Well, Las Vegas proved to be quite a stumbling block in my weight loss journey. Although our room was about 150 yards (that’s one and a half times the length of a football field) from the elevators, and I managed to make several trips a day back and forth from the Casino or the Pool back up to the room, my extensive walking up and back down the Bellagio hallways proved to be no match for the awesome food that exists in Vegas.
I’ll admit, when it came down to my vacation in Vegas and any attempt, what so ever, of exercising any semblance of self-discipline (as far as dieting was concerned), I was off the wagon.
And when I say “off the wagon” I mean “Seriously ‘Off’ the Wagon”!
I did the Vegas Buffett Breakfast almost every day (with seconds), I snacked on high carb snacks, I drank high calorie Fruity Drinks by the pool, I had burgers and french-fries for lunch, and ate at 5 Star Executive Chef Restaurants for dinner and even ate the dinner rolls with the whipped butter.
Needless to say, I gained about 12 lbs in 7 days…
I think it would be a gross exaggeration to say that I had a few moments of weakness. In simple terms, I was down-right self-destructive and I loved every minute of it.
Yesterday was Day One (back home) and back on the diet. This morning I was down 3 lbs from yesterday morning. If this keeps up, I should be back to normal by Thursday.
Keep your fingers crossed.
But what happened in Vegas isn’t really the purpose of my blog today. I would like to address the thieves that work Security at the Airport in Las Vegas. I’ll continue…
Our returning flight was scheduled to leave Vegas at 11:55 Am (PST). We were up early, got packed and had breakfast in the room. We arrived at the Las Vegas Airport with plenty of time to spare, spent a considerable amount of time waiting to check our bags (due, mainly in fact that no one behind the counter was in a hurry), then proceeded to the TSA/Homeland Security, ie: Airport Security Screening.
We took off our shoes, emptied our pockets and removed jewelry. Stepped through the detector machines (without incident) and proceeded to the totes to replace all our belongings. No problem…
No problem, that is, until one of the Security ladies spotted, specifically, my wife’s Chanel No. 5, along with a few other dubious items of interest. I never realized that Chanel No. 5 was such a threat to air travel, but apparently, it is.
My wife was carrying a big bag that she could keep more than just her purse. Let’s face it, when traveling, it’s a good idea to carry emergency items, such as Aspirin or Imodium, just in case any airport or airline food disagrees with you. These are items that you don’t want to be packed in your bags in the cargo bay of the plane at the time you decide they are needed.
Common sense, right? Apparently not, if you’re with the Las Vegas Security.
They went through my wife’s travel bag, one item at a time.
First, they questioned her about her very nice gold cigarette lighter. I was carrying a cheap Bic lighter which was not a problem, but the Gold Lighter from the MGM Grand raised questions.
Then they wanted to know what the Imodium was for. My wife said “Do you really want to go there?”.
I was tempted to remark that we were going to spike the pilot’s coffee in an effort to force the plane down due to pilot constipation, but I quickly realized that these people weren’t playing with full deck’s (so to speak) and any attempt to interject humor into the situation could be a problem. I kept my remarks to myself.
Then they asked why the Chanel No 5 was still in it’s box. We explained that it was new and was safer (from breakage) while still in the box. We were told, “No Boxes” and that it had to be in a Ziplock bag. But (and here’s where they tipped their hand), we could leave the Chanel No. 5 with them and they would let us go.
Okay… So we’ll put it in a Ziploc bag. Only problem was that they didn’t have any available in the Las Vegas Security Area.
They had to send my fat ass racing back out of the secure area (with all items I had just carried through Security, computers and all) through the airport, to a shop across the terminal, and back through Security.
For some reason, leaving all that stuff with my wife, who remained in the secure area, was unacceptable and not an option.
So I returned, Chanel No. 5, safely ensconced in a Ziploc bag.
By this time it was about 11:35 AM. They asked what time was our flight and we explained that it was at 11:55 AM and we were really cutting things close.
At this point, they decided to send my wife (who had already passed through Security Screening) for a “Pat Down”.
We were finally released to head to our plane at about 11:56 AM…
Guess what! We missed our flight…
The next flight was at 7:25 PM… Seven and a half hours later and I was madder than a wet hen!
Hours later I was self-soothing in one of the many bars in the Las Vegas Airport. I shared our experience with the bar tender and he said, and I quote, “They pull that crap all the time. If they see something they want, they make it hard to make your flight, unless you leave it with them”.
He also explained that most other Airport Security Areas have Ziploc bags available in the event that something needs to be placed in there. But not in Vegas. They love to send people racing across the airport to find one.
Here’s what I thought was really stupid about the whole thing. Once the Chanel No. 5 was placed in the Ziploc bag (along with the Imodium and some tiny sample bottles of Tabasco Sauce, which everyone knows that Tobasco Sauce is a threat to airline safety) they let us put it back in the bag that my wife was carrying.
So what’s the point? We could just as easily take it all back out, once on the plane.
Well, we know the point. Give them what they want or you miss your flight.
As we were going through Security, for our later flight, there was a young man who was stopped and being questioned about something he was carrying. I said "Good Luck making your flight if you don't have any Ziploc bags with you".
As we were going through Security, for our later flight, there was a young man who was stopped and being questioned about something he was carrying. I said "Good Luck making your flight if you don't have any Ziploc bags with you".
I think the next time I go to Vegas, I’m going to take a huge box of Ziploc bags and give them away right outside of the Security Area for free.
That’ll show ‘em…
Copyright © 2011 Denning Key
Copyright © 2011 Denning Key
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