Aloha Hawaii!

 Eight years ago, when Ross and I’s relationship was just barely blooming, he asked me to join him on a trip to Hawaii. His long time friends Richard and Cindy would also be there. Not one to pass up an adventure, I accepted! I totally changed Ross’ plans to sit on the same beach for an entire week, but we had a fantastic time and I made some new, life-long friends in Richard and Cindy. This trip was also the genesis of our pineapple collection!

Fast forward and we’re finally heading back! Ross has been waiting, not quite patiently, for another tropical vacation. For some reason or another, we haven’t made it back to any tropical island in the past 8 years. But when Richard and Cindy said they were going back, we checked our schedules and booked some flights!

So where does that leave us? Well, our day started about 4:30 so we could be ready for our 6am Uber. The last morning Uber we had was super early and Ross guessed this one might be as well. He was right, and Jerry arrived 20 minutes early. Luckily, we were just ready to go, so we were extra early to the airport, just like I like it. 

I skipped the online check-in, which paid off because the app wanted to charge me for our checked bag. No thanks! TSA Pre-check paid off greatly today, as the regular security line was super long vs TSA Pre-check which only had one family in front of us. 

Within minutes we were in line for Starbucks and then at our gate. Ross snagged an egg and cheese sandwich from Cousins, which was mediocre at best. As we were getting ready to board, I spied a familiar face. Michelle, a former co-worker was headed out on a work trip! It was nice to see her again.

Finally it was our turn to board and we on our way to our one layover, Denver. Something interesting on the United flights we have today, is that there are no screens on the back of the seats. We have “Private screenings” aka using your own phone or tablet to watch stuff through the United app. It’s fine, but I think I’d rather have the screen on the chairs. 

Our first flight was under 3 hours and not too bad. We entertained ourselves with crossword puzzles and some music. After landing in Denver, we had about an hour before boarding started on our next flight. Since I skipped the egg and cheese sandwich, I wanted a snack. I found a hot dog place with veggie dogs. I got a Chicago style dog that was much better than Ross’ sandwich. 

And just like that, it was time to board for the long haul. We had forgotten all the details of this flight, so when we realized we had a mini row of two seats to ourselves, we were pretty happy! We also forgot we had ordered vegan meals for us, which came out before everyone else’s. They were really good! An Asian noodle and veggie stir fry dish, with a GF dinner roll and chocolate/granola dessert. 

I watched the new Indiana Jones movie after lunch and decided to keep the theme going with The Mummy. I never finished the Mummy, but did work on a few more crossword puzzles until we landed at 4pm, Hawaii time.

The Kona airport is mostly open air, which is great and a fun change from nearly every other airport I’ve ever been to. We eventually got our luggage and shuttled over to Enterprise for our car. 

Car pick up was fast and smooth. I also spotted and logged my first Hawaiian bird of the trip, a Spotted Dove. It’s like a smaller Mourning Dove. We packed up the car and headed for downtown Kona for a bite to eat.

We found Huggo’s and got a table facing the ocean. The Super Bowl was finishing up and we could kind of see it playing on a TV at the adjacent bar. Go Sports. We also spotted bird #2 of the trip, a Common Myna! Not common to us and fun to listen to!

Since neither Ross nor I was super hungry, we decided to share an entree. A tasty veggie and noodle dish with some well seasoned tofu added. A nice meal with a great sunset is a fantastic way to start off our week in Hawaii. We capped our dinner with coffee for Ross and a tea for me. By this time it was 7pm and we had been awake since the equivalent to 12:30am Hawaii time. 

Ross plugged in the address into the GPS for our Air BnB and we were on our way, navigating all the winding, climbing roads. Our room is very cute and we can hear dozens of Coqui frogs chirping in the night! 

Closing in on a 20 hour day, it’s time to call it a night. Tomorrow is coffee tour/tasting and snorkeling tour with Richard, Cindy, and the elder Novy’s!

Stats of the Day:

Steps: 1,413 (So much sitting on airplanes)

Birds added to the Life List: 2 (we saw more that we couldn’t confirm)

Temp swing from WI to HI: +/- 50 degrees