The Vegas Trip. But I really mean, the Garth trip. Part One.

    We are creating family traditions, slowly but surely, as the four of us get older, we are making new memories and going on adventures.  Some are here in Calgary, some in Las Vegas.  Which should come as no surprise to most people.  M and I sat down at the beginning of the year and made some plans to pay down some debt, fix up some things arond the house and start saving for a trailer.  Our 10th wedding anniversary loomed in the spring and short of a little trip to Canmore we were going to lay low.  But then I got my bonus from work.  VEGAS BABIES! 

    Did some shenanigans with WestJet with some credits and vouchers and we're booked.  We tell the girls about a month in advance and start our calendar countdown crossing off the days until we leave.   It falls on our May long weekend,  a week before the US May long, and it shouldn't be too busy.   We look at pictures from last year, we talk to death the things that went well last year, and what we want to do this time.  We are sure that we will spend a lot of time at the hotel pool, and we know for sure that our kids don't have the energy to do the long ass walks that the Strip is famous for.  We google, we research, we buy tickets ahead of times to things that we know we want to do for sure.  And just like last year this trip revolves 100% around the kids.   Oh, except for my once-in-a-lifetime-front-row-tickets-to-Garth-Brooks-where-he-held-my-hand.  Kids... right, the kids. 

    First things first we like staying in new hotels (although we do have a favourite where we have stayed more than once) for a few reasons.  Every hotel there has a different theme so lots of new things to explore.  The pools vary so much from place to place and the food options run the gamut also.  The shiny lights of the casino floor is less of a draw for us now than say, does it have cheap eats and a fun outdoor area.  Price is normally a second factor, but location on the strip is becoming more important.  Especially with little ones.  They can walk for a while but location in Vegas is nearly as important as when you're buying a home. Last year we had a stroller (this trip we refused, but there are moments where we regretted that decision)  How far you can walk will unequivocally determine what your daily plans will be.  The Strip is huge, 6.8kms as per Google, and it's hot.  The shade is infrequent and the A/C is only when you venture inside the massive hotels.  These properties are mind-blowing for people who've never visited but just to get from the sidewalk out front into the cool buildings could mean a ten minute walk with littles.   We are very mindful of the hotel amenities and we book accordingly.  Treasure Island is on the north end of the strip across the street from Fashion Show mall and rated one of the best family friendly hotels on the Strip.  As we had ventured to this hotel a time or two in our younger, read: no kids vacations, so we knew that I love the country bar Gilley's, there's the Señor Frogs restaurant that the girls liked from last year and has a really fun pool.  It's too bad the pirate shows outside the hotel shut down years ago, those were a great way to kill some time in the evening and I think the kids would have loved it.  

    I am getting more and more excited and sitting on the couch late night watching live TV videos of the strip makes me want to invent teleportation.  Instead of that I spend my time googling things to do and if there's any concerts in town those nights.  Well. What do we have here...Garth Brooks live at Caesar's Palace, opening weekend of his residency.  Sounds familiar, I've heard of it, I suppose in passing, maybe on the internet?  😉.  I pull up my Ticketmaster app and for all the shits and giggles in the world I type in the Sunday May 21st 8pm date.  I close one eye as the page loads, practically peeking through my fingertips wishing that Garth himself is gonna pop up on my phone with a "Hey Babe!"  I have crossed all fingers and toes I have, then crossed my legs for good measure, and looked at the screen.  I was hoping that someone was posting a dirt cheap seat, some 200 bucks in the back forty with an obstructed view of a pole and the corner of the stage.  What I got instead was a result showing one single front row ticket for a price that will make most of you gag, but it's part of the story.  549.00.  Front row, almost dead centre.   I died.  And then I took a deep breath, came back to life and showed Mike my phone.  He shook his head, half in disgust, a quarter proud of my tenacity, a quarter contemplating how he gets his out of this deal.  He looked at me dead-faced and said if you spend six hundred dollars on a concert then I'm spending six hundred dollars on a gaming system.  I thought long and hard if that was a deal I was willing to make.  If you aren't familiar wth Ticketmaster and its scammy ways let me tell you. Theres the ticket price, then the fees, then the taxes, then the exchange.  Next there's the time limit to finish the transaction you're looking at.  So the pressure is on... am I going to pay for this or not?  More-so, am I going to do this and be okay that he's got another new gadget?  It's nearly 11pm and I'm ready to get to bed.  I have to make this decision, I don't know if this seat will be there the next time I look.  I add it to my cart while I think about it.  I take too long and the timer runs out, so the seat is released.  I refresh my app and it's gone.  I refresh again and again and again.  It's gone.  What in the actual hell are the chances that on a Tuesday night at 10:52pm someone else is going to be searching this one single ticket?  There's no way, I convince myself, and I refresh again. 

It. Is. There. 

I immediately add to cart and I watch this timer count down.  Six minutes, four minutes, two minutes...I may break my neck between the amount of times I looked at my phone and then back up to Mike.  I'm hoping he gives me the ol "awe honey, you deserve it and even though you've seen him five times it's okay, I think you should go again even though it will cost a mortgage payment".  Those words never leave his lips.  

45 seconds.  Buy now. 

You're almost there!  Please enter the 6-digit code we texted to you! *flips back to me email furiously* *enters code* 

0:00

"We're sorry, your timer expired.  The seats will be released.  Please refresh and begin your search again".

