6:30 AM - Apparently my body is already back on "mainland time", which I suppose is a good thing given that we fly home tomorrow.
I had not seen any wild cats since we arrived on this island, but just now I saw three of them sauntering along the golf cart path towards the first hole. I assume they are going to try to get in nine holes before the humans awake.
I am assuming they are wild cats, because this resort (like most) doesn't allow pets. Having said that, they certainly looked well fed and healthy, unlike that cat we met at the docks. One of them even looked chubby, although that could have just been a preponderance of fur.
You realize that tomorrow is December, right? Of course you do, you have probably been putting up with typical November weather for weeks. I am sitting on my patio, in shorts and a tank top. Tomorrow, I may very well be drowning.
WHY DO WE NOT LIVE HERE?!??!?!?!?
Sigh.
We will do most of our packing today I'm sure, but we don't have to hurry tomorrow, our flight doesn't leave until 2:30 PM so we can still have a nice, relaxing morning.
10:00 AM - They are holding some sort of aquafit class in our pool. Now, there is nothing wrong with that, but they've been doing it for about an hour and a half. OK, old people, that's enough. You must be fit by now.
Guy just teed off and immediately yelled "Oh Shit. FORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!"
And no, it wasn't me. I am trying to watch where he is headed, it looks like he sliced his drive into another time zone. He looks to actually be leaving the course and going into the suites. Either he gave up, or he put his ball into someone's living room.
10:30 AM - Logged into the Alaska Airlines site to check on the flight and it asked me if I was interested in switching to an earlier flight. Interesting, since as far as I know there is only one direct flight per day from Kona to Seattle. Hmm. Turns out there is a red-eye tonight, leaving at 11:10 PM. After checking with the wife, we decide to switch and come home a bit early. It will be nice to be home tomorrow afternoon instead of getting home in the wee smalls on Sunday morning....and best of all, we still get our entire day here to relax, hit the pool, whatever we want!
11:00 AM - To the pool!!
11:45 AM - To the hot tub!!
12:00 PM - Um. Clouds? Who ordered those? Can't we wait just one more day? I guess this is Hawaii's way of making us feel at home.
1:00 PM - Back to the room to relax, have lunch, pack and just generally unwind.
3:00 PM - Pretty much packed up and ready to go, although we don't need to think about actually leaving until 8:30 or 9.
Went out to put the first couple of suitcases in the car, and fill up the gas tank. As I got back and turned left into our complex, I felt an intense feeling of sadness; that is the last time I'll be turning into this wonderful place for quite some time. This is a hard place to leave.
4:30 PM - The wife goes to lay down for a pre-dinner nap and I am just sitting here on the patio, enjoying the sites and the serenity. It is a little busier today, given that it's Friday, but this week we have been alone in the pool on several occasions. At it's busiest, we had to share the giant pool area with up to 7 other people.
5:15 PM - About to start on dinner, and then we will finish packing and relax until it's time for our flight. If anything interesting happens tonight, I'll do an "EpiBlog" tomorrow, but excluding that, this is it for Vacation Blog X.
Thanks for reading!
Until next time.....
The Dean.
Friday, 30 November 2018
Thursday, 29 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 14...and when you are on a two week-ish vacation, "Part 14" is a foreboding number....
We have almost come to the end of this wonderful trip, and of Dean's "birthday fortnite".
Thursday, November 29th
7:33 AM - Since my cold is almost gone, and Tracey's seems to be gone, I moved into the main bedroom last night. Slept just OK, to be honest, but unsure for the reason for that. Seemed to wake up every couple hours after having a stupid dream. Back to sleep, then another stupid dream.
Good thing I am on vacation, where naps are almost mandatory.
My finger is about 25% less sore than yesterday. I don't know how long it will take for me to be able to go without a bandage completely, but at least this morning I am able to go with just a couple of small bandages and forego the huge gauze and medical tape that made it impossible to type. With all the cutting I have done since I've been cooking a lot (probably 7-8 years or so), this is the first time I've cut myself seriously. I guess I'm officially a chef now.
Oh and I forgot to post this a few days ago, but when we went to the farmers market when we got to this resort, we picked up a bunch of Hawaiian fruit, some that we've never had before.
The top plate is papaya and starfruit (non-Hawaiian apples in the bowl). The bottom one is pineapple and dragonfruit.
I confirmed that I still don't like papaya. The dragon fruit was weird and bland. Star fruit was pretty decent.
Not pictured, we also bought some tiny little bananas called Apple Bananas. They have tons of different kinds of bananas here, and these ones were just amazing. Similar in flavor to the ones we get on the mainland (called Cavendish), but with some additional flavors like strawberries, and WAY sweeter than Cavendish. Did you know there are over 1,000 different kinds of bananas? I didn't.
8:25 AM - The sense of calm that comes over me during my "mornings of Zen" is difficult to really articulate. Sitting here with my morning beverage, overlooking a gorgeous pool and stunning golf course, with not a single person using either one of them, is one of the highlights of my day.
8:26 AM - LOL. Golf carts just drove by and killed my Zen. The path from the Clubhouse to the teebox of the hole that is directly in front of me is between me and the pool.
This course looks beautiful, I actually considered renting some clubs and hacking around it, but then "Fingergate" came into play, quashing those considerations.
9:30 AM - Had a shower and breakfast, and "morning of Zen" has resumed. The group of golfers that passed by an hour or so ago were the only ones so far. This island does not seem to be hopping early in the morning. These people seem to be morning resters. Sounds good to me.
10:45 AM - TO THE POOL!!!!
I cannot impress upon you enough how stress-free this last week has been. Actually, maybe I can.
A couple of months ago, I started grinding my teeth at night (caused by stress); something I had never done before, but I was doing it to the point that I was actually loosening the same tooth every night, and waking up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain. I had to go to SportChek and buy a hockey mouthguard to get me by for a few days until I could get to my dentist and get a custom-fit one. That mouthguard, which I wear every night, has solved the problem.
Since we got to this resort last Saturday, I have, unintentionally, been sleeping without the mouthguard. I just left it in my bag and forgot about it.
No sore teeth. No grinding. No stress.
Awesome.
That ends now, however, as I just got a call from my Mom's care nurse, Mom is not eating, and has fainted. I don't think she is intentionally killing herself by not eating, she simply forgets that she has not eaten. This is becoming a regular thing.
Hello, stress....I had not missed you. GRRRR.
Alzheimer's really, really, really sucks.
Anyway, back to the fun and frivolity of the trip. Tracey and I have decided that before our timeshare ends, in 2022, we have got to come back here for a couple of weeks. We just love this place. It is as close to Paradise as I think I ever want to get.
Since we already have 2019's trip booked (Florida), and want to go back to Florida one more time in late 2021/early 2022 for the Magic Kingdom's 50th Anniversary, that doesn't leave a bunch of time to come back here! Perhaps late 2022. We will make it work.
From 2023 on, we are actually going to have to pay full price for our resorts. That is going to be a kick in the nuts.
12:30 PM - Time to make some lunch, and, oh I dunno, I think there may be a glass or six of wine in my immediate future. I won't see Pool Bear for several more hours (unless she comes back for lunch, which is in no way guaranteed).
3:00 PM - After another dip in the pool, back to the suite for more relaxing and to marinate the chicken for dinner tonight. The Chardonnay that I opened a couple of hours ago was slightly underwhelming; maybe it has improved with some time. It came well recommended.
I can't believe it's almost time to go home. This trip has been a Godsend. Exactly what we needed. Everything has been incredible. The people here are just SO friendly and polite.
Even the BIRDS are polite here! Sitting on the patio in the morning enjoying my breakfast, a bunch of them (4-5) fly down and sit on the ledge a few feet away. They don't swarm, they just sit and look at me. Birds want food.....always....there is never much doubt about that. But there is just something different here. Normally I imagine that birds are thinking "Hey, buddy, food, food food food food food drop some food drop some food hey buddy drop some food or just get up and walk away and we will help ourselves food food food food food!!!!"
These birds?
"Aloha, good sir, my compatriots and I are just stopping by to ensure you are enjoying your time on our beautiful island! If you happened to 'accidentally' drop a morsel or two, we would be most appreciative, but if not, that's OK! Enjoy your day!"
6:45 PM - After a pretty decent dinner, the wife is back to the tub. "No tub gets unused", she says. We are both enjoying another beautiful bottle of wine as we slowly finish off the case we had sent here.
Oh, and the Chardonnay DID improve a ton with a bit of time.
8:15 PM - YAWN. Well another crazy night, time for bed. The Princess Bride just came on the TV, so I think I will fall asleep to the exploits of Westley and Buttercup and Prince Humperdinck.
Until tomorrow....our last full day here.........
Thursday, November 29th
7:33 AM - Since my cold is almost gone, and Tracey's seems to be gone, I moved into the main bedroom last night. Slept just OK, to be honest, but unsure for the reason for that. Seemed to wake up every couple hours after having a stupid dream. Back to sleep, then another stupid dream.
Good thing I am on vacation, where naps are almost mandatory.
My finger is about 25% less sore than yesterday. I don't know how long it will take for me to be able to go without a bandage completely, but at least this morning I am able to go with just a couple of small bandages and forego the huge gauze and medical tape that made it impossible to type. With all the cutting I have done since I've been cooking a lot (probably 7-8 years or so), this is the first time I've cut myself seriously. I guess I'm officially a chef now.
Oh and I forgot to post this a few days ago, but when we went to the farmers market when we got to this resort, we picked up a bunch of Hawaiian fruit, some that we've never had before.
The top plate is papaya and starfruit (non-Hawaiian apples in the bowl). The bottom one is pineapple and dragonfruit.
I confirmed that I still don't like papaya. The dragon fruit was weird and bland. Star fruit was pretty decent.
Not pictured, we also bought some tiny little bananas called Apple Bananas. They have tons of different kinds of bananas here, and these ones were just amazing. Similar in flavor to the ones we get on the mainland (called Cavendish), but with some additional flavors like strawberries, and WAY sweeter than Cavendish. Did you know there are over 1,000 different kinds of bananas? I didn't.
 |
| Stock photo of Apple Bananas |
8:25 AM - The sense of calm that comes over me during my "mornings of Zen" is difficult to really articulate. Sitting here with my morning beverage, overlooking a gorgeous pool and stunning golf course, with not a single person using either one of them, is one of the highlights of my day.
8:26 AM - LOL. Golf carts just drove by and killed my Zen. The path from the Clubhouse to the teebox of the hole that is directly in front of me is between me and the pool.
This course looks beautiful, I actually considered renting some clubs and hacking around it, but then "Fingergate" came into play, quashing those considerations.
9:30 AM - Had a shower and breakfast, and "morning of Zen" has resumed. The group of golfers that passed by an hour or so ago were the only ones so far. This island does not seem to be hopping early in the morning. These people seem to be morning resters. Sounds good to me.
10:45 AM - TO THE POOL!!!!
I cannot impress upon you enough how stress-free this last week has been. Actually, maybe I can.
A couple of months ago, I started grinding my teeth at night (caused by stress); something I had never done before, but I was doing it to the point that I was actually loosening the same tooth every night, and waking up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain. I had to go to SportChek and buy a hockey mouthguard to get me by for a few days until I could get to my dentist and get a custom-fit one. That mouthguard, which I wear every night, has solved the problem.
Since we got to this resort last Saturday, I have, unintentionally, been sleeping without the mouthguard. I just left it in my bag and forgot about it.
No sore teeth. No grinding. No stress.
Awesome.
That ends now, however, as I just got a call from my Mom's care nurse, Mom is not eating, and has fainted. I don't think she is intentionally killing herself by not eating, she simply forgets that she has not eaten. This is becoming a regular thing.
Hello, stress....I had not missed you. GRRRR.
Alzheimer's really, really, really sucks.
Anyway, back to the fun and frivolity of the trip. Tracey and I have decided that before our timeshare ends, in 2022, we have got to come back here for a couple of weeks. We just love this place. It is as close to Paradise as I think I ever want to get.
Since we already have 2019's trip booked (Florida), and want to go back to Florida one more time in late 2021/early 2022 for the Magic Kingdom's 50th Anniversary, that doesn't leave a bunch of time to come back here! Perhaps late 2022. We will make it work.
From 2023 on, we are actually going to have to pay full price for our resorts. That is going to be a kick in the nuts.
12:30 PM - Time to make some lunch, and, oh I dunno, I think there may be a glass or six of wine in my immediate future. I won't see Pool Bear for several more hours (unless she comes back for lunch, which is in no way guaranteed).
3:00 PM - After another dip in the pool, back to the suite for more relaxing and to marinate the chicken for dinner tonight. The Chardonnay that I opened a couple of hours ago was slightly underwhelming; maybe it has improved with some time. It came well recommended.
I can't believe it's almost time to go home. This trip has been a Godsend. Exactly what we needed. Everything has been incredible. The people here are just SO friendly and polite.
Even the BIRDS are polite here! Sitting on the patio in the morning enjoying my breakfast, a bunch of them (4-5) fly down and sit on the ledge a few feet away. They don't swarm, they just sit and look at me. Birds want food.....always....there is never much doubt about that. But there is just something different here. Normally I imagine that birds are thinking "Hey, buddy, food, food food food food food drop some food drop some food hey buddy drop some food or just get up and walk away and we will help ourselves food food food food food!!!!"
These birds?
"Aloha, good sir, my compatriots and I are just stopping by to ensure you are enjoying your time on our beautiful island! If you happened to 'accidentally' drop a morsel or two, we would be most appreciative, but if not, that's OK! Enjoy your day!"
6:45 PM - After a pretty decent dinner, the wife is back to the tub. "No tub gets unused", she says. We are both enjoying another beautiful bottle of wine as we slowly finish off the case we had sent here.
Oh, and the Chardonnay DID improve a ton with a bit of time.
8:15 PM - YAWN. Well another crazy night, time for bed. The Princess Bride just came on the TV, so I think I will fall asleep to the exploits of Westley and Buttercup and Prince Humperdinck.
Until tomorrow....our last full day here.........
Vacation Blog X, Part 13, I think that we will do nothing again today!!!
7:37 AM - I wake up, refreshed and invigorated. Hang on a second....why isn't it light out?
*checks clock*
That 7 is a 3.
3:37 AM - SIGH. Let's see if this is one of those mornings that when I'm up, I'm up...or if I'm able to force myself back to sleep.
7:37 AM - I was really destined to get up at 7:37 wasn't I? *looks outside*. OK good, I see the sun.
I was actually more rested and refreshed at 3:37 but whatever.
Removing my bandage, it seems as if this thing has finally stopped bleeding. Hurts like Hell to touch it though, no surprise. I wonder how long I'll have to wear bandages to protect it? Weeks, I bet.
Logging back onto the work server to finish the administrative tasks that I need to do this week and then I can forget about work until Monday. Honestly it hardly feels like work, sitting on the patio overlooking palm trees and the pool, enjoying a tasty beverage. My "morning of Zen" routine is intact.
11:00 AM - The wife is up!! It's been a while, a long while, since she slept that late. Oh well, it's vacation, it's the time for whatever the heck she wants.
11:30 AM - We are headed back to those two outdoor malls. One of them has a weekly farmers market on Wednesday mornings and after that we are going to go to a movie in the "Luxury Cinemas". We will have lunch there too.
12:30 - Off to the malls where we find a few interesting things to purchase, and then to the movie. The theatre is nice but not nicer than the VIP at home. The movie, Ralph Breaks the Internet, is very good.
And even more Xmas decorations have popped up at this place. Xmas in the tropics. It's really cool, and really odd at the same time.
