Aloha Hawaii

Matt and I just returned from Hawaii on Monday. It was a great way to spend Thanksgiving and I am sure we will always remember our first married Thanksgiving there.

We really lucked out getting to go on this trip, I won it at a work event. Several months ago Marriott was having an Aloha Tour visiting a lot of different cities. I got an invitation to an event they were having in Charlotte. I really like going to these work events because they are a great way to network, learn about different destinations and properties, they are a lot of fun (this one had hula dancers and ukulele players) and best of all, they usually give away free trips! When I got the invitation I saw it was a breakfast at 9:00 AM on a Saturday and I actually remember saying to Matt if we were in town we should try to go and if they were giving aways trips we might have a good chance of winning since there probably would not be a huge turn out on a Saturday morning. Well we were in town that weekend and on the Saturday it happened to be really bad weather but the event was at the Marriott in uptown, which is less than 2 miles from our house so we decided to go. Which was lucky for us because there were only 4 people from the industry there and they had about 7 trips to give away! We actually got to pick the hotel we wanted. We won a 5 night stay at the JW Ihilani Marriott in Oahu.

We thought about using our free trip on our Honeymoon but we already had put deposits down for both of our hotels in St Lucia and booked our flights. This trip was only valid through the end of the year and being that we got married in August and used quite a bit of vacation days (I think Matt only had 1 left to spare!) Thanksgiving was pretty much our only option to cash in on this trip. This was the first Thanksgiving Matt or I spent away from our families and of course we definitely missed everyone. Being that it was our first married Thanksgiving we really did not know how we were going to do it (Whose family would we spend Thursday, Friday, Saturday etc.) So while it was bittersweet not watching the parade and being surrounded by family at a big table with a delicious feast of Thanksgiving favorites; it was nice to spend our first Thanksgiving in paradise doing a lot of cool things and creating great memories for our first Thanksgiving together. Here's a little peak into what our trip went like...

We arrived in Hawaii on Wednesday afternoon. As soon as we got off the plane and stepped out into the open-air airport we saw this rainbow!



We picked up our jeep rental and were on our way to the hotel. We got there and relaxed and enjoyed the view on our balcony for a little while.

We went to the hotel bar and had our some tropical cocktails (or at least I did, I think Matt had Longboard beers.) Then we went to dinner at Roys, a popular restaurant with a couple locations in Hawaii.

Thursday we woke up really early like 6:30 AM (bc it was 11:30 EST). We went strait to the beach where we stayed and relaxed all day.

Thursday night we went to a luau. A luau is something that's a given that you have to do in Hawaii and although the entertainment was just a LITTLE cheesy, the food was AMAZING. The bbq was literally the best I have ever had. We definitely had seconds and were so full after dinner (hey-it was Thanksgiving so that's allowed!)

Friday we went to Waikiki beach (about a 35 minute drive from our hotel) and went on a snorkel sail. We saw lots of Hawaiian sea turtles- it was awesome!

THREE Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles!

After that we went and explored Waikiki. We went shopping at the International Marketplace and got a few trinkets, I am a sucker for those. Then went to Leonards Bakery. They are famous for their Malasadas (aka Hawaiian doughnuts). Delicious!

Next we headed to Wailoa for our first Hawaiian Shave Ice! I did some research and this Shave Ice place was supposed to be very good, it was in a convenience store in the middle of a neighborhood in Honolulu and it was great! We definitely sprung for ice cream at the bottom...

Friday night we went back to Waikiki Beach for a Sunset Cruise which was really more like a booze cruise with unlimited beer and Mai Tais...yum! The Hilton does a fireworks show every Friday night so we had the best seats for the show.

After the Show we went to Dukes for dinner and drinks at the bar. Then we walked around Waikiki- they had all their Christmas decorations out!

Saturday we headed up to the North Shore. We wanted to drive around beach hop there. We stopped for a Shave Ice at Matsumoto, another place known for its Shave Ice.

Then we headed to Waimea Bay Beach and relaxed there for awhile. It was beautiful!

The next stop was Haleiwa for lunch. Haleiwa was a really cute town with great shops, restaurants and bars.

After lunch we went to Sunset Beach. We stayed there until the sun set and it started getting cold.

