The plane trip was much kinder than the Nashville plane trip. We got to get up at 6 instead of 3:30am. We had a leisurely morning because of the work of packing we put in during the week. We arrived at Doug’s at 8am and got our ride to the airport.
The lines for Hawaiian were long as were the lines for security. It made getting to the plane before boarding difficult despite making it to airport with good time. Oddly enough, loading and unloading area was deserted.
Hawaiian knows how to serve. It’s little things, but it’s little things. You get a pillow and blanket for each seat. You can listen to music. There’s a complimentary meal with a decent brownie. People wear flowers. The video doesn’t get interrupted when the announcements come on, instead it pauses.
We sat 2 by 2s. The seats were only slightly offset so I could actually talk to Wayne a little. We all had video devices given Wayne winning a Zune. Never thought I’d own a Zune. Wayne and I have laughed at them in the past. It is small, thin, has a wide screen, and makes a great video viewer. I watched 3 hrs of Avatar. I’ve now reached the end of Book 1 (of 3). The plot is heating up and it’s very exciting.
I got the girls little gifts for the plane ride. I got Sara a little Schlein eagle and Laura a little, beautiful seal.
There was a little bump of turbulence. Felt like a roller coaster ride. That reminded me I was in Hawaii. Some other things:
Leis
Green, tropical, green
Maui winds
Palm trees
Open airports
Sugar cane fields
Signs with lots of apostrophes and vows
Cloud cover over Haleakala
We got off the plane at 1:30pm Maui time. We did not get tonthe condo till 4:15pm. Hertz was the bummer. We had to wait 1.5 hrs for our rental. I waited outside with the girls and luggage. The winds blew. The buses arriving and going drowned out any talk. Girls were tired, hungry, and silly. It was just hard to control them after 5 hrs in the airplane and frustrating to not be able to take them home after a long day. Things I said:
Don’t bump into people. Don’t put hands on the ground, don’t bump my iPhone.
By days end I was tired of correcting my kids and tired of being “on” all day.
After all that waiting, Hertz gave us a 10 yr old Lincoln towncar aka the LandYacht. It is huge. Such an odd car for Hawaii.
Driving out, we were all on edge. Everyone was hungry, tired, and snappish. Hunger in Hawaii is still hunger. Between the girls, there were complaints of headaches, theats of vomiting (their new thing), and yelling get out of the car.
We got to the condo right before the office closed. It felt like coming home. Laura kept asking us when we would get to Hawaii. It wasn’t Hawaii till she got to swim. I personally felt dazed. It was orienting to come back to the same condo for a 3rd time.
We set off for Fred’s Mexican. We were the beginning of a wave of folks. The place has some mediocre food, but they do good margaritas and are close. The chips are subpar, but we inhalednthem out of hunger. They had fries and quesadillas so the girls ate. The fajitas were decent.
Now fed, we ventured out. We pu the girls in bathing suits and convinced them to walk on the beach. Laura was soo tired. She started cackling in delight once she got to the surf. We didn’t want to have to try too hard to get sand off. Laura kept wanting to roll in the sand. We had to promise we would do full beaching tomorrow. She thought we were crazy, but listened.
Finally, I started to unwind. We made it. We are here. My soul could feel the quiet and rest.
