HAWAII (OAHU) DAY # 1
I thought we had enough time.
Thought
Checked in 24 hrs prior to flight - CHECK
Print off Boarding passes day before - CHECK
Carry on luggage only - CHECK
Ride to the airport to drop us off at the front doors - CHECK
Not anticipating Easter Weekend travel - CHECK
Or end of finals for BYU student who are flying home or vacationing - CHECK
We thought (there is that word again) we were ready and going to show this flight to flight to flight crap what was up! Because it was cheaper for us to book our tickets separately we had a Southwest flight from SLC to LAX and an American Airlines flight from LAX to Honolulu. Our layover in LA did not give us enough time to get our bags from the baggage claim, go through security and catch our flight to Hawaii. Solution: only pack our carry on luggage. It was quite the task to pack our clothes, shoes, snorkel gear, cameras, and camping gear all into our carry-ons. But we did it and we were pleased with the results (ok so Clayton was a little worried that our "personal items" were a big duffel bag and a back packing backpack in addition to our other backpacking backpack and our small rolling suitcase). Easy Peasy, right?
WRONG
So Kami drops us off at SLC at 515am which was about 50 minutes before our flight left. Usually that is plenty of time. Usually. Like I mentioned before we underestimated the whole Easter Weekend thing and BYU end of semester. Security was a madhouse. Not to mention that the TSA agents at baggage screen had to check our stuff because they thought our water filter was an item of mass destruction. We ran and ran and ran to our flight...annnnnnd....barely made it. As we sank into our ever so comfortable SW seats and busied ourselves in the latest edition of Sky Mall (all while dreams and visions of package honey roasted airline peanuts danced in our heads) we thought that the worst was behind us.
WRONG!
About 30 minutes before we landed in LA we realized that our American Airline Terminal was clear on the other side of the airport from the Southwest terminal that we were being dropped off at. This meant that we would have to catch a shuttle bus and take a "short" ride over to the right terminal where we would have to go through security again...the very thing we were trying to avoid.
Insert more running
The American Airline people had us rearrange our luggage ("cram it, cram it, cram it" they would say), but at least we got to take all 4 "not so small" carry-ons with us. Security at LAX wasn't too pleasant either. But at least we had a 50 year-old woman (who thought she was 26) to entertain us with stories about how she flew all the way from San Francisco to Florida for an Iron Maiden concert with her son. We also found it comical when she moaned about how every time she wants to have a cigarette she has to go through security and now she has gone through security 7-8 times. If that doesn't make you want to quit I don't know what will.
So we finally made it through security and ran, ran, ran again to our gate. Again we were the last ones to board (they were very kind to inform us of that...as if we didn't feel stupid enough as it is). We again got all buckled in and then sat in our seats for an hour for some mechanical issues. When we finally did take off I think the pilot was trying to make us feel better for leaving an hour behind schedule by saying "At least we got off the ground before President Obama, because his plane causes huge delays at the airport." Gee thanks guys. I feel so much better now. Maybe I will purchase some of you $1,000,000 cheese and cracker snacks.
Oahu was a welcome sight. We grabbed our car (a stellar Suzuki) and headed for the Pataray's who were so kind to let us stay with them in their newly remodeled house. After visiting with Jodie and Bryson for a bit we threw on our swimsuits and headed out. But...Jodie lives so close to my love, Yogurtland (Clayton has come to terms with the fact that my love has to be shared between him and Yogurtland) that I just had to stop. Afterall it was the very place where I was first introduced to my obsession with frozen yogurt and I owed it a visit.
Feeling so very plump in our swim suits after eating FroYo we headed down to Lanikai. As usual I had to get a picture (even though I have a plethra of them) to document every waking second of our trip. Sue me.
After soaking up some sun we headed back to Jodie's for some amazing enchiladas, Spanish rice and Marc's awesome strawberry shortcake. Now let me just say that usually I despise the Strawberry Shortcake because in my opinion 3 berries and a dollop of tasteless whip cream on cotton isn't very good. However, I think Marc is on to something because he substituted sugar cookie like stuff for the cotton tasting Angle Food Cake and ice cream (can you go wrong there???) for the whip cream. Oh wow! I am a convert.
Bryson was so excited to have Uncle Clayton to come and play Lego's with him. This was an event that occurred all 3 days we were on Oahu. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more...Bryson or Clayton.
Bryson asked me to take this picture and then posed for me.
Too cute.
End of Day 1
2 comments:
It must take forever to go through 1000 pictures. You are lucky that you got to go to yogurtland.
hahhahaha! Its sure a good thing that both you and Clayton are runners or else you might not have made it to either plane, let alone one! Good job, or should I say, "good run." I'll bet you guys were tired, but it sounds like you were up with the sunrise every morning anyway. Glad you had fun! and that you have so many wonderful friends over there to help take care of you!
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