Planes Gone Awry
As we awoke to the obnoxious rooster alarm that we had set the night before, we had no idea what a 'cock-o-doodle-doo' day we had ahead of us. Two hours later after a long BART ride and plenty of culture along the 18 stops that lead through Lafayette to Oakland to the heart of San Francisco, we arrived at SFO. Arriving later than I would have liked to the airport, we practically walked onto the plane. So many snaffoos happened with our plane tickets that I was just happy to be able to be seated together for the flight.
Man-made Turbulence
Once in the air I realized there seemed to be, oddly, some uneven turbulence that really made me feel like I was rocking back and forth but I was perplexed that the other passengers didn’t seem to be head bobbing around. It took me an hour or so to realize that this ‘turbulence’ was coming from seat 27B- the man behind me that Ryan said ‘didn’t fit in the seat’. His hands were rested above my head and whenever he moved my seat broke into turbulence mode.
Mixed Bag
It was interesting to note the variety of folk on their way to paradise. We had the mom traveling with her well-behaved first time flyer children. It was fun to hear them exclaim ‘we are flyyyyyyyyying!’ as if they had to say it to believe it. Then there was the elderly couple that probably muttered no more than 10 words to each other over the remainder of the five and a half hour flight. Then there were, what looked to be, the scatterings of several honeymoon-bound couples throughout the plane. And we, or at least I, can’t forget the very turbulence-causing man directly behind me. Oh yeah, and the very cute guy seated next to me (ryan..), who in all of his excitement, spilled his mai tai down the entirety of his shorts and seat.
TSA Lady with a Vengeance
Flight #1 was a success but then began our series of blunders that seemed to be right from the movie ‘planes trains and automobiles’. As our flight arrived late into Honolulu with a very short time between connecting flights, it was quite apparent that we were not going to make it off the plane in time to catch out next plane that now departed in 5 minutes. However, we were hopeful to catch the subsequent plane that left just 30 minutes later. Unfortunately the snail-paced ‘wiki ground transportation’ to move to the next terminal, along with the very serious, not-so-friendly TSA lady hindered our speed.
After rushing around after the wiki bus we asked the TSA lady which way to go to get new tickets reissued, and she told us that we had ‘left the secure area’ and would need to proceed back through security to get back in. Ryan laughed. I almost cried. We thought about just outrunning the lady and making a b-line back the 5 feet from the door we had crossed through to ask her directions. Then I had a vision of us being escorted away in handcuffs and put onto the ‘blacklist’ of TSA and being grounded for a while- quickly, going back through security seemed to be the only viable option. Unfortunately, this also meant we missed the next flight and had to have an additional 2 hour layover and wait on standby to see if we could make it on. Fortunately, we did! At that point I was just happy to be air bound to our final destination so sitting in the very back row, cozied up to the toilet with no window in our row didn't sound half bad.
Thankfully, there was no bad turbulence because Jen+turbulence and no window to look out can easily = disaster.
Shopping the American Way & Driving the Island Way
Well, we made the rounds at Costco and Walmart and scooted up to the North Shore in our ‘little green boogie boy’ car. Hey, AC, working windows and a radio- this is luxury! Last time rusty red had, well...none of that. But little green boogie boy still fits right in with his ‘island character’. The bumper on boogie boy has been re-attached with large gold screws and the trunk never looks like it is really shut even though it is. I like to look at this from the positive side-if we back into something I don’t think they will notice!
Our place is quite nice and quite luxurious compared to where we were last summer. Don’t get me wrong, an outside shower was wonderful last time. But having a little more space and the amenities of a condo with a full kitchen will be nice.
Good Morning Paradise
We woke up again to a rooster- this time a real one. Not so bad, I say. He beckoned us to explore our new lanai with a majestic view of my favorite place on earth. Ahhhh....we have arrived. Maybe it wasn't as easy or unhindered as I would have liked, but it worked and we made it. Off for our morning jog together we were greeted by the moist ocean air and intense sunny skies. We were not alone on this popular jogging/walking trail. My favorite fellow jogger has to be the uninhibited middle-aged lady running with her 80’s style headphones singing at the top of her lungs and waving her hands around. She’s real nice. Maybe I will run with her once while we are here. She sure seems to have the aloha spirit.
