Big Adventure on a Little Island

      Well, we're on what we'd consider a 'trip to remember' and I've found that they best way to do that is to keep a regular journal, so here goes. (BTW, what follows is probably of most interest to me and my family so if it gets too boring or detailed feel free to skip stuff or just go do something more useful with your life;))
       We were up at 3:00 am on Monday morning to head to Toronto airport and the roads were not great, with lots of snow covering them, so I had to drive a bit more slowly (could still get up to 100 kph or more though). Dropped Beth off at the terminal with a couple of bags and then went searching for the parking we had prebooked. Ended up at the wrong one (Value Park Garage) then found the right one (Value Park Lot) and then stood around looking for how in the heck I was going to get back to the airport as there were absolutely no signs for clues. Then this monorail like train goes by almost directly above me and I realize there's a shuttle station a short walk away.
       The airport was crazy busy (it was now 5:45 and our plane was boarding at 6:05, leaving at 6:40) and when we got to the line to go through security an attendant whisked us away and sent us through the Nexus area so we missed the first crowd. However, the lineup for US Customs was also long but a group of us got split off from there so were able to do that (a bit) more quickly. BUT, when we got to the gate area the overhead announcer was yelling (well, it seemed like yelling and she kept repeating it) that passengers from our flight to Denver should be embarked on the plane and the gate was going to be closing. So I started running (yes, running) to the gate with Beth following along as fast as she could. We made it in time (and short of breath) and when we got to our seats noticed that there were still a lot of them that were empty. In the end they seemed to wait for more passengers and also needed to deice the plane, and with the assorted waiting around we didn't leave until almost 8:30, close to 2 hours from the scheduled takeoff!
        What was most concerning about the late takeoff was that we had a connecting flight in Denver that only had an hour between our scheduled landing and the next takeoff. But there were others on our plane who had even tighter connections so we tried not to worry about it too much. In the end we got there in time (the pilot made up a lot of time in the air) but it was a long very quick walk between gates (Beth let me rush ahead again figuring I wouldn't leave without her). I even had a few minutes to go grab a bottle of water.
        I know that people like to complain about inconveniences when flying but I'm not really trying to do that here. It 's just the way it happened. We don't get in planes often and are still in awe of the miracle of flight. We gawk out the window in wonder, especially this time as we crossed over the Rocky Mountains (which seemed to go on for a long time). Some people were asking me last week if I was getting excited about our trip and I didn't know how to answer - I think I was just feeling busy or hadn't been thinking about it very much (although I had read 2 historical books about Hawaii). But as we got on the gangway for our flight to Kahuliu I found myself getting a bit choked up as the reality set in (I'm an Enneagram 4 so for those in the know that's understandable).

The flight across the Pacific Ocean is quite long and we tried to sleep a little bit, and Beth brought along good, little meals & snacks. It was cool flying over San Francisco and seeing the Golden Gate Bridge from the air. I watched a couple of shows on the back of seat screen (Jim Gaffigan's "Noble Ape" is awesome) and did some puzzles. Beth actually started reading a book!
      When we landed the temperature was 80 degrees and we were thrilled that our luggage had made it with us. We had to stand and wait for a shuttle to the car rental place for quite a while but the sun felt good and, after standing and waiting for quite a while at the car rental place, we ended up with a VW Jetta (which is what we drive at home). We grabbed a quick bite at a Wendy's
close by and then headed to the other side of the island, arriving at our condo about 6:00 local time (with the 7 hour time difference our bodies were thinking it was 1:00 in the morning!).
       Our condo is great! Modern, fresh, with a touch of Hawaiian decor and lots of room for us. Great balcony to sit and appreciate the beauty of our oceanfront view. You can hear the sound of the waves rolling in even with the liana (balcony) door closed. But, we were exhausted and really just needed to go to bed. By the time I fell asleep (8:00) I realized that we had been up for exactly 24 hours!)