Homeward Bound!

It’s Monday morning and we’re headed home! The alarm was scheduled for 4:20 am, but I woke up about 5 minutes early. I slept surprisingly well, but am still looking forward to our own bed. We had an Uber pre-scheduled for 5am, which meant not a lot of time for dilly dally. There was enough time to snack the last of the cake! We were dressed and out the door by 4:45. Unlike the Venetian, finding the Uber/Rideshare pickup point was super easy. There was no Starbucks or other coffee shop open, so no pick-me-up today. 

As we waited for our driver, a random Uber driver was trying to give us a ride, but for double the cost. No thanks dude, we’ll wait for our guy. Our driver arrived and we were off to the airport! It was only a quick 10 minute drive. I’m super happy that we dropped the car off last night. The rental car drop off location is noticeably far from the actual airport, and involves catching a rotating 15-minute shuttle ride to the actual airport. Just one less thing to deal with in the early morning. 

Good thing we dropped off the car yesterday. We hopped in the curbside check-in line for Frontier, which was about the same as the inside line. When it was finally our turn, it was taking a little longer than it normally does. The attendant reminded us we didn’t need to pay for bags because we’re military. We didn’t really pay for it, we just used a voucher that Frontier had given us because of our canceled flight in March. Turns out, you shouldn’t use those either. That voucher was causing problems for some reason. They sent us inside to see the manager...eek!

These are the reasons I like to get to the airport a little extra early. While we were at the inside counter an older gentleman was at the counter next to us who needed to reschedule his flight. He arrived 30 minutes before his flight. He seemingly had no idea that he had to arrive much earlier to make it on time. It was truly baffling to him. We wondered when the last time he had flown since travel had been like this for probably almost 20 years. Anyway, the woman that was helping us told us that even though we didn’t select seats, the system was trying to charge us for our seat selections. I also couldn’t check in online because there was a credit hanging out there for something. The system wouldn’t give us boarding passes or a baggage tag. We were going to get a manual baggage tag, which made me a little nervous, but with a non-stop flight I’m sure the bag would get to where it’s supposed to. She was also on the phone with someone a few times, lots of typing, a handful of confused looks, and the occasional “it shouldn’t do that...” but eventually we got a real baggage tag and boarding passes. She did have to print the boarding passes a second time to ensure they said TSA Pre-check. Which was a great thing, the regular security line was much much longer than the pre-check line. It took us less than 5 minutes to pass security. Phew! 

We had just enough time to snag a better breakfast than a few bites of cake. One of our breakfast sandwiches was on par with everything else we’ve been eating this week. The other was good, except neither of us noticed there was goat cheese on it. The first bites (and all the subsequent bites) were not good. Goat cheese? More like Gross cheese. We shared both and suffered together. Once breakfast was done, boarding had just begun for our flight. Perfect timing! Neither of us guessed the animal on our plane - today we had Trixie the Fox. The manager that was helping us at the ticket counter was nice enough to give us an exit row to help accommodate Ross’ long legs. And no one is in the third seat on our side of the aisle. We can stretch out, at least a little!

The flight went without incident and Colleen was ready for us as soon as our luggage arrived. It's a wee bit colder here than in Nevada! We were excited to get home and see our kitties!! They seem to be happy to have us home too. It didn't take long for them to snuggle up with us. We unpacked right away and even got laundry started. As much as we want to relax, it felt good to get that out of the way. We downloaded all our wedding photos, Ross is working on all the 360 photos and wants to dive back into roulette strategies. Before we left for our trip I promised Ross that as one of my first acts as a new Baker, I would bake cookies when we got home. I almost forgot, but was promptly reminded! I had to find a flourless peanut butter recipe because all my all-purpose flower had to be thrown out before the trip. Flour mites! Yuck! Luckily I use my bread flour fast enough to avoid those pesky little creatures. The dough is currently chilling in the fridge. 

Although vacation is always nice, especially one where you get married, it is nice to be home. I swear one of our next vacations we will stay in one place the entire time. I think Ross will appreciate that! I also appreciated that Ross did all the driving on this trip! I don’t think either of us liked the frequent smell of marijuana when we walked around the strip. That was something we could have definitely done without. 

Overall, we had a wonderful trip! How could we not?! We got married!!! How does it feel to be married? Pretty much the same as before, but I still have to learn to sign my new name. I love it. 

Overall Trip Stats:

Steps: 95,921 (definitely more, but we didn't record much on Thursday!)

Miles Driven: 894

Ubers Taken: 7

Money Lost Gambling: $213

Visits to Starbucks: 4

Did Ross Lose his Sunglasses: NO!

Weight Gain/Loss for the trip: I don’t want to know

Oh look....it's snowing. Welcome home.