21st – 22nd May:

My night may not have been good but the day certainly started very well!

Si and I went down to the casino for a little gamble before being picked up and transported to the airport. We went for the first machine we saw when we entered and it was one called Dragon Link Happy & Prosperous.

Well, Happy & Prosperous we certainly were. We put in $50 and spent $3 on our first spin and up came the Grand Jackpot ………….. $13,376.82 to be precise, approximately £10,000. You can imagine the shock! Especially for the guy who had sat on the machine next to us! Definitely a ‘if only’ moment! 😔

People immediately began to gather and to congratulate us. The senior managers came down too. In the past tax would have been payable but the U.S. and U.K. now have an agreement that no tax payable. We have won in the past, not as much, but we had to pay tax so arranged back then to get ourselves a U.S. tax code just in case but that is no longer necessary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We knew there was a limit to how much currency you are able to take out of the country before having to declare it so we did some investigation and found that we needed  to declare it to the U.S. Customs. When we reached the airport they sent two men up to the Virgin Check-in and completed the forms there.

When we reached the U.K. Customs and went through the ‘Red’ channel meaning we had something to declare it was very busy! Who knew there were so many honest people around! The Custom’s man told us to go on-line and declare it there! 🤷‍♀️So, we more or less just walked straight through. So no hassle at all.  

Passport Control and baggage check was a nightmare. Another reason never to fly to, or leave Las Vegas on a weekend. The queue was huge. It reminded us of Heathrow! Today everything had to be checked and they wanted us to remove everything shoes, belts, empty pockets and put the laptop in a separate tray. 

At least this year, my carry-on wasn’t chosen for an extra check.

We enjoyed our stay at the Park MGM. It is a non-smoking hotel but we didn’t realise that until we arrived.

Our chauffeur came to collect us and we had an uneventful trip to the airport. We’d been in the hotel all day and when we stepped outside wow, it was hot, hot, hot. 🌞🌞🌞Luckily the Tesla was lovely and cool.❄️

As it was a Sunday, Virgin Atlantic check-in had opened early. We didn’t know they did that but it made sense as Sunday is a very popular day for people to fly home.

We were a little disturbed when the lady told us she would have to allocate us our seats! What! I had booked them months ago. She soon realised she was confusing us with another couple.

We were surprised when she weighed the cases to find they were more or less the same as when we flew out. That’s because I managed to put most of our purchases in the small carry-on suitcase. That weighed very much more. Muscles (that’s me) had to help Si lift it into the overhead locker. 🛄💪😂

We had booked the same lounge as last year so that we had somewhere comfortable to sit while we were waiting to board.

Last year we were unable to complete all the hikes we wanted to do due to Covid. This year the same thing happened but this time due to the snow and bear activity as they were just coming out of hibernation.

We wanted to see the Tetons in the snow and we certainly did that although some of the days were a lot warmer than we expected.

We drove a total of 2,631 miles.

There were two highlights of the holiday, the first of course was the two days we spent on the Rocky Mountaineer. We had waited so long to experience it and was well worth the three year wait!

We hope to do the Canadian Rocky Mountaineer in 2025.

The second highlight was Si having his Schwabacher Landing photo published in the Cowboy State Daily.

Our flight home was uneventful and only took nine hours and twenty minutes. We were late taking off but managed to make up the time.

We noticed that there was a majority of men in our cabin. We think they must all have been in Vegas for a boxing match over the weekend. I sleep most of the way back but did wake up long enough to take these sunrise shots.

The window shades change to different colours according to the time of day the flight is. As this was night-time they were dark so giving the lovely colours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we arrived at Heathrow it was heaving with people but most were using the automatic passport control gates and by the time we had collected our cases the whole thing took us just 25 minutes.

Seems strange to be back home and for life to be returning to normal. We haven’t watched a television in two weeks. 📺

I don’t think I’ll be unpacking the suitcases today as we are very tired. The eight-hour time difference takes its toll! 😴

Thank you to everyone who took the time to follow our adventures, leave comments and ‘likes’.

Thank you too, to all the lovely people we met along the way for making our holiday so special.

As usual, it just remains for us to say ………. goodbye again!

arrivederci, adeus, hejdå, 再见, zoi geen, zai jian, tot ziens, au revoir, tschüss, shalom, ciao, じゃね, anyeonghi gasyeo, poka/Пока, adios, hejdå, tạm biệt, vΘleft, farvel, ya sas, tókša akhé,

and see you all on our next adventure. 😀 ✈️🚙🇬🇧🇺🇸