After roughly 11 hours in the air, I landed in Honolulu late last Tuesday night. I hadn't eaten a solid meal the whole day so my first task after checking into the sprawling Sherton Waikiki hotel was finding some food. This task was much more difficult than it sounds around 11pm on a Tuesday, but I finally stumbled upon an open restaurant - McDonald's!
Surprisingly, sleeping wasn't an easy task that first night either. And the morning came quickly! Unfortunately, I was up before the sun nearly every day of the quick trip. Our first day held a walk-through at the stadium and assistance with the Pro Bowl Draft that afternoon.
The Draft proved to be the most exciting part of the week for me. My job was securing various players for on-stage interviews in a room set aside for entertaining military personnel. Along the way, I chatted with a few of my beloved Bengals that were roaming the area. We commiserated that they wouldn't be playing in the Super Bowl, but everyone seemed to have high hopes for the future! It turned out to be a fun, yet tiring afternoon - I returned to the hotel and immediately fell asleep. So much for dinner!
An early morning was in place for Thursday with our group set to make the hour and a half journey out to Turtle Bay resort for practice. Team Irvin and Team Rice each had their time on the field and we monitored the fans to ensure they stayed within their boundaries. The highlight of the day was stopping at Matsumoto's Shave Ice stand on the way back to the hotel. And checking out the massive North Shore waves along the coast as we drove back to Waikiki.
Friday was a day of relaxation. I didn't have any specific assignments so I spent the day relaxing, reading, and doing a bit of work on the computer. Thankfully, each room had a balcony with a fabulous view of the ocean.
Saturday, we repeated our trek out to practice stopping at Kahuku Grill for lunch. I tried the world famous coconut shrimp...and loved it! So tasty! I spend the rest of the evening packing up since I was set to fly home on a red eye right after the Sunday afternoon game.
Game day went by in a flash! Our group helped to activate various on-field experiences so we were busy non-stop from pre-game to post-game. I was able to spend a little time on the field during the 3rd quarter experience, but otherwise I was shuffling people to and fro all day. Needless to say, I didn't have any problem sleeping the entire 11 hours back to NYC!
I was surprised to arrive home to beautiful flowers from my lovely husband! More importantly, I was glad to see him again after a week away!
Andrea :)
