Off To Vegas

As Steven posted earlier today, it's time for another trip. A quick weekend jaunt to Vegas. Steven and I have been to Vegas many many MANY times, but I expect this time to be extra fun.

The news yesterday that Mike will be joining us has me super excited. First of all, this will be the first time that all four GuysWhoTravel have travelled together! But more importantly, Mike is a Vegas Virgin!! We other three GuysWhoTravel feel privileged and honored to be able to take his Vegas cherry. It's always fun to introduce Vegas to a newbie!

That said, even though we are on the trip together, we technically aren't TRAVELLING together. All four of us are on totally separate itineraries down. Steven already blogged about his mega-segment all-day run on United. Zak and Mike are on Delta and United respectively, with a more-sane 2 segment itinerary down, leaving from YYZ. 

My flight down has a bit of geographical backtracking involved (which will help towards getting my Air Canada Altitude Elite 50K this year). I'm flying YTZ-YUL-LAS on AC. For those not up on airport codes, YTZ is Billy Bishop Airport, more commonly known as Toronto Island Airport, and YUL is Montreal. YTZ is a small commuter airport very close to downtown Toronto. This trip will have a lot of firsts for me (and remember that I love airlines and airports which is why I care so much)

• First time on Air Canada Express out of YTZ. I've flown Porter many times out of there, so I'm very curious to compare both the ground and in air experience. 
• First time flying Transborder out of YUL. So it's a new Air Canada lounge that I get to try.
  
• First time flying into the new Terminal 3 in LAS. I've been to Vegas since the new terminal opened, but was flying carriers still in Terminal 1. 
  

My return is the Sunday red-eye, doing the same itinerary in reverse. Mike is actually with me in those legs. The benefit of flying LAS-YUL over LAS-YYZ is that it's a bit longer. The return to Toronto being an hour less leaves me feeling like a zombie. So hopefully that extra hour of red-eye flight will be enough to feel well rested. And of course ending up at YTZ over YYZ means a $10 cab ride home rather than $50. (That said, I can feed $40 into a slot machine so quickly that I'm not sure why the difference worries me. Although somehow gambling money feels to have different value than spending money -- I'm sure fellow gamblers out there can identify with that.)

Also super excited this trip to be trying out a new hotel. We actually have been comped this weekend at three different hotels -- Aria, Planet Hollywood and the Cosmopolitan. I've never stayed at the Cosmo before, so if the rooms and pool are as out of this world as their buffet, I expect we will be in for a treat. Watch the blog, Facebook, Intstagram, Twitter and Flickr for updates!