Arby’s $6 Hawaiian Getaway Day 1
If I came up to you and asked if you wanted to fly over 9,000 miles this weekend what would you say? Probably thanks but no thanks. What if I said it was for a trip to Hawaii? Maybe some ears begin to perk up with that addition. Then I throw in the kicker, that it will only cost you $6!!! Where can I sign up, right? That is until I tell you that you only get a mere 6 hours on the beach…now we are back to: this is insanity! That was my weekend in a nutshell.
This weekend I spent 20+ hours on a plane over a 48 hour period and loved every minute of it…well almost every minute. I am deciding to block out the entire flight home 🤣. I covered the outline of the trip and the Arby’s contest previously. Here is a breakdown of the first day of my sandwich adventure.
Arriving in LA
Before heading off to Hawaii we were all meeting up in Los Angeles for the night. Originally, I didn’t think there was anything planned for Friday night and I planned on just lounging around the Hilton LAX but boy was I wrong.
I departed on a 10am flight from Detroit to LAX, in economy. The flight went off without a hitch. Catching the airport shuttle to the Hilton LAX was a little more troublesome. I swear every other hotel’s shuttle went by at least 3 times before the Hilton LAX bus showed up. It was only some 45 minutes later. I had even considered riding to a near by hotel and walking over. My Google Maps was up and I was deciding which option would be best when the one bus (or at least it seems that way) they run showed up. Something to remember if you are looking at LAX area hotels, the Hyatt Regency bus went by like 5 times ;).
Hilton LAX
When checking in I provided my Hilton Honors number hoping to rack up some points. I was informed our booking was done via a 3rd party so I couldn’t earn points 😖. The hotel was kind enough to extend me lounge access and free WiFi thanks to my Diamond status though. Thanks Aspire!
After checking in I met up with Chris, the man in charge of this rodeo. He welcomed me to Los Angeles and gave me my Arby’s goodie bag. The highlight was of course the sandwich pilot wings pins! He also informed me to be in the lobby at 4:30 sharp since we were heading to the Dodgers game.
The Room
Once I got into my room the first thing I did was scope out my goodie bag of course. Then I did a quick bed bug inspection. I do this at every hotel and I am in the process of writing up an inspection guide so to speak. After witnessing what bringing these things home did to a friend I don’t mess around anymore.
Anyway, while doing my inspection I found these extra welcome gifts under the mattress. I have no idea how or why they ended up there but that was a first for me. Maybe they are also a perk of Diamond status? Thanks again Aspire!! I know many people in our Facebook Group got a kick out of this.
When I headed down to the lobby later on I let the front desk know about the condoms so they could address it. I didn’t really expect or want anything since they had already extended me lounge access etc. Once the front desk agent saw I was a Diamond member he gave me a voucher for one food and drink item in the Bistro. That offer was more than enough for me. I wonder what would have happened if I didn’t have status though?
On another note my room also had no TV remote. Not the best Hilton experience overall although the bed was comfortable. Maybe it was the extra padding 🤣?
Meeting the Other Winners
When I said I was wrong about doing nothing Friday night I meant it. We were informed that we had originally been scheduled to go tour the King’s Hawaiian facility but they had an inspection that day so an audible was needed.
That audible was heading to a Dodgers game. Not only were we going to the Dodgers game, but we would be hanging out in the King’s Hawaiian suite! This was a pretty amazing surprise and probably ended up being my favorite part of the trip.
On the limo bus to the game I finally got to meet the other 10 winners (there ended up being 11 total winners). There were people from NYC, Chicago, Dayton, Minneapolis, Alabama, Atlanta, Seattle, and even a few from Los Angeles. I was also amazed to hear that 3 of the winners were from the wait list. They ended up finding out they won a day later after people refused the trip or didn’t respond to the email within 24 hours.
In true LA style it took an hour and a half to get to the game. On the way there we shared our stories of what it was like winning and how friends and family responded to the news. Some even found my post about it and one other winner’s post on Reddit.
Dodgers Game
Once we got to the game we met the King’s Hawaiian people down by the Kings Hawaiian Grill. They had a table full of amazing food and Hawaiian beer waiting for us. Everything was delicious, especially the Hawaiian beer 😉.
After hanging out for an hour or so we headed up to the box suite where even more food and drinks were waiting for us.
We were also surprised by Dodger great Steve Garvey who hung out with us for a bit and snapped some photos with us. Most importantly he is a Michigan State grad so you know he is a good dude, Go Green!
Halfway through the game Chris took us to get some Dodgers swag to wear for our big debut. We were supposed to be put on the jumbotron after the 5th inning. You will notice the picture of this missing because the camera crew put the wrong suite on the screen. They ended up putting a suite a few spots to our right up there. We all thought this was perfect…an insane contest deserves something hilarious like that to happen.
After we finally controlled our laughter we were given an amazing consolation prize, a Dole Whip. This one came in a mini Dodgers helmet and was a pineapple and strawberry swirl. It was so good I ate before I could even take a picture of it. As if that wasn’t enough an extravagant dessert cart was brought over later on and we got to pick anything we wanted. I went with a massive caramel apple of course!
Getting Ready For Day 2
We decided to leave the game a few innings early to beat the traffic and get some rest before our epic journey to Hawaii the next day. Come back tomorrow for lie flat seats, 6 hours on the beach, singers, dancers, canoes and lots of sandwiches of course!
Check Out Day 2’s Festivities
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easy to identify the ham (outside the sandwich)
🙂
Love this. As a mileage runner, I totally would have enjoyed this trip, had I won. Looking forward to part 2.
Earning 8500 Skymiles off the trip was an added bonus too 🙂
This was such a fun read – can’t wait for the rest! (and, yeah, also for the bedbug guide – I check, but probably not very thoroughly)
Glad you enjoyed – hopefully you enjoy day 2 just as much
I can’t wait for the bed bug inspection guide!!!
I figured it would be a useful post 🙂
This is a fun read! I can’t wait for the rest. Ugh about the bedbugs….
Glad you enjoyed it – yeah I am now overly paranoid about them, like obsessively so.
Hey Mark! I was on the flight back from Hawaii (the one who offered you my leftover pizza – still regretting not taking it, aren’t you?!). I heard you mention your site to your seatmates so had to check it out. So cool!
Haha Awesome! So glad you checked out the site. I was regretting not accepting when I woke from my exhaustion filled nap :).
Nice.
It was such a crazy weekend – still can’t believe it happened.
Oh, part of the US baseball stadium experience! In a suite! How nice is that!
Everyone is having fun based on the pictures. Hooray!
Everyone had a blast the entire weekend…except for trip home LOL
Life is good! Can’t wait to read the rest of the story (well except for the return trip part, i think).
It sure is! Should have part 2 finished up tomorrow