Hawaii Trip #1: Days 7 & 8

Given that there was a dusting of snow on the neighbor's lawn and my roommate's truck this morning, I feel kind of nostalgic for the time I spent in Hawaii. The funny thing is that the whole week before I left, highs were in the 80s here in Salt Lake, so the warmer climate in Hawaii didn't really feel like a reprieve from colder weather. While I was away, though, Utah definitely went from Indian summer to late autumn. Sometime I'm going to need to go for a visit when it's actually cold here.

In any case, what should have been the last day of our trip started bright and early with us loading up our luggage into George's car and heading over to Honolulu. Check-in and security went without a hitch, and we soon found ourselves grabbing some breakfast and waiting to board our flight to Los Angeles.

We boarded, settled in, and were a good hour into our flight when we heard the dreaded overhead announcement: "Anyone on board this flight with medical training, please press your stewardess call button." It quickly became apparently that someone on board was experiencing a medical emergency, and the decision was made to turn around and return to Honolulu so that the passenger could be taken care of. A decision that I wholeheartedly support. Sadly, it also meant that we'd get an extra 2 hours of flight time (1 hour back and then another hour to get back to where we'd been when we turned around). We also spent about an hour hanging out in the plane while the passenger was carried off the plane, our brakes and landing gear were checked out, and the plane was re-fueled. We also got a bonus viewing of the safety video (FAA regulations require that it be shown before each takeoff, regardless of whether or not you've been off the plane in the meantime.). "Oh, lift UP on the buckle. I was going to try to break the metal apart with my bare hands."

Anyway, a few hours later than originally planned we once again headed for the mainland. Despite the fact that we'd now ultimately be spending 8+ hours on board the plane, we still were only offered the usual peanuts, pretzels, and Biscoff cookies for nourishment. I was definitely glad I'd brought some of my own snacks along for the flight.

We landed at LAX about 3 hours later than planned and had definitely missed our connecting flight to Salt Lake. Delta was kind enough to put us up at the Holiday Inn for the night. And by "the night", I mean, I got up at 3:30 am to take a shower so we could get back to the airport in time to catch our 6:15 flight out. Thankfully that flight went without event and in short order we were arriving home and heading back to our daily lives.

Anyway, it wasn't horrible, but it was nice to finally make it back home. I DO love to travel, but I also love coming home again. Something about the comfort of the familiar, I guess.

Anyway, Hawaii trip #1 was definitely a success and I look forward to further adventures in the islands. Thanks to George and Kimi and the kids for being such great hosts. Aloha!