I had purchased transfers to the hotel and airport as well as a day pass to La Tahiti - Pearl Beach Resort. My flight wasn't until almost midnight so I had a day to kill. The stomach blah-ness continued so I only had some tea this morning before leaving the ship.
After I picked up my luggage, we got aboard a giant bus to head to the resort. I was impressed at the open air lobby where we checked in. I had a bell boy take my luggage to my room for me. I found the resort to be a confusing hodge-podge of corridors and hallways. And it never made sense to me even after being there all day.
There was a black sand beach as advertised though, although there was no reef here to protect the shore, so no real swimming. And the noise of that surf hitting the shore was deafening. I'm serious. So loud, that if you wanted to sleep with the patio doors open, you would be kept awake.
After checking in, I looked around the room. At 1st glance it looked nice, but after settling in, I began to notice things. The entire building was quite old--it appeared like it was maybe hotel from the 60s that was revamped. But things didn't make sense.
Like why would you have a glass partition at the commode? And a phone in there?
The shower was not easy to get into - if you have mobility issues, I would not recommend. And there is no way to start the shower without getting into the tub to adjust the water temperature. After the ship, I found the amenities provided in the shower were quite inferior in quality. The towels were adequate--but again, stepping out of the tub was awkward.
I could also see areas on the floor that were missed in cleaning---and there were a few long black hairs on the floor.
The mattress was about the quality of a Motel 6. Quite thin and not very comfortable and the pillows were the old foam filled kind.
There was no ice in the room and no directions on where to find some. The glasses and barware were very dusty.
The room had a large deck, part sun and part covered. I would not walk in bare feet though, it was splintery. The view was OK.
The grounds were lovely though.
I ordered food in the only restaurant and despite asking several times, felt they were very stingy with the ice!
And another weird thing--they had no sundry shop. Not one place to buy snacks for your room. I was hoping to get some crackers or something for the plane. I was told I'd have to call a taxi and be taken to a grocery store. WHAT? I'll be hungry.
The shuttle ride to the airport was uneventful and we arrived pretty early for our flight. I did get in line to check-in so I could rid myself of most of my luggage. After that, I headed over to a restaurant for some dinner. The food was decent, prices were OK and I think I drank a gallon of ice water. This place knew their ice! LOL
I made my way to the security line and spotted my new friends! Security was not too bad and then I was inside the 'terminal'. As I remembered, it is unairconditioned and also has an outside area. I found a seat with others on our flight (the Hollywood couple and a few others) I did go into the duty free stores to get some cool air but didn't buy anything. Thankfully, I did have water. It was sweltering in there at 9PM.
I was on the United flight to San Francisco and, of course, it was late. Finally, it was time to board and thankfully, I was in the 2nd boarding group. I booked the aisle seat in the center section of the plane, hoping the middle seat would stay open. Of course, it did not. But there was a young girl sitting in the middle seat--so not bad at all. We did have a decent amount of turbulence and I did manage to doze off and on. United provided one of those U shaped neck things - disposable I think and a blanket.
We had 2 unforgettable meals and landed about 8 1/2 hours later in San Francisco in the early morning hours. Customs was a breeze and NO I did not have my Global Entry interview. After asking some TSA men where I needed to go, they instructed me out of the secure area and to a place that was only doing applications. Thanks guys! (So now, I have to make an appointment at TPA or travel out of the country again. HA)
I eventually got situated and found out my flight to Tampa had been cancelled. They did Email me ahead of time but I wasn't really reading Emails while I was cruising. Soooooo, my flight to Tampa wasn't for 16 hours and I was connecting through Chicago. GREAT, just great.
Thank God for lounge passes. United had given me 2 of them when I signed up for their credit card. Time to cash in one of them. I found a lounge right next to the gate where I would be leaving and settled in. There was the usual variety of pre-packaged food, a soup of the day, snacks, one of those million flavor soda machines AND an ILLY coffee machine dispensing a variety of tasty drinks.
I read, I drank coffee, I ate, I snacked, I read and finally they announced the lounge was closing in 30 minutes. It was only 6:30pm. Hmmm. Then I asked and was told there was another lounge around the corner. So, off I trekked. This lounge was open until 11:30. It was much larger than the first lounge and you had to ride an escalator to reach it. (Fancy) Same food and drinks though. Just 4 more hours until I could get on the plane. Sigh.
I was actually waiting on the taxi-way when the clock struck midnight in San Francisco. Happy Freakin' New Year. LOL
Boarded the plan and headed to Chicago. We arrived to gloomy, cloudy weather and a snow storm moving in. Great, just great. Once again, I headed to a lounge to wait for my flight. The same Illy coffee machine and various breakfast items and juice. After a few hours, I left and boarded my flight to Tampa. Almost there!
Aaaaand the flight boarded late. And it started to sleet. Great.
Finally, finally, we were ready to take off. And in a few hours I was back in Tampa--where my flip flops were acceptable dress in the airport. I ubered home and tried to unpack. My neighbor, Jan, saved me from starvation by bringing me a gigantic serving of her homemade chili. OMG It was so good. I was so thankful. I ate and face planted onto the bed about 8pm.
And so ends my first fabulous semi-Covidless adventure!!
I am so grateful I got to have this adventure. The experiences were unforgettable and memories I will have for the rest of my life!
Thank you for following along! I love sharing my adventures with you!
jilly
No comments:
Post a Comment