Hawaii or Bust

I have been stressing about packing light for our vacation to Hawaii. There are all these new rules and regs and fees associated with baggage. I was determined to only bring what I needed. We even got the tape measure out to make sure our bags didn't exceed the limits. It's an extra hundred bucks if you go over!

The night before our flight, in the middle of the night, I got out of bed and opened my super packed suitcase and began pulling items out. The thing was still so heavy. Sure enough, it was over...by 12 pounds! Yikes! It's those damned shampoo bottles, I'm sure. The skycap was kind enough to pull us into a dark alley and play "Let's Make a Deal" so we wouldn't get socked with baggage fees. I researched the whole thing thoroughly online and knew we didn't have to pay a $15 bag fee, for one thing, but he said we did, and he said it would be $50 for my bag...50+15+15...but...he will take care of us; and we will take care of him. Ok, thank you, sir. Take out a couple pairs of shoes and stick them in Shan's carry-on, tip him $40, and we're home free.

But it bugged me for hours. I kept thinking about it. You know, we bought our tickets in May. That's why we didn't have to pay the $15 bag fee. We didn't save $40; we saved $10. Ah, fooled again! To make matters worse, in all of the drama, he never asked to see our IDs! We went through Newark Airport, including security, without showing anyone our IDs. That's just great!

So our plane was delayed about an hour but we still managed to arrive on time. I'll never know how they do that, but i'm glad they did. This was a larger plane than I'd been on in a long time. Each seat had it's own video screen, equipped with remote control for video, audio, or games. I was thrilled. Hangman. Let me at it! As soon as the safety video played, i noticed my screen was all grainy. "Oh, great. Mine's broken!" A little bit into the flight, i convinced Shannan to switch seats with me so I could play Hangman without squinting. This after I convinced her to let me sit by the window (oops).

I settled into my new aisle seat with the shiny, pretty, crisp, clear video screen only to find her remote was all messed up. The cursor was bouncing all over the place selecting all the wrong letters! Argh. Overall, the 11-hour flight, which turned into 9 1/2 hours, wasn't bad at all. I highly recommend non-stop to Hawaii. Get it over with!

With all my preplanning, i made a rookie mistake. I didn't make arrangements for transportation from the airport to our hotel. We were only staying one night in Honolulu and flying to Maui the next morning. I picked the ResortQuest Hotel at the Executive Center near the SuperFerry because originally we were booked on a three-hour ferry ride to Maui, but they cancelled on us, something about going into drydock. Bummer. They hooked us up with an interisland flight and upgraded us to first class for the inconvenience. Ok, that's cool. Too bad it's only a 30-minute flight!

Ok, back to the airport transportation fiasco. In a moment of cheapness, i opted for a shuttle instead of taking a taxi, which was going to cost around $35 for a pretty short ride. I asked the shuttle woman in the booth if they went to the ResortQuest...blah blah blah, i said the complete name. Should've said the address. If only. She said yes. we paid the driver $18 for 2 of us and boarded the shuttle and proceeded to wait FOR-EVER to get going. Oh, yeah, i remember now why i hate shuttles. Now, mind you, it is a little before 8:00 p.m. Hawaii time, which is 1:00 a.m. New Jersey time. We left the house that morning at 9:30 a.m. so we were a wee bit tired and cranky. So the driver gets on the freeway and he's driving and driving and driving, and I see Nimitz Highway go by and specifically remember our hotel is off Nimitz. Where is he going?! I have such anxiety in the pit of my stomach. I just know something's wrong. Sure enough, he exits and we're in Waikiki. Oh, crap. Now I know he's gone too far. I finally say something to him about it, and he says, yeah, it's at the very end of Waikiki. No, it's not. It's by the ferry. Oh, well, i don't know where that is. Hmm, we don't go there. Well, you're gonna have to go there; we're already on the bus! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. It is becoming obviously apparent that we are not only not going to be the first ones dropped off but we were the LAST ones dropped off AND the idiot driver, after getting directions from the dispatcher, who had to "Google it," still couldn't find the hotel. Me and Shannan were giving him directions! The street it was on was a one-way street, and he kept screwing up, forcing him to go around the block...again and again. We finally arrived at our hotel at...drum roll, please...9:30 p.m.! Yes, what should have been a 10 minute ride turned into nearly 2 hours...&*(%#!*!

The room was beautiful. It was a freakin' apartment with a foyer, kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, washer and dryer, two TVs, leather sofas, Oriental motif, all situated on the 20th floor with awesome views from every room. Too bad we passed out and didn't get to enjoy it for more than five minutes.

Tune in later for Maui...when the real vacation begins:)

J.Bo.