5:00 PM - Back at the resort in search of Pool Bear. She seems to be in hibernation, and apparently is going to stay there for a while. We have a bottle of wine and dinner and relax for a while in front of the TV. I suspect that today Pool Bear is going to make an appearance after the sun goes down.
8:00 PM - There is no logical reason why we are both so incredibly exhausted today. Tracey heads for the tub and I head for bed. I am asleep within minutes. Another wild and crazy evening in the Engemoen household :) I suspect that Pool Bear will reappear tomorrow, and probably for the entire day! With the vacation winding down, we have to redouble our efforts to get maximum relaxation!
*checks clock*
That 7 is a 3.
3:37 AM - SIGH. Let's see if this is one of those mornings that when I'm up, I'm up...or if I'm able to force myself back to sleep.
7:37 AM - I was really destined to get up at 7:37 wasn't I? *looks outside*. OK good, I see the sun.
I was actually more rested and refreshed at 3:37 but whatever.
Removing my bandage, it seems as if this thing has finally stopped bleeding. Hurts like Hell to touch it though, no surprise. I wonder how long I'll have to wear bandages to protect it? Weeks, I bet.
Logging back onto the work server to finish the administrative tasks that I need to do this week and then I can forget about work until Monday. Honestly it hardly feels like work, sitting on the patio overlooking palm trees and the pool, enjoying a tasty beverage. My "morning of Zen" routine is intact.
11:00 AM - The wife is up!! It's been a while, a long while, since she slept that late. Oh well, it's vacation, it's the time for whatever the heck she wants.
11:30 AM - We are headed back to those two outdoor malls. One of them has a weekly farmers market on Wednesday mornings and after that we are going to go to a movie in the "Luxury Cinemas". We will have lunch there too.
12:30 - Off to the malls where we find a few interesting things to purchase, and then to the movie. The theatre is nice but not nicer than the VIP at home. The movie, Ralph Breaks the Internet, is very good.
And even more Xmas decorations have popped up at this place. Xmas in the tropics. It's really cool, and really odd at the same time.
5:00 PM - Back at the resort in search of Pool Bear. She seems to be in hibernation, and apparently is going to stay there for a while. We have a bottle of wine and dinner and relax for a while in front of the TV. I suspect that today Pool Bear is going to make an appearance after the sun goes down.
8:00 PM - There is no logical reason why we are both so incredibly exhausted today. Tracey heads for the tub and I head for bed. I am asleep within minutes. Another wild and crazy evening in the Engemoen household :) I suspect that Pool Bear will reappear tomorrow, and probably for the entire day! With the vacation winding down, we have to redouble our efforts to get maximum relaxation!
Tuesday, 27 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 12, Payroll Day, and then, pool pool pool pool pool
7:00 AM - Up at a reasonable hour after a pretty decent sleep. It's 9 AM back home so I am going to log onto my work computer and hope that I have all the timesheets I need to process this week's Payroll so I can get that done and get on with the business of eating and drinking and pooling.
9:00 AM - Wife is awake, just as I finish Part 1 of the Payroll....just need it audited and then I can finish it up. She is feeling about the same as I am this morning.....no better, no worse.
Looking at our fridge and cupboards and realizing that we bought wayyyyyyyyy too much food. I guess we could eat it all before we leave on Saturday, if we start eating 5 meals a day. Maybe 6.
11:00 AM - Woo-hoo! Finished 90% of the Payroll stuff I need to do; the important stuff, anyway, The last little bit I can do in the morning. At least everyone (including me) gets paid this week.
The wife is already at the pool, and has been for an hour. I will be heading there soon!
12:15 PM - Good grief that pool is awesome. I'm back in the room for a few minutes to make us some lunch, but I am definitely not done with that pool today.
Cooking up some lunch and decided to hack into my finger as well as the peppers. Ouch. HOLY SHIT OUCH.
Honestly it doesn't look that bad but I have never seen so much blood. It. Just. Won't. Stop. Bleeding!
Gotta get the wife back from the pool so I can go and get some more bandages and gauze. I put on 5 bandages....FIVE....and it bleeds through them in seconds.
2:00 PM - Finger is well wrapped up (trying to type now is quite a challenge) but at least I was able to finish lunch and open the wine. That could have been a catastrophe!
3:00 PM - I am fingig it harldt o type prorperl riwth a hug bandage on my injur tinger.
3:30 PM - Wife goes back to the pool and I decide it's time to take off the gauze and huge bandages and "downsize" a bit. I put on 4-5 waterproof bandages and that seems to be enough. It is STILL bleeding.
3:40 PM - Into the pool for a few minutes, holding that finger out of the water. All the other guests must think I am telling them that they are "Number 1"! Too bad it's not my middle finger.
3:45 PM - Hmm. Blood starts to seep out of the bandages. OK I guess my pool day is done.
I leave Pool Bear in her favorite place and go to the front desk to see if they have a First Aid kit. I really need medical tape to hold the gauze in place but the store did not sell it. They don't have one but Security does, so they call him to come and help me out. He asks me if I want to write up a report for the injury.
I give him the report:
"Idiot guest chops off fingernail with butcher knife".
End of report.
He laughs and accompanies me back to our suite to help me apply the gauze and the medical tape. That seems to stem the flow of blood finally. We will see. He leaves me a bunch more tape so that I can change the bandage at least once more later. I am really stunned to see that it is still bleeding, hours later. It is just not that bad of a cut.
3:53 PM - Well it's been eight minutes since I put the bandage on, and so far no blood has soaked through the gauze and medical tape. Progress, maybe?
6:00 PM - No blood. My finger is wrapped in gauze and a generous amount of medical tape, but it seems as if that has solved the problem. The Security guard actually asked me if I was on blood thinners, to explain why it was still bleeding hours later.
6:05 PM - The wife has made a lovely dinner of Filet Mignon (I had to type that 7 times with this damn bandage on) with potatoes and another terrific bottle of wine. What a trip we are having.
7:00 PM - OK I am uploading this blog and giving up on trying to say anything funny with this damn bandage on my finger. I expect to wake up tomorrow rested and with a perfectly healed finger. Dare to dream.
Until tomorrow.......
9:00 AM - Wife is awake, just as I finish Part 1 of the Payroll....just need it audited and then I can finish it up. She is feeling about the same as I am this morning.....no better, no worse.
Looking at our fridge and cupboards and realizing that we bought wayyyyyyyyy too much food. I guess we could eat it all before we leave on Saturday, if we start eating 5 meals a day. Maybe 6.
11:00 AM - Woo-hoo! Finished 90% of the Payroll stuff I need to do; the important stuff, anyway, The last little bit I can do in the morning. At least everyone (including me) gets paid this week.
The wife is already at the pool, and has been for an hour. I will be heading there soon!
12:15 PM - Good grief that pool is awesome. I'm back in the room for a few minutes to make us some lunch, but I am definitely not done with that pool today.
Cooking up some lunch and decided to hack into my finger as well as the peppers. Ouch. HOLY SHIT OUCH.
Honestly it doesn't look that bad but I have never seen so much blood. It. Just. Won't. Stop. Bleeding!
Gotta get the wife back from the pool so I can go and get some more bandages and gauze. I put on 5 bandages....FIVE....and it bleeds through them in seconds.
2:00 PM - Finger is well wrapped up (trying to type now is quite a challenge) but at least I was able to finish lunch and open the wine. That could have been a catastrophe!
3:00 PM - I am fingig it harldt o type prorperl riwth a hug bandage on my injur tinger.
3:30 PM - Wife goes back to the pool and I decide it's time to take off the gauze and huge bandages and "downsize" a bit. I put on 4-5 waterproof bandages and that seems to be enough. It is STILL bleeding.
3:40 PM - Into the pool for a few minutes, holding that finger out of the water. All the other guests must think I am telling them that they are "Number 1"! Too bad it's not my middle finger.
3:45 PM - Hmm. Blood starts to seep out of the bandages. OK I guess my pool day is done.
I leave Pool Bear in her favorite place and go to the front desk to see if they have a First Aid kit. I really need medical tape to hold the gauze in place but the store did not sell it. They don't have one but Security does, so they call him to come and help me out. He asks me if I want to write up a report for the injury.
I give him the report:
"Idiot guest chops off fingernail with butcher knife".
End of report.
He laughs and accompanies me back to our suite to help me apply the gauze and the medical tape. That seems to stem the flow of blood finally. We will see. He leaves me a bunch more tape so that I can change the bandage at least once more later. I am really stunned to see that it is still bleeding, hours later. It is just not that bad of a cut.
3:53 PM - Well it's been eight minutes since I put the bandage on, and so far no blood has soaked through the gauze and medical tape. Progress, maybe?
6:00 PM - No blood. My finger is wrapped in gauze and a generous amount of medical tape, but it seems as if that has solved the problem. The Security guard actually asked me if I was on blood thinners, to explain why it was still bleeding hours later.
6:05 PM - The wife has made a lovely dinner of Filet Mignon (I had to type that 7 times with this damn bandage on) with potatoes and another terrific bottle of wine. What a trip we are having.
7:00 PM - OK I am uploading this blog and giving up on trying to say anything funny with this damn bandage on my finger. I expect to wake up tomorrow rested and with a perfectly healed finger. Dare to dream.
Until tomorrow.......
Monday, 26 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 11, SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY I DO NOT LIVE HERE!!!
Monday, November 26th
OK I actually know why I don't live here, I would have to be independently wealthy because I am Canadian and it would be next to impossible to get a job here.
BUT IF I WAS AMERICAN I WOULD PACK UP THE FAMILY UNIT AND MOVE HERE TOMORROW.
Actually, I would send the wife back to the mainland to pack up our stuff and bring the pets. I would never leave.
Paradise.
I wake up, not feeling better but no worse either. The cough is a bit worse. Tracey wakes up with a bit of a cough too. We are still determined to not let it kill our enjoyment of this spectacular resort.
So today we did a little shopping at a couple of beautiful little "Resort malls", and that sounds like they are small but not at all. These two shopping complexes, which are about 2 blocks from each other, are reminiscent of the outdoor malls in Vegas.
One of the has a beautiful little koi pond. I have never seen 'koi' like this.
There were 6-7 of these huge beautiful fish in there.
Each one of these malls has a Sunglass Hut. In case, I suppose, someone is stupid enough to come to Hawaii without sunglasses.
It is so beautiful and warm here that I honestly occasionally forget what time of year it is. This was a reminder.
The second shopping centre we went to also had a "Luxury Theatre". The advertisements suggest they don't have theatre chairs, they have leather loveseats. Wow.
After our shopping excursion I head up to the nearest pharmacy to refill our depleted stock of medicine while Tracey hits the pool.
On the way up there, I have to stop and take video of this.
Because, sure, why wouldn't there be a family of pygmy goats on the side of the road, enjoying a tasty snack??
When I get back, I join her at the pool for a while. It is a SPECTACULAR pool. I do not know what the perfect pool temperature it is, but THIS IS IT. Fabulous. The pool is almost empty, and it also features the biggest hot tub I have ever seen. We are going to be here quite a bit this week.
I return to the suite and log on to get a bit of work done. Since I am a 1-man department, I need to run our Payroll this week. My boss is quite competent and could do it if necessary, but he has enough to worry about without doing my job too. And is there a better place to work than from the patio of a 5-star resort, overlooking the pool?
4:00 PM - Finally done what I can do for work today and Pool Bear is still thoroughly enjoying her afternoon. As I look over there, I notice that the pool is now filled with gross, slimy, little people. You guessed it: children.
Parents, we have discussed this before. My favorite vacation spots are no place for your children. Hawaii is no place for children. Disneyland is no place for children. Disneyworld is no place for children.
Want a nice vacation? I hear that kids absolutely LOVE Little Rock, Arkansas. And Newark! C'mon, who doesn't love Newark?? Or the big ball of twine in Minneapolis. Why not take them to North Dakota, on an educational tour of all the locations in the classic film Fargo??
Yah, real good now, yah.
5:35 PM - I am trying to make some rice with the rice cooker provided, and without the instructions, it's not as easy as you might think. First batch came out undercooked.
6:00 PM - After putting the rice back into the cooker for a second go-round, and then microwaving it for 2 minutes, it turned out pretty damn good! Tracey had the rice with some chicken, I had it with shrimp and pineapple, and our little impromptu dinner turned out pretty good.
7:15 PM - I have been informed that if *I* do not have a bath tonight, then the "bathtub cannot go to waste" so I guess that the wife is headed back there.
Not much else exciting will happen tonight, I hope, so until tomorrow.....
OK I actually know why I don't live here, I would have to be independently wealthy because I am Canadian and it would be next to impossible to get a job here.
BUT IF I WAS AMERICAN I WOULD PACK UP THE FAMILY UNIT AND MOVE HERE TOMORROW.
Actually, I would send the wife back to the mainland to pack up our stuff and bring the pets. I would never leave.
Paradise.
I wake up, not feeling better but no worse either. The cough is a bit worse. Tracey wakes up with a bit of a cough too. We are still determined to not let it kill our enjoyment of this spectacular resort.
So today we did a little shopping at a couple of beautiful little "Resort malls", and that sounds like they are small but not at all. These two shopping complexes, which are about 2 blocks from each other, are reminiscent of the outdoor malls in Vegas.
One of the has a beautiful little koi pond. I have never seen 'koi' like this.
There were 6-7 of these huge beautiful fish in there.
Each one of these malls has a Sunglass Hut. In case, I suppose, someone is stupid enough to come to Hawaii without sunglasses.
It is so beautiful and warm here that I honestly occasionally forget what time of year it is. This was a reminder.
The second shopping centre we went to also had a "Luxury Theatre". The advertisements suggest they don't have theatre chairs, they have leather loveseats. Wow.
After our shopping excursion I head up to the nearest pharmacy to refill our depleted stock of medicine while Tracey hits the pool.
On the way up there, I have to stop and take video of this.
When I get back, I join her at the pool for a while. It is a SPECTACULAR pool. I do not know what the perfect pool temperature it is, but THIS IS IT. Fabulous. The pool is almost empty, and it also features the biggest hot tub I have ever seen. We are going to be here quite a bit this week.
I return to the suite and log on to get a bit of work done. Since I am a 1-man department, I need to run our Payroll this week. My boss is quite competent and could do it if necessary, but he has enough to worry about without doing my job too. And is there a better place to work than from the patio of a 5-star resort, overlooking the pool?
 |
| SHHHHH....this is something you almost never see. It's POOL BEAR, in her natural habitat!! |
4:00 PM - Finally done what I can do for work today and Pool Bear is still thoroughly enjoying her afternoon. As I look over there, I notice that the pool is now filled with gross, slimy, little people. You guessed it: children.
Parents, we have discussed this before. My favorite vacation spots are no place for your children. Hawaii is no place for children. Disneyland is no place for children. Disneyworld is no place for children.
Want a nice vacation? I hear that kids absolutely LOVE Little Rock, Arkansas. And Newark! C'mon, who doesn't love Newark?? Or the big ball of twine in Minneapolis. Why not take them to North Dakota, on an educational tour of all the locations in the classic film Fargo??
Yah, real good now, yah.
5:35 PM - I am trying to make some rice with the rice cooker provided, and without the instructions, it's not as easy as you might think. First batch came out undercooked.
6:00 PM - After putting the rice back into the cooker for a second go-round, and then microwaving it for 2 minutes, it turned out pretty damn good! Tracey had the rice with some chicken, I had it with shrimp and pineapple, and our little impromptu dinner turned out pretty good.
7:15 PM - I have been informed that if *I* do not have a bath tonight, then the "bathtub cannot go to waste" so I guess that the wife is headed back there.
Not much else exciting will happen tonight, I hope, so until tomorrow.....
Sunday, 25 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 10, our first full day at this spectacular resort!
