Leaving Las Vegas - McCarran International Airport
I usually make my annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas toward the end of the summer or early fall when the rates for flights and hotels tend to be more acceptable for my travel budget. Last year was no exception as I booked a roundtrip flight on US Airways for my wife and me from Miami to Sin City.

If you have ever been on a flight to Las Vegas, you probably noticed that everyone was having a good time aboard the plane, laughing and joking and explaining just how they were going to hit it big at the casinos. Being in a good mood, I hardly paid attention to the delay at the check-in line or the very crowded terminal. We were both excited about our little vacation and did not mind going through the usual scrutiny and delays that are part of airline travel today.

We boarded our flight, relaxed and had a pleasant and uneventful trip to McCarran International Airport in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada. Our 3 day vacation seemed to go by so fast and we had to pack up and leave that Sunday. That is when the harsh reality of airport travel finally set in. We were about to experience an almost 20 hour day just trying to get home.

Our return trip on US Airways was on an 11:00pm flight that had a short stop in Charlotte, North Carolina before it was scheduled to arrive at 9:30am the next morning in Miami. Already in a somewhat foul mood because the hotel made us check out at 11:00am and leave our bags at the desk the rest of the day until it was time to leave for the airport, we arrived the suggested 2 hours before flight time at McCarran International Airport.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I paid the cab driver, grabbed our bags and headed inside to the check-in counter. Waiting in a slow moving line for what seemed like forever, but was actually only 20 minutes; we checked our bags and then checked ourselves through security. So far, so good. It was right around 10:00pm when we encountered the first bit of bad news. Our flight was going to be delayed 30 minutes due to a minor mechanical problem.

Not wanting to sit around and twiddle our thumbs for an hour, we found our way to a bank of slot machines and proceeded to throw $100 away in to the one-arm bandits. When we returned to the designated waiting area we heard a bit of a commotion. An angry lady was screaming at the attendant saying she had a ticket for the flight which apparently was in conflict with the airlines records.

Finally, at 12:00 midnight, we boarded the plane and sat back ready for our long journey home. Three hours later, we were still sitting on the runway waiting to take off. A sudden wind storm had hit the Las Vegas airport and the conditions made it impossible to take off, backing up hundreds of planes. The airplane's cabin was hot, everybody was getting real cranky and no one was telling us anything.

Finally at about 3:30 in the morning, we took off. Neither of us were able to sleep more than a few minutes and by the time we managed to get back to Miami, it was 7:00pm and we had not eaten dinner. We were so exhausted from our crazy day, we both collapsed on the bed and fell almost immediately to sleep. I can't wait for our next trip to Las Vegas!

Ty Cobb is an avid traveler and blogger. He loves music, people and how the two intermingle. He is an international travel insurance guru and can be found on Twitter @bloggingcobb.