We were close to Turtle Bay Resort (where Forgetting Sarah Marshall was filmed) and walked around the property fro a little while. For dinner we went to Haleiwa Eats, a Thai Food restaurant. It was really good and pretty authentic (I had to request a fork and soy sauce- I think they were slightly annoyed haha).

Sunday we started off the morning with a surfing lesson in Ala Moana Beach. Matt got up on his second wave. I sort of got up (it was more of a squat-I was too scared I would lose my balance if I stood strait up but I was definitely off of the board.) After surfing we were both absolutely exhausted and my arms felt like they were going to fall off!

After surfing, our instructor told us about a great lookout point in Hawaii on Roundtop Drive. It had a great view.

We had lunch at Zippys (like a Hawaiian Dennys) then went back to the hotel to relax for a little. When we got back we headed to the spa. This is one of my favorite perks of my job. Hotels love to give away free spa treatments to clients/potential clients. Matt got a massage and I got a facial. Matt made the better call, if I would have known how sore surfing would have made me I would have picked a massage too! That night we went and had cocktails and pupus at the hotel restaurant with my sales contact at the JW and her husband. They were a great couple and have been absolutely everywhere, I loved hearing their stories and about all of their travels. It was a great night. That night our flight left Hawaii at 11:40 PM.

Somehow I was able to sleep pretty much the whole way home (and that was a long flight!) We got back around 3:00 PM on Monday. We had no food so we headed to the grocery store. We decided we should cook a very mini Thanksgiving dinner with some of our favorites we missed out on. So it was a great end to a great Thanksgiving Break.

Hamsteak, macaroni and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes and oreo pie-yum!!!

Until next time...

Barcelona

I just returned from a work trip to Barcelona. It was a site inspection trip for a program we are having there in May. We stayed at the Ritz, Hotel D' Arts. It is a very modern hotel with pretty big rooms for a European hotel. This was my first time in Barcelona and I loved the city. The buildings and architecture were so beautiful and unique. I love the mosaic Gaudi tile pieces that are everywhere. I also LOVED the Gothic Quarter.

On the site inspection we checked out a lot of restaurants and hotel space, we looked at potential nightclubs for a club night on the program. We took the City Tour our participants will experience. On the City Tour we visited Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia.

Parc Guell is a park the Gaudi designed. Originally it was built to be a 'Beverly Hills' so to speak of Barcelona. It was to be the first gated community for the 30 most wealthiest families in Barcelona. But it was so expensive to live there and they made the Park so far away from the city, that only one person ended up building a home there (and residents still live there). Then they made the area a park and it is absolutely beautiful, it has Mosaic tile everywhere.

Sagrada Familia is the most famous church in Barcelona. It is still being built and has been a work in progress for over 100 years. This church is the work of Gaudi as well although, the structure actually began as the work of someone else but Gaudi took it over and ran with it.

Enough with the history lesson... the only thing I was not a HUGE fan of in Barcelona was the food. Being the picky eater that I am I did struggle with food a LITTLE bit. Barcelona has tons of seafoood and Paella, neither of which I am a fan of. They did have 'Pica Pica' which is about 4-5 small portion starters (but not tapas-we were told that was totally different!) you order as your appetizer to share with the table. Some of the Pica Pica I enjoyed (fried eggs and fries (aka frites), ham and cheese croquettes and bread with tomato sauce and olive oil). Some I did not enjoy (tuna, bruschetta, shrimp etc). I ate some lobster Ravioli with Sea Urchin Sauce that I was a little bit scared of but it turned out to be really great. One night we went to eat dinner at a restaurant in the Gothic Quarter famous for its chicken and ham. I ordered a quarter chicken breast with fries and it was AMAZING! The restaurant was awesome it had a very old timey feel. There were hams hanging all over the ceilings like a harcore butcher shop. They had a 'Tuna Band' trio roaming around the restaurant that would play the guitar sing and serenade you. It was by far my favorite night. Below are pictures of the restaurant and our table.

I am so excited to go back in May! Below are pictures of the Hotel pool and the views from my room.




Matt and I are going on a little vacay for Thanksgiving and I will post about that as soon as we return. Happy Turkey Day Everyone!!! Until Next Time...