Hawai'i. I left Coarsegold at the insane hour of 3 am.... picked up Sheila, who by chance, was also leaving on a plane from FYI at 6am. I got to the airport in time.... checked in on time. Sat at the gate, sans coffee, as the coffee kiosk was not open yet. (Growl). We got herded onto the plane and proceeded to sit on the plane til nearly 8am. The plane kept breaking (parking brake, come on, we are flying NOT parking, LOL!)Well, they were offering drinks... but why drink liquids with no loo available!!!! They got smart after 2 hours and shifted us to a new plane. The Ground team was useless. All they could tell me was that I would not make my plane in San Fran to Honolulu. But I get on the plane to San Fran and arrive by 0910. I shuffled over to the customer service desk when my new and trusty AT and T phone rings with some tropical song (my sister) She is sat on the plane. I am whatgate? "84" "no shit! I am at 82, are the doors shut?" "no why! See you in a few secs" I slam shut my phone, grab my bag and jump under the rope line thingie. I jogged over to the gate 84 and Voila! the gate is OPEN!!! I shoved my ticket at the guy and dash on to the plane as the doors are almost but not yet ready to close. There are still people walking down the aisle of the plane so we are not set to fly yet. As I walk by Kitty and Ray's seats I wave with a BIG wave and smile. I had no idea if my luggage made the plane or not. but heck, the stuff was tagged for Hilo so i could always get it when it arrived! So we got to Honolulu together. Kit and Ray booked butt off the plane to catch their flight to Hilo (I had a later flight). I moseyed my way to the Wiki Wiki Bus and got the first on I saw... When we arrived at our new gat... who was behind me? Kit and Ray! Bugging me about following them and how Still Kitty can't ditch her smart baby sister! I was busting up! Those two brats caught their flight to Hilo. I got to wait at Stinger Rays for my flight on Go! airlines (the airlines that offers "happy hour" on drinks at certain flight times! ) Anyway, Go! and Island Air are in the part of Honolulu airport that does NOT have AC. So when I sussed out where the gate was, I went back to Stinger Rays and ordered myself some Gluten Free Lunch and a Mai Tai. (drink your liver out Kitty and Ray!) Stinger Rays is ALWAYS packed, so i took a seat at a empty group of tables. I sat there with book and mai tai and Thai Chicken Salad when two ladies about my age asked if they could have the other part of the table. They ordered their drinks and food and then started talking to me... they were from Pleasanton and as the convo wore on, found oout that we all graduated from Cal Poly in 1986!!!They were off to Lanai. Time wore on, the ipod tunes continued to play in my earbuds and soon I was able to climb up to the Go! flight steps to Hilo. I took pictures from the plane of Oah'u, Moloka'i and Mau'i. When I got to Hilo, I ran up Kitty, and they were just getting back to the airport to get THEIR luggage which missed the flight to Hilo (it was prolly partying with my luggage on my flight!) I has grabbed my suitcase in seconds and found Ray in the big black ford truck. We then found Kitty roaming the airport with their luggage..... and headed back to Mom's place in HPP. Kit and Ray spent the couple hours picking up the truck, getting it safety checked and registered so that was time well spent. That evening at Mom's was mellow.... a bit of Chardonnay, poke, ocean salad and my gluten free snack were our "buffet dinner". I must say we slept well that night.
