Last day. Bummer.
Fortunately, early rising and a 1: 00 flight allow me some time to say my goodbyes to Oahu. I get up and get all my stuff packed and ready before heading out to breakfast. As this is the end of my trip and my cash has quickly evaporated, I head back to Keo’s for breakfast. Once done, I take a last leisurely stroll back to Queen Kapiolani’s garden to get the shots I missed earlier.
On the way back to the hotel, I walk back along the beach. There are two women entering the water just after their on-shore surfing lesson. The instructor is standing on the beach giving them instruction while they’re busy shivering and shouting that the water is too cold. They must be new on the island.
As I try to capture some water as a souvenir, I realize that this would have been easier yesterday when I was in shorts. The Hawaiian surf catches up to me and before I know it, I’m in cold water up to mid -calf. So much for wearing my Nikes to the airport.
Back at the hotel, I strip off the soaking wet sneaks and socks, pack them away, and don a new pair of shoes. I check out and get the car. This time, I know exactly where I’m going so the trip doesn’t take very long. I return the car, take the shuttle back to the airport, and go through check-in at United’s outdoor counter. The attendant looks a little flummoxed by the giant Hawaiian ganja I seem to be carrying. I tell her that it’s a walking stick that I’ll probably have to check it. She agrees and places it in a big plastic bag, along with my bamboo roll, and begins the arduous task of taping it up.
While she’s busy, another attendant comes over and checks all my boarding passes. “Back to Atlanta, huh?” I grunt a response. “You seem really happy about that.” Another grunt. I’m really not looking forward to that long series of flights. I don’t want to leave Oahu with so much unseen and I’m not particularly looking forward to returning to Atlanta. I’m in a bad way all around.
The trip from Oahu is noticeably quieter than the trip up. No games about reaching the mid-point to the mainland although the entire flight crew is based in Oahu so they still say ‘Aloha’ and ‘Mahalo.’ I don’t even attempt to sleep, just listen to music and read my novel. About an hour before we land, I start to get really antsy. Uh oh. I remember this. I had a similar feeling 3 years ago when I flew from O’Hare to LAX. That time, as my blood pressure dropped into the toilet, I stood up to go to the bathroom and fainted before I ever got there. This time I know better. I stay in my seat, drink some water, and hunch over as much as I can in the cramped area. A few deep breaths and the strange sensation passes. Whew. There is no way I am ever exiting another United flight in a wheelchair. Once was more than enough and I don’t want to get a bad rep with the airline.
Since United, once again, doesn’t serve any food, I get a quick meal at O’Hare before boarding the next flight. I settle into my window seat, quietly hoping that the other seat in the two-seat row will remain empty so I can stretch my legs. No such luck. But … it’s not all bad.
This is Chad. He sat next to me and instead of just nodding or smiling like most people do when seated next to a total stranger on a plane, he introduces himself and we shake hands. I immediately pick up on an accent and ask him if I had heard correctly. Turns out that I had – he’s from the small town of Perth in Australia and this is his first trip to the states (and the Western Hemisphere). He’d just taken a 7 hour flight from Australia to Malaysia and then an 18 hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to LA and yet he’s still quite chipper and polite. And excited. He’s practically bouncing up and down when the plane takes off (he loves anything that goes fast and had brought along a couple of motor-cross magazines). He looks like a cute little Aussie bunny – just like the ones in those hair care commercials. (Okay, technically that animal is a kangaroo but those are just really big bunnies to Australians.)
Yes, ladies, he is young, firm, and fully packed … and, of course, he’s winging his way to his woman who attends Notre Dame. It’s rare that I’m attracted to anyone so it stands to reason that he would be gay, married or ready to wed his girlfriend and bring her back to Australia as soon as she graduates in May. He shows me a picture of a young Panamanian woman frolicking in the surf – pretty, blond, thin, yadda yadda yadda.
