April 23, 2009

viva las vegas! (pt 3)

(Missed parts 1 & 2? Just click on the numbers!)

Monday.


Monday was far and away the best part of our trip. We had agreed to go on one of those time share presentations for Tahiti Village (a gorgeous property, FYI), which wasn't at all like we thought it would be! The sales people were so nice and so low pressure. Plus, time share is a lot different that what we thought it was (and apparently used to be). We had been promised $80 in gas cards, but when the manager found out Jason was a Marine, he tossed in an extra $100!! So we walked away with almost $200 in gas for two hours of our time.

For what it's worth, they currently run a promotion allowing you to go and stay at the resort for 3 days/2 nights for free if you go to the presentation. Had we known this before hand, we would have used it for our trip because they offer a free shuttle to and from the strip (which would have saved us almost $100 in taxi rides--not to mention the cost of the hotel!). ... Sorry, I was seriously just turning green at the thought of how much money we wouldn't have shelled out this weekend.

Anyways, we decided to stay in Las Vegas a little longer than planned, and boy are we glad we did! We ended up at one of those prize wheels that has all those little offerings on them. We got the chance to spin it (Hubbs let me do the honors), and we scored big time!

The wheel landed on a 6 day/5 night trip to New Zealand!

Yes, we'll have to pay for our airfare, but the accommodations are in a five star resort and we have until 2014 to use it! We were shocked. I thought Jason was going to faint (he later said he felt like he was going to "fall through the floor" so I was close). He's always wanted to go to New Zealand ever since he was stationed in Japan.

The reality has not yet set in. We'll be getting all of our info by Fed-Ex in about 30 days, but I still don't think it will set in until we're on the plane getting ready to take off. We have no idea when we'll be taking the trip (passports first would be a good idea...) but just knowing that it's in our future makes it so incredible.

Here we are in the complimentary limo they let us use for the rest of the day. It was truly the perfect finishing touch to a wonderful weekend that has literally forever changed our lives!



8 comments:

  1. Whoo hoo! Congratualations!

    Since you'll be so close, you might want to throw in a side trip and come visit in Australia?

    xx VV

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  2. yes come to Australia!

    New Zealand is super you'll have a fabulous time

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  3. If I may, being a seasoned Vegas traveler...if you know you are going to be in Vegas for 3 days and will be needing to go several places which will require taxi cabs...go ahead and rent a car for the weekend. Most 3-day rentals (if not for a holiday weekend like Easter) will cost you around 75 to 80 dollars. Plus you will have the freedom to do what you want when you want to do it!

    The only downside is that one of you has to be sober.

    Also, congratulations on winning the trip to New Zealand! That sounds awesome!

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  4. To my Aussie readers: I've seriously been considering it! Since we'll be so close, I think it would almost be nuts not to hop on over and do a bit of sightseeing!

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  5. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

    How thrilling! Have you had a chance to travel that far before?

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  6. Jitterbug: No--this is the furthest I will have ever traveled. Before this was New York. Hubbs has been to Japan and the other island coutries on Uncle Sam's dime, but he hasn't been down under yet either.

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