Dream Vacation remembered, part 1

Three years ago I was fortunate enough to spend my spring break here:

The Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas

Thanks to my hubby and his mad sales skills, we were able to revel in an elaborate vacation on the tab of the company he worked for, (which is a huge cell phone company that shall remain nameless). When Riley told me what he had won and where exactly we were going, I am not kidding when I say I almost passed out and had to sit down. I remember watching a special on TV about this resort when it was first being built back in the 90's and thinking how much I would love to go there someday, and after Riley and I were married we talked about how it was one of our dream destinations. We excitedly made all of our travel arrangements and spent hours figuring out what to pack. And let me tell you, there's nothing like the thought of being on the beach in a swimsuit to jump start your workout/weight loss regime. Riley and I both lost quite a bit of weight and looked pretty dang good if I say so myself. Kendle was able to stay with my parents and everything was falling into place. Still, right up until the day we left, we thought something would go wrong, or someone would call and say there had been a mix-up or some mistake, and it wasn't until we were flying over the sparkling blue waters of the ocean that we really felt it was all for real. Sometimes dreams do come true.

Just getting there was half the battle. We flew from Pasco to Salt Lake and then switched planes and flew to Atlanta. We arrived at the Atlanta airport at 4:00 in the morning and had a four hour layover. That was the worst part of the whole trip. We were so anxious to get there, yet we were so tired, we kept trying to lean on each other and catch some shut eye which was impossible. I remember we went to Starbucks for some hot cocoa and tried to power walk around for a while to stay awake and catch a second wind. Finally after what felt like an eternity, we hopped on a little tiny puddle jumper of a plane filled with people from Riley's company and arrived in Nassau to be greeted by humidity, tropical breezes, and the kind of airport I thought only existed in movies. There were long lines waiting to get through customs and musicians playing funky island music in the corners. We had arrived.