We chat for a while before the movie comes on (The Holiday – an okay movie but not exactly the rom-com it claims to be considering that it wasn’t really that funny). I want to ask him some more questions but don’t want to grill an unavailable man, especially after I find out his age. He mentions, as we’re about to land, that the little bottle of Jack Daniels he’d bought had really put him to sleep. He doesn’t want me to tell anyone that he’s not quite 21 yet and this was only the second time he had engaged in underage drinking. Yes, at a mere 20 years of age the boy is 16 years my junior. God, I feel old. It sucks that I’ve become Mrs. Robinson when I never got a chance to be her daughter.
I hesitated before asking for this picture but hell, I’ll never see the kid again and it’s not often that I meet a young Aussie hottie. As you can see, he was more than obliging. He also managed to put a smile on my face for the rest of the morning even as we went our separate ways. Thanks, Chad.
(I know it’s pathetic that this little nothing of an encounter is the most exciting thing to happen between me and a man in, oh, forever. But look at that picture. Can you really blame me for doing a little fantasy cradle-robbing? Sigh.)
The flight to Atlanta is pretty uneventful though I finally get to stretch out a little. There is an empty seat between me and another guy (no chit-chat with this one – he’s busy talking to his boys who all live in Atlanta). Onto MARTA and back to the POS.
I’m glad, as always, to come home and find my house still standing. And I haven’t been robbed. Cool. The cats and my plants survived the week and I have the whole weekend to re-acclimate before the coming work week. The first thing I want to do is load the pictures from the digital into the computer. I open the front pocket on my suitcase … and loudly curse. The batteries have fallen out of the camera. I don’t have a memory card so when the batteries are taken out – you guessed it. All the pictures are lost. I am still mad. How is it that the camera survived the trip to Hawaii, survived me carrying it around for the first two days of my trip and then crap out just when I’m ready to download the pictures? It’s just a good thing I always carry backup cameras or I’d still be cursing.
My second nasty surprise comes when I open the main part of the suitcase. I had noticed that the camera pocket had some lotion in it and I couldn’t understand why. Now I know. I’d put the lotion bottle in the mesh pocket inside the suitcase and the top had come off. There’s Lubriderm here, there, pretty much everywhere. Fortunately, the big towel that I always carry to the beach had been draped over the clothes so at least they were clean. Towel needs to be laundered but that’s the least of my concerns. I clean up what I could then say screw it. I’m more concerned about the two disposable cameras which are also covered in lotion. I dash out to get the pictures developed and am incredibly relieved to find the film intact. So, instead of my whole stash, I’d lost only 40 pictures of rainbows and Chinatown, beach shots and balcony views. No matter. I’ll just have to go back and take some more.
Well, that’s pretty much it. To go along with my tropical tan, my allergies have come back in full force. The itchy eyes and congestion made me realize that even with all the flowers and trees in Hawaii I wasn’t allergic to any of it. After only a week of wearing makeup and being trapped indoors, my chin immediately broke out in zits. Oh yeah. Good to be home again.
It all just makes me want to get back on the road again. A little bit of travel always makes me want more. Before I even left for Hawaii, I had the thought of going to Florida. My friend Craig had sent me a DVD he’d recorded about Hawaiian hotels when I was planning the trip. The DVD also had specials on Cabo and Florida on it. One of the Florida hotels was a Disney owned Animal Kingdom deal where, if you have the right room, you can view wild animals on the property’s man-made Serengeti right from your balcony. It’s pricey -- $289 for a room that faces the animals but I honestly think it would be worth it. For one night, that is. I was thinking of going in August but that depends on a lot of other factors. Like I wrote on the first day of this travel log, change is brewing. I’m not sure where I’ll be in August or if my money will be earmarked for something else -- relocation, perhaps? Time will tell. 2007 has already proven to be a very interesting year.
Hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my latest adventure as much as I’ve enjoyed reliving it. Aloha and mahalo!
1 comment:
Wonderful trip you are so adventrous Ilove it. Iam glad you had a nice time.
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