- Quarter of six and we are on our way to the airport, packed and preppped and ready to mai-tai! #
- K suggests we're in the Mystery Machine. I'm Shaggy, she's Scoob, M is Velma; Jim & Ginger as Fred & Daphne. Kind of spooky. Zoiks! #
- Freeway uncrowded. LAX less so. DHIMoM strikes again – must queue to a human to check in. And I have such a pleasant face. #
- While Jim parks van, Ginger, K and M play fox-and-chickens ferrying bags to right line. I can check that bag in 5 notes! #
- All checked in. Think all bags will make it. Pretty sure we will, too. Yay! #
- Not quite sure why folks cluster, herd, flock, wait, obstruct, & pause for conversations at narrowest point of traffic flow, but stop it! #
- Rerouted to a very weird pedestrian bridge security line. Note: LAX staff continues to put the "surly" in "sir, step that way." #
- A mai-tai sounds really good right now. Daiquiri, maragrita, mojito, or slug of bourbon would serve as reasonable alternatives. #
- Kudos to assertive f-i-l who got Margie special dispensation to front of security line (and rest of us). Woot! #
- Boarding vaguely chaotic–M has a very nice front bulkhead seat, but none of our party sitting w her. Also worried no sign of Eric & family. #
- Promise that the Tweeting will stop in half an hour for, oh, 5.5h or so. #
- Eric & Co showed up in bullet-sweating time. W/o Margie I get the odd aisle seat next to the linebacker. Will spend much time standing w M. #
- No, sir, that bag really won't fit up there. No matter how hard you crush the other passenger's bag already there. Really. #
- My quality of mercy is feeling rather strained. Glad I am not a flight attendant. #
- Doors closing! Aloha! #
- "Be there – aloha!". Hey, we *are* there! Woot! Er, Cowabunga! #
- Look! Diamond Head! Just like seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time – like, it's *real* #
- Wait! Nobody told me my tropical vacation would be HOT and HUMID! #
- Done with lunch at airport. Still no Mai-tais. Deeply disappointed. Diet Coke just doesn't do it. #
- Queued up for our HA island hopper to Kawa'i (Lihue). If only the different displays could agree on what gate it's going out of. #
- Man just appeared and gave us leis. Oh, also plane is boarding and most of us don't have passes. But – settled on gate number! Yay! #
- Hawaiian Airlines counter staff are taking this "relaxed pace in the Island Paradise" routine a bit too vigorously. #
- Hawaiian Airlines "hassle-free boarding" seems to mean "spare you the hassle of boarding unless you elbow yr way to front of the 1 counter. #
- So Alex and I are off to Kawai. Sans the other 7 (to follow). Rrg. #
- Yes, HA screwed up boarding/ticketing process w tremendous FAIL. If Jim, Eric, Margie can't talk us onto plane, something seriously wrong. #
- On the ground in Kawai, enjoying touting Hannibal-sized luggage stack and lovely tropical swelter. Wish you were here! #
- Am told rest of group has ACTUAL BOARDING PASSES for flight in half-hourish. Or, perhaps, another cruel Hawaiian Airlines hoax. Mahalo! #
- Margie informs me they are ON THE PLANE. I am waiting for HA to cancel the flight … #
- As long as others get here in 48 hours, Hertz won't get rid of our car reservations. Crossing our fingers. #
- No confirmation that they didn't take off, nor any that they did. Maybe Hawaiian Airlines understaffed, overbooked their cell coverage, too. #
- All arrived. Headed for rental lot. All's right with the world. #
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