The Florida Chronicles
Day 1 (Sunday) - Arrived in the early evening and checked into a brand new Hilton Garden. Between the hotel and street is a charming strip mall dressed up to resemble a little neighborhood - it's got 5 restaurants, 3 take-outs and other things a traveler would need: office supply store, UPS store, dry cleaners, etc. all within 30 feet of the hotel lobby. My woman dining out alone experience was not exactly a success this time since I couldn't find the front door, the hostess desk or the rest rooms on my own. Hot wings were way way hot and saucy fingers precluded handling any reading material. Came back to find that my second floor room overlooked beautiful aqua swimming pool. Note to self: get swim suit.
Day 2 (Monday) - Boy, is it hot here. Drove 30miles to do my business. Ate lunch at a beatup outdoor place on a marina. Many many tanned-to-the-point-of-yikes men hanging about drinking beer in the middle of the day. Not like good catches, more like ne'er do wells. Although I guess they were doing weller than me because I have to work and I never get to drink beer during the day. Bought a swimsuit and dipped to my hearts content in the beautiful aqua swimming pool. (Bonus: new smooth hairdo very suitable for swimming and then dripping dry. Never could have done this with previously puffy hair arrangement.) Only yogurt for supper since I had a big lunch at the beer bum bar.
Day 3 (Tuesday) - Boy, is it hot here. I must learn how to park the car so that the sun doesn't beat down on the steering wheel. Serious corporate work! I am a hit with my focused work ethic and my many creative ideas. No one talks to me on a social level. Finally, after much small talk, I win over of one other lone travelers and we have dinner together. Much better than dining alone. Also, he paid for it, so win-win.
Day 4 (Wednesday) - Boy, is it hot here. Morning paddle about in the pool before breakfast. I like that the pool walls separate me and the tasteful pavers and palm trees from the construction right on the other side of the wall. I was awake during the night and noticed that the crew was in the fish restaurant all night long, rushing to get it open. Forgot about that sun on the steering wheel thing until I got back into the car at the end of the business day and noticed that the wheel grip was somewhat jelly-like. Used the same technique to turn the wheel as I do when its freezing in NJ - kind of a Palm /air /wrist contact motion. Swimming ensues as soon as I get back to the hotel and now I have made a buddy - a three week long resident front NC down to supervise somekind of cleaning crew. He's very tan and talks in platitudes like a Reader's Digest narrative. We repeatedly mention to each other that the pool water is as warm as bath water. How long do you think you could sustain that? Wrong - longer. Dinner alone at Applebee's. Yuck, but at least I could walk there.
Day 5 (Thursday) - Boy, is it hot here. Stayed in the hotel room until important conference call is over and then off to the airport. Remember to park with steering wheel out of the sun when I stop at Walmart for Dr.Scholl's shoe inserts. I'm gellin' like a felon and totally pleased with my purchase of gel-filled massaging inserts. It is the last thing that pleases me for the next 8 hours. The airport is unremarkable until black clouds descend and lightning strikes for two hours. Much entertainment is derived in a try-not-to-look-at-her kind of way from a real big mouth business woman shooting her mouth off very loudly and very indiscreetly. Everyone who has been praying for an end to the lightening starts praying that they won't be seated next to her. Take off time is delayed, but we finally board two hours late. It is a very slow boarding, only 3 or 4 people at a time get one and they are fully stored away and seated when the next batch shows up. We taxi out to the runway and are informed that there is a ground stop at Newark and we must park out of the way for an hour and 15 minutes. We run low on gas and will not be able to sustain a holding pattern when we finally do get to Newark. We return to the gate and are informed that he ground stop has been extended yet again. Five hours after schedule take-off time, they let us off the plane to stretch. I stretch all the way to my corporate travel office to rebook for the next morning and find a hotel. The Tampa Airport Marriott waits for me and I don;t even feel bad leaving my suitcase behind as I make my way to a supersoft dream bed. I do feel bad for the jolly fellows I passed time with during the wait, but I get over it. Supper is in the rotating restaurant on the hotel's top floor. I reflect over my cappuccino that it is not at all distressing to dine alone here.
Day 6 (Friday) - Rethinking the wisdom of leaving the suitcase behind as I go out into the world with no makeup , no hairspray or curling iron and yesterday's unfresh clothing. Fate upgrades me to first class and I am the beer bum in someone else's nice afternoon. Arrive at Newark Ariport without incident - boy, is it hot here.
Was the steering wheel cover hotter than the pool water, or was the pool water hotter than the steering wheel cover? Dammit, you can't just leave me hanging.
Posted by: dogette | July 29, 2006 at 10:04 AM