WTF … are we still in Las Vegas

At around 3:15am, I thought I heard a knock on the door. After a few more knocks, I got up to see who it was. It was Karen, telling me that Hawaiian Airlines had sent a text at 1:47am informing us that our 7:59am flight to Maui had been pushed to 4:00pm.

I grabbed my phone and iPad, and we headed over to Darlene’s room. The three of us tried to figure out another way to get to Maui earlier. We spotted an 8:55am Southwest flight and called Air Canada to see if switching was possible. We explained the situation, but the agent told us she couldn’t move us to Southwest since they aren’t an Air Canada partner. She said the airport agents might be able to, but the only option she could offer was a United flight connecting through San Francisco—and even that had an unclear departure time. In the end, we hung up, arranged a late check-out for noon, and decided to reassess later. Karen and I returned to our rooms for a bit more sleep. At 6:29am, another text arrived: the flight was now delayed to 5:45pm.

Once everyone was up, we headed down for breakfast. Afterwards, we sat by the pool and discussed how to make the best of the day. And since a certain someone—who shall remain nameless—became President of the United States, we haven’t set foot in the country. Yes, Hawaii is technically part of the U.S., but let’s just say they don’t exactly adore him there. Still, since we were stuck, we figured we might as well visit some familiar places we’ve missed. The hotel kindly stored our luggage while we ventured out.

We grabbed an Uber to Kohl’s—oh, how I’ve missed that place. Everyone bought something. Then we walked over to Target for a little more browsing. I knew there was a Cracker Barrel nearby, so we headed over for a hearty lunch since we had no idea when we would eat again. Partway through our meal, we received two more texts, just 18 minutes apart: the flight had moved first to 8:00pm, then to 10:00pm.  At this rate, we figured the flight was destined to be cancelled. So we came up with a new plan: why not drive to Los Angeles and fly to Maui from there? There are far more direct-flight options, and the drive is only five hours. Karen found a 9:00am.  United flight for the next morning, and everyone was on board. But we still had to convince Air Canada to change our flight.

Karen and I headed to the airport while the others returned to the hotel. Just as we were leaving, yet another text came through: the flight was now scheduled for 11:30pm.  We arrived at the airport at 2:15pm and spoke with Air Canada agent Jennifer. We explained everything, and she spent nearly an hour trying to get us on the United flight. Ultimately, she suggested we call Aeroplan to handle the change.

So we called Aeroplan, explained the entire situation once again, and the agent tried his best. He eventually said he’d need to contact ticketing, with an estimated 30-minute wait time. We warned him we might get disconnected and asked if he could call us back if that happened. He took our numbers and placed us on hold. Meanwhile, Karen walked down to Hawaiian Airlines to see what they could do.

Still on hold, I went to find Karen. After a lengthy conversation with the Hawaiian Airlines agent—and her promise that the flight would leave tonight—we decided to stay on the original flight and abandon our L.A. plan. The agent gave us ten $12 food vouchers and hotel accommodations for the rest of the day. Thankfully, we could stay at the same hotel as the night before. Just before 4:00pm, as we were driving back, a new text came in at 4:07pm … the flight was now moved to 6:00am the next morning. We both kind of expected that.

Back at the hotel, we were even able to return to our same rooms. Now we needed a plan for the evening. We considered Maggiano’s Little Italy or Olive Garden, but there were no reasonable reservation times. We thought about finding a buffet, but apparently buffets are going the way of the dodo in Las Vegas. In the end, we headed to In-N-Out, where we enjoyed their famous burgers, fries, and milkshakes.

After dinner, we visited the Bonanza Gift & Souvenir ShopsWorld’s, where Joan picked up a souvenir T-shirt. From there, we walked to The STRAT Hotel, Casino and Tower, where we finally tried our luck at the slots. Darlene was the big winner, walking away with $50. Now everyone can officially say they’ve gambled in Las Vegas—it was the perfect end to our night.

We got back to the hotel around 9:00pm and went straight to bed. Tomorrow’s another early morning. Fingers crossed!