The day is finally here. Tonight my son Mike, his girlfriend Terin and I are being driven across the border by Terin's kind mom to the fabulous, luxurious Comfort inn. (not) It is really a dingy place but it is five minutes from the Detroit Metro Airport so you would actually have to be TRYING to miss your flight in order to miss it. It also has a free shuttle to the airport and a free breakfast so you can grab a bite as you run out the door. I don't love doing this but it is nice not to have to worry about how congested the border will be. One time we were held up at the border by bomb sniffing dogs and I sure don't want to experience that again when we are heading for Vegas.
I was very relieved to hear that the air traffic controllers and the TSA security dudes will be getting paid normally for the next while. That is one less thing to worry about. However I am still plenty worried about the possibly of the hospitality workers going on strike in the near future. I have no desire to cross a picket line. I have never crossed one in my life before, but how do I get to my comped room if I don't? I am also worried about just trying to get around in Ubers and Lyfts with all the blankety blank construction and F1 crap hindering our every move.
I probably would not have visited at this time but the kids have bought expensive show tickets so we will do our best to make it a good trip. Fingers crossed that it all goes well.
Monday night October 2, 2023
Our drive from Windsor to Detroit Comfort Inn turned out to be pleasant and uneventful. By 7 pm I was safely ensconced in our Comfort Inn room. Mike, Terin and her mom went to have dinner in a restaurant and to shop, but I had no desire to go shopping so I stayed in the room. There is a restaurant at this hotel but I wasn’t that thrilled with it the last time I was here so I decided to bring my dinner from home. I successfully committed the crime of bringing a burger from my place to the hotel. ( You are not supposed to bring meat across the border.) I ate my in room meal and watched TV. The kids returned at 11 pm. I am amazed at their energy as always. We had a decent sleep but I was woken up at 5:30 am with Mike’s coughing fit. He doesn’t remember having a coughing fit and went immediately back to sleep. I could not fall asleep again so I just stared at my phone until about 7:30 when I figured it was reasonable time for me to get up and get ready.
A good thing about this hotel is that they have a free breakfast buffet from 5 am until 9 am. While the kids were getting ready I went to the buffet and enjoyed a banana, a yogurt, a mini muffin and half a coffee. I am always trying not to drink much on a day I have to fly.
Another good thing about this place is that they have a free shuttle to Detroit Metro every half hour. At 9:30 am we headed for the airport.
When you are on a shuttle you are dropped off in the garage. On one other trip the shuttle driver called ahead and had a wheelchair person meet me at the garage. That didn’t happen this time so you just have to mosey up to the baggage area. Thank goodness my suitcase fits on my walker so I can just roll it around. Once at Delta’s counter they now insist that you ticket your bags yourself and then drop them off at the counter. Another new skill to learn. I don’t know what was wrong with the old method where they ticketed your bag. Then I asked where I could obtain wheelchair assistance and they pointed to a phone on the opposite wall. I tried five times to get through but it would just ring and disconnect. Finally an airport staff person walked by and I asked for help. I saw her call someone on her private phone and then miracle of miracles, there was suddenly someone talking to her on the phone I was told to use. We sat there for a few minutes waiting for a wheelchair and a staff person went by and said that they were too busy but that she could get us a wheelchair if Mike could push me. So that is what happened. Terin pushed my walker and Mike pushed me. Of course we don’t know where we are going. It is a very confusing area. We located security and a kind gentleman helped us work our way through that. It is always a tense time because you are trying to take off stuff while watching that your stuff doesn’t disappear! We successfully completed that and then, of course, our gate was 45 miles from where we were at that point. Even locating elevators was a challenge in that place. I love flying Delta because of their seat back TVs but there seems to be a world of difference in how organized they are at Detroit Metro compared to how organized they are at Harry Reid.
Happily our flight was on time. We crowded into our impossibly small, uncomfortable seats, but at least we could watch movies all the way to Vegas.
Once in Vegas Delta had a whole lineup of wheelchair helpers waiting on the skybridge. No wandering around trying to get assistance. We had to wait a bit for my walker to appear because I had gate checked it and then we were off. I really appreciated the kind person ushering us all over the airport to get our luggage and out to the ride share area.
Ride share was bedlam as usual but it only took our UberXL about five minutes to appear. Driving from the airport to Flamingo was the most stressful part of the day for me because he took the highway and changed lines about a thousand times. I hate that but I wasn’t about to complain because I figure he must know the best way to go to circumvent the crazy traffic. Was very happy to arrive at the Flamingo check in door and was even more thrilled to see the Diamond check in was up and functioning. There was a gigantic line up at normal checkin so I was very relieved not to have to stand in that line. I was also pleased to get the room I had asked for, a newly renovated Premium King. Unfortunately it turned out to be the very last room at the end of several extremely long hallways, but that shouldn’t bother the kids. We inspected the room and made sure everything was working. Mike and Terin were pretty thrilled with their Premium King.
We were all tired and hungry so I asked the kids if they would walk with me over to Bobby’s Burgers at Harrahs where I could buy us a meal with my points on a one to one ratio. We had eaten at the Bobby’s at Paris on our March trip together and enjoyed their Crunchburgers. Enjoyed our meal there again. The kids continued on their own way which apparently included a hockey game that night and I made my way across the street to Mirage to check myself in there. I had two three day comped stays booked. I was very grateful I had tier matched my MGM card to a Hard Rock Icon card and once again avoided a gigantic line up. I could have gotten one of those one bedroom suites for the first part of my stay but not the second sadly. I didn’t want to have to change rooms. I asked if there was another room with a walk in shower and the clerk said I could have an accessible room but that the beds are lower than normal. I hate low anything…..chairs, toilets etc so I said to just put me in a normal room and I will do my best to deal with the shower. Once I got to my room I was happy to see that there was at least one bar in the bath/shower to hold onto. I had also purchased a stick on bar that someone had suggested I try but so far I am not having much luck in getting it to STAY PUT.
I dumped my belongings in my room and ate I few muscle relaxers and tried to go downstairs and play for a bit but my heart wasn’t in it. I was just too tired and ouchy. So by seven pm I was back upstairs and in bed. It sounds weird but it was 10 pm Windsor time and I am normally done for the day at that time anyhow. All in all it was a good travel day and we are all happy to be here.
A video of the Flamingo room
No comments:
Post a Comment