s a bachelor party to do.

Got to HNL, Pre Check was closed, but went through the elite line with a special pass that meant I didn’t have to take shoes off or take laptop out, so colour me a happy camper. Less than 5 minutes from taxi through security – can’t beat the aloha. DO YOU HEAR THAT DULLES?  HUH?!

Went to Starbucks in search of emergency supplies…and there was a line. A very long line. Filled with what appeared to be half of America’s armed forces. I’ve never minded a line so little.. I bought coffee. I supported the troops.  Yeah…moving on…

Got to the gate, and it was time to board!

United Airlines flight 72
Honolulu, Hawaii (HNL) to San Francisco, California (SFO)
Depart 6:28, Arrive 14:32, Flight Time 5:04
Boeing 767-400ER, Registration N76054, Manufactured 2000, Seat 1D

Nothing like a glass of bubbly Jeff…I mean, it’s grape juice…to wake you up!

So what was for breakfast?  Well, there was fruit, which was decent and semi-fresh. There was grape juice with bubbles, which was also pretty good. The carb roll was good for 2 bites as usual until I felt the need for an emergency dental appointment. Then, the main. The seasoned hockey puck, I mean sausage, was a total no-go as usual. The potatoes…well I’m not sure what’s in them…it could be crack or heroin, but I inhaled them. The eggs? Flavourless as usual, but I kept telling myself they might contain large amounts of protein, so forced them down. The tomato…well, I ate it because it was colour. The mean was far too tan and yellow without it.

SFO was SFO…just lovely.  Had about an hour to kill, so after inhaling another quad iced espresso at Peet’s…I headed to Uncork’d to see what was on tap.  It was Lagunitas (I’ve forgotten exactly which one) but it was delicious. I had a nice chat with a cougar from Tucson who was off to Portland to see her son from her 2nd marriage (of four) get married for his third time.  Good luck to them!

The unusual thing about this flight was the standby list.  There were over 80 people standing by for first. Glad I’d bought a D fare on this segment, which was less than $100 upfare from the coach ticket. Well worth it. First was sold out nearly two months in advance. I don’t want to give Jeff any ideas but…

United Airlines flight 587
San Francisco, California (SFO) to Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS)
Depart 16:00, Arrive 17:35 , Flight Time 1:35
Airbus A319, Registration N805UA, Manufactured 1998, Seat 2B

Not too much to say. Really fun LAS based crew. We had a great chat about hockey in Vegas and their prospects for a new team. I got invited to do dinner with them when I’m there in January for a hockey tournament. They were a hoot. They poured way too much wine. I arrived in Vegas far less than sober. It was not going to be pretty. At least I resisted asking my seatmate where he was staying…because believe me it was darn close to happening…

The grooms-to-be landed just a few gates away from me on Delta so picked them up, and we attempted to find their bags. Yes, some people check bags. Apparently, on Delta, you have to take a shuttle bus over to another terminal to find your bags. It was a wreck. But eventually we found them, it it was time for Vegas….