Sun Rays in Sri Lanka

So we did finally make it to the Hilton hotel in Sri Lanka around 6:30am today. Originally we were scheduled to come in yesterday around 5 or 6pm. I was a little upset about the delay because it had actually taken a bit of coercing to get a room at the Hilton. I had to send several emails to the US and Asian Diamond Status Customer Service Centers along with an email to the Colombo Hotel directly in order to get the room booked--and I hated to see all that effort go to waste if we were only going to have a few hours at the hotel. I had been quite perplexed by the difficulty in booking the room at the Colombo Hilton until we arrived in Sri Lanka and realized that they were hosting the Cricket World Cup (keeping up on the news had proved to be a difficult task) at a stadium in Colombo just minutes from our hotel.

Luckily, dealing with the Hilton folks in Colombo (once the reservation had been established) proved to be much easier... and it definitely helped that I was able to pull out my Diamond Status card (such a blessing on this trip!). The front desk guy was even kind enough to let us have a 5pm check-out, rather than enforcing the standard 11am check-out time. Since our flight back to the states wasn't until 9pm, that worked out perfectly, giving us time to sleep and still be able to enjoyed the pool, gym, executive lounge and other amenities :)

Heather went promptly to sleep upon checking in. I was a little restless at that point though. I did manage to sleep for a couple of hours, but then my frugal side (and hunger pains) kicked in and I decided it was important that I go get my free breakfast in the Executive Lounge before they closed--which was definitely worth trading an hour of sleep for--best breakfast I've had the entire trip! I also had time to thoroughly explore all that the hotel had to offer and get a workout in while Heather slept :)

We met up at the pool in the afternoon (where I managed to get a sunburn in less than 1 hour!), then cleaned up and grabbed a late lunch before heading back to the airport. It's a shame that we didn't actually get to go to one of the cricket matches, or see the city, but Sri Lanka still proved to be a nice break from all the travel as we prepared for our long flight home.