It was the perfect opportunity for a girls’ getaway – I was celebrating my birthday, my husband would be on duty, and it was something I wanted to do for a little while now. So when I saw the Black Friday special on Booking.com, I jumped at the chance to book a two-night stay at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain with my girls – Cybil*, my sister and my eight-and-a-half-month-old baby girl.
*Not her real name because she would KILL me for writing this post. You will understand why later.
However, the universe decided to give me the cold as a birthday present and it didn’t leave the receipt so I couldn’t return it. I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy the weekend as much as I hoped. But I should have known that with the company I brought along, I would not have a dull moment.
Continue reading to hear about our awkwardly funny moments.
Birthday Surprise – Hotel or Husband?
We checked in around 6:00pm on our first night, with more luggage than you need for a two-night stay. But when you have three women and a baby, you tend to be more over-prepared than the three men and a baby equivalent. When we got to the front desk, the delightful Nikiesha checked us in. She innocently mentioned a special surprise that I already kind of expected since when I was booking our stay, I added that we were celebrating my birthday. From my experience, hotels generally like to do something special for their guests when they are celebrating a special occasion. But my reaction made her wonder if she had ruined the surprise. Thinking nothing of it, we went to our room on the 14th floor and were greeted by this lovely balloon arrangement.
Now my first thought was, “I know that the hotel likes to make their guests feel special, but was the ‘I love you’ balloon really necessary?” I mean, I have only been to the Hyatt maybe 3 or 4 times, we were still getting to know each other, I feel like maybe I needed to stay there at least 10 times before I could even consider the L-word you know?
Then this happened two hours later:
Husband: Can you take a pic with the balloon arrangement for me please?
Me: Wait…Did you organize that?
Husband: Yes. Did you think it was from the hotel?
Me: (Lol) Yes, I thought they ran out of balloons so they used the “I love you” one.
By the way, this was not the first time I basically ruined one of his thoughtful surprises.
Not-So-Fun Ride
So the Hyatt has a key card system to access the different floors of the hotel, including the spa, pool, and gym areas. Very practical, very efficient method. Is it entirely foolproof? Probably…with the right kind of humans. Like I mentioned earlier, I have been to the Hyatt before, usually with persons more adept at using this system than I am. This time, I was the leader of the group…need I say more? Cybil and my sister already were dealing with their new experiences with riding the elevator in a tall building and my baby girl is well…a baby, so no help there either, though she seemed to hold her own better than the rest of us.
When you are in the lobby, you have to swipe your key card like you are using an ATM machine before you get in the elevator, so the floor you are heading to would be locked in. Pretty simple.
What we didn’t know? – We couldn’t just jump in an open elevator and then select the floor from inside.
What we didn’t notice? (At least at first) – That there was a slot to enter your key card inside the elevator to select your floor so that if you missed the first step, you can still get to the desired floor.
What we didn’t master? – The proper way to swipe the card so that it could select the floor. Okay push card in, hold it there and select floor number…no? Okay push card in, count “one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi”, then pull out and select floor number…okay that was way too long. Okay push card in, pull it back, count to three (Mississippi-lessly)…still too long. Okay push card, count one second and pull it back out, there’s the green light…Success!
Basically, we rode the elevator maybe about five times before we could get to our floor, making all of us (except my daughter) dizzier and more anxious each time. Meanwhile, a young lad, maybe about 14 or 15, stood next to us almost the entire time, nonchalantly sipping his hot drink, seemingly going through the same predicament and then calmly saying “finally!” when we got to his floor.
Making the Most out of the Buffet
If any of you are a big Friends fan like I am, you will know that Ross liked to make the MOST out of his hotel stays (i.e. “finding the line between stealing and taking what the hotel owes you” – Season 9, Episode 19 – “The One with Rachel’s Dream”).
“For example, a hair dryer? No no no. But shampoos and conditioners? Yes yes yes!”
Ross Geller
Let’s just say that Cybil also lives by this philosophy.
I mean, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t take away some body wash, sugar packets and even a sewing kit from time to time at my hotel stays (they are so handy!). But Cybil takes things to a whole new level and she does it so well!
Buffet breakfast is heavenly! But my problem is that I get filled up pretty fast and then hungry again very quickly after. But Cybil had a solution for this. Somehow, after breakfast, we were able to come away with some sandwiches, muffins, banana bread and even some nuts so that we didn’t get too hungry later. Sorry Hyatt, but it is kinda your fault that you made things so yummy.
Not sure how I felt about my baby bag being the getaway bag though.
Running into Your Boss
So the last thing Cybil wanted was to run into any of the managers of her organization, much less her overall boss, especially in her bathing wear, wet and wrapped in a towel, coming from a pool. So of course, that is EXACTLY how fate wanted to have it. We were all leaving the pool on our final day at the Hyatt and were heading to the elevators. A nice gentleman was by the elevator and graciously informed me that the elevators were taking some time as a technician was working on them.
I hadn’t noticed Cybil making a dash like the Roadrunner back around the corner. I did notice she was missing but thought she was taking a bit longer to get to the elevator. She apparently motioned frantically to inform my sister when she spotted her boss. My sister said to me, “oh well, let’s take the stairs”, to which I told her that would be ten flights of stairs to climb. Realising that I was not taking the bait, she said she wanted to use the washroom, so I followed her. I found Cybil hiding quietly by the towels, asking if the coast was clear. Cue the “Mission: Impossible” theme music for our journey back to our room, she was so afraid she would run into him again.
Getting the Balloons into the Car
You saw the balloon arrangement. Imagine us trying to fit it all in the trunk of the car on a windy day. Yeah.
The Overall Experience
Despite being bogged down by a hacking cough, this weekend was so much fun! It was a great time for us girls to relax and enjoy some girl time. I found it so awesome how helpful all the staff were and how accommodating they were when they saw we had a baby in the crew. I mean it helped a lot that she is crazy cute so you just can’t help it, but I still really appreciated it. Any place or person who tries to make things easier for a mom and her baby gets two thumbs up from me! A special shout out to our servers at breakfast, Veronica and Nadine, who were so kind and helpful and of course, fawned over my baby girl. I wish I could remember everyone’s names – the cleaning staff and bell staff – but they were all pretty spectacular. Thanks for a wonderful time, Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain. I look forward to visiting again. Now, you really have me considering the L-word (wink).
The booking of our stay at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain was made easily with Booking.com. If you use this link to book your next trip, we can both win a reward! You will get 10% of your booking back and I will get US$15 after your trip! It’s a win-win! 🙂