I woke up today around 6am. I finished packing and had a smoothie for breakfast. I felt like I was running a bit late even though the flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 8:15am.
I finally headed out around 7am and got to the A3 building at 7:30 and walked over to the Marriott hotel next door. I caught the shuttle bus to the airport and got to the airport at like 7:40. I rushed over to the check in kiosk and sped through the check in process. I made it just under the 30-minute deadline otherwise I would have had trouble and possibly would have missed the flight.
The security line was set up a little differently today. They forced everyone to go way around to near the Marta station. This worried me that I would not be able to go through the ‘employee only’ line, but I managed to walk around to the front and made it through the ‘employee only’ line.
I finally got to the gate (T03) 15 minutes before departure. They had already started boarding. I was already cleared for a middle seat back in coach. The flight was uneventful but they did show ‘Catch Me If You Can‘ with Tom Hanks and Leonardo DeCaprio. I didn’t watch it though. Something about spending $5 for sound delivered through hollow plastic tubes didn’t sit well with me. I really missed first class.
When we arrived in Salt Lake City, I made my way over to the gate and waited about 30 minutes before they started boarding. I was assigned a seat back in coach. The long six-hour flight was a little rough but at least I had an aisle seat. I watched ‘The Recruit‘ which was mediocre. Sitting next to me was an Asian woman who tried really hard to talk to me. About half-way through the flight she started asking me some personal questions like, ‘Has the war affected you personally?’ and then ‘Do you think all of the (bad) things going on right now have some meaning?’ Then she started in with, ‘Do you read the bible?’ The next fifteen minutes were very uncomfortable as this lady, a Jehovah’s Witness, gave me her speal. Being that the seatbelt sign was on and we still had three hours left in the flight, I was pretty much stuck. Finally she concluded her speech and asked if I’d like some literature mailed to me. I politely declined and eventually got my book in my hands and didn’t stop reading it until after we landed.
When we deplaned in Honolulu, I made my way over to the shuttle bus for the inter-island terminal. When I went over to the inter-island terminal, I checked in for my flight on Hawaiian Air. They had the same type of kiosks as Delta. Even the interface and menus were the same. This confused me because I was under the impression that the kiosk stuff was all written in-house by Delta Technology.
The flight from Honolulu to Lihu’e was uneventful. When we arrived in Lihu’e, I made my way over to the car rental place and caught the Alamo shuttle bus. I was the first one off the bus and got my car right away. The car they gave me was a little Chevy Cavalier with manual windows and manual locks. I called Larry to let him know I was on the island and making my way towards the house. Even though I had digital coverage, our reception was pretty bad.
I made my way up the main highway on the island northward. It was about 4:30pm and traffic on the two-lane road was pretty congested around the populated areas. I stopped at a local drugstore for some Advil because I had a splitting headache. I also stopped at Subway for a bite to eat and then continued on past Princeville and then into Hanalei. I followed the directions Larry gave me and found the house with no difficulties. I’m glad that I didn’t make it out yesterday because a ‘cold front’ came through and it was overcast all day today. So I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself very much if I were driving around a very overcast island this morning.
When I arrived I had to park on the side of the street because the driveway was full with two cars. As I was getting out of the car, Larry came outside to greet me. He showed me inside and introduced me to everyone.
Tucker and Lily were running around the living room. Lance and Leslie (Amy’s parents) were sitting down. Rachel (the nanny) was trying to hold down Lily. Kristy (Rachel’s cousin) was holding Cal (Cal is 6 months old now). And Amy was sitting down next to Kristy.
Amy asked if I already ate dinner because they had been waiting on me. I regretfully informed her that I had indeed already had some food. We all headed out for dinner to Hanalei Gourmet. I had a small garden salad.
After dinner when we returned home, I unpacked and went to bed. It had been a long day.
The FAA should ban inflight proselytizing. Even if you wish to engage in a discussion with those kinds of people, you can’t win — they see the only possible way to inner peace or salvation is through their specific brand of religion. You can’t possibly ever get them to make any concessions.
I’ve flown all my life, but after September 11th, I became irrationally afraid of flying. Naturally, I was jittery during my first flight after 9/11. Of course, I was seated next to this seemingly nice boy who attended…wait for it…Bob Jones University.
He started preaching to me about Protestant religions, that we Catholics were just heathens, and was I really certain I’d be saved if the plane crashed? Talking about plane crashes wasn’t exactly what I needed to hear at that moment.