Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Las Vegas Fiasco

Recently I planned a trip to visit my grandchildren in Lost Wages (Las Vegas for those too young to get the joke). I responded to a special from one of those online coupon companies; BuyWithMe, which is now out of business, (thank goodness), where I purchased a luxury bus ride on Lux Bus Service from Los Angeles to Las Vegas (which is also now out of business, thank goodness).

Since I did this once before, on Megabus (another company that later went out of business on this route), I knew what to expect: A 5 hour relaxing trip to Sin City where I could read, watch a movie, or just nap, without paying any attention to the road or the speedometer. Best of all I did not have to endure the humiliation and degradation of going through airport screening. Now that they have the full body scanner, I know that next will be the full body cavity search.

Back on point; I was to arrive at a pick up point near the airport for the Lux Bus pick up on a Saturday morning at 8 am. I arrived at 7:45 AM, and there was no bus waiting then, or at 8 am or 15 minutes later. I started my phone calls and tried to see what I could find out on my lap top computer. Unfortunately, I could not get an Internet connection so I had to call my wife at 8 am on a Saturday morning. This is not a good idea. Do NOT call my wife early on a weekend morning, but this was an emergency. Did I miss the bus? What could have happened?

What my wife was able to find out after she got on the computer at home was that Lux Bus Service suspended travel, meaning they too were going out of business. I spent 30 minutes driving to the bus pick up point, wasted another 45 minutes trying to find out why my bus was not there, and now had the choice of not going at all or driving 5 hours on my own. AND, it's not like this bus service didn't have my contact information to let me know that they were suspending service. They had already confirmed my seat by email and had my cell phone number too. They just had no class.

Fortunately, I made the trip to Las Vegas safely; had a wonderful visit with my grandchildren; and got home safely. A five hour drive is not all that different from driving to the airport for 45 minutes; parking and getting to the terminal at least an hour ahead of time; taking a 50 minute flight; waiting for the luggage on the other end for 20 minutes; and then getting a ride out of the airport. When all that time is added up, it's about 4 hours to fly, or 5 hours to drive. The advantages are: I do not have to leave my pocket knife in my checked-in luggage; I can take my personal fork in the car with me; I don't have to wait to get my luggage back when I land; and most importantly I do not have to go through the humiliating experience of passing through airport security.