Hawaii Diary 2000

 
Waikiki Sunset
Photo by John Fischer

Hawaii Diary 2000 • Part 1: Overview • Part 2: Arrival, the Hard Way • Part 3: Mighty Mo and Downtown Honolulu • Part 4: Circle Island Adventure on Oahu • Part 5: Oahu's Leeward Shore • Part 6: Oahu in Pictures • Part 7: Off to Maui • Part 8: West Maui's Rugged North Shore • Part 9: Old Lahaina Luau, Lahaina, Maui • Part 10: In Celebration of Canoes, Lahaina, Maui • Part 11: Maui's Kihei Coast • Part 12: Haleakala and Upcountry Maui • Part 13: A Day of Rest on Maui • Part 14: Molokai for a Day • Part 15: Hana, Maui and Beyond • Part 16: Sunset Sail in Paradise • Part 17: Hawaii Diary 2000 Retrospective

As I begin to write today's report we're about half way between Los Angeles and Honolulu, Hawaii. In fact, both my wife, Eileen, and I have entered the "Halfway to Hawaii Game" on United Airlines where you have to guess the time, in Hawaiian time, that the plane will reach the mid-way point geographically between Los Angeles and Honolulu.

Things were quite a bit different at about 5:00 am eastern time when we arrived at the Philadelphia International Airport, only to see the word "canceled" next to our scheduled flight to San Francisco where we were scheduled to pick up our connecting flight to Honolulu.

It's not possible to explain the panic and depression that overcomes you when you suddenly are confronted by the prospect that your "dream" vacation may be down the tubes.

We waited in the check-in lie for well over a half hour until we approached a United Airlines agent, who explained that, on Thursday, all flights from Chicago had been canceled and that had a ripple effect on the entire schedule for Friday.

Much to our surprise, and delight, the agent, Rose Bompadre, advised us that she had re-booked us through Los Angeles. Not only would we make it to Hawaii today, but we would get there an hour earlier than we had expected.

As we left the ticket counter, Ms. Bompadre said, "someone is looking after you today". I surely could not disagree.

Grand Canyon Village
Photo by John Fischer

Flying from Philadelphia to Honolulu, you often feel like time is standing still, even as the geography beneath you changes constantly. If it were not for your body telling you that you have been awake so long, you would really be totally fooled.

Our flight left Philadelphia at 7:30 am. Applying the time difference between Philadelphia and Los Angeles, we arrived at 10:30 am local time, after a six hour flight during which we flew right past Monument Valley in Utah and directly over the North and South Rims of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Next Page > Over the Pacific and Arrival  > Page 1, 2