The Pre-Walk of Shame

Breakfast buffet at the hotel - $24.95. I don't think so, you mooks. Because I have lounge access at the airport.

Day 1 - Saturday August 22 - part 1

It was BobbyG Flambe Surprise day at last! And a beautiful morning in Toronto.

I felt like utter crap, but one has to get on with it, and after a long shower, that's what I did.

My flight was scheduled for 1:00 pm so I would have a fairly leisurely morning until then.

I packed up all my stuff, and walked over to the airport. No shuttle, no taxi, no bullshit, just a nice five minute stroll.

Security was pretty easy. I have Nexus and Precheck, plus I am Internet Faymus. Still, they always rip apart certain things for a hand check. But I know this and pull out the stuff they want to see.

The Portable Beaker kettle dealy. (The Little Giant is back in Florida.)

The 250g package of ground coffee.

The CPAP.

But it went quick, and the border dude didn't give me a hassle and before I knew it, I was up the elevator, ready to give the finger to Air FU Canada.

Normally, First Class domestic travel in the States does not get you lounge access. But because I'm crossing an international border, I get to use the lounge. United is a Star Alliance partner with AC. And United doesn't have their own lounge in Toronto.

And so it was that I waltzed into the Maple Leaf Lounge, ready to ravage them for all the calories I could.

There were definitely some breakfast foods and I made the most of it!

To really slam it home that I was the boss and a 'somebody', I took a chocolate chip cookie out of the lounge when I left. That's how Flusher rolls.

I boarded the flight to Chicago and off we went.

There was some turbulence due to a transient high El Nino low pressure front trough zone or some shit.

The transient high El Nino low pressure front trough zone.

We arrived in Chicago and taxied for about three hours, which is typical for the O'hareport. 

I was a bit disoriented in the terminal, but everything fell into place. The Bank of America was on my way to Terminal B, so I did the Pre-Walk of Shame.

The big tunnel led me to my gate which was across from the United lounge. Couldn't be easier.

I beeped in no problem at all and - holy moly, what an upgrade from the sad sack Maple Leaf Lounge.

I wasn't hungry, particularly, and it didn't matter. Look at what was on offer!

There was whole other bar of salad and other stuff, not pictured, and of course a full bar.

The flight to Vegas boarded on time, but it took forever to get off the ground. As we took off I counted 11 planes waiting to leave - the line we'd just waited in.

They changed the plane to an older 737 so the wifi was useless. No matter.

I decided to watch a movie - Project Hail Mary - which was quite long and kept me entertained through the flight.

And so did various distractions such as Buffalo Trace on ice, and the delicious meatballs I had for dinner.

There was some incredible cloud art on the way - just super dramatic views.

Before I knew it, we were descending into Vegas.

Which is where I made the stupidest blunder.