A Short Vacation

  Be sure to read the update for this is in my "The Vegas Vacation Nightmare" blog.

 

Hello. Today I booked a vacation package to Las Vegas for the upcoming 2021 Battlebots Tournament. While I do enjoy the show very much, I also took it as an opportunity to try to conquer one of my biggest fears. I have a terrible reluctance of flying. As many of you know, I am waiting for the travel ban to be lifted in Japan, so I can spend a month in Tokyo. I had already known that my anxieties would be high on such an extended trip, and I didn't want to be a wreck by the time I landed there. So as a trial run for this trans pacific vacation, I am flying from a nearby town to Las Vegas. It will have 2 stops, so there will be 3 separate flights to get to Vegas. First stop is Washington DC, then to Chicago, then on to Vegas. The 3 flights will be consecutively longer, giving me a chance to adapt to flying. It will also give me a bit of exposure to the horrors of all the travel bullshit like added fees, TSA protocols, sitting and waiting, more fees, airport food, more fees and surcharges, and the rigors of take-off and landing multiple times in a day. Fortunately I will only be taking a carry on bag for this trip.

 I will only be away from home for about 6 days, which is no problem. I don't have trouble being in other places at all, just the gliding 5 miles above the planet. So I'll be in Vegas for 4 days, enjoying the sights and doing stuff. The flight back will be about the same as the first flight. Vegas > Chicago > DC > home. Hopefully I will be more accustomed to flying and the 12 hour flight to Tokyo will be alright. That flight will start off about the same. My home to DC or Chicago, then overseas. That will be a 20 hour stretch, a carry on bag, and a big suitcase.

Had I not had any plans to visit Tokyo, I would probably not be making the trip to Vegas either. I need some flight time to get used to it first. I have much bigger plans for Tokyo. The Vegas trip is just a test run, so to speak. It also looks to be a while before I can fly overseas, but my funds will be back to where they are now.

8/14/21: Went over my itinerary and have tweaked the return flight to only 1 layover in Chicago. It's just over 2 weeks away now, and I'm already getting jittery about the flights. I need to conquer this fear, and I will do it!

8/17/21: 2 weeks to go! I'm still nervous about the flying, but on the bright side, I refuse to watch Air Disasters on TV until after I get back home 😁

8/23/21: I have about a week to go to make sure all the loose ends are all tightly bundled up. So far so good, but still not much looking forward to the flight things.

8/30/21: It's getting down to the wire, and I'm getting the flutters in my gut. We are also expecting the remnants of Hurricane Ida at the same time. There won't be any hurricane force winds or anything, but we'll be under flood advisories. Things are just about packed and wrapped up already for my luggage. I'll update tomorrow as we're expecting stormy weather, and hopefully it does not delay or cancel my itinerary.

8/31/21: OK, I'm about 12 or so hours from leaving for the airport. I think all my preps are done and everything is taken care of. It's just a waiting game now. I am all scrubbed, trimmed, shaved, clipped, combed, brushed, and shined up. There is still 4 hours or so before bedtime and I'm just biding my time. I'll probably end up playing guitar and watching TV mostly. I don't know if you folks have any fears, but this is probably it for me. This is probably about the only thing I'm afraid of. I've flown before and I was stressed the whole flight, and that was probably 30 years ago. Remember, you are the one calling the shots in your life, so step up and breech those barriers. You will be stronger because of it. You will thank yourself later, and your confidence will rise. Although I will be doing all of this alone, I carry the memories of my Lovely Sweetheart to comfort me through this. I will be listening to her Angelic voice for most of the trip, and it will help greatly. I'm very thankful for this.  As far as the weather goes, it looks to be rainy and possibly heavy rain for the first half of my trip. As soon as I arrive in Chicago, the weather woes will be gone, as well as 2 of the 3 flights I will endure. I just hope there are no delays, as my layovers are less than 2 hours per stop. I will need to eat somewhere in there. I'm not interested in paying $4 for a little bag of chips, or $9 for a beer in-flight. I'm not cheap but them are movie theater prices. Besides, I'd rather spend it on something more fulfilling while I'm there.  I may or may not update this before I land in Vegas. We'll see. 

9/5/21: The update for this is in my "The Vegas Vacation Nightmare" blog, so no need to expound on this one :)