Last month, to celebrate my friend Megan's acceptance into the EMBA program at Sac State (meaning the next 15 months of her weekends booked) and also to catch up with my cousin Sheri, I decided to plan a 3-day girls' weekend to Waikiki. I've been to Honolulu before, but I knew this trip would be really fun since it's just the girls.
My travel philosophy has been likened to "champagne wishes on a soda-pop budget". I enjoy luxury, but I try to find the best deals. I had found a great package deal but by the time Megan and Sheri committed to the trip, the deal was gone and it was cheaper to piece the trip together from multiple sources.
Airfare was booked on United (of course!). I found the hotel through Priceline. I use Priceline a lot when I just need a few nights' stay. It's easy to learn how to bid. I monitor several forums on the Internet that provide information on winning bids, so I know around how much I'd need to spend. I also search for tips on bidding. I ended up scoring a "Resort" category room at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki for $95 a night! (plus taxes) The cheapest rate on the Hyatt website at the time was around $180, so that was a chunk of savings. I had to re-bid for several days before I was successful. Because we'd be hanging around Waikiki, I didn't get a rental car, so I researched ways to get to the hotel. An affordable option was to use the Roberts on-site airport shuttles.
The flight was out of San Francisco (SFO) early Friday morning. I planned it such that Megan and I would spend Thursday night at Sheri's house in San Francisco. We didn't get there until almost midnight, and we had to wake up early to get to the airport for our 6:40am flight! The trip was already beginning to be action-packed.
We only had a few minutes after landing in LAX to make it in time for "red carpet boarding" on our flight to Honolulu. I planned the seats on our first flight such that we'd be able to dash out of the plane and get to the next one including a bio break. However, by the time we got to the gate, they were already starting Seating 1. Thanks to my 1K status, we went to the red carpet line and the gate agent halted the long line of people and allowed us to board. I'm sure they were throwing poison darts at us with their eyes. Sheri and I didn't have enough 500-milers to upgrade the flight to HNL, but we were all sitting together in Economy Plus, so it was comfortable.
We arrived in sunny, warm and breezy Honolulu, a drastic improvement over the chilly and rainy weather we'd been having in Northern California. It wasn't difficult to find the Roberts shuttle stop; I asked an airport employee to make sure. We boarded the coach, but as with many shuttles, it won't leave until it's full of passengers. So we had to wait for about 15 minutes, but all of us own iPhones and not in any particular hurry (we're on vacation!), so we entertained ourselves reading email and posting on Facebook. The bus finally took off, and the fare was collected on-board. $15 for a roundtrip, cash only. It's amazing how the bus driver can maneuver around town, get into the tightest places to drop people off at their hotels.
We get to the Hyatt and it's 1pm. Check in time is 3pm, but sometimes you might get lucky and a room is available early. I go to check in. The front desk lady asks if I would prefer a king or two double beds. Note that Priceline only guarantees accommodations for two people, and having two beds may not be available. I politely request for two double beds. She types and types and she tells me that she's having a hard time finding one, and that my Priceline reservation was for a cityview king room. (yes, she said "Priceline" aloud...I looked around to see if anyone heard) I was preparing myself to be disappointed and sleeping on the floor, and also conjuring up ideas like getting a rollaway. As luck would have it, she was able to find a double room, which also happened to be oceanview! But...it's not cleaned yet, she said, and if I didn't mind waiting until 3pm. Heck no! She calls housekeeping and tells them to expedite the room cleaning. My cell number was noted so that they could call me when the room was ready. I thank her profusely, returned back to the gals and told them of our fortunate circumstance. We pass the time walking a few blocks (with our carry-ons) to look for some food and a store to stock up on snacks and forgotten toiletries.
It's a bit past 3pm and I'm thinking I won't get a phone call, so we head back to the hotel. I go to the front desk and a different lady is there now. I ask if my room is ready. She looked me up and says "Oh, yes! The room is ready, I am very sorry for the wait!" And she repeats what kind of room I have, an oceanview room on a high floor, upgraded from a cityview room, and apologizes again for the delay. I'm thinking to myself, "I'm getting a steal of a room, I should be apologizing!" It's nice to know that no matter what you spent on the hotel room, that you still get great customer service at the Hyatt.
The room is pretty big and I love the Hyatt "Grand Bed" with plush pillows, soft sheets, and duvet! Then we got to discussing who would sleep where, as the double beds are a bit small. This suddenly caused a brain flash - the night before at Sheri's, Megan and I were sharing a double bed in the guest bedroom, and sometime during the night, Megan had rolled over and put her arm around my waist! I was awake at the time and just let it go, figuring Megan was dreaming or something. A few seconds later, she jumps (realized what was going on) and rolls as far away from me as possible in a double bed! I don't know why I didn't remember the incident until we were in the hotel room! All of us were laughing. And Sheri and I decided to let Megan have her own bed. ;)
The bathroom was standard with tub/shower combo and shower curtain. The toiletries were Portico brand, with eucalyptus. The bath soap is shaped with hard nubs on one side to "massage" you. What's nice about the Hyatt is that they also include a travel size Aquafresh toothpaste. It came in handy on my last mileage run as I forgot to pack toothpaste.
The main drag is Kalakaua Avenue; lots of people walking everywhere. We roamed around the International Marketplace, where there are a bunch of vendors hawking almost the exact same stuff. I don't know how they make money if one cart is selling a necklace, and a similar necklace is available from the cart across the way? There were also some brick-and-mortar-type shops surrounding the carts, and even those stores are selling the same coconut hula bras, same dashboard hula girls, same beach bags. Eventually we made it to the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and ate at the food court there. I had some BBQ combo from "Yummy's" and it was quite tasty. I forgot to take a picture of the food though. :(
We had seen an advertisement for an indoor shooting range on the 4th floor of the center, so we head up there. We didn't even make it inside the shooting range, as we got intercepted by a group of Navy guys taking a smoking break at the top of the escalator. I'm sure they couldn't help but to notice three hot Asian chicks! ;) We talked for a while and they invited us to join their buddies at Senor Frogs downstairs. This is the first time I've ever been to Senor Frogs. It's supposed to be "fun" I guess, with the silly decor, including games the employees play with the patrons on stage, etc. I prefer a nightclub environment where people dance. Anyway, we find out that the guys were getting shipped out the next day or two to Guam for a month-long tour of duty. It was fun to talk to them and learned a few things about Navy life, but eventually jet lag set in and we had to get some sleep badly...the Grand Bed was calling. Day 1 already gone. :(
No comments:
Post a Comment