I woke up at 3:30am after about 2.5 hours of sleep if I’m being optimistic. The Lyft driver who took me to the airport was thankfully not a talker which I very much appreciated at that hour. Cleveland Hopkins was hopping which I had learned to expect at that hour on a Thursday so I got there in plenty of time for my 6 am flight. I checked my bag and headed through security. The line was long but there was a sleepy puppy a girl was holding so I took that as a good omen for the trip.
The flight to CLT was uneventful and when I landed I met Katie at Dunkin. We were disappointed in the cream cheese situation at Dunkin but mostly just excited to be going on our trip. We headed to the gate and met up with Allyssa. Everything was going smoothly until we boarded the plane and sat on the tarmac for quite some time before they told us the plane had a maintenance issue and they needed to run a test. The plane failed the test so we had to then deplane and wait for another plane to be available to take us. Thankfully plane 2 had studied harder so we were off! We played Monopoly Deal on the plane and Allyssa beat Katie and I three times. I suspect she cheated but there is an outside possibility that it may have been because it was her game and Katie and I had never played before. She insists she is not good at the game but that is clearly untrue.
When we arrived it was pretty smooth going through customs. We were pulled to have our bags checked but we just put the large ones through a scanner and they let us go.
It was about a 20 minute taxi ride to the Kimpton Seafire where we were staying. While we were checking in they brought welcome drinks and chocolates. When we had completed the check-in process they took us on a short tour of the property. From there we headed up to our gorgeous room! We were upgraded to an oceanfront view and it was beautiful.
We put on our swimsuits and headed to the bar on the beach to have a snack. We had chicken tinga tacos and chips and salsa. Katie had a rum punch and I had a piña colada. My drink had a piece of pineapple in it which I took out and nibbled on as a snack. When the bartender cleared the plates he tried to take the pineapple and I asked if I could keep it. He said of course and then a few minutes later came by with more pineapple for us. That rocked.
After snack time we went to the beach. There is a stand that has water, sunscreen, and aloe and a person that will help reserve a chair. She opened the umbrella for us and adjusted the chairs so we were actually shaded. She also brought us waters. It was super cool. Then we went in the ocean which was incredibly clear and blue. It felt really nice after an early morning and a long day of travel. We hung out some on the beach then decided to check out the pool which was also very nice. Someone helped us with chairs there too.
After the pool we headed back up to the room to start thinking about dinner. We decided on a place called Seven Mile Burger. The hotel called us a taxi to take us there. It was a casual place. I had a jerk burger with fries and it was delicious. They also had brownies that were really good. After that we were exhausted so we headed back to shower and go to bed. It was a long day but a great one!
Allison Around the World 