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Today we left Horseshoe Bend behind after a fantastic, relaxing week. It was nice to spend time in a small town after touring the big cities and all of the people we met were really friendly and helpful. The same can't be said about the staff that work for Greyhound that we encountered today…more about that in a minute! We drove the car back to the airport and caught a cab back to Little Rock Greyhound Station - we were warned by the cabbie before we got out not to hang around outside the station because of the kind of people that are around there…sounded a bit ominous, and it was at this point that our problems began…
Laura collected our bus tickets from the guy at the desk, who didn't seem too sure about the bus we had to catch, but he told us that we'd be leaving on the 2pm bus. So we sat in the station, watched CNN (Congressman Weiner was about to resign live on TV) and waited…and waited…and waited…until about 2:30pm - still no sign of the bus. We checked with the information desk (the guy who'd issued our ticket had been replaced by a young girl) who told me with a puzzled expression that the 2pm bus doesn't run any more - the schedule had changed three weeks ago, but we were not told anything by Greyhound - no email, no phone call, nothing! The girl referred us to her manager, who was quite rude and said 'You won't be getting to Vegas today…no refund, nothing to do with us because it's an online ticket'. Nightmare! We decided to take a cab back to the airport, and after getting nowhere with Greyhound customer services over the phone (can get a refund, but will take 6 - 8 weeks!) we had n other option but to start pricing flights at the sales counters.
We shopped around a bit and even rang Dad to check online at home, but all of the prices were pretty similar because it was such short notice, so we eventually booked with Southwest for a grand total of $1058 - $800 more than our Greyhound tickets cost!! Once we'd got over the shock of having to pay out so much (time to use the emergency credit card!) we were rushed through the airport to our first flight from Little Rock to Houston. Our next flight was from Houston to Vegas via Austin, and we were cheered up on this one by one of the flight attendants, who had the whole plane in stitches with her announcements.
The best flight attendant in the world EVER! (all actual announcements!)
"Fasten your seatbelts…nice and low around your hips like Britney Spears wears hers…"
"There may be 50 ways to leave your lover…but there are only 6 ways to leave this aircraft…"
"Strip lighting along our dirty carpet will lead you to the nearest exit…"
"Although we do not expect a drop in cabin pressure, otherwise I wouldn't have come to work today, we do have fashionable oxygen masks that will drop down from above your head. Stop screaming and shouting at the person next to you and fit your mask. Please fit your own mask before assisting children and those acting like children, including your husband…"
"Just do whatever we say and you'll be fine…"
"This is a no smoking, whining or complaining flight. If you have any questions, please hold that thought…"
And, as the seat belt signs went off after landing, "Now get off!"
She also sang a song over the speakers to the tune of Rocky Robin about Southwest Airlines being "cheap, cheap!"
Arriving into Vegas at night was amazing and we got to see all the lights on the strip out of the window of the plane. When we got off the plane and into the airport the first thing we saw was slot machines - yes, in the airport! Welcome to Las Vegas!
We'd booked an extra night with the hostel that we're due to stay in tomorrow, so we caught an expensive cab there and were shown to our room by Larry. We met an English girl who was on the very last night of her trip and she gave us lots of tips for the rest of America and New Zealand. Downstairs in the lounge we met a few more people - Rafael and Natalie from Switzerland, Matt from Minnesota, Raz from Israel and a girl from Germany (who will remain nameless, because we can't remember it!) We found out that Raz is coming on the Green Tortoise tour with us tomorrow. We sat and played poker for a while, but we were shattered after the day from hell so we went to bed and crashed out! One of the most memorable days of the trip so far, if not for the best reasons…
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