The views from the air were insane! While not my first time flying, I had never been in a large commercial plane before. I was on my way to Las Vegas for quite the casino-hopping trip right before things started to get busy.

While it would have been nice if I could have made this trip quite a lot earlier in the year that is just not how the cards played out. I did not even know I was going to Vegas till about a month out before the trip when I got invited along. I was told there would be lots of walking and there sure was.

When I was much younger, I had flown on a small one-engine airplane with a couple of other people. I rather loved that thrill of takeoff and flying over lakes and people looking like ants down below.

I ended up getting dropped off at quite a massive airport. As we drove in I looked at the many parking garages and they all looked full. Many cars seemed to be circling hoping to find a spot to park before missing their flights.

The only thing I was missing was some chewing gum. I thought for sure that would not be an issue. Turns out they no longer sell any due to “damage caused” to the airport. That mistake of not getting any beforehand would end up taking a full day for my ears to pop properly so I could hear better.

I thought the prices at the airport were bad. I had no idea they would almost look reasonable to the prices of everything in Las Vegas. Unlike the airport, however, there were at least some options if you knew where to shop around for basic things like water once in Las Vegas.

The airport was so big I had to ride a tram out to where you wait around for the airplane. There was even a flight that left late taking up our sitting area, so everyone had to wait around a while before some space was made. Thankfully the next gate was empty when I got there.

I thought I'd check out how the line system works before it was time for our boarding. While some people had paper tickets it seems everyone knows nowadays is just using a phone for their boarding pass. You then stand in line at the range your number falls between.

Many people seemed to have paid for early boarding or booked early enough to not be at the back of the line. Thankfully I was not the last on the plane. It did, however, get a bit full by the time it was my turn.

The ticket I was told was non-stop. It turns out it was “non-stop” to Las Vegas with an option of stopping off in Texas. Turns out we would be stopping in Texas. So much for the nonstop. I also found out quickly I did not care for taking off or landing in larger airplanes. Next time I'm making sure it’s non-stop with no options of a stop being added if needed.

I lucked out and got a window seat. I also went on the airline I did since they are known for having a little more legroom. I was just thrilled I had enough knee space. I also kind of got the idea there are certain cheaper airlines I would be quite miserable on.

It was also a little disappointing that this flight did not get meal services. At the very least since we were heading to Texas first before going to Las Vegas they would end up giving us two free snacks and drinks instead of one.

It did not take long before we took off and the views were already getting amazing enough to start taking some photos. It felt like we just kept going up and up till around it was time to start descending for Texas.

I must have lucked out with how the clouds were forming on this part of the trip. They added to the overall coolness of things. I was kind of shocked at just how blue some of the waterways were. Along with how many beaches there were.

It felt like there was no time at all before we made it to the coastline. For a short little while it felt like we would be following it. We then took off over the open water.

You never just stop and think how many little islands there must be out there. I was kind of shocked when we flew over a couple of different clusters of islands. One of them had some buildings on it. The rest it was hard to tell if they were empty or just abandoned.

Meanwhile, my ears kept popping repeatedly. Not good enough to hear like normal. Just enough to catch some words of what people or a staff member was saying as they were passing by.

My view was then overtaken by some thicker clouds. I tried to access some eBooks I had on my phone. That is when I found out despite downloading the eBooks that there was some kind of internet connection required. As the free Wi-Fi popped up an error message when I went to open any of the eBooks. At least I was entertained for a while by the views before noticing this.

By the time we were more than halfway to Texas the plane started to turn quite a lot and was heading down. I was expecting things to be a lot smoother than they ended up being. They had to keep their seatbelts on the light for most of the trip.

I had never flown with turbulence before so I found it to be kind of a strange feeling to be up so high in the sky and feel like you bumped into something you could not see. At least it was not that bad yet in this part of the trip.

Before landing some of the clouds parted and it was not hard to guess we were now in Texas. I checked the in-flight map just to make sure. It’s just crazy how maze-like a lot of the fields and even buildings are.

It was not long before we landed in Texas. Less than half of the plane got off before they let the next group of people who were also heading to Las Vegas get on. It was at least nice not having to switch planes as we were somehow running a little late by the time we got there.

Despite how quickly they tried to make the process. We were at that airport for over an hour. I at least got to watch some planes getting refueled before we took off again.

Overall making this stop instead of just going to Vegas must have added about two hours to the trip. Since we were not taking a direct path to it we had to slow down to land. It also takes a little while before hitting around the maximum speed you are going to be going.

It did not take long before I decided I was not a big fan of being on a plane for more than six hours. I also don’t care about having to ascend and descend twice in a single flight.

I was hoping to get some cool photos of the mountains while we got closer to Las Vegas. It was however quite cloudy again. On top of that having the blinds up for the window felt like I was getting baked by the sun. I was not the only one commenting on how hot the windows were getting,

Once landed I did the only reasonable thing one should be doing once, they get to the Las Vegas airport. I lost some money quickly in a slot I then made a mad dash for the door to get into the line for a taxi to the hotel.

I only had carry-on bags so there was no need to stop at baggage to pick anything up. There were so many people getting off airplanes that it did not help much to try and beat any crowd to a taxi. At least the lines moved fast. It was also a flat rate to go anywhere on the strip including any stops you wanted to make along the way for the taxi services that picked me up.

Final Thoughts

So far I love flying a lot more than that train ride I did last year. It also seems I only enjoy traveling for so many hours a day before the fun of it kind of wears off. That is perhaps something I'll keep in mind for any other major future trips I might take one day.

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Information

Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my personal experiences in the real world away from the computer at home.