Considering the time difference, I was very pleased to make it through to 5.30am before finding myself wide awake. It had been lovely to sleep in a perfectly air-conditioned room.
After reading updates from both the England football and cricket teams, I set about trying to work out what the heck had happened at the airport yesterday with my booking, Avios points and use of Upgrade Vouchers.
The more I delved into it, the more complicated it appeared, and so I decided to try and recreate the whole timeline from the first booking through to the second change and yesterday’s debacle.
British Airways’ systems leave a lot to be desired, but eventually I got it clear in my head and then down on paper.
My conclusion is that actually they may have been right about the points, but only because they took the wrong amounts at the wrong times. I had assumed that they had completed the 16 plus different debits and credits on my account relating to this booking correctly, and so I went ahead and used the points remaining on other flights for 2027.
On the subject of taxes and fees, they have now overcharged me and also appear to have lost one of my Upgrade Vouchers.
I have now raised this as a formal complaint with them, in addition to the mess they created with the administration behind the booking.
Anyhow, after this we knocked on Neil’s door at 8am and found his room was identical to ours.
We decided that this morning needed a quick and relatively cheap McDonald’s breakfast. It was a small hike, but needs must, as eating in the hotel would be extortionate.
From here, we walked back to the Family Swimming Pool area and found the most shaded empty sunbeds left. It was already quite hot but bearable, as it was a drier heat than at home.
I managed an hour on the sunbed before I needed to move. I went for a quick paddle before heading inside to the pool bar area, where I sat in the lovely cool indoor space reading for another hour.
After this, I rejoined Karen and Neil, who had just returned from a quick dip in the pool.
At noon, we wandered back to our rooms via a quick look at the flamingos who, of course, live at the Flamingo Hotel.
My fashion radar was going off as we went back. There were lots of people wearing clothes barely covering anything, whilst equally we were passing people at the other extreme wearing jeans and fleeces.
I shook my head in despair many times.
After a quick change back in our rooms, we headed out to find a cheap lunch.
What I have already rediscovered is that nothing in Vegas is cheap. In fact, there is probably a 50% premium compared with anywhere else in the US.
It is a captive audience, and most people like us are not using a car here, so you end up paying whatever it is you need to pay.
To encourage tourists to spend more, drinking fountains are like gold dust and certainly not encouraged. However, we are already on a mission not to buy water whilst we are here.
Our plan was to go to the CVS Pharmacy to buy sandwiches and nibbles for lunch.
We did, but that still cost me £40 for the three of us.
The next challenge was to find somewhere, preferably out of the midday sun, to eat them. Again, this is not actively encouraged.
There are no seats on the Strip.
We wandered to the Paris Hotel next door. Beautifully themed, with lots of lovely seats – unfortunately, they were all in very expensive restaurants.
Even the majority of coffee shops here have little no seating.
Eventually, we found a bench at the back of the hotel and enjoyed people-watching whilst we ate our sandwiches.
To put prices into context, the closest café to where we were sitting was selling plain croissants for £12 each.
After this, we crossed the road, which in Vegas is a feat in itself. We had to use three separate bridges to get to Caesars Palace.
At least it was cool inside.
We went to the Forum Shops, which are mostly top-end designer shops. The sort that either charge you for looking in the window or pay millions of dollars per square foot and then have about four things on display.
Still, the setting is unreal, and the statues and Romanesque squares have to be seen to be believed.
Neil wandered into the large Nike store at the end just to see all the different World Cup kits before we tried to find our way out.
The whole place is very large and disorientating, and I am sure we passed one shop at least three times.
The only shop that did, and always does, interest us is called ‘Field of Dreams’ and sells genuine memorabilia.
From rock stars’ signed guitars to autographed movie scripts, it is fascinating.
The most expensive item I found was the genuine signed contract by Steve Jobs setting up Apple. The seven pages, nicely framed, could be yours for a mere $250,000.
Karen, by now, was caffeine deficient.
We had passed a Starbucks on the way in, but we gave up trying to retrace our steps. Instead, we left, crossed over the Strip and found one near our hotel.
I had a bucket of tea, Karen an even larger barrel of coffee, and Neil a grape juice soda.
After going back to our room for an hour, we headed back out for an early dinner, as we guessed we would hit the wall early tonight.
We all agreed to wander to Outback at Casino Royale, where we were seated immediately.
We all had the usual, which was very good, if, as expected, more expensive than we would normally pay.
As we were now next door to the Venetian Hotel, we had a wander round the shops and canal.
Neil was adamant that the gondoliers were actually paddling/punting until I pointed out the discreet electric buttons they were standing on to propel the boats along.
And, as we were walking around, both Karen and I “hit the wall” with the jet lag.
So, we made our way back along the now busy madness of the Strip, with all its colourful characters and miscreants.
They say whatever you want you can get in Vegas, but all we wanted to do was sleep.
Back in our room, Karen found she had completed over 22,000 steps, which is her new daily record with her bionic hip and one we would normally associate with a day at Epcot.
By 9.30pm, we were both sound asleep.
