Weekend away

 

Our weekend away was awesome .. it started out a little rough , but turned out spectacular.

In the info sheet and the package voucher envelope was a paragraph that I just brushed over .. something about having to lay down a $500 cash bond or a credit card in case you trash the room or eat the entire mini bar.. no problem I’d just give them my credit card .. I no longer use it ..paying it off and closing the account .. I use debit cards now..

Anyway we pack and say good bye to the kids and drive the 2 hours to the hotel .. Valet parking .. flash .. lol the small things make you feel so sophisticated.. our bags were trollied up to the consierge’s desk and we waited in line to be seen..

I handed over my debit card as I had all my money on there.. and was told that I needed a credit card for the Bond .. ohh ok .. handed over the credit card , and had it handed straight back.. it had expired .. OMG !!! so without a valid credit card and NO $500 cash bond we could not be booked in to our room ..

We tried to talk to them about how high that amount was for ordinalry people but they just kept saying that it was policy and that without the money their hands were tied.. surely I had $500 cash somewhere ??  I have in my savings account .. but that will take 4 days to transfer from another account , he didn’t understand that at all .. like why would you have another account  with a different bank . and one without EFTPOS cards attached ???  Ummm cos it is a SAVINGS account..!!!

I tried to convince him that taking my credit card details was a promise that if I trashed the room , ate all the food and drank the mini bar dry they could take $500 from my credit card … so it would be the same if I wrote him a note and promised and signed to NOT trash the room , and if I did that I’d be liable .. he said that was not the same .. OK so I am old school .. a mans word is his word .

I thought about my account and added up available funds not including the saving s account .. it was $320.. but most of that was also my weekend spending money .. and they were keen to take that .. TOH stepped in and said NO WAY .. I called my niece and asked her if we could use her Credit card .. it was maxed due to their reent wedding … but I said we are not going to trash the room nor eat from the mini bar .. trust me it will be fine ..

After tears at the receptionist ( male) failed … I asked that he give us 15 mins please .. We sat on the lounge chairs and waited for my niece… he came out and knelt beside me and started the speel again about how it was policy .. and something about it was not like buying a product at Countdown ???(local supermarket) WTF ?? I was lost .. i looked at him and I said .. you know what .. I was given this voucher as a special treat .. I would never be able to afford a weekend away here .. I have been so looking forward to it and I have saved hard .. do you realise  that it took us weeks to save a little money to enjoy this .. and you are ruining it .. then TOH said , we are not all Rock stars with money flying out our Butts .. I asked him to go back behind his little counter and leave me alone… he did and we never saw him again ..

My niece arrived .. she was ready for Blood .. lol but I explained to her that it was policy and I did understand it .. but it had just caught us off guard .. calm down sign the foom and lets get on with the weekend ..

We did .. a lovely little man signed us in .. was nice as pie to us .. Good bye to the niece … porter took our bags to our room .. we were greated with a bottle of champagne, fresh fruit and chocolate dipping sauce, and a massage oil and sented bath salts and soaps etc.. all part of the package .. lovely .

Twin double beds .. yay one each !!!

We opened the wine , ate the fruit , turned on a movie and fell into bed ..

I woke during the night .. awake and could not sleep, tossing and turning , I sneaked in to TOH’s bed .. cuddled up and fell asleep .. I woke at 4 am with him slipping into my bed .. lol I was snoring.

I woke again at 8 , dressed and went to the gym .. came back at 9 and showered and room service breakfast arrived. i lay in bed eating poached eggs and sausage with bacon and hash browns .. and a pot of earl grey tea.. we also had a crossiant, fresh fruit and muslei, that was saved for the next days breakfast.

We dressed and went downstairs and met out Tikki Tikki driver who took us to the wharf, he was a lovely boy , a uni student making a bit of extra cash .. chatted heaps about his band and music and then gave TOH his iPod to listen to .. we shared the same love of music..

We caught the Ferry to Devonport.. a short 10 minute ride .. and then strolled the beach front walk, shopped , and went to the library where the internet was free for 30 mins , so did the banking , and a few of TOH’s work emails.

We sauntered back to the ferry and back to Auckland.. then walked slowly through Queen st ( the main street) back to the Hotel.. It was wonderful to have that time together .. no rush , no kids .. no agenda. I bought a few puzzles , a new wallet , and some liquorice at the markets , we watched a young girl and her dad do the Virtical Bungy .. they are strapped into a cage , seated .. the bugy cord pulled tight and they let go and they rocket into the sky .. wow .. I was nearly ill watching .. they have a video camera on the cage and the looks on their faces was priceless for us down the bottom watching…

Up in the room we rang KMW ( niece) JC (her Husband)  we were going to meet fro dinner at a food hall.. but she had decided to cook us dinner instead.. how cool .. they came and collected us at 7 .. so before that I had time for a swim in the rooftop pool. Bliss,  then a quick sauna and a shower and change.

Beef strogonauf, mashed potatos and steamed vege with teramasu for dessert .. and 2 bottles of wine .. I was done and after watching a few funny clips on youtube via their huge tv screen I dozed off on the couch .. when I let out a snore and they all laughed I woke and was told it was time for home ..

JC drove us to the hotel .. and I fell into bed exhausted .. it was midnight.. I woke at 7 and crawled to the door and grabbed the paper.. I quietly read for an hour then turned the light out and slept again till 10.

We had a late check out so took full advantage of that and left the room 11.50 am .. I called for a porter and had our bags put into storage .. we checked out paid the bill of the extra night and headed down to the Sky Tower entrance .. TOH had never been before and we had a 2 for 1 ticket in the package . It was wonderful .. walking about on the glass floor 192metres up was a bit freaky for me though and I thought I was tough .. I was spooked .. we watched the bungy jumpers from the top of the tower drop passed the window .. 200 metres in 11 seconds .. yep not for me ..   then we watched a group of 12 and 13 yr olds do the walk on the edge .. hmmm I may be able to handle that .. tied to the building ..  acco

rding to a girl and her Dad in the viewing deck they were friends and it was one of the girls birthday treat to take 4 friends on a Sky Walk … wow .. maybe they are Rock Stars and have the Money butt thing going on .. thats incredible , and a whopping price ..

Agter that experience and little retail therapy in the gift shop we had our pic taken too .. it was off to the casino with the $10 chip we got in the package deal I bought.. I decided to use $10 aswell so we had $10 each .. we walked about for about 15 mins and looked at all the tables .. the way the games ran etc .. then decided upon a roulette table with min $2.50 .. lol last of the big spenders .. i lost my $10 in the first 2 turns .. TOH turned his into about $40 .. and then gave me some and I lost it ..lol so after an hour and we were up and down .. we blew the last $10 and left .. not a bad afternoon and it was so much fun.. well worth the $10 we lost.

Back to the main desk and we had Valet bring our car around and our bags from storgae .. it was time to head home .

TMI

We had the best weekend .. and TOH said " I have had an awesome time .. I loved every minute of it, that was the best weekend , even without sex .. lol ( I had got my period on Thursday before we left ) Murphys law #3676   And he was right .. it was awesome .

TTFN..xox