What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas (literally)

Today, my dad took their dog for a walk and lost his phone. Not exactly a riveting story and not related to anything else I've blogged so why am I telling you this?

You may have noticed I've not blogged for a while as quite a lot has been going on but news of my dad's mishap made me think about our Vegas trips. In particular three things that happened that ties in nicely with that tiny anecdote and the title of this blog.

It was midway into our first trip and we decided to do a bit of shopping. Actually it was quite a lot of shopping. The pound to dollar was good and so Jane bought quite a few Pandora charms and some stuff from Guess. I kept it classy and bought a lot of Vegas souvenirs as at the time we didn't know we'd be returning every year. We also decided to get our favourite giant bags of Cheetos Puffs, Pizza and Burger Flavour Pringles and random flavours of Oreos all to take back to the UK.

Of course interspersed with all this shopping was eating, drinking, gambling and drinking. Eventually we ended up at Monte Carlo and spent more time on the slots. and we lost more than we'd bargained for........

Sitting at the bar at Diablos Cantina randomly watching an episode of Lazy Town (why this was on I have no idea) something felt a bit odd - more odd than Lazy Town and then it hit me (just before Jane probably would end up doing after I told her). I was missing a shopping bag. A big shopping bag. A big shopping bag with lots of stuff in it.

I did what I usually do in situations where I've realised I've messed up and went into a blind panic. The plan was to retrace our steps and return to Monte Carlo as that was where my inebriated brain last remembered seeing it.

We looked everywhere, going back to the machines we'd played and hoping, just hoping the bag was still there. I spoke to security and they said to return the next day to see if anything had been handed in. Feeling like utter crap and totally gutted we carried on with our day the best we could.

The following day we returned to Monte Carlo and unsurprisingly nothing was handed in. We thanked security and decided to put it down as just one of those things and to buy all the stuff we'd lost again. You'd be right in wondering why so calm? How can you afford all the stuff again? Is there a twist where you'd hit a hand pay so used that? No, there was no hand pay and we're definitely not rich. But there is a twist.

What we'd forgotten upon the realisation of losing the bag was that just before we'd gone to Monte Carlo, Jane had took all the expensive Pandora charms, Guess Jewellery and Watch and put them in her oversized handbag. All the sweets and crisps (and sadly the souvenirs) we're in the bag that I'd left at the slots. So whoever saw the bag and noticed a few Guess and Pandora boxes and bags was in for one hell of a surprise to find just Cheetos, Pringles and some cheesy Vegas souvenirs.

The lesson learnt here is I already know my memory is terrible but a Matt who has been drinking is even more useless and forgetful and so you'd think I'd have learnt my lesson but no and this leads onto the next very short tale.

I should wear glasses, but I don't. When its Summer or I'm in a sunny place like Vegas I should wear sunglasses, but I don't. I buy a pair, put them on, get bored and take them off. Then I buy another pair and at any opportunity I take them off. I'll probably buy another pair but I wouldn't count on it.

I haven't got a thing about buying sunglasses but I do have a tendency to take sunglasses off, put them down and forget about them, especially if drunk. One pair lasted just 5 hours one trip and so I only buy the cheapest of cheap and I'd hazard a guess Vegas is home to at least six pairs and SeaWorld Orlando definitely has a pair of mine too.

Luckily, everything I've lost in Vegas hasn't been too expensive, it's not like I've lost my mobile phone.......

If I've not learnt my lesson after this event then there is no hope for me. Jane will say there's no hope as one of my strengths is not learning from my mistakes.

The last one happened during our last trip. As you all know I also vlog and use my phone a lot especially for slot play. It was near the end of the day and we'd gone to the Hooters restaurant in the OYO casino. After a nice meal and a few more drinks we went onto the casino floor, I went off to play and film and Jane found a machine or two she liked and stayed there.

Later on in the night I go up to Jane and see she has a bonus so I get my phone out to record it. The phone is in my pocket as always, nope. Ah yes it's in my camera bag, nope. Oh for crying out loud it's happened again. This time I go straight to security, they're really friendly, they say they'll keep an eye out but I know they can't do much. I go back to Jane and explain what security said. The phone has a lot of vlogging footage but it also scarily has most of my life and information on there. If I need to I can remotely wipe my phone using Jane's and the phone has a fingerprint and PIN lock so it's pretty secure but it's so inconvenient and there really is a lot of footage I'll lose.

As my head continues to spin Jane calmly asks if I've retraced my steps. Somehow I remember the last machine I played and go straight to it. Bearing in mind around 20 minutes has now passed it's not looking hopeful but as I get to the machine, leaning up against the main screen is my phone. I can only think the flashy lights kind of camouflaged the phone from being spotted. (The fact OYO wasn't overly busy may of helped too). I think I may have even told this story in the vlog of that very night.

We all know Vegas is the home to far more lost things than just Pringles and Sunglasses and I hope it's been a bit of fun reading about my bad luck/incompetence. Fingers crossed we can all return soon and share more experiences.