Yep, we are back from the nation's 50th state feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, but also bringing home a case of the flu. Darla started feeling the sniffles on the plane on the way to Hawaii and was downing Airborne like a drunk working on a bottle of ripple. It didn't do much good as she came down with the flu on Wednesday and hnd it through the weekend. I finally picked it up on Friday night and it started with a sore throat, that turned into nasal congestion and finally a runny nose and bad headache. I would cough or sneeze and my head felt like it was going to explode. Flying home on the five hour flight last night was a little brutal, but I had been up Saturday night tossing and turning and was able to sleep a good portion of the flight. As much as I hated to do it, because I need to get caught up at work, I called in sick today and stayed in bed until 3:00 PM. It was a little surreal for me, because I consider anything over about 7 hours of sleep to be borderline slovenly. I think I needed it.
We got home a little after midnight last night and I went into the spa, which in hindsight wasn't very smart. It was 28 degrees outside and although the spa felt wonderful, the journey from the spa back into our room was freezing and I ended up with chills racking my body that took almost five minutes to subside. What was Darla thinking letting me do that? (J/K)
The trip itself was great. We hadn't been to Oahu since we were both 18, it's been about twenty years or so for me (that's what I was telling the staff). Honolulu is a BIG city with traffic problems and infrastructure difficulties. The mass of humanity and asphalt is too much for me and not what I go to an island to see. Waikiki is nice, but crowded. The beaches are nice, but crowded, and the hotels are very nice but crowded. If you didn't get down to the pool by 10 AM, there were no open seats. That's not to say that there were people in all of the seats. Some were likely off on excursions, but their chair was saved with a book and a towel. I sat out on Wednesday and there was one set of six chairs that had towels and bags on them and no one came to sit in them from 11 o'clock in the morning until 4:30 when we went in.
I appreciate the Silpada outings and the fact that we fly all over the world and visit places like the Bahamas, Mexico, Hawaii, Panama, Puerto Rico, Aruba, etc., but I am so tired of the Silpada women that have an aire of privilege to them. There are generally two events during our trips, the opening event and dinner and the closing event and dinner. Other than that, we are free to come and go as we please which is great. We lined up a half hour early for the opening dinner and we were probably 60th in line. From that point forward we watched as over 200 women and their guests pushed in front of us and took their places in line. Most would recognize a friend and jump the line, but some would just brazenly walk forward and take a spot ahead of everyone. It was insane. The line when we got there was about 4 people wide. By the time they let us in the line was as wide as the hallway with probably 25 people across.
We had a group of 6 Canadians in front of us that turned into about 60 Canadians as everyone knew each other and would just push in ahead of us. Several of the women had fake Canadian tattoos on the arms, so they were easy to spot. I had struck up a conversation with one couple from Vancouver and when it became obvious that the entire country would push ahead of us, I suggested that because this was the first International Silpada event, that there was a separate line just for the Canadians and Great Britain's and they should go check it out. I had one or two ready to jump the line, but Darla told them I was just kidding. Rudeness comes in many fashions and it always amazes me that the people involved don't see their actions as rude.
Darla's "rock star" Lisa and her boyfriend, Don, rented a Volvo convertible for Friday and invited us to tour the island with them. The Avis people sent us out front to wait on the car and 45 minutes later, Lisa finally went back to check with them on why it was taking so long. It turns out the car was a hard top convertible and had been sitting there the entire time. We drove into Honolulu with the intention of having a late breakfast, but had a heck of a time finding a breakfast restaurant. We finally found Zippy's a bakery and diner, but they stopped serving breakfast at 11. I stopped a local in front of the restaurant to ask about breakfast restaurants and he said, "If you can find a Zippy's they are really good". I pointed at the huge sign behind me and he said, "well, there you go." We drove around until about 11:30, gave up and had lunch at a Chili's. From there we drove out to the Pealr Harbor site and went through the museum. We opted not to take any of the boat tours to the memorials as they are basically, a memorial built with all of the names of the dead and living from the attack. From there we drove back past Waikiki and on to Diamond Head and Hanauma Bay. We stopped at Haunama Bay, took some pictures and opted not to pay $7.50 a head to walk the mile down to the beach. It is a snorkeling site and we didn't have any gear.
We did stop at Sandy Beach where you can see a picture of the high surf. It was a red flag warning day as the surf was 12-18 feet at any given time and it was powerful. We relaxed at the beach and then drove back to the resort at the Sheraton. Darla had thought we were staying at the Hyatt resort, but we were instead at the Sheraton Waikiki and right at the entrance to the Shops at Waikiki. There is every expensive shop you can imagine from Rolex to Coach to Vivendi to even Peugeot. And there was a virtual Asian invasion of little Japanese and Asian people flocking into the stores and walking out with bags brimming with purchases.
Saturday was the start of my flu like symptoms and also the Silpada farewell Party. We lined up for the buses at 6 PM and again watched as 100s of people pushed in front of us to gain access to the earliest buses. The event was held at the Iolani Palace, the former residence of the King Kalakaua and Queen Lili'uokalani, a palace that almost bankrupted Hawaii back in 1879. King Kalakaua was the first King of Hawaii to visit the United States and he worked with President Grant to put together a reciprocity agreement to allow Hawaiian sugar into the United States duty free. We ate in the gardens of the Iolani Palace and had a great meal with about five courses. It was typically first class by Silpada and very enjoyable.
The travel Sunday was rough as I had not slept well Saturday night, up coughing and wheezing all night. When we got to the airport, we had lunch and then joined Lisa and Don at the gate awaiting our flight. Lisa had saved us chairs next to them and right next to an elderly woman. Darla pulled me back and whispered, "You sit next to Lisa and you know why." I didn't know why and tried to think when was the last time I had assaulted an old lady in an airport. Lisa could see I was conflicted and leaned over and said, "because you are sick, Ken, you don't want to infect the old lady" Oh yeah, right.
Well, that's it for this week. I have poker here Friday night and then play golf with the boys on Saturday up at Auburn Country Club. I will also host a budget buster lunch with food catered by a Greek restaurant on Wednesday for the staff. Here's to a good week and to each of you avoiding this flu that is going around. I know Randy had pneumonia, This is a bad year for illness. Ciao.
No comments:
Post a Comment