Sunday, November 25th
7:18 AM - Oh man that was a half-decent sleep but it could have been SOOOOO much better without the damn basketball squeaking. I am not feeling any better, but I'm not any worse either. This cold is irritating but isn't going to interfere with our fun. We are well prepared, as my amazing wife brought a shitload of cold and cough medicine "just in cases"....even though neither of us felt sick before the trip. Thank goodness.
I turn on the TV to check out what games we are going to be able to watch this morning and it is.... oh FFS.....Panthers vs. Seahawks OR Jets vs. Patriots. Jesus H Christ.
Well, we didn't finish the wrestling event before bed last night, so we will watch that this morning instead, and hopefully we get a half decent game to watch this afternoon.
9:20 AM - Tracey is up, and she is not feeling any better either. We are not going to let these colds ruin our trip; I guess we are lucky that our only real plans this week are to have no plans. At some point, we'd like to get on a boat out on the water, but if we don't, we will still have a great week. If the colds cause us to relax a bit more than we were going to, well, no biggie. Relaxation is what we are here for anyway!
The afternoon football game is Steelers/Broncos, so at least that is moderately interesting. We were sure hoping to get our Colts on TV but we have to follow that one play-by-play on NFL.com. Both teams we wanted to win DID win, so that's something at least.
3:00 PM - I head out to pick up a couple more things that we need for the week while Tub Bear makes another appearance. That bathtub is going to be so well used this week they may have to replace it by the time we leave.
4:45 PM - A relaxing evening awaits. I'm making dinner while the wife chills out on the awesome sofa. Decanting a beautiful bottle of wine to go with the dinner I am preparing, New York Steaks with a Merlot reduction. Also going to do something with some beautiful fresh shrimp I bought yesterday. They cost me about 1/3 of what they would cost me back home.
6:30 PM - Dinner was OK, but not what I was hoping for. Honestly I think the main effect this cold is having on us is affecting our appetites, as I really didn't eat much today but wasn't really feeling the dinner. I made the recipe by memory and I know I didn't get it 100% right but it should have been better than that. Note to self: Digitize and save all your favorite recipes so you'll have them when traveling. Dumbass.
7:30 PM - Wish I had something interesting to say, but we are basically sitting here doing nothing. Sure, we are finishing off a special bottle of wine, but not much else. My cold is turning into a cough, so I got that going for me. F***. Hope that subsides soon.
7:47 PM - Well YAWN that's a big day, time for bed. What, you don't usually go to bed before 8 PM? Hooligans.
Until tomorrow.....
7:18 AM - Oh man that was a half-decent sleep but it could have been SOOOOO much better without the damn basketball squeaking. I am not feeling any better, but I'm not any worse either. This cold is irritating but isn't going to interfere with our fun. We are well prepared, as my amazing wife brought a shitload of cold and cough medicine "just in cases"....even though neither of us felt sick before the trip. Thank goodness.
I turn on the TV to check out what games we are going to be able to watch this morning and it is.... oh FFS.....Panthers vs. Seahawks OR Jets vs. Patriots. Jesus H Christ.
Well, we didn't finish the wrestling event before bed last night, so we will watch that this morning instead, and hopefully we get a half decent game to watch this afternoon.
9:20 AM - Tracey is up, and she is not feeling any better either. We are not going to let these colds ruin our trip; I guess we are lucky that our only real plans this week are to have no plans. At some point, we'd like to get on a boat out on the water, but if we don't, we will still have a great week. If the colds cause us to relax a bit more than we were going to, well, no biggie. Relaxation is what we are here for anyway!
The afternoon football game is Steelers/Broncos, so at least that is moderately interesting. We were sure hoping to get our Colts on TV but we have to follow that one play-by-play on NFL.com. Both teams we wanted to win DID win, so that's something at least.
3:00 PM - I head out to pick up a couple more things that we need for the week while Tub Bear makes another appearance. That bathtub is going to be so well used this week they may have to replace it by the time we leave.
4:45 PM - A relaxing evening awaits. I'm making dinner while the wife chills out on the awesome sofa. Decanting a beautiful bottle of wine to go with the dinner I am preparing, New York Steaks with a Merlot reduction. Also going to do something with some beautiful fresh shrimp I bought yesterday. They cost me about 1/3 of what they would cost me back home.
6:30 PM - Dinner was OK, but not what I was hoping for. Honestly I think the main effect this cold is having on us is affecting our appetites, as I really didn't eat much today but wasn't really feeling the dinner. I made the recipe by memory and I know I didn't get it 100% right but it should have been better than that. Note to self: Digitize and save all your favorite recipes so you'll have them when traveling. Dumbass.
7:30 PM - Wish I had something interesting to say, but we are basically sitting here doing nothing. Sure, we are finishing off a special bottle of wine, but not much else. My cold is turning into a cough, so I got that going for me. F***. Hope that subsides soon.
7:47 PM - Well YAWN that's a big day, time for bed. What, you don't usually go to bed before 8 PM? Hooligans.
Until tomorrow.....
Vacation Blog X, Part 9, Transtioning from Paradise to.......Better Paradise???
Saturday, November 24
I won't go into great detail on yesterday morning, we got up, had breakfast, got off the ship and had really no issues getting to the airport and then onto the flight to Kona Airport.
I'll have more on Kona airport upon our return, because I want to spend a bit more time there, but is is quite remarkable. It appears as if about 90% of the airport is outdoors!! As we deplaned, we passed a bunch of people sitting in the sun, enjoying a tasty beverage, waiting for their plane. Never seen anything like it.
After catching the Hertz shuttle to pick up our rental car, a Camaro convertible, we experience the problem we knew we were going to have twice: No freaking room for our luggage in this car. I could have booked an SUV or something bigger but there was a ridiculous difference in price, and let's face it, who doesn't want a convertible when driving in Hawai'i?
So, we pile all of our small stuff into the "trunk", and the big suitcases into the back seat, and the smaller wine suitcase on Tracey's lap in the front seat! Not particularly safe; we will try to find a better configuration to go back to the airport next weekend.
1:00 PM - We arrive at our resort, which looks beautiful from the outside. We are 3 hours earlier than check-in time but they have no problem getting us checked in and set up in our room. They also arrange for this little beauty, which was delivered yesterday, to be brought to our room:
I freaking love wine.com. Great wine delivered to our resort, and I could specify the exact date for it to get here, and they guaranteed it would be here on that day (and it was).
We get to our suite and....wow. Just wow. I took a video because I thought it was easier to show you rather than tell you, but it's too big to upload to this blog. Let's just put it this way: If it's not the best resort we've ever stayed at, it's in the top 3. Honestly, if we have ever stayed anywhere better, I can't recall it. Huge 2 bedroom townhouse, great kitchen, and this:
That's the master bathroom. Tracey is going to spend so much time in that tub I may have to dub her "Tub Bear" by the end of the week.
And the shower in gorgeous; but I must say that the shower in the second bathroom is just about as good!
And we know how these places usually have a small dishwasher? Nope. Not only is it a full size unit, IT IS THE EXACT SAME DISHWASHER WE HAVE AT HOME!!
The kitchen has nothing but top-quality appliances. Here are my only two quibbles:
1. No BBQ
2. Laundry is a small-ish combo unit
If that's all we can complain about, it's going to be a great week! There are tons of community BBQ's in the common areas, we would have no problem using them, but since there is no way to tell that the last person didn't BBQ shrimp, we never take chances with those. And as for the laundry, who really cares? It works fine, we just have to do a few extra loads. No big whoop.
4:00 PM: Off to Kona, about 35 minutes away, to shop. First up, we hit a Farmers Market for fresh produce. It's a decent market, but nowhere near as amazing as the one from Hilo that we visited during the cruise. Then we go to Wal-Mart for our groceries and a few non-food items, and that was a horrible mistake. I'm not sure if this is common among US Wal-Marts of if this one is just a shitty one, but there is no fresh meat here. In fact, hardly any fresh food at all. So after we get our stuff here, we end up having to go to Safeway anyway to get everything else we needed.
We still need to find some decent wine glasses. Unfortunately one of the glasses we brought with us didn't make it here....my fault, I didn't bubble wrap it quite good enough. The one that I wrapped well was fine. I'll do better.
6:15 PM - We get back to the resort and decide to catch up on a wrestling event from last week that we couldn't watch on the ship. Amazingly we heard no spoilers at all, so we are going in fresh. I fire up the computer and rest it on the ledge of the bath, and we both climb in for a soak. Yes, it is plenty huge for both of us to eat, enjoy some wine, and some rasslin'.
When it's bedtime, we settle into different rooms. Since we are both sick, fighting back colds, we decide it's better to sleep apart at least until we are feeling better.
1:05 AM - Why am I having a dream about being at a basketball game? I don't like basketball, and don't go to games.
Wait a minute. That squeaking sound of shoes on a basketball court....that's an actual noise that I am hearing. I get out of bed to try to find the source of the noise, and it turns out it's the smoke detector in my room....the batteries have run out. Good grief, that's not great timing. I was SOUND asleep.
Anyway, I call the front desk and they send security out to fix it immediately. I was able to get back to sleep but I don't think I ever got back to where I was before the squeaking woke me up.
Tomorrow we have no plans (we actually have no plans for the entire week!!!!) except to relax and hopefully watch football. We have no idea what games are going to be on...one thing about traveling during NFL season, we sure miss our Sunday Ticket package!!
I won't go into great detail on yesterday morning, we got up, had breakfast, got off the ship and had really no issues getting to the airport and then onto the flight to Kona Airport.
I'll have more on Kona airport upon our return, because I want to spend a bit more time there, but is is quite remarkable. It appears as if about 90% of the airport is outdoors!! As we deplaned, we passed a bunch of people sitting in the sun, enjoying a tasty beverage, waiting for their plane. Never seen anything like it.
After catching the Hertz shuttle to pick up our rental car, a Camaro convertible, we experience the problem we knew we were going to have twice: No freaking room for our luggage in this car. I could have booked an SUV or something bigger but there was a ridiculous difference in price, and let's face it, who doesn't want a convertible when driving in Hawai'i?
So, we pile all of our small stuff into the "trunk", and the big suitcases into the back seat, and the smaller wine suitcase on Tracey's lap in the front seat! Not particularly safe; we will try to find a better configuration to go back to the airport next weekend.
1:00 PM - We arrive at our resort, which looks beautiful from the outside. We are 3 hours earlier than check-in time but they have no problem getting us checked in and set up in our room. They also arrange for this little beauty, which was delivered yesterday, to be brought to our room:
I freaking love wine.com. Great wine delivered to our resort, and I could specify the exact date for it to get here, and they guaranteed it would be here on that day (and it was).
We get to our suite and....wow. Just wow. I took a video because I thought it was easier to show you rather than tell you, but it's too big to upload to this blog. Let's just put it this way: If it's not the best resort we've ever stayed at, it's in the top 3. Honestly, if we have ever stayed anywhere better, I can't recall it. Huge 2 bedroom townhouse, great kitchen, and this:
That's the master bathroom. Tracey is going to spend so much time in that tub I may have to dub her "Tub Bear" by the end of the week.
And the shower in gorgeous; but I must say that the shower in the second bathroom is just about as good!
And we know how these places usually have a small dishwasher? Nope. Not only is it a full size unit, IT IS THE EXACT SAME DISHWASHER WE HAVE AT HOME!!
The kitchen has nothing but top-quality appliances. Here are my only two quibbles:
1. No BBQ
2. Laundry is a small-ish combo unit
If that's all we can complain about, it's going to be a great week! There are tons of community BBQ's in the common areas, we would have no problem using them, but since there is no way to tell that the last person didn't BBQ shrimp, we never take chances with those. And as for the laundry, who really cares? It works fine, we just have to do a few extra loads. No big whoop.
4:00 PM: Off to Kona, about 35 minutes away, to shop. First up, we hit a Farmers Market for fresh produce. It's a decent market, but nowhere near as amazing as the one from Hilo that we visited during the cruise. Then we go to Wal-Mart for our groceries and a few non-food items, and that was a horrible mistake. I'm not sure if this is common among US Wal-Marts of if this one is just a shitty one, but there is no fresh meat here. In fact, hardly any fresh food at all. So after we get our stuff here, we end up having to go to Safeway anyway to get everything else we needed.
We still need to find some decent wine glasses. Unfortunately one of the glasses we brought with us didn't make it here....my fault, I didn't bubble wrap it quite good enough. The one that I wrapped well was fine. I'll do better.
6:15 PM - We get back to the resort and decide to catch up on a wrestling event from last week that we couldn't watch on the ship. Amazingly we heard no spoilers at all, so we are going in fresh. I fire up the computer and rest it on the ledge of the bath, and we both climb in for a soak. Yes, it is plenty huge for both of us to eat, enjoy some wine, and some rasslin'.
When it's bedtime, we settle into different rooms. Since we are both sick, fighting back colds, we decide it's better to sleep apart at least until we are feeling better.
1:05 AM - Why am I having a dream about being at a basketball game? I don't like basketball, and don't go to games.
Wait a minute. That squeaking sound of shoes on a basketball court....that's an actual noise that I am hearing. I get out of bed to try to find the source of the noise, and it turns out it's the smoke detector in my room....the batteries have run out. Good grief, that's not great timing. I was SOUND asleep.
Anyway, I call the front desk and they send security out to fix it immediately. I was able to get back to sleep but I don't think I ever got back to where I was before the squeaking woke me up.
Tomorrow we have no plans (we actually have no plans for the entire week!!!!) except to relax and hopefully watch football. We have no idea what games are going to be on...one thing about traveling during NFL season, we sure miss our Sunday Ticket package!!
Friday, 23 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 8, it's a special day in a special place! Our second day in Kaua'i!
Friday, November 23rd
49 years ago today, some asshole was born. Well, I'm sure there were a lot of assholes born on this day in 1969, but for today, I'm just going to focus on one of them: me!
7:45 AM - Well that is a pretty decent birthday sleep-in! And I feel better than I have the last couple of days; felt like I was fighting off a bit of a cold, but that is mostly gone this morning. That's good, because there is at least one seriously kick-ass bottle of wine in my not-too-distant future, and I want to be 100% to enjoy it!
I wake up to a ton of "Happy Birthday" messages on text and on Facebook already. Of course, a couple of the texts came in at 5 AM because somebody forgot that we are 2 hours to the West here, but no biggie, it didn't wake up the wife (hence no sign of Grouchy Bear!).
We hit the breakfast buffet for the last time and Tracey is quickly replaced by Pool Bear while I go back to the room and deal with a few little things. I join her at the pool for an hour or so, which is basically my limit, and then go back to the room to start packing up for our disembarkation tomorrow. Sad, but not really sad, because all we are doing is island-hopping back to Kona for another week of enjoyment!
We are flying first class tomorrow. You might ask, who would be so snooty as to fly First Class on a 40-minute flight?
Well, we have four bags. In coach, those four bags would cost us $25/35/25/35 for a total of $120. The total First Class fare?
$150.
Bags included.
OUCH (hurts his arm patting himself on the back)
1:15 PM - I'm done most of the packing that I can do right now, and I am well into a bottle of Tantalus Pinot Noir, the last bottle that we brought with us. Pool Bear is still enjoying her last day on the ship.
3:40 PM - At this point, I'm going to have to go to the pool to make sure that Pool Bear hasn't been Bearnapped, or, worse, fallen asleep in the sun. Alas, she has not, but she is in Pool Bear Heaven. She can stay there for a couple more hours.
4:00 PM - Tracey returns!! More than satisfied after an epic day at the pool. To send us off in style, they served lunch at the pool and had a live band.
As packing continues, I am suddenly very tired and I think it's time for another nappy-poo. Checking the stats, it is official that this sets a new Dean record for "Most Naps in a 7-Day Period". I bet I can beat it next week.
