Vegas baby!

Mum, Jamille and I wake up excited to be going to Vegas. After lying beside the hotel pool and having mimosas in the hotel bar, we get an uber to LAX smugly thinking 'we got this'.

I put our details into the check in kiosk and up pops the message, 'you cannot check in more than 24 hours before your flight'. Yep, that's right, someone booked the plane for the wrong day. Ok, that someone was me.

Panic sets in. There is no Spirit Airlines desk to help us. An employee shrugs and tells us they moved all that offsite a while ago. Online searches reveal that we can change the flight but it will cost $2000. With limited options, we decide to hire a car and road trip it to Vegas! Apparently, it only takes most people 4 hours. It took us 7.

Setting off from the car hire place, I take a couple of deep breaths and drive off in our SUV in the right hand lane. So weird. Mum, who holds onto the side door when I drive at home, is clearly terrified in the back seat. I don't need to turn around to feel the tension radiating from her. Jamille navigates from the front passenger seat as we merge onto an 8 lane highway. And that's just for the traffic going our way. People are merging in and out of lanes like rally car drivers. Which would be more dangerous if we weren't all going 10 miles or less an hour. It takes us 2 hours to even get out of LA.

Eventually though concrete jungle highway gives way to desert scenery and we even dare to put some music on. Stopping at a gas station for energy drinks, slot machines are a sign that we must be on the way to Vegas. The drive in to Vegas in the last hour is pretty spectacular. The sun had set and all we could see were winding lights of cars far into the distance. My eyes were hanging out of my head from tiredeness and I may have crossed the side line a few times only to be rebuked by the rumble from the sleeper lines but it only added to the surreal feeling.

Arriving at the Venetian, we happily tip valet to park the car and take our bags up. We line up at the VIP desk we are escorted to and Mum hands over her passport with a $100 note tucked inside. In response to his query, she smoothly says, "that's for you. How about an upgrade?" He gives us the nod and gets busy organising it. Nice one Mum.

Arriving in the huge room, we quickly investigate the facilities. There is a telephone in the toilet. You know, for those business calls that just can't wait. The mini bar is well stocked but weighted so you get automatically charged if something is lifted for a few seconds. Jamille

& I freak out about actually touching anything in the mini bar but Mum's not fazed. We polish off a bottle of champagne in celebration at avoiding certain death from my driving on the wrong side of the road. It's Sin City, Vegas baby!