Wilson: Great layover location still elusive

Leave it to my dad to note financial disparities of an industry.

While overseeing a paint crew for the state government, he was accused of being inefficient with the paint used to mark the roadways. An

Wilson

investigation was launched, with numerous state employees taking three weeks to check his work. At the end, his supervisor brought him into the office and said the higher-ups were right. Their three weeks of work ruled that he was wasting one-10th of a gallon of paint. It’s still his favorite story.

I emailed a flight itinerary for a trip I’m taking to see the family this summer, and he noticed the return flight was double the price of the departing flight. “They’ll get you here cheap, but you’re going to pay out the nose to go home.”

Later on in the conversation, we talked about the layovers on the trip. One layover in Salt Lake City on the way up, one layover in Denver on the way down. This technically means I’m visiting Utah and Colorado, but it sure doesn’t feel that way.

“Well, you could have always done Las Vegas,” he said.

Wait, what’s that?

“Yeah. When your mom and I flew down there after Christmas, it was $65 per flight. It only flies Thursday and Sunday, so Vegas kind of traps you there for the weekend.”

I immediately thought of the current trip I booked, and thought, “If I can make a better layover through Vegas, maybe I can save $100 and cancel the trip I’ve just booked inside the 24-hour window the travel site offers.”

Maybe I could fly in from Albuquerque on a Sunday, and make it there in time for a departing flight to Montana. Didn’t work. Not Amarillo either. Every flight landed in Las Vegas in the evening, and every flight left Las Vegas in the morning.

Mental note: Next time I book a trip from New Mexico to Montana, I’ll have two choices — three-hour layover at Denver or Salt Lake, or three-day layover in Las Vegas.

I think I’d prefer the three-day layover in Las Vegas. I’ve yet to visit an airport with prime rib for $3, cheap drinks or world-class music and comedy acts. Instead, there are cinnamon buns and frozen yogurt with “you’re not leaving the airport” upcharges.

Plan far enough ahead, and I could have a good visit with the family sandwiched between a pair of three-day layovers in Vegas. I do want to go back there, as I haven’t visited since I was 18 and had my parents chaperoning. My main entertainment was taking the flyers that advertised “escorts” and pestering my Dad with it while pretending not to know what “escorting” meant.

Then again, I don’t know how much I’d enjoy a pair of long layovers there, because I’m not big on gambling. Maybe I was influenced from the start, because my first experience was as a kid who couldn’t gamble. I took in the sites, and looked at these palaces that were being built and replaced, while saying, “There have to be a lot of people losing to fund this.”

I’ll still check travel sites for my next vacation, and see if I can find that winning combination of cheap plane tickets and just enough time to enjoy the non-gambling aspects of Vegas. But just like an average slot machine, I don’t like my chances.

Kevin Wilson is managing editor for the Clovis News Journal. He can be contacted at 575-763-3431, ext. 320, or by email:

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