6:30 PM - To our dinner reservations at one of the main dining rooms. In between the room and the dining room, Tracey gets nauseous. The ship has recently taken off from port and is rocking pretty good. Combine that with the fact that I'm not really feeling 100% either (that damn cold seems to be pushing it's way back), we decide to forego our planned bottle of wine. I order a simple glass of white to go with dinner and Tracey doesn't have any at all.
Dinner is very good, but I can hardly eat much. I think after a week of indulging, my body is tapping out. Either that, or I am sicker than I think. Hopefully the former!
8:00 PM - Back in the room and finishing up our packing and preparation for tomorrow's flight to Kona. Very excited!
Packing up the computer now, so until tomorrow........
49 years ago today, some asshole was born. Well, I'm sure there were a lot of assholes born on this day in 1969, but for today, I'm just going to focus on one of them: me!
7:45 AM - Well that is a pretty decent birthday sleep-in! And I feel better than I have the last couple of days; felt like I was fighting off a bit of a cold, but that is mostly gone this morning. That's good, because there is at least one seriously kick-ass bottle of wine in my not-too-distant future, and I want to be 100% to enjoy it!
I wake up to a ton of "Happy Birthday" messages on text and on Facebook already. Of course, a couple of the texts came in at 5 AM because somebody forgot that we are 2 hours to the West here, but no biggie, it didn't wake up the wife (hence no sign of Grouchy Bear!).
We hit the breakfast buffet for the last time and Tracey is quickly replaced by Pool Bear while I go back to the room and deal with a few little things. I join her at the pool for an hour or so, which is basically my limit, and then go back to the room to start packing up for our disembarkation tomorrow. Sad, but not really sad, because all we are doing is island-hopping back to Kona for another week of enjoyment!
We are flying first class tomorrow. You might ask, who would be so snooty as to fly First Class on a 40-minute flight?
Well, we have four bags. In coach, those four bags would cost us $25/35/25/35 for a total of $120. The total First Class fare?
$150.
Bags included.
OUCH (hurts his arm patting himself on the back)
1:15 PM - I'm done most of the packing that I can do right now, and I am well into a bottle of Tantalus Pinot Noir, the last bottle that we brought with us. Pool Bear is still enjoying her last day on the ship.
3:40 PM - At this point, I'm going to have to go to the pool to make sure that Pool Bear hasn't been Bearnapped, or, worse, fallen asleep in the sun. Alas, she has not, but she is in Pool Bear Heaven. She can stay there for a couple more hours.
4:00 PM - Tracey returns!! More than satisfied after an epic day at the pool. To send us off in style, they served lunch at the pool and had a live band.
As packing continues, I am suddenly very tired and I think it's time for another nappy-poo. Checking the stats, it is official that this sets a new Dean record for "Most Naps in a 7-Day Period". I bet I can beat it next week.
6:30 PM - To our dinner reservations at one of the main dining rooms. In between the room and the dining room, Tracey gets nauseous. The ship has recently taken off from port and is rocking pretty good. Combine that with the fact that I'm not really feeling 100% either (that damn cold seems to be pushing it's way back), we decide to forego our planned bottle of wine. I order a simple glass of white to go with dinner and Tracey doesn't have any at all.
Dinner is very good, but I can hardly eat much. I think after a week of indulging, my body is tapping out. Either that, or I am sicker than I think. Hopefully the former!
8:00 PM - Back in the room and finishing up our packing and preparation for tomorrow's flight to Kona. Very excited!
Packing up the computer now, so until tomorrow........
Vacation Blog X, Part 7, another day, another island!
Thursday, November 22nd
6:45 AM - OK a little earlier than I was hoping for but I slept well; and there is little point in trying to force myself back so sleep, since my wonderful wife is attempting a world record for loudest (and weirdest) snore. I am genuinely concerned there is going to be a knock on our door from a neighborhood cabin, asking us to stop torturing wolverines.
I hit the gym and while I am there, we arrive at today's port, on Kaua'i. This is the most beautiful view we have had from our balcony while at a port (usually what you see most is just port!). But let me tell you, I would pay good money to golf this course (and would likely have to pay VERY good money to golf it).
You see the lighthouse? To the left, if you look really closely, is the green. There is a little flag flapping in the middle of it. That beautiful, lush green area above it is the fairway. That, my friends, is a golf hole. I would put SO MANY BALLS into the ocean, but with scenery like that, I wouldn't care.
I wonder if the other 17 holes are anything as gorgeous as that one?
8:09 AM - She's up, and the wolverines are oh-so grateful. At least I know one thing: she slept well!
Another perfectly lovely buffet breakfast and we are off to the pool! The water is spectacularly warm today. Is is barely any cooler than the hot tubs!
11:00 AM - Another pool day for the wife, I spend an hour or so there and then head back to the balcony to chill. Our luau doesn't start for a few hours so we are going to have lunch around 1:30 and then come back to get ready for it.
11:45 AM - The wife is "pooled out" for the day (a phrase I never thought I would utter) and she is back and decides to lay down for a short nap. No need to worry, I escorted the wolverines out when she wasn't around.
2:30 PM - Back to the room after a nice lunch while the wife gets ready for the luau. I will also get ready for the luau, in about 2 hours. About to see what "The Process - Luau Edition (TM)" is all about.
4:30 PM - "The Process - Luau Edition (TM)" worked out pretty well, wouldn't you say?
One of the signatures of this particular island is wild chickens. We've seen them on other islands as well, but not like this.
They
Are
Ev
Re
Where
To tourists like us, it's kind of cute. Some of them are really beautiful, with colours and markings you don't often see on chickens. To the natives, they are quite a pest. There are simply no predators on this island. No mongeese, no snakes, no wolves, no foxes. The only thing that culls the wild chicken population is when the wander into the street and get hit by cars.
And you can't just eat them; the chickens we get in the supermarket have been fed grains and corn, and for those of us that source organic, free-run, grain fed birds, you can't just fry up a bird that has been living on bugs and whatever else they find in the wild.
The luau doesn't exactly start off with a bang. This is the view from our seats. You see that tiny thing way off in the distance? That is the stage.
We paid a lot of extra money for premium seating. If this is premium, I'd like to know where regular seating is? In the bottom of the pig pit?
It took me a while, but I was finally able to wrangle up a manager. We were seated at table 214, which is the table number that Norwegian had put on our paperwork. Thankfully, the manager had a master list, showing that we were supposed to be sitting here, at table 114.
Just a tad better.
I have tons of video of the show, and I will post it when I can and resend this blog link. The internet access on the ship is way too slow to upload video.
The show was amazing, unlike anything we had ever seen before. There had to be 40 different performers and each contributed to a beautiful story.
If I have not already mentioned it, the people here are just so incredibly wonderful.
10:00 PM - It takes a while to get back to our ship, as there were 750 people at the luau and every single one of them was on our ship. There are only so many buses available. Anyway, we get back eventually and hit the hay. I'm exhausted from another wonderful day.
To quote Phil Collins:
It's just another day for you and me in Paradise.
Until tomorrow....
6:45 AM - OK a little earlier than I was hoping for but I slept well; and there is little point in trying to force myself back so sleep, since my wonderful wife is attempting a world record for loudest (and weirdest) snore. I am genuinely concerned there is going to be a knock on our door from a neighborhood cabin, asking us to stop torturing wolverines.
I hit the gym and while I am there, we arrive at today's port, on Kaua'i. This is the most beautiful view we have had from our balcony while at a port (usually what you see most is just port!). But let me tell you, I would pay good money to golf this course (and would likely have to pay VERY good money to golf it).
You see the lighthouse? To the left, if you look really closely, is the green. There is a little flag flapping in the middle of it. That beautiful, lush green area above it is the fairway. That, my friends, is a golf hole. I would put SO MANY BALLS into the ocean, but with scenery like that, I wouldn't care.
I wonder if the other 17 holes are anything as gorgeous as that one?
8:09 AM - She's up, and the wolverines are oh-so grateful. At least I know one thing: she slept well!
Another perfectly lovely buffet breakfast and we are off to the pool! The water is spectacularly warm today. Is is barely any cooler than the hot tubs!
11:00 AM - Another pool day for the wife, I spend an hour or so there and then head back to the balcony to chill. Our luau doesn't start for a few hours so we are going to have lunch around 1:30 and then come back to get ready for it.
11:45 AM - The wife is "pooled out" for the day (a phrase I never thought I would utter) and she is back and decides to lay down for a short nap. No need to worry, I escorted the wolverines out when she wasn't around.
2:30 PM - Back to the room after a nice lunch while the wife gets ready for the luau. I will also get ready for the luau, in about 2 hours. About to see what "The Process - Luau Edition (TM)" is all about.
4:30 PM - "The Process - Luau Edition (TM)" worked out pretty well, wouldn't you say?
 |
| What can I say? My wife is stunning! |
One of the signatures of this particular island is wild chickens. We've seen them on other islands as well, but not like this.
They
Are
Ev
Re
Where
To tourists like us, it's kind of cute. Some of them are really beautiful, with colours and markings you don't often see on chickens. To the natives, they are quite a pest. There are simply no predators on this island. No mongeese, no snakes, no wolves, no foxes. The only thing that culls the wild chicken population is when the wander into the street and get hit by cars.
And you can't just eat them; the chickens we get in the supermarket have been fed grains and corn, and for those of us that source organic, free-run, grain fed birds, you can't just fry up a bird that has been living on bugs and whatever else they find in the wild.
The luau doesn't exactly start off with a bang. This is the view from our seats. You see that tiny thing way off in the distance? That is the stage.
We paid a lot of extra money for premium seating. If this is premium, I'd like to know where regular seating is? In the bottom of the pig pit?
It took me a while, but I was finally able to wrangle up a manager. We were seated at table 214, which is the table number that Norwegian had put on our paperwork. Thankfully, the manager had a master list, showing that we were supposed to be sitting here, at table 114.
Just a tad better.
I have tons of video of the show, and I will post it when I can and resend this blog link. The internet access on the ship is way too slow to upload video.
The show was amazing, unlike anything we had ever seen before. There had to be 40 different performers and each contributed to a beautiful story.
If I have not already mentioned it, the people here are just so incredibly wonderful.
10:00 PM - It takes a while to get back to our ship, as there were 750 people at the luau and every single one of them was on our ship. There are only so many buses available. Anyway, we get back eventually and hit the hay. I'm exhausted from another wonderful day.
To quote Phil Collins:
It's just another day for you and me in Paradise.
Until tomorrow....
Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 6, same Island, different city, this mornng it's Kona!
Wednesday, November 21
7:02 AM - Well THAT is a damn good sleep, first one of the cruise. Combined with the 3 hour pre-dinner nap last night, I feel well rested which is a rarity for me.
Quickly get up and try to gather my gym clothes quietly so as not to wake up Tracey. I end up putting on my shoes and socks outside so I don't have to sit down on the bed and try to navigate that in the dark. I have a great pair of shoes, but they are the toughest running shoes to put on.
8:00 AM - Back from the gym and Tracey is awake. Unfortunately she had a lousy sleep so I hop in the shower and head out to the balcony so that she can hopefully get back to sleep.
Tracey has her spa day today, and I suspect this will be a lazy day for me, laying on the balcony, drinking wine and eating whatever the heck I want. Since we are going to be in Kona for an entire week in a few days, no need to go ashore today.
I am up and trying to sit on the balcony but it is actually too hot to sit out here for long. Since I can't really sit inside without waking up Tracey, I decide to go to the buffet and grab some breakfast. I also grab a huge plate of meat and cheese, to go into our fridge for my "wine and cheese" afternoon. Of course, if it stays this hot, I'll probably be eating cheese and drinking wine while sitting on the bed in our air conditioned suite.
I am just standing on the balcony, at the railing where the breeze makes it bearable. I see a ship headed our way, and I'm pretty sure we are about to be boarded by Somali Pirates.
Oh, nevermind, just a parasailer. My bad.
Hey, parasailer: I'm your Captain now.
9:45 AM - Tracey is up, as rested as she's going to get at this point, and we head back to the buffet so she can eat. Since a ton of the guests have gone ashore, we almost have the place to ourselves.
11:25 AM - Back on the balcony, trying to read some Emails and relax a little bit while sweat pours off my forehead. What a beautiful day this is, hardly a cloud in the sky, and hot. The best day of the trip so far.
Tracey is getting ready to go out again as we are going to have a quick bite for lunch so that she doesn't get hungry during her spa day, which starts at 1:30. Tracey said that the pool was warmer yesterday so I might go for a little dip while she is at her spa day....before I come back and get my wine and cheese on, of course.
2:00 PM - Lunch is done, a bit of poolin' is done, now I think some wine and goodies are in order. Tracey is undoubtedly enjoying her facial at the spa by now.
4:10 PM - Tracey returns from her facial and body scrub and proclaims "I am so soft!!!"
Insert joke here.
Anyway, she had a great experience, and that is all that matters. There are many more great experiences awaiting us on the last 10 days of the trip.
5:45 PM - To dinner, another fantastic meal.
6:45 PM - OOOOOOOOO I ate too much. I have "overindulging belly".
Back to the room to relax for a little while, there is an art exhibit at 8:30 we plan to go to. If we are still up. I mean, we are old as fuck.
The ship is on it's way to the next port, and it's windy again. Don't Come A'Knockin if this Boat's-A-Rockin', because I may be tossing my cookies overboard.
8:30 PM - Up to the art gallery where we check out the Thomas Kincade show. I know that Kinkade isn't exactly Claude Monet.....but we like some of his stuff, and we particularly love the Disneyland 50th Anniversary limited edition work that hangs over our fireplace, so we thought we'd check it out. And, hey, his stuff is still a tad bit cheaper than Monet.
It's all good stuff, and there is one piece in particular that speaks to me, but the "sale price" on that piece is $4600 before taxes and shipping. Convert that to CAD and add duty, and we're looking at close to $8,000. It's not a real hard decision to pass that up.
Back to the room to relax for a few minutes and hit the sack. Tomorrow we get to sleep late and relax, as our excitement for the day doesn't being until the sun goes down: A Hawaiian luau!!
7:02 AM - Well THAT is a damn good sleep, first one of the cruise. Combined with the 3 hour pre-dinner nap last night, I feel well rested which is a rarity for me.
Quickly get up and try to gather my gym clothes quietly so as not to wake up Tracey. I end up putting on my shoes and socks outside so I don't have to sit down on the bed and try to navigate that in the dark. I have a great pair of shoes, but they are the toughest running shoes to put on.
8:00 AM - Back from the gym and Tracey is awake. Unfortunately she had a lousy sleep so I hop in the shower and head out to the balcony so that she can hopefully get back to sleep.
Tracey has her spa day today, and I suspect this will be a lazy day for me, laying on the balcony, drinking wine and eating whatever the heck I want. Since we are going to be in Kona for an entire week in a few days, no need to go ashore today.
I am up and trying to sit on the balcony but it is actually too hot to sit out here for long. Since I can't really sit inside without waking up Tracey, I decide to go to the buffet and grab some breakfast. I also grab a huge plate of meat and cheese, to go into our fridge for my "wine and cheese" afternoon. Of course, if it stays this hot, I'll probably be eating cheese and drinking wine while sitting on the bed in our air conditioned suite.
I am just standing on the balcony, at the railing where the breeze makes it bearable. I see a ship headed our way, and I'm pretty sure we are about to be boarded by Somali Pirates.
Oh, nevermind, just a parasailer. My bad.
Hey, parasailer: I'm your Captain now.
9:45 AM - Tracey is up, as rested as she's going to get at this point, and we head back to the buffet so she can eat. Since a ton of the guests have gone ashore, we almost have the place to ourselves.
