Fall in Newport Beach

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Here I am again, typing a recap of my trip while on a plane. It just seems to work better to spend my time getting a bit more sleep during the conference, and running the risk of forgetting something for the sake of more rest!

We left midday Tuesday, with a less than pleasant flight via Continental/United. Fortunately, we had a direct flight right into Orange County, and were renting a car, so once we had our bags, it was an easy drive over to the hotel, which was about five minutes away.

Our home for the next few days would be the Island Hotel, just across the street from our hosts’ offices. Although the hotel wasn’t right on the water, and it was undergoing construction just next door for the duration, it was a really lovely place.

Because it’s so close to the airport, it seems to end up being more of a business hotel, so during the week, despite being fully booked, it’s very quiet. When we arrived, I was battling a travel migraine (fun), so we decided to stay in for the night. I headed up to my room, got my luggage, ordered room service, and was surprised with the delivery of a lovely spiced pumpkin bundt cake from the events company I was working with.

The only complaint I have about the hotel is room service – it’s just not very good. The first evening, I had a pizza, which was edible, but not overly delicious. The next morning, I had a quick granola bar before heading to a series of meetings, and then tried room service again for lunch. I had a club sandwich – the fries were pretty good, but the sandwich was so bad I only had about two bites of it. Even the bacon tasted strange!

Since my dad was playing golf that afternoon, I headed to the spa – even though the rest of the hotel is very nice, the spa is definitely the best part! The elevators go directly there (I always like that) and open into a small lobby area with peaceful wall water features and lovely scented candles burning.

I checked in and was directed to the ladies locker room, where I changed and headed into the dimly lit treatment waiting room. In this room, they had these oversized terry cloth chairs that were so soft and comfortable, I wanted to tuck one into my suitcase to bring home. It was so relaxing.

Of course, I’m not the best at relaxing; it’s something that I have to work at. So even though it was so dim in there, I flipped through a magazine while waiting and wished there was a clock (or my cell phone).

Soon the therapist, Yuki, came to get me. The hotel was running a special promo for the fall, where you would get an upgrade from a 60-minute to a 90-minute massage – bonus! Yuki gave an excellent deep tissue massage, commenting that my lower back was like iron, and I should get more regular massages.

I was feeling very relaxed after my massage, and since I didn’t have anything scheduled for the rest of the day, I forced myself to take some extra leisure time. I rested in the treatment waiting room with a glass of water and a fruit skewer for a while, and then took a lovely shower – the showers in the spa had the best shower pressure in the entire hotel.

Afterwards, I spent some time in the eucalyptus steam room, since I’d been having a lot of allergy trouble. It was definitely hot in there, but also nice and relaxing. Finally and reluctantly, I was finished and back to my room.

That evening, I wasn’t sure if my dad would be up to going out to dinner, and after being up since 3:30 and playing a round of golf, he planned to stay in. So instead of ordering another mediocre dinner, I headed over to the Fashion Island outdoor mall, which was within walking distance from the hotel. I was pretty proud of myself, since although it wasn’t very late, it was completely dark by the time I went.

Now, I’m from Jersey, so I consider myself to be a mall expert. But this is a NICE mall. It was pretty quiet on Wednesday evening, so I felt like I had the place to myself, and got a lot of personal attention. I did some shopping and got some Christmas gifts, and even got some gifts for my pups for the first time in my travels.

I started to get a little too hungry, so I picked up a sandwich at Subway and headed back to the hotel to enjoy some dinner and tv. It was such a decadent and lovely afternoon, that I felt very relaxed and ready for our conference!

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