The Big Island

The day to leave for our vacation finally arrived.  My dad picked up Richelle and Anthony at 5:15am and was at our house promptly at 5:30am.  We checked in the night before to make everything easier in the morning...we paid for our bags, printed out our boarding passes, etc.  Or so we thought.

Last time we were at the airport heading to Hawaii we ran into some trouble with our flight.  Well...not so much trouble as I just totally screwed up all the our flight time.  I had us arriving to the airport in time to take off just as our plane was landing in Hawaii.  Oops.  That was an expensive mistake. 

This time, we checked our bags and headed for security- no problem.  As we made it through the short security line, the TSA employee wanted our boarding passes.  I handed her two boarding passes, along with our passports.  She looked everything over...and then looked the boarding passes over again.  I guess my boarding passes from Phoenix to Honolulu didn't print out, so I only had boarding passes for our connecting flight from Honolulu to Kona.  Awesome.

Mike and I headed back downstairs to get the correct passes.  We had been the only people checking in when we were there the first time, but now the lines were long.  Which meant the security lines were also going to be long.  I decided to skip the long lines and ask the employee waiting to help Fist Class passengers to print out our correct passes.  She did, and we were on our way in a few minutes. Whew.  I guess I should not be allowed to be in charge of any further traveling we do to Hawaii.  I have traveled quite a bit in my 30 years, and have never had any problems- unless it involves Hawaii.

We boarded the 767 and snuggled into our seats.  I don't mind sitting in coach nearly as much on a large plane with only two seat on the outside rows.  It makes for a much more enjoyable flight.  We sat behind Richelle and Anthony, which meant they could hear what we were saying, but we could not hear anything they said.  Oh well.  The flight wasn't bad, even though it seems to last a lifetime.  After a quick layover in Holnolulu, we boarded a smaller plane for a quick 40 minute flight to Kona.

In Kona, we each got leid.  Everyone has to get leid their first time in Hawaii.  We did it again this time with Richelle and Anthony.  It's a fun tradition, but too expensive.  Now I remember why last time I said I'd never pay for it again.

We loaded into the rental car, plugged the Garmin in and headed out to find our hotel.  I don't know how we traveled before Garmin.  It is such a marriage saver.  We found the hotel, got checked in and then drove downtown for dinner.  We ate a Ponchos & Lefty's...a little Mexican food place. It was pretty good, but we were all so tired it didn't matter.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.