11:25 AM - Back on the balcony, trying to read some Emails and relax a little bit while sweat pours off my forehead. What a beautiful day this is, hardly a cloud in the sky, and hot. The best day of the trip so far.
Tracey is getting ready to go out again as we are going to have a quick bite for lunch so that she doesn't get hungry during her spa day, which starts at 1:30. Tracey said that the pool was warmer yesterday so I might go for a little dip while she is at her spa day....before I come back and get my wine and cheese on, of course.
2:00 PM - Lunch is done, a bit of poolin' is done, now I think some wine and goodies are in order. Tracey is undoubtedly enjoying her facial at the spa by now.
4:10 PM - Tracey returns from her facial and body scrub and proclaims "I am so soft!!!"
Insert joke here.
Anyway, she had a great experience, and that is all that matters. There are many more great experiences awaiting us on the last 10 days of the trip.
5:45 PM - To dinner, another fantastic meal.
6:45 PM - OOOOOOOOO I ate too much. I have "overindulging belly".
Back to the room to relax for a little while, there is an art exhibit at 8:30 we plan to go to. If we are still up. I mean, we are old as fuck.
The ship is on it's way to the next port, and it's windy again. Don't Come A'Knockin if this Boat's-A-Rockin', because I may be tossing my cookies overboard.
8:30 PM - Up to the art gallery where we check out the Thomas Kincade show. I know that Kinkade isn't exactly Claude Monet.....but we like some of his stuff, and we particularly love the Disneyland 50th Anniversary limited edition work that hangs over our fireplace, so we thought we'd check it out. And, hey, his stuff is still a tad bit cheaper than Monet.
It's all good stuff, and there is one piece in particular that speaks to me, but the "sale price" on that piece is $4600 before taxes and shipping. Convert that to CAD and add duty, and we're looking at close to $8,000. It's not a real hard decision to pass that up.
Back to the room to relax for a few minutes and hit the sack. Tomorrow we get to sleep late and relax, as our excitement for the day doesn't being until the sun goes down: A Hawaiian luau!!
Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part V, it's kind of cool to wake up docked on a different island each morning!
7:42 AM - Whoa, now THAT is more like it!
Docked in Hilo this morning. Our plan is to have a little breakfast and then walk off the ship and explore this side of the island a little bit. This is the island we will be staying on for a week once the cruise is over, but we will be in Kona, on the other side of this, the biggest island. I don't really know how far it is from Hilo to Kona, something like 80 miles I think.
Another perfectly tasty buffet breakfast and we decide to take a "Hoppa On Hoppa Off" bus that will take us to several notable spots on Hilo, at our leisure. First stop is Rainbow Falls.
Next up, the bus drops us off in downtown Hilo ("old" Hilo) which has a lot of little boutique shops to peruse, and in particular, an incredible little farmer's market. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the quality of the produce here, it is Hawai'i for goodness' sake. I have never seen avocados or ginger that big. The ginger was the size of a tennis racquet. Hopefully we will be able to find something very similar to this on Kona when we arrive at our resort. We will be cooking our own meals most of that week, and some produce like this is essential.
Next up, a visit to Big Island Candy, makers of world famous chocolates and shortbread. Yes, we tried all the samples, and yes, we bought way, way too much of it. Freaking delicious.
Guess a double-long gym workout is in order for tomorrow.
Our next stop was at a fabulous Japanese garden, along Banyan drive. There is no truth to the rumour that Tracey is a closet Banyan fan.
Banyan drive is so named because of the proliferation of Banyan trees, many of them planted in the 1930s by such dignitaries as Babe Ruth, Cecile B. Demille, FDR, Richard Nixon, King George V and Amelia Earhart. Each of these trees has a plaque indicated who it was planted by, and the date.
Well, Nixon's tree doesn't have such a plaque, as it's been stolen. Again. Apparently, this is a normal occurrence.
We didn't get any pictures of the Banyan trees as the bus was moving, but here are a few of the Japanese garden.
2:00 PM - Back in the room and I am sitting on the balcony updating the blog, while enjoying a plate of cheese, cold cuts and a glass (*COUGH* BOTTLE *COUGH*) of the Mondavi Chardonnay that we've been drinking a lot so far this trip. Tracey has gone in search of the ever-elusive Pool Bear. I am sure, by the time I am typing this, Pool Bear has been located and is sitting near the pool or in the hot tub. Pool Bear and Contended Bear are cousins.
Not much else to do but sit and relax and enjoy the view of the seemingly endless ocean. I could get used to this.
4:30 PM - The wife returns from the pool, brimming with glee at the wonderful pool day she has enjoyed. I am still sitting on the balcony, although I did have to move 4 feet back because it started to rain a little bit. The horror.
Suddenly, and without warning....it's nap time.
7:30 PM - Tracey is successful in waking me up for our 8 PM dinner reservations. It was not a slam dunk that she was going to win that challenge.
Up to one of the main dining rooms for dinner, with a bottle of Cassini 2014 Cabernet Franc in hand. While we are perusing the menu to find the best options to pair with the wine, I taste the wine.... and it's bad. Fuck.
So, at least that opened up the entire menu for us. We order another bottle of that delicious Mondavi Chardonnay (that makes 4) and Tracey orders a chicken dish and I have shrimp. Unfortunately, midway through dinner the wife isn't feeling great; could be a combination of too much sun, too many pool cocktails, and too much boat-rocking. Both of our dinners are very good but we can't stay long enough to finish the wine, so we cork it up and bring it back to the room for tomorrow.
9:15 PM - I am sitting on the patio, reaching maximum Zen, when I notice that even though I am at the back of the patio, completely covered, I am getting rained on. The wind here does not mess around.
Tomorrow morning, we will wake up in Kona, another day where we have no specific plans (except for Tracey's spa day). Until then, I am going to go inside before I drown from this rain!
Docked in Hilo this morning. Our plan is to have a little breakfast and then walk off the ship and explore this side of the island a little bit. This is the island we will be staying on for a week once the cruise is over, but we will be in Kona, on the other side of this, the biggest island. I don't really know how far it is from Hilo to Kona, something like 80 miles I think.
Another perfectly tasty buffet breakfast and we decide to take a "Hoppa On Hoppa Off" bus that will take us to several notable spots on Hilo, at our leisure. First stop is Rainbow Falls.
 |
| Stunning. And if you look really closely, you will also see waterfalls |
Next up, the bus drops us off in downtown Hilo ("old" Hilo) which has a lot of little boutique shops to peruse, and in particular, an incredible little farmer's market. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the quality of the produce here, it is Hawai'i for goodness' sake. I have never seen avocados or ginger that big. The ginger was the size of a tennis racquet. Hopefully we will be able to find something very similar to this on Kona when we arrive at our resort. We will be cooking our own meals most of that week, and some produce like this is essential.
Next up, a visit to Big Island Candy, makers of world famous chocolates and shortbread. Yes, we tried all the samples, and yes, we bought way, way too much of it. Freaking delicious.
Guess a double-long gym workout is in order for tomorrow.
Our next stop was at a fabulous Japanese garden, along Banyan drive. There is no truth to the rumour that Tracey is a closet Banyan fan.
Banyan drive is so named because of the proliferation of Banyan trees, many of them planted in the 1930s by such dignitaries as Babe Ruth, Cecile B. Demille, FDR, Richard Nixon, King George V and Amelia Earhart. Each of these trees has a plaque indicated who it was planted by, and the date.
Well, Nixon's tree doesn't have such a plaque, as it's been stolen. Again. Apparently, this is a normal occurrence.
We didn't get any pictures of the Banyan trees as the bus was moving, but here are a few of the Japanese garden.
2:00 PM - Back in the room and I am sitting on the balcony updating the blog, while enjoying a plate of cheese, cold cuts and a glass (*COUGH* BOTTLE *COUGH*) of the Mondavi Chardonnay that we've been drinking a lot so far this trip. Tracey has gone in search of the ever-elusive Pool Bear. I am sure, by the time I am typing this, Pool Bear has been located and is sitting near the pool or in the hot tub. Pool Bear and Contended Bear are cousins.
Not much else to do but sit and relax and enjoy the view of the seemingly endless ocean. I could get used to this.
4:30 PM - The wife returns from the pool, brimming with glee at the wonderful pool day she has enjoyed. I am still sitting on the balcony, although I did have to move 4 feet back because it started to rain a little bit. The horror.
Suddenly, and without warning....it's nap time.
7:30 PM - Tracey is successful in waking me up for our 8 PM dinner reservations. It was not a slam dunk that she was going to win that challenge.
Up to one of the main dining rooms for dinner, with a bottle of Cassini 2014 Cabernet Franc in hand. While we are perusing the menu to find the best options to pair with the wine, I taste the wine.... and it's bad. Fuck.
So, at least that opened up the entire menu for us. We order another bottle of that delicious Mondavi Chardonnay (that makes 4) and Tracey orders a chicken dish and I have shrimp. Unfortunately, midway through dinner the wife isn't feeling great; could be a combination of too much sun, too many pool cocktails, and too much boat-rocking. Both of our dinners are very good but we can't stay long enough to finish the wine, so we cork it up and bring it back to the room for tomorrow.
9:15 PM - I am sitting on the patio, reaching maximum Zen, when I notice that even though I am at the back of the patio, completely covered, I am getting rained on. The wind here does not mess around.
Tomorrow morning, we will wake up in Kona, another day where we have no specific plans (except for Tracey's spa day). Until then, I am going to go inside before I drown from this rain!
Monday, 19 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 4, day 2 in Maui, and maybe we will be finding out what "Wind" is.....
Monday, November 19th
....I mean, I know what wind is. I've just never seen it as a weather forecast. Like, it's not "cloudy with some sunny periods and windy". It's just "wind". Today, tomorrow and Wednesday. Just wind.
5:09 AM - Ugh. Too early. And not a fabulous sleep either, for some reason I am stuffy and snotty and sneezy and the sneezing actually woke me up several times during the night. But no use in fighting it, I'm awake now and might as well get up and hit the balcony.
Sitting on the balcony, half dressed, and clearly the wind hasn't arrived yet, because it is spectacular out here.
I'd love to say I am sitting here watching the sun come up, but the sun is behind me, so I guess I am sitting here watching it get less dark.
10:30 AM - After breakfast we head down to meet our tour guide for the day, who is taking us across the island to Wailea Beach, recently voted "Best Beach in the World". It is pretty spectacular.
This island hosts a few celebs, Oprah has a home here (and a private road up to it), Julia Roberts, Clint Eastwood, and the late Whitney Houston hung out here before her death. That's decent company.
Eastwood. Winfrey. Roberts. Engemoen.
Sounds about right.
This island is undergoing significant changes. The last sugar cane plant in Hawai'i was on this island until about 2 years ago when it closed, unable to compete with overseas labor costs. That cost about 3000 people their jobs, but most of them were able to transition over to other high-skilled jobs, as the Government dumped a bunch of money into upgrading infrastructure: several new highways were built, a brand new Police Station, and they just recently broke ground on a brand new public High School. The island is thriving, despite the loss of what used to be their core business. You've all seen those commercials for C&H sugar? Did you know that C&H stands for California and Hawai'i? I didn't. But now, it should probably stand for China and Honduras. Seriously, I have no idea what overseas labor is making that sugar now, but it might as well be little Honduran children.
But, what about pineapples, you ask? Well, as I have mentioned, Hawaiian pineapples are so good I am not sure I can adequately describe it to you; so pineapple exports are big business, of course. The problem is that they are so freaking easy to grow, that anyone can do it, and anyone does. Everyone here has a pineapple tree in their backyard, and they supply the local population with fresh pineapple with little to no work. That cuts into their business significantly.
That volcano in the distance averages 400 inches of rain on one side, and 20 inches of rain on the other side.
The beach is nestled in between two high-end Hotel properties: The Four Seasons Wailea and The Grand Wailea. The latter was purchased by the Waldorf-Astoria corporation after 9-11 when tourism went down so much that the owner had to sell.
It occurs to me that we live so close to the ocean, THE SAME OCEAN, we could hop into it any time we like. It never feels quite like this :)
The water is a balmy 78 degrees, year round (it occasionally goes up to 80ish), with flawless sandy beach in and out of the water. It is in the kind of neighborhood I could live in: houses here average about $10M. Shit, I forgot to bring my chequebook. I estimate we spent about half of our time here in the water, just enjoying the salty brine crashing down over our heads, like a couple of 8 year olds. Neither of us can remember the last time we swam in the Pacific Ocean. For me, it was probably when I was a pre-teen at Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver.
I am forced to smile when it really hits me that I am in the middle of the fucking Pacific Ocean, A WEEK BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY! My birthday ain't in the summer, folks. Pretty cool.
The wind starts out significant but manageable and we have a wonderful day for most of the time here. For the last hour, hour and a half, it seems like a hurricane is near. Our guide says that windy conditions here are perfectly normal, but this kind of wind is exceedingly rare. It is still warm and sunny, but having beach sand pelted into your face at the speed of sound isn't all that fun, so we get up and leave the beach an hour or so before our scheduled pickup time, and go over to the Four Seasons' beach-side snack shack for some gelato, and to kill a bit of time. Our shuttle is a bit early, so we get back to the ship a bit earlier than we anticipated. The Monday Night Football game is already in the 2nd quarter, the Rams leading the Chiefs 16-10, so we are excited to go back to our suite and clean up while watching the game. At this point, it looks like it's going to be a decent game.
It gets much more than decent.
The Rams win the game 54-51, the highest scoring game in the history of Monday Night Football, and the 3rd highest scoring game in NFL history. The Chiefs earn the dubious honors of being the first time in league history to score 50 or more points...and lose.
What a game.
7:45 PM - After a quick bite at the buffet, we are back in the room to relax a bit and enjoy one of the bottles of wine that we brought with us. It takes only a few minutes for them to retrieve it from their cellar. It is fridge cold, which is a bit too cold for a Pinot Noir so we open it up and let it sit in the glasses for a few minutes.
8:15 PM - The wine is getting a bit better. We are drinking this out of horribly inappropriate glasses; there is no correlation between the acidity in this Pinot Noir and the kind of wine that would thrive in these random red wine glasses (Cabernet, probably). I swirl the wine around in my mouth, trying to get it to the proper areas of my tongue that would properly appreciate this wine. It's hard, but not impossible.
We have a case of wine being delivered to our resort next week; we know that the resort won't have any decent wine glasses, so we are going to have to go buy our own. Thankfully, we are pretty confident that we can get the glasses home in one piece in our 'Fly With Wine' luggage so that makes it easier.
We are sitting on our balcony, under the stars, feeling incredibly blessed. The aft-facing cabins are the way to go; watching the water behind us has a calming effect that is difficult to fully explain.
Tomorrow we are in Hilo, on the 'big island' (which is just called Hawai'i). We have no plans but to stay on the ship and relax. This is where that volcano erupted earlier this year, for months, and because of the uncertainty we didn't book anything. On Wednesday we are docking in Kona, which is where we are going to be staying for a week at the culmination of this cruise, so we didn't book anything for that either. Tracey has booked her free spa day for Wednesday. Looks like we may have a couple days of doing very little, which sounds pretty damn good to me.
Until tomorrow......
....I mean, I know what wind is. I've just never seen it as a weather forecast. Like, it's not "cloudy with some sunny periods and windy". It's just "wind". Today, tomorrow and Wednesday. Just wind.
5:09 AM - Ugh. Too early. And not a fabulous sleep either, for some reason I am stuffy and snotty and sneezy and the sneezing actually woke me up several times during the night. But no use in fighting it, I'm awake now and might as well get up and hit the balcony.