You are kidding me.  I am beside myself, regretting how slow I was to enter the code (but I was so fast!?), how late I waited to click Buy Now, but I was deliberating down to the last minute.  I am sad.  Mike can see it on my face.  I say maybe it's for the best, it will be really expensive after it's all said and done.  Shit.  About ten minutes later, after grieving on the couch, he looks at me and says check your email.   I look at him, confusion plastered on my face, but I open the app.  I am aware that in the last fifteen minutes or so he has been looking on StubHub and other resellers to see if he can find a better deal.   I really hadn't been paying much attention to what he was doing other than saying yes or no to his vague comments of how about section 309 or what if you're off to the side?  So when I open my email I am very surprised to see an email forwarded from him that has a subject "Your StubHub Order is confirmed".   An incredulous look comes over my face as I look at him, did you buy these? Where did they come from? I rapid fire questions at him for 20 seconds as I stare at my email.  But then I see something that stops me dead in my tracks.  "Your tickets to Garth Brooks are here!".   I'm sorry, what now?.

I open this Ticketmaster email as if I'll be shot dead upon clicking the link.   I am confused, nervous and sweating.  I didn't buy the tickets, it timed out on me?!  How can it send me tickets I didn't pay for? What the fuck is going on??!!  This email opens and there is the face of Mr. Brooks, in his press photo shoot attire, smiling his pearly whites at me.  I should be ecstatic, but I'm not.  I am freaking out.  Mike just paid for two tickets, in the middle of the theatre and I just bought one ticket front row.  I quickly open my credit card app and I nearly fall over.  Nine hundred and seventy five dollars, a pending transaction from Ticketmaster.   I think I might pass out.  What the fuck.   Sure it started at five hundred and fifty.  But that was USD (I was ok with that, and the exchange rate).  Then theres Ticketmaster fees, Service fees, Venue Fees.  I could have thrown up.

I am only one single lady - how the fuck am I going to use three tickets?  But moreover, what happened??  Ticketmaster timed out on me, and the clock ran down.  I waited too long, I shouldn't have this single ticket.  It's well after 11pm and I need to go to bed but I'm vibrating.  I have tickets to a show that I've wanted to see since it was announced, but at what cost?  This is way more than whatever gaming system he's thinking of buying. 

At 6am the next day I am on the phone with Ticketmaster.   I go through all of the options to speak to a person until I finally click a button that got me to the fraud department.  In my overnight wisdom I determined that I never actually agreed to pay for these on my credit card.  I had received a text that said Ticketmaster is charging your card for $XXX.00 do you approve the charges, right in the middle of this whole scenario.  I never answered that text.  But the charge went through anyway.   The lady on the phone was as helpful as you can imagine, me panicking telling her I didn't approve the charge and I want a refund.  I am having massive remorse now, this dollar amount looming over my head.   She tells me thirty-four times, they don't give refunds.  I can try to sell it, or attend the show, but there's not a thing she can do.  So my next thought is my Mastercard, I get on the horn with them!   Damnit, I didn't approve the charges, why did it go through?  I get through to three different people telling me to go back to Ticketmaster and ask them for a refund.  I HAVE TRIED THAT!   So, my next logical step is to file a claim with Mastercard, I didn't approve this charge, it's a fraudulent transaction.   The nice rep tells me all that entails, an investigation, a hold on my card, a new card issued, it can take up to six weeks for a resolution.  I agree to everything he says, yup that's all fine.  I just don't want to be on the hook for two thousand dollars worth of concert tickets I can't use/sell.   Speaking of selling, I put them up on the internet, two or three websites, to try and see if anyone will buy them.  I have re-listed the StubHub tickets again and I'm asking for face-value, definitely not trying to make a profit.   Mike has a friend who lives in Vegas so he reached out to see if he would want them or know anyone who would.   The days creep by.  No takers on my ticket, or Mike's friend, but a few people commenting on my Reddit post, "let me know if you can't sell them, I might take them" "I should be able to go, I'll let you know".   Well, you can assume where those comments lead... nowhere is right.   I reach out to Ticketmaster on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.  I do get a response on Twitter, but after hearing my story the person says "ah well, not sure what happened but the event organizer doesn't allow refunds.  You can try to sell them".   UGH.  I can't sell them!!  I do end up getting an escalation supervisor at Ticketmaster and there's a glimmer of hope.  It died fast, he claims he emailed the event organizer and they replied with everyone else's ideas.  Sell them or attend the show.  During these weeks Mike is slowly dropping the price of his Stub Hub tickets to below face-value and still no takers.  The outcome of this is weighing on me heavily, especially because Mike's gaming system has arrived, so all is right in his world.  I am jealous of him and still furious about my situation.  I don't know what to do and for a while I just ignore it and hope some magic answer falls out of thin air. 

I tell my family the story, I tell my co-workers, I wallow in this shit situation for a few weeks.  The trip is approaching quickly and I don't have a solution. There are no takers for buying the tickets, there's no resolution from my bank.  This is also a once in a lifetime situation.  I will (likely) not ever have a chance again to be front row at my "second" husbands first time ever opening weekend of his Las Vegas residency.  I stress about this for a few more days and announce to Mike, my knees knocking, that he needs to keep trying to sell his two tickets, but I'm going to use mine.  On ME!  I have never had an "I deserve it" approach to my life.  I put my kids and my husband first, and their needs and desires will always come before mine.   I work hard and I sacrifice for my family.  So this one night is about me and what I want.  And goddamn I want to be front row while that man plays his guitar and sings his heart out.  Oh, and his beautiful wife is sure to make an appearance ;)

I've written this blog listening to him sing in my AirPods.  I have cranked up the volume on my favourite songs,  I have flashed back to Madison's first concert, Garth Brooks - Edmonton June 25 2022.  I have planned where my G tattoo will be when I get it. (Sorry babe, it'll happen 😘).  But I have to prepare to write part two of "The Vegas Trip".   Because this is where shit really gets crazy. 

Stay Tuned...