Our last morning in Bali was a brilliant and sunny day. My plan was to watch as much of the Dodger game as possible before Amy woke up. This was the BIG GAME 7, and it was hard to think about missing any of it until they at least had a comfortable lead. By the time Amy was up and ready to go, the Dodgers were ahead 2-1. She was fine with me bringing my audio ear buds and my cell phone so that I could listen on the way to breakfast. I only had one ear bud in on the walk to town so I could chat and listen.
The sky was so blue on this day it made the water even more blue. It was beautiful and none of this was lost on me, even as I listened to the game on the walk.
We made it back to our favorite breakfast spot. Hey, why stop a good thing now? This place had been killing it for us so far. Today I also ordered the colorful Dragon Bowl and was absolutely so delicious. I will never forget when Amy was ordering I was listening to the game and I could hear the announcer call the Puig’s home run that put the Dodgers on top for good. I was so thrilled when he hit that home run and was cheering from my seat, even as the waitress just looked at me as Amy was making her order.
I then started streaming the game and put my little phone up at the table. Amy was so great, she didn’t mind at all and was also enjoying watching the game. We got to the bottom of 8th inning through breakfast and were ready to make the 10-15 walk back to our room to start packing. On the walk back to the room, I walked faster than I have the whole trip as I wanted to see the final outs and watch the Dodgers clinch the National League Pennant. We made it, and I saw it, and I was so very thrilled.
While we were packing to leave, our absentee personal concierge called to tell us that she investigated what happened with our late pick-up to the St. Regis the evening before. The St. Regis wanted to apologize and offered to send a private luxury car to take us to the airport at 1:30pm. This sounded great to us as it would have cost us $35-$40 dollars. Our flight was at 4pm, and they recommended we get there at least 2 hours in advance.
When the St. Regis driver arrived, in the seat between us there were fresh cold waters, 2 boxes of Macaroons, and an apology note to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson. My first thought was seriously, hmm, this is a note for my parents. LOL! Okay, well, at least they were above and beyond trying to make it up to us.. It actually was very sweet of them to be so apologetic over a 25 minute wait. They more than made up for the experience and left me with a positive impression of both the St. Regis and the Laguna Resort where we stayed. It just goes to show you, mistakes happen, but how you handle them, can make all the difference in the experience the customer has.
We were at the airport by 2pm and quickly dropped our bags off and made it through the security line. So we had a good 90 minutes before we needed to board the plane. One of my credit cards gives me access to ‘premiere lounges’ around the world, so we went up to the more private lounge that offered food and 3 drinks each. Can’t even imagine downing 4 drinks in 90 minutes. If we had 3 drinks each they’d have to carry us onto the plane. Amy decided on water and I decided to have one last Bintang Beer for the road. Who knows, maybe beer is a new thing for me now.
The flight to Hong Kong was 5 hours. I watched a few movies and was more than ready to get off of the plane when we landed in Hong Kong. The guy on the end of our row never got up. So we basically felt ‘stuck’ the whole flight. Not that you couldn’t ask him to get up, it just feels all awkward when folks get ‘too’ situated and it is an ordeal for them to have to get up.
Are bags came off the luggage carousel very quickly and we headed over to the express train to the center of Hong Kong. It was all very easy to get to and access. Once we arrived at the center of Hong Kong, there was free shuttle service to all of the major hotels and ours was the second stop. It was all so efficient, organized, and easy to get to our hotel. And Hong Kong felt very safe, even at 10:30pm.
We arrived at the Renaissance, a Marriott hotel brand, that I stay at often in my work travels. The lobby totally smelled like all Renaissance lobby hotels. It was so weird once I smelled that scent, suddenly I felt like I was on a work trip. When we were checked in the lady behind the counter had a very thick accent. She asked me, as a platinum member, what I preferred as a welcome gift. She said, ‘Would you like 1,000 points or would you like some welcome sex?’ I stared at her for a second, my eyes got big. My mind was racing, surely she wasn’t saying what I thought I heard through her thick accent. Then it dawned on me, she was offering ‘welcome snacks’ not ‘welcome sex.’ Phew. Thank goodness!
Our room, though very small, had a stunning Harbour View on the 38th floor. We were laughing that our rooms were getting smaller and smaller. This room was really going to require a bit of a dance around each other. As in, if one of us was unpacking their suitcase and the other one needed to pass by, one of us needed to get on one of the beds.
We heard from our friends, Shelly and Amy T, they had arrived also and were now on the train into the City Center. Our dinner on the plane wasn’t great, so we headed down to the lobby around 11pm and split a burger for dinner. We didn’t want a lot, but needed a little something. After that we headed back up to the room and off to bed.