Sitting on the balcony, half dressed, and clearly the wind hasn't arrived yet, because it is spectacular out here.
I'd love to say I am sitting here watching the sun come up, but the sun is behind me, so I guess I am sitting here watching it get less dark.
10:30 AM - After breakfast we head down to meet our tour guide for the day, who is taking us across the island to Wailea Beach, recently voted "Best Beach in the World". It is pretty spectacular.
This island hosts a few celebs, Oprah has a home here (and a private road up to it), Julia Roberts, Clint Eastwood, and the late Whitney Houston hung out here before her death. That's decent company.
Eastwood. Winfrey. Roberts. Engemoen.
Sounds about right.
This island is undergoing significant changes. The last sugar cane plant in Hawai'i was on this island until about 2 years ago when it closed, unable to compete with overseas labor costs. That cost about 3000 people their jobs, but most of them were able to transition over to other high-skilled jobs, as the Government dumped a bunch of money into upgrading infrastructure: several new highways were built, a brand new Police Station, and they just recently broke ground on a brand new public High School. The island is thriving, despite the loss of what used to be their core business. You've all seen those commercials for C&H sugar? Did you know that C&H stands for California and Hawai'i? I didn't. But now, it should probably stand for China and Honduras. Seriously, I have no idea what overseas labor is making that sugar now, but it might as well be little Honduran children.
But, what about pineapples, you ask? Well, as I have mentioned, Hawaiian pineapples are so good I am not sure I can adequately describe it to you; so pineapple exports are big business, of course. The problem is that they are so freaking easy to grow, that anyone can do it, and anyone does. Everyone here has a pineapple tree in their backyard, and they supply the local population with fresh pineapple with little to no work. That cuts into their business significantly.
 |
| The side of that volcano in the distance is one of the windiest places on Earth; hence the turbines |
That volcano in the distance averages 400 inches of rain on one side, and 20 inches of rain on the other side.
The beach is nestled in between two high-end Hotel properties: The Four Seasons Wailea and The Grand Wailea. The latter was purchased by the Waldorf-Astoria corporation after 9-11 when tourism went down so much that the owner had to sell.
 |
| By the end of the afternoon, the wind is blowing these palm trees sideways |
It occurs to me that we live so close to the ocean, THE SAME OCEAN, we could hop into it any time we like. It never feels quite like this :)
The water is a balmy 78 degrees, year round (it occasionally goes up to 80ish), with flawless sandy beach in and out of the water. It is in the kind of neighborhood I could live in: houses here average about $10M. Shit, I forgot to bring my chequebook. I estimate we spent about half of our time here in the water, just enjoying the salty brine crashing down over our heads, like a couple of 8 year olds. Neither of us can remember the last time we swam in the Pacific Ocean. For me, it was probably when I was a pre-teen at Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver.
 |
| Somewhere, under that Driving Miss Daisy hat, a rare sighting of Contented Bear |
I am forced to smile when it really hits me that I am in the middle of the fucking Pacific Ocean, A WEEK BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY! My birthday ain't in the summer, folks. Pretty cool.
The wind starts out significant but manageable and we have a wonderful day for most of the time here. For the last hour, hour and a half, it seems like a hurricane is near. Our guide says that windy conditions here are perfectly normal, but this kind of wind is exceedingly rare. It is still warm and sunny, but having beach sand pelted into your face at the speed of sound isn't all that fun, so we get up and leave the beach an hour or so before our scheduled pickup time, and go over to the Four Seasons' beach-side snack shack for some gelato, and to kill a bit of time. Our shuttle is a bit early, so we get back to the ship a bit earlier than we anticipated. The Monday Night Football game is already in the 2nd quarter, the Rams leading the Chiefs 16-10, so we are excited to go back to our suite and clean up while watching the game. At this point, it looks like it's going to be a decent game.
It gets much more than decent.
The Rams win the game 54-51, the highest scoring game in the history of Monday Night Football, and the 3rd highest scoring game in NFL history. The Chiefs earn the dubious honors of being the first time in league history to score 50 or more points...and lose.
What a game.
7:45 PM - After a quick bite at the buffet, we are back in the room to relax a bit and enjoy one of the bottles of wine that we brought with us. It takes only a few minutes for them to retrieve it from their cellar. It is fridge cold, which is a bit too cold for a Pinot Noir so we open it up and let it sit in the glasses for a few minutes.
8:15 PM - The wine is getting a bit better. We are drinking this out of horribly inappropriate glasses; there is no correlation between the acidity in this Pinot Noir and the kind of wine that would thrive in these random red wine glasses (Cabernet, probably). I swirl the wine around in my mouth, trying to get it to the proper areas of my tongue that would properly appreciate this wine. It's hard, but not impossible.
We have a case of wine being delivered to our resort next week; we know that the resort won't have any decent wine glasses, so we are going to have to go buy our own. Thankfully, we are pretty confident that we can get the glasses home in one piece in our 'Fly With Wine' luggage so that makes it easier.
We are sitting on our balcony, under the stars, feeling incredibly blessed. The aft-facing cabins are the way to go; watching the water behind us has a calming effect that is difficult to fully explain.
Tomorrow we are in Hilo, on the 'big island' (which is just called Hawai'i). We have no plans but to stay on the ship and relax. This is where that volcano erupted earlier this year, for months, and because of the uncertainty we didn't book anything. On Wednesday we are docking in Kona, which is where we are going to be staying for a week at the culmination of this cruise, so we didn't book anything for that either. Tracey has booked her free spa day for Wednesday. Looks like we may have a couple days of doing very little, which sounds pretty damn good to me.
Until tomorrow......
Vacation Blog X, Part 3, welcome to the only part of Hawai'i I've ever seen before...Maui!
Sunday, November 18th
So when I mentioned I had been to Hawai'i previously, this is where we went. My parents brought me here for an obviously-not-that-memorable trip when I was a kid. I remember almost zero about it.
That's probably not a bad thing, since 99% of the memories I have of spending time with my Dad are negative anyway. I do remember being in the ocean quite a bit, that's about it. And the bugs in our room. Holy shit, they have epic bugs here. Haven't see a single one so far this trip, but I imagine when we are done with the cruise and get to our resort in Kona that will change.
5:30 AM - Well that's better than 4:30 anyway.
Unfortunately, the wife is also awake, and she fades in and out of consciousness for the better part of 3 hours. I get up and hit the gym. I have committed to eating and drinking whatever the Fuck I want this trip, and still losing 5 pounds. That is going to take some serious commitment at the fitness centres. So far, so good.
As I am typing this, I am starting on a bottle of Chardonnay while having just finished a bowl of ice cream.
8:30 AM - To the buffet for breakfast, and then we have the day to ourselves. We are here overnight, and have an excursion booked for tomorrow, but no plans for today. We were hoping to catch the Colts game on TV here, but the only morning game they are showing is the Cowboys/Falcons and I'd rather eat paint than watch that, so we decide to just walk off the ship and explore a bit on our own.
At most ports we have visited, there is always something interesting, if rather touristy, right off the ships. Not here, though. We walk and walk and walk and all we find is a shitty strip mall consisting of Whole Foods, a drug store, and a bunch of hole-in-the-wall restaurants that are not open.
Oh, and a Baskin Robbins. Also, not open.
Cocksuckers. That's just mean.
On the way off the ship, we passed by a beautiful, and I mean beautiful, little wild cat. She was laying beyond a security fence where we couldn't get to her, and she seemed to have little interest in coming closer to the fence to say hello. She was a black and orange tortoise, similar to our Sidra but totally different colouring patterns. Anyway, not much we could do but keep on walking.
On the way back, she had come under the fence and way laying in the middle of the path, seemingly waiting for us. She was so skinny and malnourished, but not skittish at all. She let me pet her and rolled over on her back so I could rub her belly, all the while kneading into the pavement. I wish we had known she would have been here, we could have brought her some food from the store (there were tons of empty cans of cat food strewn about in the nearby bushes, obviously from others who expected to find wild cats). Eventually she got up and started to rub up against my leg. If there had been any logistical way to do it, we would have adopted that cat right then and there. So, we did the only thing we could do, which was to give her some more pets, tell her that we hoped someone would find her, and give her the love she so desperately wanted, and say goodbye. This brought both of us to the brink of tears. The wild cat problem here is heartbreaking.
My God, could you imagine the reaction of Ashley and Sidra if we had brought another cat home? Jesus, the freaking dog wasn't enough of a disruption to their lives, now they had another sister to put up with? They probably would have packed up their things and left.
We get back to the room and Tracey decides to hit the pool while I lay down for a nap. The nap doesn't totally take, but I get a bit of sleep I guess. I don't feel very refreshed when I get up, but I can't just lie here all day
Well..I COULD, I suppose, I'm on vacation on a cruise ship in Maui.....but that would just be sad.
12:30 PM - I'm up and dressed into my pool gear and I go and wrangle up Pool Bear who has almost no interest in moving from her spot, until I point out the time and tell her she is probably hungry. She realizes I am right and we go hit the buffet for a plate of miscellany which we bring back and consume poolside. It's a nice day, but just enough cloud to keep it from being spectacular. The pool, for some reason, is freaking freezing, so we spend a bit of time in the hot tub and then to back to lie down as the sun starts to break through.
2:00 PM - That's about all the poolin' I can handle today (tomorrow is 5.5 hours of beach time in Maui!), so I decide not to disturb Pool Bear and I head back to the room to relax on our huge balcony and enjoy some of our wine. We have dinner reservations for 6 PM at La Cucina tonight, so there is lots of time to relax.
3:00 PM - Pool Bear has returned! The guests on today's excursions have started to pour back onto the ship, meaning the pool has now become, in Tracey's own words, "kid heavy". That's enough to send either of us scurrying away like a squirrel in search of nuts.
BTW, I forgot to mention the other day, at that wonderful outdoors-y Lodge that we stayed at, the squirrels were everywhere. And I don't mean in the bushes, I mean everywhere. I encountered one sauntering down the middle of the path like he owned the joint. I dubbed him the "Mayor of Cedarbrook". Pretty sure he was wearing a top hat and cane.
3:30 PM - The Chardonnay is almost gone and I am sitting here doing nothing. Nothing. Just staring into the ocean. And it is glorious.
6:00 PM - We arrive at La Cucina for dinner and have another fabulous meal. Tracey has a Caprese salad for an appetizer and mushroom risotto for her main, and both portions are so large she can't finish either of them. I had two different pastas; Spaghetti Carbonara and Shrimp Ravioli in a Creamy Lobster Sauce. I ordered the 'appetizer' size for both, and I was (barely) able to finish. Everything was superb. They had asked if we were celebrating anything, and Tracey had mentioned this was my "birthday week", so the staff brought me a cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. A nice touch.
After dinner we head to a saloon for a game of "Movie Trivia". Basically the place is cut in half, into two teams. After 7 rounds, our team had a slight lead. The final round was "Jeopardy-style" where you wager a certain amount of points and then answer a multiple choice question. The category was "Nobel Prize and the Movies". When the question came up "Which movie featured a real-life character who received a Nobel Prize", I knew the answer before the choices ever came up. Obviously, it was A Beautiful Mind, which told the story of famed Mathematician John Nash.
The multiple choice answers started to appear: 2 of them were ridiculous, the 3rd one a movie I had never heard of, and the 4th choice was "A Beautiful Mind - Mathematics". Since we knew the answer and had wagered all our points, we were guaranteed victory!!!
Oops.
Holy trick question, Batman.
John Nash did indeed receive a Nobel Prize, but it was in Economics.
The correct answer was "I.Q - Physics", which I guess was a movie about Albert Einstein that about 11 people saw in 1994.
It turned out that both teams had wagered everything, and both teams had selected the same wrong answer, so we all went home as big, fat, losers. A 0-0 tie.
I have filed the paperwork for a formal protest.
For now, though, we will have to be satisfied to go back to our cabin and try to get a decent sleep, since we are at port the ship won't be flinging us around all night. The weather forecast for the next few days is "Wind". Yes, just "Wind". That is going to be interesting.
So when I mentioned I had been to Hawai'i previously, this is where we went. My parents brought me here for an obviously-not-that-memorable trip when I was a kid. I remember almost zero about it.
That's probably not a bad thing, since 99% of the memories I have of spending time with my Dad are negative anyway. I do remember being in the ocean quite a bit, that's about it. And the bugs in our room. Holy shit, they have epic bugs here. Haven't see a single one so far this trip, but I imagine when we are done with the cruise and get to our resort in Kona that will change.
5:30 AM - Well that's better than 4:30 anyway.
Unfortunately, the wife is also awake, and she fades in and out of consciousness for the better part of 3 hours. I get up and hit the gym. I have committed to eating and drinking whatever the Fuck I want this trip, and still losing 5 pounds. That is going to take some serious commitment at the fitness centres. So far, so good.
As I am typing this, I am starting on a bottle of Chardonnay while having just finished a bowl of ice cream.
8:30 AM - To the buffet for breakfast, and then we have the day to ourselves. We are here overnight, and have an excursion booked for tomorrow, but no plans for today. We were hoping to catch the Colts game on TV here, but the only morning game they are showing is the Cowboys/Falcons and I'd rather eat paint than watch that, so we decide to just walk off the ship and explore a bit on our own.
At most ports we have visited, there is always something interesting, if rather touristy, right off the ships. Not here, though. We walk and walk and walk and all we find is a shitty strip mall consisting of Whole Foods, a drug store, and a bunch of hole-in-the-wall restaurants that are not open.
Oh, and a Baskin Robbins. Also, not open.
Cocksuckers. That's just mean.
On the way off the ship, we passed by a beautiful, and I mean beautiful, little wild cat. She was laying beyond a security fence where we couldn't get to her, and she seemed to have little interest in coming closer to the fence to say hello. She was a black and orange tortoise, similar to our Sidra but totally different colouring patterns. Anyway, not much we could do but keep on walking.
On the way back, she had come under the fence and way laying in the middle of the path, seemingly waiting for us. She was so skinny and malnourished, but not skittish at all. She let me pet her and rolled over on her back so I could rub her belly, all the while kneading into the pavement. I wish we had known she would have been here, we could have brought her some food from the store (there were tons of empty cans of cat food strewn about in the nearby bushes, obviously from others who expected to find wild cats). Eventually she got up and started to rub up against my leg. If there had been any logistical way to do it, we would have adopted that cat right then and there. So, we did the only thing we could do, which was to give her some more pets, tell her that we hoped someone would find her, and give her the love she so desperately wanted, and say goodbye. This brought both of us to the brink of tears. The wild cat problem here is heartbreaking.
My God, could you imagine the reaction of Ashley and Sidra if we had brought another cat home? Jesus, the freaking dog wasn't enough of a disruption to their lives, now they had another sister to put up with? They probably would have packed up their things and left.
We get back to the room and Tracey decides to hit the pool while I lay down for a nap. The nap doesn't totally take, but I get a bit of sleep I guess. I don't feel very refreshed when I get up, but I can't just lie here all day
Well..I COULD, I suppose, I'm on vacation on a cruise ship in Maui.....but that would just be sad.
12:30 PM - I'm up and dressed into my pool gear and I go and wrangle up Pool Bear who has almost no interest in moving from her spot, until I point out the time and tell her she is probably hungry. She realizes I am right and we go hit the buffet for a plate of miscellany which we bring back and consume poolside. It's a nice day, but just enough cloud to keep it from being spectacular. The pool, for some reason, is freaking freezing, so we spend a bit of time in the hot tub and then to back to lie down as the sun starts to break through.
2:00 PM - That's about all the poolin' I can handle today (tomorrow is 5.5 hours of beach time in Maui!), so I decide not to disturb Pool Bear and I head back to the room to relax on our huge balcony and enjoy some of our wine. We have dinner reservations for 6 PM at La Cucina tonight, so there is lots of time to relax.
