My paranoid body clock as usual woke me two hours before my 2am alarm and again at 1:30 am as well.
I woke poor Flynn 20 minutes before our bell service arrived to drop us to the lobby for our 3:20 am Magical Express to the airport .
The bell service guy had us there so early, we managed to catch an earlier Magical Express than the one that had been booked for us.
Our driver’s accent was hard to understand; he said that our ride to the airport would take 75 minutes, which had me panicking about actually making our flight but I think what he actually said was ‘25 minutes’.
Two tv screens at the front of the bus were playing cartoons quietly. As the bus began its journey, our driver somehow turned down the volume when it was Disney cartoons and then turned UP the Disney World ads up to annoyingly loud. I actually found the ASMR-y tones of the lady doing the DISNEY WORLD ads soothing so I didn’t mind too much; the other members of my family were less impressed.
At the airport, there were queues and confusion at the unmanned United luggage check-in. It took a frustrating half hour before we realised I that all that was needed was for me to pop in the flight confirmation code into the check in machine, and self-print my already-paid-for checked baggage, and we were done. Goes to show, we are only pros at hand baggage.
So there I stood at the machine, printing off the luggage tags and our plane tickets when the lady struggling next to me burst out: ‘Excuse me, can I use your card? The machine isn’t taking mine!’
I looked at her in confusion for a minute before I registered that she was asking to use my credit card and to purchase her checked luggage. Huh? She wanted me to pay for her checked luggage?
‘Here, if I give you cash, can I use your card?My card keeps getting rejected and it won’t take cash!’
I gave a surreptitious glance at her cash wondering what counterfeit money looks like in real life…..
We have had so many experiences of people trying to con us, so I am wary.
But she and her cash seemed genuine.
‘Ok’, I acquiesced
‘Oh good!’ She pointed at the machine ‘You insert it here, no-put the card this way’
I waited and then the machine burped unhappily and announced that it wouldn’t take my card either! So strange. We tried a few extra times and she had just begun shouting for assistance from a United attendant when I decided to try inserting it the way the instructions said, not the way the lady had told me to do.
Bingo! It went through!
I earned myself a sweet $10 for that decision, because the luggage cost $30 but she didn’t have change and insisted on giving me $40.
I see two shave ice in my immediate future!!
Our whole day consisted of two 5 1/2 hour flights back-to-back with a half hour in between to jump off one and get on the next.
At least both flights had us all sitting together and had complimentary entertainment.
But for goodness sakes, neither flight serves food.
That is such a long time to be in the air- it is only good manners for them to give us a hearty feed! We brought our own breakfast choices into the first flight but I caved and purchased in-flight meals for the second flight as we had no time to buy food at the second airport.
*grumble* *grizzle*
A long boring 12 hours later, we arrived in Honolulu! It wasn’t nearly as hot as I had imagined. Glorious lush green mountains surrounded us just as I had imagined.
Our Uber driver must have been polishing off a shave ice because he took about a thousand years to show up.
He found our accommodation no problem.
Our Airbnb condo is actually part of a modest hotel, Hawaiian Monarch Hotel. We are on the 38th floor! It is basically 2 bedrooms stuck together, one with kitchen facilities in it. But we are close to everything, very happy!
We are a block from the Hilton Hawaiian Village which is like the Disney World of hotels and an actual village of shops that we can wander past and enjoy to get to the beach.
The views from our condo are I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E!
I slid the window open and the drop is right there- vast and gaping! It made me feel like I might actually try it- not want to but be compelled to- so strange! I shut the window hastily.
Bodie, Zac and I walked straight to a local supermarket to get staples and snacks so we could feel settled in. It’s kind of all about the food for us, isn’t it?!
We had a lovely dinner at Cheeseburger Waikiki. I thought it looked vibing and busy with a football game playing and some fun-sounding burgers on the menu. The smells wafting out drew us in.
We have Cheeseburger in Paradise on our must-visit list while we are here, but this local Cheeseburger joint would do do until we got there.
Our our burgers were fantastic! Such great flavors. I got home and looked up Cheeseburger in Paradise and discovered that it WAS Cheeseburger in Paradise!
On the way home Zac got some sesame mochi from the little takeaway attached to our hotel. Sesame mochi is a sweet he has been telling us about since his trip to Korea and Japan. They are a unique and delicious taste sensation!
We crashed early as by now it was 2 am in Orlando and we had been awake 24 hours.
Dory the Explorer 