So today we slept straight through the alarm, but all was
fine, and we postponed the further afield shopping expedition planned for this
morning, opting for a leisurely breakfast in Denny’s instead. After all, I had to introduce DMM to ‘too
much to eat’ servings early in the trip, didn’t I?
For anyone that’s experienced Denny’s you will know it’s a feast. So after that, we came back to the room
DETERMINED to access the internet on the two devices still unwilling to play
nice and only managed to get one going as the driver to take us to our ‘tour of
duty’ arrived half an hour early and set us into a mad panic to get organised
and get down to the lobby to catch the transfer
Another lovely cushy Lincoln car, again with a Russian
driver ( Alexander this time, and I hope you are reading that with their accent),
again with leather seats, and again with
free wifi , drinks and mints at our disposal.
Got to say, I could get used to this.
The hour into Hollywood just whizzed by and we were suddenly standing on
Hollywood BLVD out the front of CLOSED Make-up company offices. On closer inspection, we were to knock on the
plastic sheet covered window next door to be admitted.
Turns out, that the EXACT 3 days we are here, the makeup
academy and offices we were supposed to get a tour of as part of the prize were
being renovated ‘top to bottom’ and therefore, just the quick makeup was our
treat for flying 13 hours for. Naturally
the much touted meeting of the head of the company couldn’t happen either
because he would be in attendance of their grand opening and master class
NEXT week - coincidentally, the week we’d requested and
been denied. Sheesh.
Anyhoo… shrugging it off and just going with the expert
application of makeup and false eyelashes ( and I will say, had it not been for
the truly awesome, welcoming and friendly makeup instructor who applied our
makeup, this day would surely have been a disaster). We were genuinely blown away what this lovely
European lady ( couldn’t for the life of me tell you where her origins
were) who expertly transformed the two
of us with makeup and we did feel a bit ‘Hollywood’ after the session.
The PR person we’d been dealing with then showed up and gave
us some genuinely wonderful goody bags with their products in them but was her
usual self and announced that they hadn’t arranged a return transfer for us
because they assumed we would want to shop and sight see in the street before
making our own way back. I’m not sure
what gave her that idea when we have a full day tour booked tomorrow ( which
she knew about) but while we were sitting on their white leather 4 seater couch
pondering how we were going to find our way back ( and lamenting the $130+ cost
of the one way transfer we were looking at having to shell out) the makeup
artist went out the back and within 3 minutes, the PR girl popped out to say
they could arrange something.
Coincidence? I’m thinking not,
given the look on the makeup lady’s face when we were told.
So we wandered off to look around for the 30 minute wait and
on our return we were told rather gruffly to wait outside for the transfer with
a ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’ kind of air.
Have to say, I’m very disappointed by their attitude… we
were honestly so thankful for the opportunity to go on this trip and told them
so over and over, and we still got shafted.
Reflects very badly on them and everyone I speak to, is being told about
it. So I’m not sure this has been the
best PR exercise they ever thought up, and I genuinely believe this comp was to
harvest data rather than see anyone have a great experience.
Sigh… ok, that’s over, let the trip truly begin.
Back at the hotel, we rested and pondered our transfers
tomorrow – we’ve had the devils own trouble finding a way to Santa Monica to
catch the tour we wanted to do - and in
the end, with DMM almost fainting on the spot when I shelled out for private
transfers for the occasion, I closed my eyes and handed over my details so she
could do the things she MOST wanted to see.
I thought it only fair, given that she had agreed to Disney days
again. She is so accustomed to me being
so frugal that I think I nearly sent her off into another panic attack that we’d
run out of money because of her. Nah… I
had a little up my sleeve for something unexpected… this turned out to be it,
and I’m happy with the decision.
So once I got her to breathe again we wandered down to the
Rainforest Café where I again splurged to her eyepopping horror on a lovely
meal with anything she wanted, including the souvenir glass. I love this café. It’s always fun to sit in a restaurant that
has thunderstorms and rainy patches in the middle of dinner. Downtown Disney is a totally different place
at night, with street performers and twinkling lights everywhere. It’s a joy to walk down this precinct and
soak up the atmosphere… I was forbidden to sing along with the Disney songs we
could hear, but she couldn’t stop me from skipping a few steps to be back in my
happy place.
She is now sound asleep, Like I should be at almost midnight, so night all. xoxo
The goodie bag with all its contents
DMM after her make over - selfies all the way
DMM and our cocktail/mocktails in the Rainforest Cafe.
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