Did I Just go on Vacation?

I actually had the chance to go to South Padre with some friends for a wedding. I've never been to South Padre, and my husband volunteered to watch my son so I could go with the girls. Although there was still some debate about where exactly we would be staying (the hotel was supposed to open in March but was STILL not "officially" opened when we got there), I decided I would thoroughly enjoy time to eat, drink, and be merry.

Well, the first disappointment came when the airplane hit a storm over Houston and caused my dear friend KHam and me to get more than slightly motion sick. We both knew that our other two companions for this trip would not be able to make it since their personal jet would not be able to fly through the rough air. Bummer. By the time we landed and got our luggage, we just wanted to get to the hotel, order some room service, and chill until we fell asleep.

Enter problemo numero dos: the Hilton Garden Inn was not officially open. I should have seen there would be trouble when the only thing in the ghost town of a hotel were the two employees at the check in counter surrounded by spirals and loose pieces of paper. That's right. No computers. The hotel did not have its computer system in yet and resorted to keeping notes on random pieces of paper. Again, I was tired, and KHam was tired. We were also trying to stay optimistic since it wasn't a weekend about us but rather our sweet friend getting married. (However, our spirits were quickly dampened by the pungent fresh paint fumes and sporadic piles of construction trash in the hallways.)

After making our way to our room (which they still charged us FULL PRICE for-trust me the Hilton company is getting a letter), we discovered that there was NO ROOM SERVICE. Yep, I paid $200/night for a hotel without room service. Now I was just starting to get ticked. So KHam and I made ourselves presentable (we changed our sweatpants to jeans) and called a cab to find something to eat. By 10 that night, we were tired, still pretty hungry (not impressed with the local cuisine), and shortly discovered we didn't have hot water (I believe tepid would be a good way to describe it). God was kind to us because Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was on television. Since our adoration for the adventures of this boy wizard is one reason we are such great friends, we watched that till we fell asleep.

With the hot water working satisfactorily by the next morning, I was starting to feel a little better about everything. The true test was going to be if the Hilton Garden Inn would be able to pull off my friend's reception. Much to my surprise, the Hilton DID manage to make the reception quite beautiful. I was happy for my friend's sake because no bride should have a crappy wedding. So in the end it turned out great for my friend. But I still maintain that I should not be charged full price for a hotel that is, in essence, "out of service."

Now, my gal pal KHam mentioned also blogging about the experience, and I'm sure it will be much more entertaining. I've also moved on passed a lot of the frustration I felt, so this post lacks a lot of the passion it would have contained had I been able to blog at the hotel.