Aloha Hawaii

Geez, I really need to get this done and done. So much else has happened since then and I have not bothered blogging it!

August 5th, 2006

So the time had come for us to finally bid Hawaii a fond "Aloha."

Get up, get sorted, get breakfast. Jack-In-The-Box is your friend early in the morning and you don't have the time for a sit down meal at Denny's/IHOP.

Over brekkie we got to discussing where we figured our transfers would come and pick us up. Earlier, they had dropped us off on the side, but would they pick us up at the front since it was more prominent?

Luckily our driver came looking for us at the front desk as we were checking out (a tad late, oops) For future reference, if you stay at the Ohana Waikiki West and you take your transfers with Aloha VIP you'll be picked up at the side of the hotel. Pretty specific nugget of info, but there you go.

First off was our interisland Aloha flight back to Kahului with their yummy guava punch. :) When we checked in they let us know that there was room on the earlier flight out if we were interested. Our layover in Kahului was a good enough stretch so we didn't bother taking them up on the offer. (Little did I know that Aloha was so punctual and efficient. If that had been the case I would have booked us a later flight out of Honolulu...but best not to chance fate. Sure I had bought cancellation and interruption insurance, but it would not have covered me if I was stupid enough to book two separate tickets without planning for the odd chance that the first flight on the journey would be delayed.)

As luck would have it, the Harmony desk was open already when we arrived. They were open early. Whodathunkit in this day and age of air travel? So that saved us the huge issue of lugging our baggage around for an hour or two before our flight. Which also meant that we were now more mobile to navigate the little shops, uh oh. :)

Surprisingly, I didn't buy much else except for some Plumeria and White Ginger perfumes. My carry-on was killing me already as it was. (Note: Don't forget that this was before the London scare resulting in us no longer being able to carry liquids, gels, or creams in our carry-on luggage. As it was on my flight home from Hawaii I was lugging three bottles of Kahana Royale Macadamia Nut Liquer -- one big bottle, two slightly smaller -- around the airport in my carry-on since I did not want them breaking in my suitcase. HEAVY!)

Waiting around we had some Starbucks Frappaccinos. For such a coffee addict I survived most of the trip with less than my normal consumption! And seeing that Kahului only has the one restaurant we were back there for lunch when we had been there for breakfast only a few days earlier. Not much to choose from, so cheeseburger and fries was our choice. No loco mocos but they did have saimin. Too bad saimin doesn't really call out to me.

Homebound on Harmony. I really love their flights. Daisy and I lucked out and got a row of 3 all to our twosome, giving us a bit more room. I gave aisle seating a shot (I'm a window girl usually) and it wasn't all that bad. I didn't get jostled about by people walking past and I never got bumped around by the service carts. If I had been on a tight charter flight, I'm sure it would have been a different story. They were offering "interlude" entertainment consoles for rent, $10, and so I decided I should give that a try. Neat idea but they're pretty inconsistent. Built like a laptop it offers you some sitcom episodes, movies, CDs, and games to keep you occupied on your flight. Mine had an alright assortment, whereas Daisy's was more limited. I got to watch The Perfect Man (haha) some episodes of Two and a Half Men, I listened to the soundtrack for Take The Lead, and I played some poker. Combine that with dinnertime and snacktime and I killed most of my flighttime. For all my worries that I'd be bored stiff sitting on a plane for a full work day with nothing to do I fared quite well. :)

Ah home. As we walked towards customs I saw a whole crew of soldier guys entering their gate to board their plane. Someone guessed they were headed to Afghanistan. :( Such cute guys going to such a dangerous place! *sigh* I can only imagine how their loved ones feel whenever they leave home. My brother has a friend who did his duty in Kandahar and the stories he shared while he was back made me wonder how they can stay sane out there.

Cleared customs. "You were a bit over on your alcohol allowance but I'll let it slide this time." Yowza. It would have sucked to lug those bottles all the way home only to have to pay duty on them.

As we waited for our luggage I turned on my phone and already there was a text message from Weird Kid. Him and baby sis were circling the airport until I let him know we were ready to come out. Aww, I missed them so much!

Our luggage came through without any problems and all that stood between us and our beds was the drive home. I think it was 1 or 1:30 by the time we were back in our respective houses. I would have loved to share more stories and pictures with my siblings but I had to get up early the next day. One of my little relatives was being Christened that morning and I had also RSVP'd to attend the brunch reception afterwards.