After our wedding was over (details later), the limo took us from Tyler to the mystery hotel that Brad had booked for us. Brad made me wait until we were exiting from I-30 into downtown to tell me where we were spending our first night together. I was delighted to find that it was the historical Magnolia Hotel in downtown Dallas.
Our limo driver pulled up to the entrance that his not so handy dandy little GPS told him he should be at. Little did we know, but it was NOT the correct one. The doors on this side of the hotel were locked at night and could only be opened with a hotel key. As we had not checked in yet, we obviously did not have one. So while Brad went around to the main entrance (which was not large enough for a stretch limo), the driver and I stood on a dark, downtown Dallas street with all our luggage, the wedding dinner that I hadn't gotten to eat and 2 bottles of champagne (thanks Rhonda!) while the homeless and others roamed around.
Brad soon came and opened the door for us, and I was suddenly left with a dilemma. Did I leave all our bags sitting outside and hope that one of the passerbys didn't help themselves to one of them (there were some shady looking creatures) while our driver slowly brought them in or did I stand there by myself waiting to make the 5 AM news as the bride killed on her wedding night for a bottle of champagne? I chose to risk it and stand outside...couldn't very well have my swimsuits walk off before going to Aruba. Sure enough, as Brad and the driver worked to get our bags in, I was approached by a guy that wanted money...or my champagne. He was willing to take either, but he wanted one of them. Luckily my smooth talking skills, my total lack of cash, and my death grip on my bottle of champagne won out and the guy walked away...or maybe it was the security guy and our driver walking out that saved me. Anyways...
Brad and I finally checked in and went upstairs to our very lovely room, complete with another bottle of champagne. OK, so maybe I didn't have to risk my life for the bottle of champagne, but I was a newlywed who hadn't had anything remotely of a celebratory nature to drink yet, and I wanted a glass of champagne with my husband. Now, I had 3 bottles...and chocolate covered strawberries, and milk and COOKIES! Yes, I was probably more excited by the cookies than I should have been, but they were tasty! I don't know whether to blame too much Sesame Street and the Cookie Monster as a kid or whether it's my complete inability to "romantically" eat chocolate covered strawberries without ending up a brown and red mess, but I much prefer cookies. That doesn't mean that I didn't help my share to the strawberries. The champagne covered ones were especially nice...after Brad started laughing at me and spilled his glass all over them.
The next morning, the towncar picked us up to take us to the airport. I knew we were in trouble when the pockets of said car were full of motivational materials that our driver felt compelled to point out to us. I knew we were further in trouble when he started telling us about his wife...and the fight they got into over a loaf of bread...and how he wasn't planning on going home that night because of it...but that was love! Yeah, he felt like imparting advice to the newlyweds. Don't fret the small stuff he says. Apparently he doesn't know that a loaf of bread is the small stuff, but at least his overall message was good...just don't listen to the details.
Our flight to Miami was relatively uneventful. In fact, it was so uneventful that I don't even remember any details about it. The flight on to Aruba was a different matter. We spoiled ourselves with first class tickets. As soon as we sat down, our flight attendant introduced himself to us and seemed quite excited to be on the flight. Wouldn't you be if your job took you to Aruba for the night? Shortly after takeoff, he brought us our little jar of roasted nuts and me my first glass of wine. Apparently he noticed that I was picking through the nuts trying to find all the cashews and pistachios because within the first hour he had brought both Brad and I another bowl of nuts...and had picked out everything but the cashews and pistachios! OK, so some of my friends might consider that a bit creepy, but personally I was delighted...then again, the flight attendant didn't believe that wine glasses should be empty so I was delighted by a lot...especially all the little islands we flew over!
Soon we were landing in Aruba, clearing customs and preparing to start our vacation!
