McCarran Airport in Las Vegas boasts the most missed flights of any U.S. airport. I can’t imagine why . . . If you find yourself stranded at LAS after missing your flight or not getting on your standby flight, I have some ideas for you after spending eight hours there yesterday. I’m pretty sure I could even draw you an accurate map from memory if you want.

Last Thursday, I decided I would go to the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas on Saturday in hopes of finding out more about the whole blogging world, since I am so new to it. I had to leave my baby for the first time, which was extremely hard for me. He did great, but I was a mess. I cried at the airport when I said goodbye to him, while he waived and cheerfully exclaimed, “bye-bye mommy!”

The conference was great. I met a ton of people, including many other travel bloggers and Johnny Depp (seriously). I flew in Friday night and by Sunday morning I was very ready to get home to my baby. I had originally planned on leaving on an 8:00 p.m. flight, but decided to go to the airport earlier and get on the standby list for a 1:00 p.m. flight. Well, I didn’t get on that one. Or the next one. Or the next one.

I ended up on the 8:00 p.m. flight after all. I had been at the airport since noon. I now consider myself an expert on Terminal D at the McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. I have been at McCarran probably 10 other times, but this was definitely the longest I’ve spent there. So, should you find yourself stuck at McCarran for an hour or two or ten, check out my list of things to do in Terminal D.

Many of these things you couldn’t really do if you had your kids in tow, but I have included a few things I’ve done there with Jack before.

1. Go to Brookstone. Sit in the most amazing massage chair ever until they tell you your time is up. They give you a good 10-20 minutes and it seriously feels like a real person is giving you a deep massage, with tons of varying techniques. It even massages your legs. It’s almost better than the real thing since you can relax in a comfortable position on your back instead of laying face first with your head in an awkward padded circle thing. I seriously want to own that chair someday. I have tried other massage chairs. They don’t even compare. Just as soon as I can find an extra $3,000, it’s all mine.

2. Get a free makeover at The Body Shop. The employees there are really nice and they don’t mind doing it just for fun. There’s no minimum purchase or anything, unlike some other places.

3. You could also get a massage, manicure and other spa services at XpressSpa in Terminal D, but their prices were about double that of the average prices here in Denver (I think it was $120 for a 60-minute massage). I was happy with the free makeover and massage chair.

4. Take your young kids to the play area behind Aunt Annie’s pretzels. Jack had more fun at this play area than any other place in Las Vegas. There are stairs to climb up and down and little windows to play peek-a-boo through. Great fun for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

5. There are also large animal statues around the terminal your kids will love to hang out with. There’s a bunny and a turtle and some others.

6. If you are without children, there is, of course, gambling and drinking. You are still in Las Vegas after all. It’s the only airport I’ve been to where all the wait staff and bartenders will, after encouraging you to order the large 32-oz. beer for only $2 more, offer you a shot for only $4 more. Ah, Vegas. As far as the slots go, they are rumored to be fairly generous. I have probably about broken even in all my times there, which I suppose is pretty generous compared to the rest of Las Vegas.

7. McCarran Airport is a great place to meet people you wouldn’t normally hang out with. I guess any airport is for that matter. I ended up having drinks with a sommelier from Vail and his boyfriend, then later a priest and his firefighter friend en route to a hunting trip in Montana. Later I introduced the two groups and we all had a drink together. It sounds like the makings of a good joke: a vegetarian mommy blogger, a priest, a hunter and a gay couple walk into a bar . . . but the ending would just be . . . and they all watched football and drank beer.

8. There are plenty of places to get a bite to eat. The Burke in the Box has the best food of any of the alcohol-serving restaurants; otherwise I would recommend the California Pizza Kitchen.

9. Buy a book or magazine at one of the many Hudson bookshops around the terminal. I had planned on turning $10 into $30 so I could get the new Dan Brown, but I nearly lost it all, won a small jackpot, lost my nerve and cashed out at $14.

10. Try out the lotions at Crabtree & Evelyn. Yummy!

11. Visit Kid’s Works for LEGOs, licensed Disney toys, kid’s clothing and toy planes.

12. Browse the souvenirs at various little stores. I liked Wild Gecko the best. Yes, I was there long enough to decide which gift shop is my favorite.

Have you ever been stuck at McCarran Airport? What did you do to pass the time?

**UPDATE** Thanks Jessica for reminding me that McCarran is one of the few airports that offers free WiFi. I would have been all set had I brought my laptop, but, then again, I might not have made such interesting new friends.

Related posts:

1. Family Fun in Las Vegas
2. Getting Through Airport Security with Kids