3:00 PM - Pool Bear has returned! The guests on today's excursions have started to pour back onto the ship, meaning the pool has now become, in Tracey's own words, "kid heavy". That's enough to send either of us scurrying away like a squirrel in search of nuts.
BTW, I forgot to mention the other day, at that wonderful outdoors-y Lodge that we stayed at, the squirrels were everywhere. And I don't mean in the bushes, I mean everywhere. I encountered one sauntering down the middle of the path like he owned the joint. I dubbed him the "Mayor of Cedarbrook". Pretty sure he was wearing a top hat and cane.
3:30 PM - The Chardonnay is almost gone and I am sitting here doing nothing. Nothing. Just staring into the ocean. And it is glorious.
 |
| We are going to spend an inordinate amount of time on this balcony. |
6:00 PM - We arrive at La Cucina for dinner and have another fabulous meal. Tracey has a Caprese salad for an appetizer and mushroom risotto for her main, and both portions are so large she can't finish either of them. I had two different pastas; Spaghetti Carbonara and Shrimp Ravioli in a Creamy Lobster Sauce. I ordered the 'appetizer' size for both, and I was (barely) able to finish. Everything was superb. They had asked if we were celebrating anything, and Tracey had mentioned this was my "birthday week", so the staff brought me a cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. A nice touch.
After dinner we head to a saloon for a game of "Movie Trivia". Basically the place is cut in half, into two teams. After 7 rounds, our team had a slight lead. The final round was "Jeopardy-style" where you wager a certain amount of points and then answer a multiple choice question. The category was "Nobel Prize and the Movies". When the question came up "Which movie featured a real-life character who received a Nobel Prize", I knew the answer before the choices ever came up. Obviously, it was A Beautiful Mind, which told the story of famed Mathematician John Nash.
The multiple choice answers started to appear: 2 of them were ridiculous, the 3rd one a movie I had never heard of, and the 4th choice was "A Beautiful Mind - Mathematics". Since we knew the answer and had wagered all our points, we were guaranteed victory!!!
Oops.
Holy trick question, Batman.
John Nash did indeed receive a Nobel Prize, but it was in Economics.
The correct answer was "I.Q - Physics", which I guess was a movie about Albert Einstein that about 11 people saw in 1994.
It turned out that both teams had wagered everything, and both teams had selected the same wrong answer, so we all went home as big, fat, losers. A 0-0 tie.
I have filed the paperwork for a formal protest.
For now, though, we will have to be satisfied to go back to our cabin and try to get a decent sleep, since we are at port the ship won't be flinging us around all night. The weather forecast for the next few days is "Wind". Yes, just "Wind". That is going to be interesting.
Sunday, 18 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 2, Aloha, Mahola, Ohana, that's about all the Hawaiian I know!
Well, I've seen Christmas Vacation about 140 times so obviously "Mele Kilikimaka" as well, but it's a tad early to be wishing people Merry Christmas I think.
4:30 AM - Sigh. Not totally unexpectedly, my body thinks it's 6:30 and it's time to get up. Not much point in fighting it, and I did have a pretty decent sleep. Not exactly sure what to do now, mind you, as I'm up too early to even hit the fitness centre which doesn't open until 6.
The bed in the room was very soft, almost a freaking trampoline, so I am sure every time I moved (and I move a lot during the night) I woke up the wife. We will see if we have our first sighting of Grumpy Bear when she wakes.
We certainly are in no rush, she can sleep for hours if she needs to. Check out time is Noon and the cruise ship doesn't start boarding until Noon as well, for our 7 PM departure. Lots of time.
6:30 AM - I head to the Fitness Centre to work out a little bit while the wife sleeps, sort of. She has been awake off and on. No sign of Grumpy Bear though! I don't think anything could bring out Grumpy Bear when we are just a few hours away from boarding our cruise ship!
7:05 AM - The wife has also decided it's not worth trying to force any more sleep, so she's up and we are heading to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. We sit outside on the patio, feet from the pool. While we are there we get visited by several friendly birds, and a beautiful, white, wild cat. Our waiter tells us that wild cats are common in these parts.
We start off with a plate of pineapple. The best we have ever had. It is so good that I have to fight Tracey for it, and she never goes near pineapple.
Along with the pineapple, we are served some strawberries and blueberries - non-native fruits - and they aren't any good at all.
Tracey has Sweet Bread French Toast which she loves, and I have waffles with a side of white rice. Yes, rice is on all the menus as a side here regardless of the meal. So, you know the old saying: When in Rome, have Steamed Rice for breakfast.
8:00 AM - Back in the room and we have a few hours to relax before it's time to check out and head to the docks.
I received a text message yesterday indicating we had used up all of our data. I then got another message saying we had occurred $50 in overages. So, I used this opportunity to call Rogers and tell the that they are abso-fucking-lutely crazy. Not once have we ever gone CLOSE to using up all our data in a month. Now they are telling me that my phone (which was not being used during the drive down here and has been on wi-fi whenever we have been anywhere with wi-fi) used 12 GB of data in one day? Riiiiiiiiiight.
Of course, they insist I used it, I bitch about it, and they capitulate partially. They refund me the $50 overage and give me an additional 3 GB to use until the billing month resets itself on December 10th. Best they would do. I reset my data statistics so if anything like this ever happens again, I will be able to show them it's not possible I used that much.
Noon - We arrive at the Port of Honolulu. My GOD, everyone here is so incredibly friendly; from the cab drivers, to the baggage handlers, to the security people. It's almost as if living in paradise puts everyone in a constant state of bliss.
Checking in is a breeze, and we are on the ship in about a half hour. This is one of the older ships in their fleet, but you wouldn't know it by looking at it. This is our third Norwegian cruise, and we figured we knew pretty much what to expect from a ship, but there are some big differences here. This is the only ship that never leaves American waters (hence the name Pride of America) so they have to adhere to local laws: for Hawai'i, that means no gambling. That's right.....no casino! Also, no duty/tax free stores on board the ship (but lots at the various ports, we are told). As well, every single staff member is American (and it seems for some reason like about 90% of them are from Florida???).
On our way to the ship we are told to be in the fitness centre at 3:45 for free raffle to possibly win some spa services. Undoubtedly an opportunity for them to push the services, but whatever.
We have some time to kill until they open up our suites and deliver our luggage, so we head to the buffet for lunch. I've always said that you can tell the quality of a ship, or hotel, or whatever, by the quality of their buffet. This one is just as good as we expected.
I also sign up for a wine package. Normally Norwegian offers a "beer and wine" package, but that is another thing not allowed in Hawaiian waters: unlimited beer is a no-no. So they have curated a 3-level package of specific wines, and we, of course, chose the "Connoisseur" level. We chose 6 bottles (also have a 4 or 8 bottle option) of pretty decent wine at a reasonable discount over what it would cost to buy those bottles on their own. Add those to the 6 bottles we brought on board, and we are going to enjoy some terrific wine this trip.
3:45 PM - We head to the fitness centre, which is gorgeous, for the raffle. As expected, they do a full rundown on all their services before raffling off four prizes. As the winners are announced, they butcher the names of the winners pretty badly. When it comes down to the last prize, a $250 spa certificate, the Manager says "I hope she gets this name right at least!". The girl pulls out the name, her eyes get big, and she says...."Tracey.......uh......Engman???".
LOL. Close enough, and we are happy to collect the prize! Tracey is going to enjoy a couple of spa services later this trip. Exciting!
We hit up the shops as well because some dumb fucking asshole forgot to bring any sunglasses to Hawai'i. They basically have 2 options: $20 pieces of shit, or $230 Maui Jim's. Wasn't really planning on spending $230 on sunglasses, considering I have 5-6 great pairs at home, but whatever. Clearly I am going to need sunglasses on this vacation. We actually get 15% off because of our status in their "Latitude Rewards" program....and in the immortal words of noted 21st Century philosopher Todd Bertuzzi:
"It is what it is. What do you want me to do about it?????"
6:00 PM - We make our way up to the Napa Wine Bar where we are expecting to find the suitcase of wine we brought on board. We have to pay a corkage fee ($15/bottle) so we knew that particular suitcase wouldn't just show up at our room. Unfortunately, though, it hasn't arrived here yet either. They know it's coming, though.
We have reservations at Cagney's Steakhouse, which is about 10 feet away, and we wanted to open up one of those bottles for dinner, but we decide to go and check in at the restaurant and I will go back to the wine bar and check on our bottles in a few minutes.
We are starting with a couple of appetizers anyway, so we start by using up one of the 6-bottles that we bought at part of the wine package. We select a Robert Mondavi Chardonnay, which pairs beautifully with my shrimp cocktail and Tracey's iceberg salad. Before we are even halfway done our appetizers, I notice that our friend from the Napa Wine bar is bringing our wine to us! We crack that suitcase open and pull out tonight's main event, a beautiful Cabernet Franc from Turnbull, one of our favorite Napa wineries.
They even offer to put our other bottles into their cellar, which can be retrieved at any bar or restaurant anytime we want! We decide to take the 2 bottles of white wine to our cabin in case we want some while sitting on our huge balcony, and we put the other 3 bottles of red into their custody. What terrific service, we were not expecting that.
My prime rib is fantastic; Tracey has a Filet Mignon which is good but not incredible, her quibble being that the Peppercorn sauce is too peppery (and it is reallllllly peppery). Still, it wasn't terrible, and paired with that beautiful wine, it's a great way to start off our vacation.
After dinner we are wandering the ship when we come across a show about to start in one of the theatres. It's a "welcome onboard" show, just a few acts to whet our appetite for the entertainment to come, hosted by our Cruise Director. No, her name is not Julie.
And if you don't get that reference....
Paul Heyman has some advice for you.
The first act is a comedian who is moderately funny. Next up is a magician who is going to be escaping from a strait jacket as he dangles from a bar, being held only by his feet. He looks into the crowd, looking for a couple of strong guys to help him. Since, I guess, he can't find any, he chooses me. All I have to do, along with the other gentleman he chooses, is strap him into the jacket. It takes a modicum of strength to do it, but (spoiler alert) the jacket is set up so that it doesn't get as tight as it could (because this guy ain't Houdini). Anyway, we perform our duties, get the Hell off the stage before anything goes South, and he is able to escape with little problem. It's fine, but we've seen better acts than that get booed off the stage on America's Got Talent.
After the show we wander around a bit more before realizing we are both exhausted, so we retire for the night. The one thing that does NOT retire for the night are the extreme winds that shake us up more than senior officials in Trump's administration. I guess we'll get used to it.
Until tomorrow......
4:30 AM - Sigh. Not totally unexpectedly, my body thinks it's 6:30 and it's time to get up. Not much point in fighting it, and I did have a pretty decent sleep. Not exactly sure what to do now, mind you, as I'm up too early to even hit the fitness centre which doesn't open until 6.
The bed in the room was very soft, almost a freaking trampoline, so I am sure every time I moved (and I move a lot during the night) I woke up the wife. We will see if we have our first sighting of Grumpy Bear when she wakes.
We certainly are in no rush, she can sleep for hours if she needs to. Check out time is Noon and the cruise ship doesn't start boarding until Noon as well, for our 7 PM departure. Lots of time.
6:30 AM - I head to the Fitness Centre to work out a little bit while the wife sleeps, sort of. She has been awake off and on. No sign of Grumpy Bear though! I don't think anything could bring out Grumpy Bear when we are just a few hours away from boarding our cruise ship!
7:05 AM - The wife has also decided it's not worth trying to force any more sleep, so she's up and we are heading to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. We sit outside on the patio, feet from the pool. While we are there we get visited by several friendly birds, and a beautiful, white, wild cat. Our waiter tells us that wild cats are common in these parts.
We start off with a plate of pineapple. The best we have ever had. It is so good that I have to fight Tracey for it, and she never goes near pineapple.
Along with the pineapple, we are served some strawberries and blueberries - non-native fruits - and they aren't any good at all.
Tracey has Sweet Bread French Toast which she loves, and I have waffles with a side of white rice. Yes, rice is on all the menus as a side here regardless of the meal. So, you know the old saying: When in Rome, have Steamed Rice for breakfast.
8:00 AM - Back in the room and we have a few hours to relax before it's time to check out and head to the docks.
I received a text message yesterday indicating we had used up all of our data. I then got another message saying we had occurred $50 in overages. So, I used this opportunity to call Rogers and tell the that they are abso-fucking-lutely crazy. Not once have we ever gone CLOSE to using up all our data in a month. Now they are telling me that my phone (which was not being used during the drive down here and has been on wi-fi whenever we have been anywhere with wi-fi) used 12 GB of data in one day? Riiiiiiiiiight.
Of course, they insist I used it, I bitch about it, and they capitulate partially. They refund me the $50 overage and give me an additional 3 GB to use until the billing month resets itself on December 10th. Best they would do. I reset my data statistics so if anything like this ever happens again, I will be able to show them it's not possible I used that much.
Noon - We arrive at the Port of Honolulu. My GOD, everyone here is so incredibly friendly; from the cab drivers, to the baggage handlers, to the security people. It's almost as if living in paradise puts everyone in a constant state of bliss.
Checking in is a breeze, and we are on the ship in about a half hour. This is one of the older ships in their fleet, but you wouldn't know it by looking at it. This is our third Norwegian cruise, and we figured we knew pretty much what to expect from a ship, but there are some big differences here. This is the only ship that never leaves American waters (hence the name Pride of America) so they have to adhere to local laws: for Hawai'i, that means no gambling. That's right.....no casino! Also, no duty/tax free stores on board the ship (but lots at the various ports, we are told). As well, every single staff member is American (and it seems for some reason like about 90% of them are from Florida???).
On our way to the ship we are told to be in the fitness centre at 3:45 for free raffle to possibly win some spa services. Undoubtedly an opportunity for them to push the services, but whatever.
We have some time to kill until they open up our suites and deliver our luggage, so we head to the buffet for lunch. I've always said that you can tell the quality of a ship, or hotel, or whatever, by the quality of their buffet. This one is just as good as we expected.
I also sign up for a wine package. Normally Norwegian offers a "beer and wine" package, but that is another thing not allowed in Hawaiian waters: unlimited beer is a no-no. So they have curated a 3-level package of specific wines, and we, of course, chose the "Connoisseur" level. We chose 6 bottles (also have a 4 or 8 bottle option) of pretty decent wine at a reasonable discount over what it would cost to buy those bottles on their own. Add those to the 6 bottles we brought on board, and we are going to enjoy some terrific wine this trip.
3:45 PM - We head to the fitness centre, which is gorgeous, for the raffle. As expected, they do a full rundown on all their services before raffling off four prizes. As the winners are announced, they butcher the names of the winners pretty badly. When it comes down to the last prize, a $250 spa certificate, the Manager says "I hope she gets this name right at least!". The girl pulls out the name, her eyes get big, and she says...."Tracey.......uh......Engman???".
LOL. Close enough, and we are happy to collect the prize! Tracey is going to enjoy a couple of spa services later this trip. Exciting!
We hit up the shops as well because some dumb fucking asshole forgot to bring any sunglasses to Hawai'i. They basically have 2 options: $20 pieces of shit, or $230 Maui Jim's. Wasn't really planning on spending $230 on sunglasses, considering I have 5-6 great pairs at home, but whatever. Clearly I am going to need sunglasses on this vacation. We actually get 15% off because of our status in their "Latitude Rewards" program....and in the immortal words of noted 21st Century philosopher Todd Bertuzzi:
"It is what it is. What do you want me to do about it?????"
