Hawai'i Work Trip Day 1 (Saturday)
Yeah, so, getting to go to Hawai'i for work is pretty awesome. Especially since it wasn't actually to do work, but rather as a team reward trip. The stuff being rewarded happened before I actually joined, so that felt a little silly, but at least there were several of us in the same boat so I didn't feel so guilty.
We were allowed to bring a guest if we paid for their airfare, so most people on my team brought their significant other. Originally I was going with C, but she got a new, better job (yay!) but needed to be available to start the same time as the trip (boo). So at the last minute I ended up buying a ticket for my dad instead.
Going to put these all up (with photos!) over the next few days, although I'm backdating them.
So, Day 1: stayed up too late on Friday night working on a few last work things and also doing laundry and packing. And then I couldn't sleep because travelling makes me nervous. So I was already awake at 6am, which is when the cats wake me up anyway. Got to the airport on time and the flight to Denver was uneventful. What's more, my dad was waiting at the gate for me, and we were able to grab lunch and then fly to Hawai'i. That was a long flight, but at least I got some reading done.
We landed in Kona, then got the car and drove to the fancypants resort.
Fancy resort.
There were two turtles in the ponds in the lobby, which was kind of nice since you have to stay at least twenty feet away from ones in the wild, and it was cool to see them up close. I guess once these get bigger they'll be released.
Turtle!
The room had a nice lanai. It looked out over one of the hotel restaurants, which was a bit loud but also nice for spying on people I knew...
Look at all that grass and those trees. They dug up the barren lava, carted in all sorts of dirt and sand, and transplanted trees from other places. I bet they spend a fortune on irrigation, too.
We wandered around a bit when we got there and looked at the waves, then we started to get hungry.
We had a $300 credit for food while we were at the hotel that we had to use up, which seems like a lot even for two people but actually turned out not to be. But that first night we determined that the nice restaurant only served things I didn't like and that were super expensive anyway, that the bar seemed deserted and we weren't sure it was open. Also I felt a bit antisocial because I was tired. So instead we realized there was a grocery store 5 minutes away, and went there. He got a sandwich and I got some grocery store sushi, which was the same price as in Madison but a lot fresher. Also we got some bread and peanut butter so that we had something to eat later.
And then we laboriously forced ourselves to stay awake until 10pm. Time zones are hard!