Hawaii: Day 1

Hawaii Vacation Day One consisted of waking up at 4 am EST, driving to a closed parking garage, and embarking on an 11 hour flight (plus a three hour layover) followed by another hour layover and another 45 minute flight.  Luckily, we found small joys along the way to keep us happy.

For example, the Dallas Airport.  Their airport chairs are recliners.  And they have complimentary cots.  How do you say 'wow' in Texan?

We also discovered the joy the advertising world can give through life lessons:

Live fast.  Nap hard.

Make memories.  Save animals.

And don't forget to bring your kids.

After flying and flying and flying, we broke through the clouds and there it was:

(picture by Adrienne Woolley)

The thriving metropolis of Honolulu.

(picture by Adrienne Woolley)

Aloha, Hawaii!

Hawaii automatically hits you with happiness.  Don't believe me?  Look at what practically hits you in the face when you get off the plane:

Unfortunately, Oahu was not our final destination.  We had one more baby flight to the Big Island.

Here are my two lovable paranoid travel companions, never taking their eyes off their luggage as they board our tiny plane.

This was by far my favorite flight.  Maybe because it was so short.  Maybe because it was so pretty.  Maybe because our fellow plane mates were so entertaining.

This was our flight attendant.  On principle, I try not to use the adjective best.  So when I say that this is the best flight attendant I have ever had, I want you to believe that she was the best, as in of the highest quality, excellence, or standing.  I have never wanted to buckle my seatbelt more.

This was one of our plane friends, who we referred to as The Hippie.  When we entered into a discussion/complaining session of our 11 hour flight, he one-uped us with his woes of flying from Tazmania with only five dollars in his pocket.  

Before we departed ways, we offered the low-on-funds hippie some of our extra food.  He declined saying he had already eaten way too much "processed" food.  Psh, hippies.  What can you do?

In this picture, he was pulling a MacGyver and building something with his drinking straws.

This was our other plane friend, a surf instructor who invited us to check out her shop if we had the time.  By the end of the flight, the surfer and the hippie were bffs and working out carpool schedules.  Why he would so willingly accept rides from a gas guzzling air polluting vehicle and not accept processed foods, I'll never know.  Psh, hippies.

We were approaching the island and we saw one pretty spot of sun along the coast.  This picture would soon become a premonition for our whole week.

And then we saw our little Hilo.  Where we landed for good and where some of my favorite people on the planet, my second family, picked us up and welcomed us with leis.  Aloha!