6:00 PM - We make our way up to the Napa Wine Bar where we are expecting to find the suitcase of wine we brought on board. We have to pay a corkage fee ($15/bottle) so we knew that particular suitcase wouldn't just show up at our room. Unfortunately, though, it hasn't arrived here yet either. They know it's coming, though.
We have reservations at Cagney's Steakhouse, which is about 10 feet away, and we wanted to open up one of those bottles for dinner, but we decide to go and check in at the restaurant and I will go back to the wine bar and check on our bottles in a few minutes.
We are starting with a couple of appetizers anyway, so we start by using up one of the 6-bottles that we bought at part of the wine package. We select a Robert Mondavi Chardonnay, which pairs beautifully with my shrimp cocktail and Tracey's iceberg salad. Before we are even halfway done our appetizers, I notice that our friend from the Napa Wine bar is bringing our wine to us! We crack that suitcase open and pull out tonight's main event, a beautiful Cabernet Franc from Turnbull, one of our favorite Napa wineries.
They even offer to put our other bottles into their cellar, which can be retrieved at any bar or restaurant anytime we want! We decide to take the 2 bottles of white wine to our cabin in case we want some while sitting on our huge balcony, and we put the other 3 bottles of red into their custody. What terrific service, we were not expecting that.
My prime rib is fantastic; Tracey has a Filet Mignon which is good but not incredible, her quibble being that the Peppercorn sauce is too peppery (and it is reallllllly peppery). Still, it wasn't terrible, and paired with that beautiful wine, it's a great way to start off our vacation.
After dinner we are wandering the ship when we come across a show about to start in one of the theatres. It's a "welcome onboard" show, just a few acts to whet our appetite for the entertainment to come, hosted by our Cruise Director. No, her name is not Julie.
And if you don't get that reference....
Paul Heyman has some advice for you.
After the show we wander around a bit more before realizing we are both exhausted, so we retire for the night. The one thing that does NOT retire for the night are the extreme winds that shake us up more than senior officials in Trump's administration. I guess we'll get used to it.
Until tomorrow......
Friday, 16 November 2018
Vacation Blog X, Part 1, and this one is gonna be a doozy.....
.....as I take the wife to Hawai'i for the first time!
Feels like the first time for me as well, although I did spend some time there is a child. I was probably, I dunno, 9 or 10. I remember very little about it.
Anyway, this one is going to be epic, so let's get right to it.
Thursday, November 15th
Noon: I leave work and meet Tracey at our friends' place, they are going to look after our dog while we are away. They are wonderful people and we know they will take great care of her, but they also have a dog and our dog, Zoey, has not been very good with other dogs. Loves people....dogs, notsomuch. We are hoping she behaves herself!
Not to mention we hope that Zoey doesn't feel abandoned. It has only been about 3 months since she came to live with us when we realized that my Mom's Alzheimers made it impossible for her to properly take care of Zoey. Spoiler alert: we are cat people. Not that we don't love dogs - we do, very much - but cats fit our lifestyle better. Having a dog to take care of is a game changer. She had adapted to her new home brilliantly, with one small caveat: she isn't very nice to the cats. Hopefully that changes. Thankfully, Zoey's tiny little legs work in our favor, because she can't jump up on even the lowest furniture, so the cats have no trouble getting away from her when she is being mean to them.
So there has definitely been a long period of adjustment, but Zoey loves us to death and we miss her already. We miss the cats too, but it is different. We know the cats are so self-sufficient that they barely notice when we are on vacation. "Zoey" and "self-sufficient" are not terms that belong in the same sentence.
After a nice lunch at Olive Garden, we arrive right on time at Cedarbrook Lodge, where we are staying for the evening before tomorrow's flight. It is well named...this is not a Motel, not a Hotel, it's a lodge. Huge and gorgeous and rustic. This is the kind of place we should bring the dog and stay for a few nights.
Our room is right next to the "living room", a common area that people can come to sit and relax on huge sofas and mingle if they like. There is also a common fridge for guests to use, which comes equipped with snacks like Haagan-Dazs ice cream. They also have an assortment of other snacks like candy and chips that you can enjoy in the living room or take to your room. All complimentary.
Although you wouldn't know it from the condition of the room, or the buildings, it needs a slight upgrade. Time to replace the built-in data cable ports with USB ports and that sort of thing....but that's a minor quibble. We love this place and will be back. We have a beautiful view of marshlands and a meandering trail that goes alongside it. The dog would love it here, and it is only an extra $50 per stay, not per night, to bring the dog.
The drive down was pretty standard, with a little extra traffic as we got close to Seattle. A lot of football fans on their way to the Thursday night game against Green Bay. Fucking Seahawks won, too.
After a big lunch we aren't that hungry so we have a couple of Caesar salads brought up to the room, and they are terrific. We also open up a couple bottles of wine we brought with us, but we didn't need to bring any as they have a FANTASTIC wine list here. Pages and pages of reasonably priced wines, mostly from Washington and Oregon but some Old World stuff too. Very impressive. Looking forward to sampling from that list when we come back in January before we go to Vegas for Tracey's birthday.
Tracey enjoys the huge soaker tub while I watch the end of the damn football game, and then it's time for sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day!
Friday, November 16th
2:30 AM - Hmm, this seems a bit early to be awake. And I am wide awake. Let's see if I can convince my body not to get up at 2FUCKINGTHIRTY.
6:30 AM - That's better. Took me a half hour or so to get back to sleep but I made it, and slept well. The wife is up as well and also had a very good sleep. The beds are so comfortable.
7:00 AM - The Process, Airport Edition (TM) is well underway while I start packing up what we brought to the room last night, including our skookum new "Fly With Wine" suitcase. I actually bought this for Tracey as a Xmas gift but had her open it early as we needed it for this trip. It holds up to 12 bottles of wine securely enough to survive air travel. At least, that's what it claims. We will see!
We have only 6 bottles in there, along with cold packs to keep the wine cool and I also threw a couple bubble-wrapped glasses in there. I have confidence that the wine will make it intact. The glasses? Not so sure, but there is only one way to find out.
8:30 AM - Downstairs to the atrium where they serve breakfast, and it's a very nice complimentary breakfast. All the stuff you'd expect to see at your average hotel breakfast, with some other nice touches as well. There is a real sense of community here in this lodge; from the 'living room' common areas to the breakfast room that only has huge round tables to encourage sitting with strangers. Every table seats 6.
You all know how I love new people.
Anyhoo, after breakfast we head back to the room to grab our stuff and head to the airport. I won't bore you with too many airport details......luggage check went fine, security screening went fine, an hour or so in one of Alaska Airlines' lounges, and then to the gate to board. The plane was a bit late arriving, so we were a bit late in boarding, but no big whoop.
11:56 AM - We are ready to go at our scheduled time, the only problem is there are approximately 87 planes in front of us for takeoff, so we have to wait quite a while. Eventually, after at least a half hour, or more, we hit the skies.
Shortly after takeoff we get our first 'course' of our lunch, a bowl of fragrant, salty nuts. No truth to the rumour that they were accompanies by Schwede Balls.
Oh, and Alaska recently introduced a new feature where you can book your meal in advance. I opted for a salmon dish and Tracey got Butternut Squash risotto cakes. But it wasn't time for those yet, we still had the appetizer to go......soup and salad and a warm bun. Seriously, by the time I was done with that (everything was FANTASTIC) I was barely hungry, but I managed to power through when the main course arrived slightly later.
Not your average plane food. My salmon was delicious, but Tracey's risotto cakes were even better. She declared it the "best meal I've ever had on a plane". I can't disagree.
The flight attendants on the flight, particularly a delightful, funny gentleman named Orly, made those 5.5 hours go by so quickly, it felt like only 5.25 hours. No, seriously, it was as good a flight as we've ever had. First Class is worth every fucking penny, no question.
I asked Tracey if I should go back to Coach and ask them how they were enjoying their cold chicken sandwich (assuming they paid for it). She didn't think that would ingratiate me to the rest of the travelers.
Despite leaving close to an hour late, we managed to land just about exactly when we were originally scheduled to. That must have been some tailwind; either that or we were unwittingly transported through time and space like that new TV show, The Manifest. Not that I've watched it.
6:00 PM - We hop in a cab and go to our hotel for the night, Airport Honolulu Hotel. I picked this place because it got decent-enough reviews and was close to the Airport and the docks for tomorrow's cruise. It is quite a step down from the place we stayed in last night, let me tell you. It's not awful, it will be fine for the night. Seems comfortable and clean, if you don't count the (what seems like) drops of blood on the comforter.
The hotel restaurant is closed tonight for a private event, so they offer us a shuttle to their sister hotel, a Best Western, just a couple of blocks away, where we can have dinner. Sadly, we take them up on that, as we have a meal that could only generously be called "average". The food will be much better starting tomorrow.
10:00 PM - Just about to post the blog and hit the sack......but one more thing I forgot to mention: The wine, and the wine glasses, arrived perfectly intact (and cool, thanks to the ice packs included with the suitcase). If any of you like to fly with wine, this is where I got it from:
https://www.flywithwine.com/
So far, so good!!
Until tomorrow............
Feels like the first time for me as well, although I did spend some time there is a child. I was probably, I dunno, 9 or 10. I remember very little about it.
Anyway, this one is going to be epic, so let's get right to it.
Thursday, November 15th
Noon: I leave work and meet Tracey at our friends' place, they are going to look after our dog while we are away. They are wonderful people and we know they will take great care of her, but they also have a dog and our dog, Zoey, has not been very good with other dogs. Loves people....dogs, notsomuch. We are hoping she behaves herself!
Not to mention we hope that Zoey doesn't feel abandoned. It has only been about 3 months since she came to live with us when we realized that my Mom's Alzheimers made it impossible for her to properly take care of Zoey. Spoiler alert: we are cat people. Not that we don't love dogs - we do, very much - but cats fit our lifestyle better. Having a dog to take care of is a game changer. She had adapted to her new home brilliantly, with one small caveat: she isn't very nice to the cats. Hopefully that changes. Thankfully, Zoey's tiny little legs work in our favor, because she can't jump up on even the lowest furniture, so the cats have no trouble getting away from her when she is being mean to them.
 |
| Zoey, our newest fur baby. Chihuahua/Pomeranian cross |
After a nice lunch at Olive Garden, we arrive right on time at Cedarbrook Lodge, where we are staying for the evening before tomorrow's flight. It is well named...this is not a Motel, not a Hotel, it's a lodge. Huge and gorgeous and rustic. This is the kind of place we should bring the dog and stay for a few nights.
Our room is right next to the "living room", a common area that people can come to sit and relax on huge sofas and mingle if they like. There is also a common fridge for guests to use, which comes equipped with snacks like Haagan-Dazs ice cream. They also have an assortment of other snacks like candy and chips that you can enjoy in the living room or take to your room. All complimentary.
Although you wouldn't know it from the condition of the room, or the buildings, it needs a slight upgrade. Time to replace the built-in data cable ports with USB ports and that sort of thing....but that's a minor quibble. We love this place and will be back. We have a beautiful view of marshlands and a meandering trail that goes alongside it. The dog would love it here, and it is only an extra $50 per stay, not per night, to bring the dog.
The drive down was pretty standard, with a little extra traffic as we got close to Seattle. A lot of football fans on their way to the Thursday night game against Green Bay. Fucking Seahawks won, too.
After a big lunch we aren't that hungry so we have a couple of Caesar salads brought up to the room, and they are terrific. We also open up a couple bottles of wine we brought with us, but we didn't need to bring any as they have a FANTASTIC wine list here. Pages and pages of reasonably priced wines, mostly from Washington and Oregon but some Old World stuff too. Very impressive. Looking forward to sampling from that list when we come back in January before we go to Vegas for Tracey's birthday.
Tracey enjoys the huge soaker tub while I watch the end of the damn football game, and then it's time for sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day!
Friday, November 16th
2:30 AM - Hmm, this seems a bit early to be awake. And I am wide awake. Let's see if I can convince my body not to get up at 2FUCKINGTHIRTY.
6:30 AM - That's better. Took me a half hour or so to get back to sleep but I made it, and slept well. The wife is up as well and also had a very good sleep. The beds are so comfortable.
7:00 AM - The Process, Airport Edition (TM) is well underway while I start packing up what we brought to the room last night, including our skookum new "Fly With Wine" suitcase. I actually bought this for Tracey as a Xmas gift but had her open it early as we needed it for this trip. It holds up to 12 bottles of wine securely enough to survive air travel. At least, that's what it claims. We will see!
We have only 6 bottles in there, along with cold packs to keep the wine cool and I also threw a couple bubble-wrapped glasses in there. I have confidence that the wine will make it intact. The glasses? Not so sure, but there is only one way to find out.
8:30 AM - Downstairs to the atrium where they serve breakfast, and it's a very nice complimentary breakfast. All the stuff you'd expect to see at your average hotel breakfast, with some other nice touches as well. There is a real sense of community here in this lodge; from the 'living room' common areas to the breakfast room that only has huge round tables to encourage sitting with strangers. Every table seats 6.
You all know how I love new people.
Anyhoo, after breakfast we head back to the room to grab our stuff and head to the airport. I won't bore you with too many airport details......luggage check went fine, security screening went fine, an hour or so in one of Alaska Airlines' lounges, and then to the gate to board. The plane was a bit late arriving, so we were a bit late in boarding, but no big whoop.
11:56 AM - We are ready to go at our scheduled time, the only problem is there are approximately 87 planes in front of us for takeoff, so we have to wait quite a while. Eventually, after at least a half hour, or more, we hit the skies.
Shortly after takeoff we get our first 'course' of our lunch, a bowl of fragrant, salty nuts. No truth to the rumour that they were accompanies by Schwede Balls.
Oh, and Alaska recently introduced a new feature where you can book your meal in advance. I opted for a salmon dish and Tracey got Butternut Squash risotto cakes. But it wasn't time for those yet, we still had the appetizer to go......soup and salad and a warm bun. Seriously, by the time I was done with that (everything was FANTASTIC) I was barely hungry, but I managed to power through when the main course arrived slightly later.
Not your average plane food. My salmon was delicious, but Tracey's risotto cakes were even better. She declared it the "best meal I've ever had on a plane". I can't disagree.
The flight attendants on the flight, particularly a delightful, funny gentleman named Orly, made those 5.5 hours go by so quickly, it felt like only 5.25 hours. No, seriously, it was as good a flight as we've ever had. First Class is worth every fucking penny, no question.
I asked Tracey if I should go back to Coach and ask them how they were enjoying their cold chicken sandwich (assuming they paid for it). She didn't think that would ingratiate me to the rest of the travelers.
Despite leaving close to an hour late, we managed to land just about exactly when we were originally scheduled to. That must have been some tailwind; either that or we were unwittingly transported through time and space like that new TV show, The Manifest. Not that I've watched it.
6:00 PM - We hop in a cab and go to our hotel for the night, Airport Honolulu Hotel. I picked this place because it got decent-enough reviews and was close to the Airport and the docks for tomorrow's cruise. It is quite a step down from the place we stayed in last night, let me tell you. It's not awful, it will be fine for the night. Seems comfortable and clean, if you don't count the (what seems like) drops of blood on the comforter.
The hotel restaurant is closed tonight for a private event, so they offer us a shuttle to their sister hotel, a Best Western, just a couple of blocks away, where we can have dinner. Sadly, we take them up on that, as we have a meal that could only generously be called "average". The food will be much better starting tomorrow.
10:00 PM - Just about to post the blog and hit the sack......but one more thing I forgot to mention: The wine, and the wine glasses, arrived perfectly intact (and cool, thanks to the ice packs included with the suitcase). If any of you like to fly with wine, this is where I got it from:
https://www.flywithwine.com/
So far, so good!!
Until tomorrow............
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