When you start a new job it is important to make a good first impression. The unknowns such as is the employee reliable, are they flaky, are they serious about this position… are usually sorted out by their behavior during this period of time. So of course, Grant schedules a trip to Dallas to visit friends during the first week of my new job. This was not his fault as the trip was planned well in advance and I agreed to it, but walking that tightrope of personal and professional can be challenging for avid travelers such as us because of the unknowns. The good news was that the flight was scheduled for a Friday at 6pm well after work hours so it would not impair or jeopardize my first week completely.
Reliability of an airliner getting you from Point A to Point B is nevermore critical when there is the added pressure of showing up for your second week of work. So of course, Grant schedules us on Spirit Airlines. The ultra-low cost carrier with the stellar reputation of being late more often than on time. Its reputation was accurate as throughout the day we received notification that the airliners was delayed an hour, then another, then another, then another half an hour. The flight that was supposed to leave at 6pm and arrive at 11pm (2 hour time difference) was now leaving at 9:30pm and arriving at 2:30am. The silver lining was that due to the delays Spirit gave both Grant and I a $100 credit each, which is pretty great considering the entire round trip flight cost $150. They also upgraded us to the big seats for free, which made the trip go by super fast!
The hotel we stayed at used to be the Night Hotel. It was a privately owned hotel that had a nightclub like feel to it. The hotel was bought out by Wyndam, but we wanted to try it and see if it retained the unique vibe that it had. Well…it still had remnants of the Night Inn, but the vibe was completely different. The hotel was home to a Bango Music Camp this weekend, which brought out some of the more interesting folk of Texas. It definitely made walking through the hotel feel really country-like.
After sleeping in we made our way to Carabbas. There are a lot of chains in Texas that we cannot get in California and this was one that Grant loves. It was a bit of a tumultuous meal as both Grant and I were a bit “hangry” and the poor waiter had to deal with us bickering back and forth trying to order. Like eating a Snickers commercial, we were back to our normal perky selves after a solid meal.
Our first real stop on the trip was to our good friend Wendy’s new casa-de-amazing. She had just moved in a month ago and the house was gorgeous. The floor plan was really unique as the main living room and kitchen was located on the 2nd floor, which was a bit of a departure from the norm. We hung out for a bit and met her new boyfriend, Dylan whom both Grant and I liked very much. The two were annoyingly cute together and genuinely seemed to make each other happy.
Grant was dying to go to the spa so he stole Wendy’s car and ran away to the spa. Wendy, Dylan and I decided to go to Regeneration, which is a classic arcade palace that lets you play all the games I use to play as a kid. My favorite part was that I was able to try out some different strategies with these games that I never wanted to do because I was having to pay for each attempt. I died more often than I like to admit in the games, but since it was unlimited play it did not matter at all.
Keeping with the theme of dying, our next stop was watching medieval jousters lunge big lances at one an another in an attempt to kill the other—ie. Medieval Times. Dylan was super awesome and surprised us with upgrading our seats to the front row, which made our experience even better. The only problem was our knight sucked. He was the first one to joust and the first one to die. He came back later for the loser round and lost again. It was hard to cheer for him, but he really did make it easy to cheer against him.
Barely able to keep my eyes open, Grant somehow convinced me to visit S4. This venue is home to his favorite drag queen Cassie Nova. Now, I am not the biggest fan of drag, but I do know good drag when I see it. While the performers at the Rose Room were not up to my caliber of drag this evening the highlight was clearly Cassie Nova’s opening monologue where she tore into anyone and everyone breathing. Heckling is an art form and can turn the audience against you if not done right. But she was able to masterfully read the room and spit out just the right amount of venom for the audience.
The next morning we slowly got up and met up with Wendy, Dylan, Blake and Austin at “Stock and Barrel” in Bishop Arts. Everyone liked the restaurant and the carafe of mimosas shared between Grant and I made the whole brunch even better.
Afterwards, we stopped by Blake and Austin’s new place (that technically they have had for a little while, but we have not seen). Their house was immaculate as if it was staged by a professional. The small details in coloring really made everything stand out and pop. We weren’t able to stay long, but got the full tour of the house and got to say hello to their adorable puppies.
The final stop on our whirlwind trip was to a Voodoo room escape in Addison. The one thing I will complain about Texas is nothing is close. People say 15 minutes is close. I think 15 minutes is far. This is probably because I am spoiled in San Diego, but I just loathe long commutes. It was about 25 minutes from Blake/Austin’s to the Room Escape and then 25/30 minutes from the room escape to the airport.
We arrived at the room escape late— not a shocker for those that know us. Our time was from 1:30 to 2:30. With a 30 minute commute, that would put us to the airport at 3:00pm. Our flight boards at 3:20 and leaves at 4:00. Cutting it close is normally our modus operandi, but as I am getting older I am getting more paranoid about missing flights. Again…new job…
Dylan and Wendy were the true MVP’s of this room as I just ran around mostly confused. We ended up completing the room and getting out with about 10 minutes to spare. We hopped in Dylan’s Prius and floored it to the airport. For those curious, priuses can go above 50mph. So its more the driver’s fault than the car when you're angry at the car for crawling on the highway.
We boarded the flight and had the last row all to ourselves. Smooth trip and back in one piece for Monday at work.